June 6–7, 1967 · West Bank / Central Sector Theater
June 6–7, 1967
Latrun held deep symbolic weight for Israel — it was the site of the IDF's worst defeat in the 1948 war, where inexperienced Israeli troops had been massacred in frontal assaults on a Jordanian-held police fortress that commanded the main road to Jerusalem. In 1967, Israeli forces encircled Latrun without a direct assault, cutting it off as columns drove deeper into the West Bank. The garrison was isolated and the area secured as part of the broader West Bank sweep. Unlike 1948, in 1967 the Israeli approach was to bypass and encircle rather than assault frontally.
Commanders