Jewish Brigade

Anglo-Zionist relations and Zionist flag After the First World War, the British and the French empires replaced the Ottoman Empire as the preeminent powers in the Middle East. This change brought closer the Zionist Movement's goal of creating a Jewish state. The Balfour Declaration indicated that the British Government supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine in principle, marking the first official support for Zionist aims. It led to a surge of Jewish emigration in 1918–1921, known as the "Third Aliyah". The League of Nations incorporated the Declaration in the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. Jewish immigration continued through the 1920s and 1930s, and the Jewish population expanded by over 400,000 before the beginning of the Second World War. Origins of the Jewish Brigade Chaim Weizmann, the President of the Zionist Organization (ZO), offered the British government full cooperation of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. Initially, the British authorized the enlistment of Palestinian volunteers in the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and in the Royal Pioneer Corps, on condition that an equal number of Jews and Arabs was to be accepted. The Jewish Agency promptly scoured the local Labour Exchange offices to recruit enough Arab unemployed as "volunteers" to match the number of Jewish volunteers, and others were recruited from the lower strata of the Arab population, offering cash bounties for enlistment. The quality of the recruits was, not surprisingly, abysmally low, with a very high desertion rate particularly among the Arab component, so that at the end, most units ended up formed largely by Jews. The volunteers were formed in a RASC muleteers unit and a RASC Port Operating Company, and in the pioneer companies 601 to 609. Of the pioneer companies, all but two were lost in Greece, with most forced to surrender after being unable to evacuate in time. The last two companies were returned to Palestine and disbanded there. in Tel Aviv in favor of enlistment into the British army, 13 July 1940 From 1942, a large number of further Palestinian Arab-Jewish mixed units were formed, with the same mixed ethnic composition and the same quality problems encountered in the Pioneers Companies. These included six RASC (Jewish) Transport Units, a women's Auxiliary Territorial Service and a Woman Territorial Air Force Service, and several auxiliaries in local units of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Engineers, and Royal Army Medical Corps. The British recruited Jews as commandos in small numbers. In 1940 No. 51 Commando was formed for volunteers from Palestine, comprised predominantly of Jewish volunteers with a minority of Arabs as well. The unit fought in East Africa against the Italians. In 1942, the Special Interrogation Group, a commando unit comprised primarily of German-speaking Jews from Palestine, was deployed in North Africa. Some Jews from Palestine also enlisted in artillery and medical units, the Royal Air Force, and Royal Navy. There was no designated all-Jewish, combat-worthy formation. Jewish groups petitioned the British government to create such a force, but the British refused. At that time, the White Paper of 1939 was in effect, limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases. By contrast to the infantry battalions, other units that would later become part of the brigade were formed prior and came with previous experience. In 1940, during the Axis bombing campaign against Mandatory Palestine, the British decided to recruit Jews as anti-aircraft gunners following a particularly deadly Italian air raid against Tel Aviv. In October 1940, the 1st Palestine Light Anti-Aircraft Battery was formed, and it became operational in 1941. The unit defended Palestine from further air attacks and served with British forces elsewhere in the Mediterranean. The 643rd Field Engineering Company of the Royal Engineers, originally the 743rd Artisan Works Company, was formed in September 1941. It initially served in Palestine, building military bases and fortifications, before providing support to British forces in North Africa and Italy. In addition, 178 General Transport Company, RASC, which was formed in February 1941, also served with British forces in North Africa and subsequently Italy. It was also among the first units to widely use Hebrew and Zionist insignia. From the start of the war, the Jewish Agency had sought to establish a Jewish army to fight alongside the Allies. The first negotiations between Zionist leaders and British officials took place as early as September 1939. From 1940 to 1941, the Zionist leadership requested that a full division composed of Jews from Britain, the dominions, and refugee communities be formed, but this was rejected in October 1941. The Zionist leadership then focused its efforts on the recruitment of Jews in Palestine. