Shofar at the kotel

I was very early for a meeting in Jerusalem this morning, so I wandered around and stumbled upon a plaque containing the following tidbit:

In the summer of 1944, after a nearly 14 year ban on Jews blowing the shofar at the kotel, the Irgun (or, Etzel) sent word to the officials of the British Mandate that they planned on blowing the shofar at the end of the upcoming Yom Kippur... at the kotel. The Irgun warned that members of the British forces should keep clear of the kotel at that time, and that the Irgun would "punish" those who chose to ignore this warning.
To everyone's surprise, the British took the warning seriously. No British official showed up, the shofar was blown, followed by a spontaneous outburst of the singing of Hatikva.

Wow, our founding fathers sure had guts.