Leaving Tel Maresha, and heading back towards Jerusalem, we stopped for lunch at a food court of an Israeli mall.
We didn't eat at the McDonald's but instead we ordered food from the falafel place to the left of it. Very tasty stuff.
Then back on the road towards Ammunition Hill.
Ammunition Hill is a strategic location that dominated the road to the Old City of Jerusalem and Mount Scopus. Mount Scopus was an Israeli enclave inside Jordanian controlled territory that contained both Hebrew university and Hadassah Hospital, and when the Six Day War broke out and Jordan entered the war, and needed to be immediately relieved by Israeli forces or it would be overrun.
Ammunition Hill was then the site of a major battle in the 6 Day War. Held by a well dug-in and entrenched force of the Jordanian Army, it was taken after a serious battle by Israeli Paratroops reinforced with units of the Harel Brigade.
The site is now a museum and a memorial site.
The Jordanian trench line and fortifications are still in place.
And there's armoured vehicles that took part in the battle including:
A captured Jordanian armored vehicle:
An Israeli Haltrack With the Jordanian captured vehicle and captured Jordanian Jeep in the background):
And a Sherman Tank:
All along the trench line, there are plaques with accounts of the many acts of heroism by the soldiers during the battle.
The indoor museum has room with a large diorama and a short film that describes the background of the battle and the battle itself, with the diorama lighting up to show various details as the battle takes place.
There's also memorials to the paratroopers and Harel Brigade members killed in the fighting.
The Ammunition Hill site is a worth visiting.
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