Hi,
“Samson’s foxes, once again raided the area, Carrying the flame through the night, From Gaza to Gath, Once more the battle is waged,
For Israel’s freedom….” used to sing Ima while Aba was driving us back home to Jerusalem from Saba and Savta.
It was part of Ima songs repertoar on those drives home, along with other what called “Old Good Country of Israel” songs such as Bab El Wad (Gate of the Creek, about the way yo Jerusalem in the Independence war), and other songs who do not comes up my mind now.
Me and one of my younger brother used to sit the rear sit in the trunk of Aba 1986 blue Passat Station. The sit was flipped around and we were looking backward on the road and trying to figure out what will be the next turn on the way home.
The song is about the Commando unit that operated during the Israel Independence War, on the 1940s’. The name came with one of the operations of Judge Simson described in the Bible, in which he sent foxes with torches attached to their tails to lit and burn the fields of Philistines.
Like Simson and his foxes, the unit fought in the Westren Negev area in Westren front, against Arab forces. The unit was vechilezed and used mainly Willys Jeeps.
Today, the modern Givati brigade reconnaissance company is named after the 1940s unit. You can see on the original Jeeps with the written Samson’s foxes on it in the entrance to unit base in the South of Israel.
Take Care
Gad
Givati Reconnaissance company base with the sign and symbol of the unit, and below it a Willys Jeep used by the original unit in the War of Independence with the written Samson’s foxes on it.