In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the military police took both combat and supporting positions. In May 1948, the service was divided into regional fronts. The northern front, headed by future chief officer Yosef Pressman, consisted of 15 military policemen, most of them former "Notrim", and was based in the police compound in Afula. It moved to Nazareth when the city was conquered from Arab forces. Among others, the northern front's job was to deliver the "Napoleonchik" cannons, which turned the tide of several battles on the front. During Operation Brosh, a military police soldier managed to shoot down a Syrian plane using a Sten gun mounted on a jeep. The plane crashed near Ayelet HaShahar. The unit was also charged with stopping panicked Jewish residents of the Galilee from fleeing their homes, and Pressman personally stopped buses leaving Afula and Yavne'el, returning the men and evacuating the women and children to Haifa. After the completion of Operation Dekel, the military police was sent to Nazareth to enforce martial law, and worked directly under the military governor.