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a personal telegram to the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt suggesting that "the Jews... of all races have the right to strike at the Germans as a recognizable body." The president replied five days later saying: "I perceive no objection..." In February 1944, negotiations between the Jewish Agency and British officials over a Jewish fighting force resumed. British officials opposed creating a large Jewish fighting force, fearing that it would bolster Jewish national claims, provoke Arab opposition, and become the basis for Jewish rebellion against British rule. As a compromise, they proposed forming a brigade group instead of a larger force. Disagreements persisted, especially due to the British considering the deployment of the planned Jewish force to the Far Eastern theatre, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. Chaim Weizmann bypassed the negotiations and appealed directly to Churchill. Churchill agreed to form a Jewish fighting force, preferring that it be a smaller brigade rather than a full division. He formally recommended the formation of such a brigade and that it be deployed to fight in Italy to the Secretary of State. According to Rafael Medoff, Churchill consented because he was "moved by the slaughter of Hungarian Jewry [and] was hoping to impress American public opinion." On 9 August, the War Cabinet approved Churchill's proposal. On 29 August, Churchill announced the British government's agreement to form a Jewish brigade group to Parliament. ==Jewish Brigade==

Creation On 20 September 1944, an official communique by the War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Jewish Brigade Group headquarters was established in Egypt at the end of September 1944. The formation was styled a brigade group because of the inclusion under command of an artillery regiment. The three Jewish battalions of the Palestine Regiment became the brigade's infantry battalions. In addition, veterans of the 1st Palestine Light Anti-Aircraft Battery became part of the brigade's artillery regiment. The 643rd Field Company and 178 General Transport Company were added to the brigade as its engineering and transport units respectively. Following the announcement of the brigade's formation, recruitment of additional volunteers got underway. Large numbers of young people, particularly recent high school graduates and even schoolboys, volunteered. A Jewish Agency campaign among labor settlement members yielded about 200 volunteers. In addition, the British authorities recruited among Jewish refugees from Europe who were detained in Mauritius after they had tried to enter Palestine in 1940, with 212 joining and another 300 rejected as medically unfit. With recruitment proceeding at an unsatisfactory pace, General Harold Alexander, the commander of the 15th Army Group, warned that if it did not improve he would add 1,000 non-Jewish British soldiers and 33 officers to the brigade, prompting a renewed recruitment campaign. Ultimately, some 2,000 new recruits enlisted between 1944 and 1946, with most joining between September 1944 and February 1945. • 1st Battalion, Palestine Regiment • 2nd Battalion, Palestine Regiment • 3rd Battalion, Palestine Regiment • 200th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery • 643 Field Company, Royal Engineers • Jewish Brigade Group Postal Section, Royal Engineers • 178 Jewish Brigade Group Company, RASC • 140 Field Ambulance, RAMC • Jewish Brigade Group Ordnance Field Park Section, RAOC • Jewish Brigade Group Provost Section • Jewish Infantry Brigade Workshops, REME • Jewish Brigade Group Light Aid Detachment, REME The New York Times quoted The Rev. Dr. Israel Goldstein that the British announcement of the creation of a Jewish Brigade "is a belated but nevertheless welcome token of recognition of the Jewish part in the war effort, particularly the contribution of Jewish Palestine." The Manchester Guardian lamented, "The announcement that a Jewish Brigade will fight with the British Army is welcome, if five years late. One regrets that the British Government has been so slow to seize a great opportunity." In September 1944, the brigade's three infantry battalions were deployed to Egypt and underwent five weeks of intensive training overseen by Brigadier Benjamin. On 31 October 1944, Benjamin declared the battalions to be ready. The brigade landed in Taranto, Italy, in November 1944, where its infantry battalions underwent additional training until February 1945 and assigned to the 10th Corps of the British VIII Army under the command of General Richard McCreery. The brigade's artillery regiment trained separately, with training lasting from