He was transferred to Palestine in 1947. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1948 for his service defending the Arab population in Jaffa from the advancing Yishuv forces, in the weeks after the Deir Yassin massacre. Most of the Arabs in Jaffa left with the British forces when they withdrew on 10 May 1948. He returned with his regiment to Germany, where he served as second-in-command.
