Ammunition Hill National Memorial Site Flag (cropped
image from the original located here,
source).
image located by Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022
Ammunition Hill National Memorial Site variant Flag
(cropped image from the original located
here, source).
image located by Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022
Ammunition Hill National Memorial Site Logo (cropped
image from the original located here, source).
Ammunition Hill was a fortified weapons depository that the British
built in Jerusalem just west of their Police Training School (at the time it
was built, in 1935, it was the tallest building in the city), during
the Mandatory Period. The Jordanians seized both in 1948, so in the 1949
Armistice Agreements, both the school and the ammunition dump were left on the
Jordanian side of divided Jerusalem. They heavily fortified the hill
with large and small bunkers, as well as a series of trenches looking
towards Israeli positions to the north and west.
During the Six Days War in 1967, Ammunition Hill (picture taken
before the battle) was the scene of terrible fighting between attacking Israeli
paratroopers and Jordanian defenders. Taking it and the nearby Police Academy allowed Israeli
forces to link up with their enclave on Mount Scopus (parts of Mount
Scopus remained an Israeli enclave in Jordanian-held territory) to the
north and east of the city. They then were able to take the Mount of
Olives, completing their encirclement of the Old City, which they
entered on the final day of the war (June 10, 1967). The site
(see here and here)
had been the scene of previous clashes during the 1948 Israel Independence War,
when Israeli forces tried to take it but was defended and held by
Jordanian forces. Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022
image located by Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022
image located by Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022.jpg)
image located by Esteban Rivera, 27 December 2022