November to March. It would join the rest of the brigade in March after the infantry battalions had already seen combat. On 8 February, Brigadier Benjamin met with senior Jewish Agency official Moshe Sharett and confirmed that the brigade was nearly ready for combat, although he expressed concern that two-thirds of the brigade's officers lacked combat experience. The brigade first entered into large-scale combat operations at Alfonsine on 19 March. Its first large-scale combat action was an advance on La Giorgetta. Preparations for attacking it had been underway since 16 March when Lieutenant Yohanan Peltz had discovered German artillery on high ground in the area overlooking the Allied flank, and subsequently conducted patrols to map out the area and clear a path for tanks. On 17 March his patrol had been pinned down by artillery fire for two hours before withdrawing under cover of a smokescreen. On 19 March, after Allied intelligence suggested a possible German withdrawal, four patrols advanced. Two patrols failed after running into heavy fire and a minefield, losing six killed. The other two captured three German positions, killed about 30 German soldiers, and took 12 prisoners, with one prisoner killed by German machine gun fire during the withdrawal. On the following day, an assault was launched on La Giorgetta through a cleared corridor in a minefield. Lieutenant Yohanan Peltz led 96 soldiers supported by three Churchill tanks of the North Irish Horse. With one group suppressing enemy fire, Peltz led another group in a bayonet charge on the German command center, which was located in a farmhouse, capturing it within minutes and securing La Giorgetta at the cost of 3 killed and 6 wounded. On the same night, the brigade repelled a determined counterattack at the cost of 3 wounded. The brigade advanced in tandem with nearby Indian troops and with armored, artillery, and air support. Many of the airmen flying in support of the brigade were South African Jews, and the planes flew in a Star of David formation as a tribute to the brigade. Small-scale action persisted afterward, with a brigade soldier killed on 21 March and three German prisoners captured the following day. This marked the end of operations in the Mezzano-Alfonsine sector. On 22 March, the brigade withdrew from the sector and was replaced by the Cremona Combat Group of the Italian Co-belligerent Army. The brigade's soldiers immediately began engaging in small-scale actions with German paratroopers. Both sides sent out probing patrols which sometimes clashed. The two sides also engaged in intermittent artillery and mortar exchanges. On 28 March a brigade patrol clashed with enemy troops and lost one killed. On the following day, brigade soldiers on a reconnaissance mission clashed with enemy forces. Six German paratroopers were killed while the brigade lost one killed and two wounded. On the same day, mortar fire against the brigade's positions killed another two soldiers and wounded fifteen. On 30 March, another brigade patrol clashed with German soldiers and inflicted casualties on them while losing one soldier killed and two wounded. From 31 March to 1 April, the brigade engaged in heavy fighting, succeeding in establishing an outpost on a hill overlooking the Senio River while losing four killed, thirteen wounded, and one missing. Brigade soldiers subsequently captured Fugnana and Plicotto to secure their sector. The Germans suffered casualties in turn, with enemy casualties observed being removed by ambulance. During this period, a patrol led by Lieutenant Antony Van Gelder sent out to find enemy prisoners for intelligence managed to capture fourteen German soldiers found sleeping in a bunker. Until 10 April, the front was relatively quiet, with the brigade engaging in some small-scale actions and taking some prisoners. On 6 April, an internal explosion took place in a building being used as an outpost, killing five brigade soldiers including Lieutenant Van Gelder. On the following day, the brigade lost one killed and eight wounded in patrol clashes. In their subsequent advances, brigade forces captured Mount Querzola, linked up with Free Polish forces to their right flank, and pushed toward Imola, which was liberated by Polish forces before their arrival. On 13 April the brigade lost two killed and ten wounded in combat around La Torre. Other units met minimal to no resistance. The brigade's 2nd and 3rd battalions were subsequently pulled back south of the Senio River and on 15 April, the 1st battalion was pulled back as well. The soldiers were initially told that the pause was temporary but this in fact marked the end of their combat operations in World War II. Based on interviews with brigade veterans, Morris Beckman wrote that brigade members may have summarily executed surrendering German