The Jewish Brigade Group

In 1940 Jewish volunteers were permitted to enlist in Jewish companies attached to the 3^rd East Kent Infantry Regiment (the “Buffs”), and 15 such companies came into being. In 1942–43 these companies were formed into three infantry battalions of a newly established “Palestine Regiment”; the battalions, whose men had previously served only in Palestine, were moved to Cyrenaica and Egypt, but they continued to be engaged primarily in guard duties. The Jewish soldiers stepped up their demands for participation in the fighting and for the right to display the Jewish flag.

The 3^rd of July 1944, the British government under the leadership of Winston Churchill, agreed to the establishment of a “reinforced brigade” which would be fully trained and then join the troops at the front in Italy. The Jewish Brigade Group was formed the 20 of September 1944. Brigadier General Ernest Frank Benjamin, a Canadian Jew with an impressive service in the British Army was chosen as its commander. The Jewish Brigade had its own emblem, a gold Magen David on a background of blue-white-blue stripes and bearing the inscription Chail, the acronym in Hebrew of “Hativath Ivrith Lochemeth” or Jewish Brigade Group.” The brigade was composed of the three infantry battalions of the “Palestine Regiment,” the 200th field artillery regiment, RA and various other service and auxiliary units made up of the Palestine Jewish units, such as the 643th Coy RE, and the 178^th Coy, RASC. The total strength of the brigade was approximately 5,000.

After a period of training in Egypt, at Burg El Arab, the brigade was moved to Italy at the beginning of November 1944. The Jewish Brigade Group landed at Taranto and from there they proceeded to Fiuggi, where all the units were given to intensive training. Only in February 1945, the unit was deemed ready and transferred to the front in the area of Alfonsine. There the Jewish Brigade Group joined the 8^th Indian Division, a veteran formation. The German units which faced the Jewish Brigade Group were first rate: on the left stood the 362th Infantry Division, and on the right stood the 40^th Jaeger Division. For thirty days, from the end of February till the end of March, the Jewish Brigade Group withstood the baptism of fire. The 25 March 1945, the Jewish Brigade Group was transferred to another sector of the front, on the Senio River, under the command of the 10^th Army Corps. In front of the Brigade stood a hard nut to crack, one of the elite units of the German Army in Italy, the 11^th and 12^th Regiments of the 4^th Fallschirmjäger Division. Moshe Sharett came in visit to the Brigade, and so the actress Hana Robina of the Habima National Theatre to lift the morale. Then, the 7^th of April, the Military Chaplain Caspar celebrated Passover. From the beginning the Jewish Brigade Group coped successfully with the German Paratroopers. Although terrorized by what the “despised Jude” could do to them, more than once the German paratrooper surrendered to the Jewish Brigade Group soldiers. In the course of further operations, the three infantry battalions crossed the Senio on April 9, establishing a bridgehead which they broadened the following day. The War was terminated for the Jewish Brigade Group. However the price was heavy: the brigade’s casualties consisted of 30 killed and 70 wounded; 21 of its men were awarded military distinctions and 78 were mentioned in dispatches.

The experience gained by the Jewish Brigade Group in military organization and in battle subsequently became one of the foundations of the Israel Defense Forces. Many of the officers of the Israel army, among them two chiefs of staff, M. Makleff and Ḥ. Laskov, had seen previous service in the Jewish Brigade.