How quickly did the Irgun and Lehi capture the village?
Actually they did not capture Deir Yassin. Their attack was so badly executed that the villagers drove them off important high ground, forced the Irgun to retreat, and forced the whole attack to stop after they had seized a portion of the village east of the main square. A Haganah unit first used machine gun fire to cover the Irgun retreat, and also to block villagers and other help from coming back to Deir Yassin from Ein Kerem where many had fled. The Irgun and Lehi were so untrained and uncoordinated that they began throwing grenades without removing the pins and many could not operate their guns. They suffered 36 wounded and four killed. It is possible many of their casualties were caused by their own people or by the Haganah. Finally about 10:00 a.m., a unit of Palmach (the elite forces of the Haganah) arrived with a mortar and fired at the mukhtars house where a few Arab men had taken up a strong position. These elite troops quickly drove the Arabs out and moved through the villa