soldiers, particularly SS soldiers, in order to take revenge for the Holocaust, in addition to other abuse such as mock executions. German and Austrian-born brigade soldiers would curse at German prisoners in their own language or ask them whether they knew the fates of their relatives. Samuele Rocca wrote that no executions occurred but that there were symbolic acts of humiliation, such as German prisoners being made to paint the Star of David on vehicles or clean synagogue ruins in Turin. In one incident, after fourteen Germans were captured by a brigade patrol, a soldier urged that they be executed and others mocked the prisoners. A few days later, Brigadier Benjamin issued an order that live prisoners were needed for intelligence gathering and that they must be treated in accordance with the laws of war. Although acknowledging the trauma that many brigade soldiers had suffered, including loss of family in the Holocaust, he warned that revenge would undermine operational goals. However, Benjamin his staff understood the desire for vengeance among the soldiers, and no Jewish Brigade soldier was ever put on trial for abusing prisoners. Morris Beckman put the brigade's casualties at 83 dead and 200 wounded. Samuele Rocca gave the figure of brigade casualties up to 15 April 1945 as 57 killed, of whom 30 were Palestinian Jews and 27 were British, and 150 wounded. According to a list of the fallen from a book on the brigade by Yaakov Lifshitz, 59 brigade soldiers were lost. In addition to those killed in combat, this figure includes deaths from other causes such as accidents and suicide, as well as one soldier who went missing in action and whose fate remains unknown. The list includes 17 soldiers who died after the end of the war in Europe. 33 of the brigade's dead are buried in the Commonwealth's Ravenna War Cemetery at Piangipane. ==Post-war deployment and disbandment==

Tilhas Tizig Gesheften, commonly known by its initials TTG, loosely translated as "kiss [literally, lick] my arse business", was the name of a group of Jewish Brigade members formed immediately following the Second World War. Under the guise of British military activity, this group engaged in the assassinations of Nazis, facilitated the illegal immigration of Holocaust survivors to Mandatory Palestine, and smuggled weaponry to the Haganah. There were also at least two instances in which brigade veterans were implicated in the assassinations of Jewish Kapos. Kangaroo courts executed two Kapos, one by gunshot and another by drowning him in a river. Meir Zorea, a Captain in the brigade who had been awarded the Military Cross for his actions in combat and a future Israeli general and politician, took part in the assassinations. Of his activities, he recalled: "We only eliminated those directly involved in the slaughter of Jews. At first we put a bullet through their heads. Then we strangled them. With our bare hands. We never said anything before we killed them. Not why or who we were. We just killed them like you kill a bug." According to Israel Carmi, who partook in the operations, the soldiers received information from a Nazi who betrayed known war criminals to brigade soldiers in exchange for them sparing the lives of himself and his wife. After a tip-off, Carmi and two other soldiers confronted the couple at their house in Austria and saw that their home was filled with clothing, jewellery, and other items that the wife admitted had belonged to Jews. After they were threatened with execution, the man agreed to give them a list of SS NCOs and officers. Upon returning the following day, the man had indeed produced a list of identities of war criminals along with their crimes. Most of the names were handed to brigade staff and British intelligence to deal with except for those of the highest ranking SS officers, who the soldiers wanted to deal with personally. After receiving confirmation that the list was accurate, brigade squads dispatched the remaining targets of the list, using the ruse of military police to get them to come with them. Carmi recalled that "usually they came without a struggle. Once in the car we told the prisoner who we were and why we took him. Some admitted guilt. Others kept silent. We did the job." A brigade soldier who participated in the killings, Ze'ev Keren, who in the future would be a Mossad operative and take part in the capture of Adolf Eichmann, recalled "I strangled them myself once we got in the forest. It took three to four minutes. We weighted the bodies with heavy chains, and threw them into lakes, rivers, streams. They were remote places. We left no trace of our activities." Involvement in the Bricha Many members of the Jewish Brigade assisted and encouraged the implementation of the Bricha. In the vital, chaotic months immediately before and after the German surrender, members