Our first day of touring began with our guide, Tamar. We visited the Ayalon Institute which was an underground bullet factory located on Kibbutz Hill in Rehovot, Israel, disguised as a kibbutz that ran a laundry service. The factory was established in 1946 and manufactured ammunition until 1948. Today it is a museum and national historic site. The factory was secretly created in about 3 weeks, 8 meters (25 feet) underground and run by the Haganah.
Some interesting facts are as follow:
– produced 9 mm bullets
– had an inside shooting range to test bullets
– tanning booth used everyday
– 50% men, 50% women
– bullets got out by being hidden in milk jugs, then gasoline tanks
– over 5 million bullets produced