1950s SUPER, ORIGINAL EARLY STATE OF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES TRAINING NOTE BOOKS MAKING FOR AN UNUSUAL AND UNIQUE HISTORY OF WEAPONRY AND ARMS THE YOUNG STATE HAD TO SCAVENGE FROM POST WAR EUROPE

On offer are three [3] manuscript notebooks in Hebrew handwritten in 1950s by Abraham Greenberger with notes on use of various types of weapons used by the fledgling IDF, Israeli Defence Forces. They are regular 24-page school notebooks measuring 8.2' x 6.5', and 100%, 45%, and 12% complete. The pages are yellowed, covers of two notebooks are torn and detached, half of the last page in one of the notebooks is torn out and missing. The handwriting is very legible. It seems from the context that he probably was taking a course for firearm instructors - two of the books have the structure of lesson plans with one of the notebooks written in red, probably made by the course instructor. There are no dates in the notebooks, but since the price is in prutot, Israeli currency used between 1952 and 1960, and the types of weapon described, the notes most probably were made in the early 1950s. At that time Israeli army was using a wide variety of weapons received from different sources. The first notebook is 100% complete, and contains 8 lessons on rifle training, 3 lessons on grenade, and 6 lessons on fire execution. The second notebook contains 9 lessons on MG34. Israel received some former German army weapons, including hundreds of MG34 and thousands of Karabiner 98k bolt-action rifles?-?the German army's basic infantry weapon, from Czechoslovakia in 1948-49, as part of Operation Balak organized by the Jewish Agency. The third notebook contains 3 lessons on Sten. The Sten gun was one of the few weapons that the State of Israel could produce domestically during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Even before the declaration of the State of Israel, the Yishuv had been producing Stens for the Haganah, and after the declaration, Israel continued making Stens for IDF use. Each lesson has several parts: topic and goal of the lesson, weapon parts; characteristics of the weapon; loading and unloading, stripping, cleaning, holding and firing from different positions. Here are some examples: "Lesson topic: Correct cleaning....Lesson goal: teach the soldier to clean the rifle in the most efficient way so that he can kill the enemy...Possibility of close combat at the time of bayonet attachment and use of the butt...Lesson 2"Sten. Equipment: Sten guns, cartridges, blanks; Goal of the lesson: train soldiers to use, load and unload arms with maximum safety ...Live presentation; Detailed description: weapon, manufactured in Israel, ammunition calibre 9mm..." ; "Lesson 8. Firing at moving targets.....Goal: teach the soldier to kill the enemy when he is moving...3. A walking person...4. A running person... 5. While moving: move a rifle following the target movement, and shoot without stopping". This is an interesting document from the early days of the Israel Defence Army that shows firearm training methods in those days.; Manuscript; 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF; ISRAEL; ISRAELI ARMY; 1950s; MID-20TH CENTURY; IDF'S EARLY WEAPONRY; ARMY TRAINING; STEN GUN, SMALL ARMS; FIREARMS; WEAPON TRAINING MANUALS; IDF; EARLY HISTORY OF ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCE; MILITARY HISTORY; SOLDIER TRAINING; WEAPON OPERATION; HAND GRENADE TRAINING; MG34; WEAPONS USED BY IDF IN THE 1950S; COMBAT SKILLS; RIFLE TRAINING; MILITARY HISTORY; HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, DIARY, DIARIES, JOURNALS, PERSONAL HISTORY, SOCIAL HISTORY, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, ANTIQUITÉ, CONTRAT, VÉLIN, DOCUMENT, MANUSCRIT, PAPIER ANTIKE, BRIEF, PERGAMENT, DOKUMENT, MANUSKRIPT, PAPIER OGGETTO D'ANTIQUARIATO, ATTO, VELINA, DOCUMENTO, MANOSCRITTO, CARTA ANTIGÜEDAD, HECHO, VITELA, DOCUMENTO, MANUSCRITO, PAPEL