of the Jewish Brigade supplied British Army uniforms and documents to Jewish civilians who were facilitating the illegal immigration of Holocaust survivors to Mandatory Palestine. The most notable example was Yehuda Arazi, code name "Alon," who had been wanted for two years by the British authorities in Palestine for stealing rifles from the British police and giving them to the Haganah. He and his partner Yitzhak Levy had enlisted in the Jewish Brigade using falsified names. In 1945, Arazi and his partner Yitzhak Levy travelled from Mandatory Palestine to Egypt by train, dressed as sergeants from the Royal Engineers. From Egypt, the pair travelled through North Africa to Italy and, using false names, joined the Jewish Brigade, where Arazi secretly became responsible for organising illegal immigration. This included purchasing boats, establishing hachsharot, supplying food, and compiling lists of survivors. When Arazi reached the Jewish Brigade in Tarvisio in June 1945, he informed some of the Haganah members serving in the Brigade that other units had made contact with Jewish survivors. Arazi impressed upon the Brigade their importance in Europe and urged the soldiers to find 5,000 Jewish survivors to bring to Mandatory Palestine. Jewish Brigade officer Aharon Hoter-Yishai recalled that he doubted the existence of 5,000 Jewish survivors. Regardless, the Jewish Brigade accepted Arazi's challenge without question. For many Jewish soldiers, this new mission justified their previous service in the British forces that had preceded the creation of the Jewish Brigade. celebrating the birth of Israel, showing a soldier of the Jewish Brigade in the lower left Another Jewish Brigade soldier actively involved in the Bricha was Israel Carmi, who was discharged from the Jewish Brigade in the autumn of 1945. After a few months, the Secretariat of Kibbutz HaMeuchad approached Carmi about returning to Europe to assist with the Bricha. Carmi's previous experience working with survivors made him an important asset for the Bricha movement. He returned to Italy in 1946 and attended the 22nd Zionist Congress in Basel, where he gained insight into how the Berihah operated throughout Europe. Carmi proposed establishing a second Berihah route across Europe in case the existing route collapsed. He proposed dividing the Bricha leadership into parts: Mordechai Surkis, working from Paris, would be responsible for the financial workings. Ephraim Dekel in Prague would run the administrative element, and oversee the Berihah in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany. Carmi, working from Prague, would oversee activities in Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Romania. For example, Judenberg, a sub-camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp, acted as a Berihah point where Brigade soldiers and partisans worked together to assist DPs. Similarly, in the city of Graz, a Bricha point was centred in a hotel where a legendary Bricha figure, Pinchas Zeitag, also known as Pini the Red or "Gingi," organised transports westwards to Italy. One of the Jewish Brigade's greatest contributions to the Bricha was the use of their British Army vehicles to transport survivors, up to a thousand people at a time, in truck convoys to Pontebba, the brigade's motor depot. These secret transports generally arrived at 2 or 3 a.m., and the Brigade always ensured that DPs were greeted by a soldier or an officer and welcomed into a dining hall with food and tea. Everyone was given a medical examination, a place to sleep, and clean clothing. Within a few days the group was moved to hachsharot in Bari, Bologna and Modena. After recuperating and completing their hachshara training, the DPs were taken to ports where boats would illegally set sail for Mandatory Palestine. Historians estimate that the Jewish Brigade assisted in the transfer, between 1945 and 1948, of 15,000–22,000 Jewish DPs as part of the Bricha and the illegal immigration movement. Military legacy was awarded to members of the Jewish Legion of WW1 and Jewish Brigade of WW2 In 1948, after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, many Jewish Brigade veterans served with distinction in the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Veterans of the brigade brought with them British Army discipline and training as well as combat experience, which proved important in shaping the Israel Defense Forces. Many veterans served as high-ranking officers in the Israeli military, with 35 becoming generals. ==Legacy==

