Chaim Dim

Chaim Dim was born in 1928 in Przemyśl

Chaim Dim was born in Przemyśl, Poland, to Yehuda and Gizela Dim, from a long line of rabbis. His father, who held a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna, raised him as a Zionist. After the Nazis deported his family, he attended high school in Russia.

After World War II he returned to Poland and joined a Zionist youth movement. He tried to reach the Land of Israel but was caught by the British and held in Cyprus. There he joined the Palmach, and from there he came to the country.

In the War of Independence he fought in the Palmach's Harel Brigade and ended the war as a platoon commander. He later led Unit 30, which acted against infiltrators, and then moved to the Armored Corps, where he commanded battalions and courses. In 1959 he attended the command and staff college, and he later studied at the US Army armor center at Fort Knox.

In the Six-Day War he was chief of staff of Ariel Sharon's Division 38 and planned the Battle of Um Katef in Sinai. After the war Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin promoted him to colonel. He died of cancer on 20 July 1967 and was buried in the Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, leaving his wife Yehudit, a son and a daughter.