Jonathan Company was a military unit in the Israeli 1947–1949 Palestine war composed mainly of youngsters under the age of 18, from the Gadna and their adult instructors.
Jonathan Company was established on April 9, 1948, by Yehoshua Arieli, the Jerusalem commander of the Gadna, (pre-military training corps for youth), and later a history professor and Israel Prize laureate.
The Jonathan Company was established in an effort to prevent these youngsters from joining fighting units, instead training them, and positioning them at guard posts and bases in the beleaguered city.
In April 1948, they re-entered the besieged city with an armed convoy under Arab fire, and Arieli put them in command of the Jonathan Company.
In May 1948, while the Jordanian Legion, the Egyptian army and the Palestinian irregular troops invaded the Jewish-controlled parts of Jerusalem, the company was sent to several defense and combat positions along the border – Notre-Dame de France, Mount Zion, Talpiot and Ramat Rachel, where they clashed with the enemy in a string of fierce battles.
At the same time, a Lehi unit attacking the parallel route leading to the hill over the valley was ambushed, losing several soldiers including the commander, and retreated.
They tried digging trenches in the rocky ground, but were unsuccessful, and so, they started heaping up stones in order to make protective mounds in advance of the immanent counter-attack.
The bombardment lasted until the afternoon hours, after which an Arab force comprising Egyptian, Sudanese, Polish, German and Serb soldiers climbed the hill in an attempt to conquer it.