Shmuel Goder

Shmuel Goder was born in 1917 in Minsk Governorate

Shmuel Goder was born in 1917 as Shmuel Gorodetsky in the village of Mikashevichi near Brest-Litovsk. As a young man he was active in the HeHalutz movement. In 1937 Polish authorities arrested him on charges of communist activity, and he spent 2 years in prison.

He was drafted into the Red Army and served in its artillery, fighting in the Winter War and during the siege of Leningrad. In 1944 he moved to the Polish army formed in the Soviet Union and took part in the liberation of Warsaw and the capture of Berlin. He ended the war as a major and received 22 Soviet and Polish decorations, including the Order of Lenin.

He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1947 and set up the first heavy mortar battalion. In the War of Independence he commanded artillery on the northern front. He commanded the 7th Brigade from 1950 to 1954 and led it in Operation Yagev in October 1951.

In the Sinai War he commanded the reserve 10th Brigade, whose attack on Umm Katef failed, and Moshe Dayan approved his removal. He later commanded the 27th Brigade, headed Civil Defense from 1964, and in 1969 became a brigadier general and president of the Military Court of Appeals. His last post was military secretary to President Ephraim Katzir during the Yom Kippur War.

He was married to Vicky, and they had a son and a daughter. He died on July 7, 1989.