Medals and awards awarded in 2018 to the warflag of the Jewish Brigade Among the brigade's soldiers, 78 were mentioned in dispatches, and 20 received military decorations (7 Military Medals, 7 Order of the British Empire medals, 4 Military Crosses, and 2 US awards). Veterans of the Brigade were later entitled to the Volunteer Ribbon and the Fighters against Nazis Medal of the State of Israel. In October 2018, after a unanimous support vote by the Italian Parliament, the war flag of the Jewish Brigade Group was awarded the Italian "Medaglia d'Oro al Valor Militare" for its contribution to the liberation of Italy during World War II. The medal was attached to the warflag of the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade, heirs of the Jewish Brigade Group, in a celebration at the Bet Hagdudim (Battalions Museum) in Avihayil. Legacy The Jewish Brigade inspired numerous memoires, books and films. In 1998, filmmakers Chuck Olin (Director) and Matthew Palm (co-producer) released their award-winning documentary, In Our Own Hands. The film aired on PBS in the United States and played in numerous film festivals around the world. In popular culture In Leon Uris novel Exodus, and the subsequent film, protagonist Ari Ben Canaan of the Haganah succeeds in organising the movement of refugees to Palestine, through his experience of action and use of procedures gained during the war as an officer of the Jewish Brigade. Political controversy in Italy During the 2026 Liberation Day commemoration in Italy (25 Aprile), tensions arose in several Italian cities, especially in Milan, regarding the participation of representatives associated with the Jewish Brigade. The group has been part traditionally represented during this commemoration, since the aftermath of the war. On April 25th 2026, some pro-Palestinian activist groups and segments of the organizing committees objected to the Brigade’s presence, citing the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and opposing the display of Israeli symbols during the commemoration. In certain instances, this led to restrictions on participation extended to autonomous Jewish citizens, tensions along the procession routes, and reports of the Brigade’s representatives being blocked or asked to withdraw from the marches. Critics of the exclusions argued that preventing participation risked distorting the historical record of the resistance and the allied war effort in Italy. ==Partial list of notable veterans of the Jewish Brigade==

:British Jews • Ernest Benjamin, soldier • Bernard M. Casper, Rabbi • Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, financier :Palestinian Jews • Shmuel Agmon, Israeli mathematician • Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet and author • Shimshon Amitsur, Israeli mathematician • Yehuda Arazi, Israeli military officer and businessman • Meir Argov, Israeli activist and politician, signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence • Ted Arison, Israeli-American businessman • Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, Israeli philosopher, mathematician, and linguist • Hanoch Bartov, Israeli author and journalist • Ephraim Ben-Artzi, Israeli general and businessman • Haim Ben-Asher, Israeli politician • Gideon Ben-Yisrael, Israeli politician • Shmuel Ben-Dror, Israeli association football player • Yehezkel Braun, Israeli composer • Zvi Brenner, soldier • Israel Carmi, founder of Tilhas Tizig Gesheften • Reuven Dafni, Israeli diplomat • Yehiel Duvdevani, Israeli politician and senior official in Mekorot • Michael Evenari, Israeli botanist • Yisrael Galili (Balashnikov), Israeli weapons designer • Mordechai Gichon, author and military historian • Amir Gilboa, Israeli poet • Elazar Granot, Israeli politician and writer • Dov Gruner, Irgun fighter • Shraga Har-Gil, journalist, Middle East correspondent and writer • Yehoshafat Harkabi, chief of Israeli military intelligence • Reuven Helman, Israeli athlete • Ze'ev Herring, Israeli politician • Aharon Hoter-Yishai, Israeli Military Advocate General • Yigal Hurvitz, Israeli farmer, businessman and politician • Hans Jonas, American philosopher • Maksim Kahan, Israeli Olympic sports shooter • Haim Laskov, fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces • Guenter Lewy, author and political scientist • Mordechai Maklef, third Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces • Danny Matt, Israeli military officer • Shimon Mazeh, Israeli military officer, agronomist, and businessman • Issachar Miron, Israeli-American composer • Nissan Nativ, Israeli actor and director • Yitzhak Orpaz, Israeli writer • David Rubinger, Israeli photojournalist • Gideon Schocken, Israeli general • Shlomo Shamir, commander of the Israeli Navy and Israeli Air Force • Chaim Sheba, Israeli physician and founder of Sheba Medical Center • Mordechai Surkis, Israeli politician • Israel Tal, Israeli general and leader of the Merkava tank program • Adin Talbar, Israeli diplomat and athlete • Avraham Tamir, Israeli general and statesman • Moshe Tavor, Israeli Nazi hunter • Meir Zorea, Israeli general and politician • Amram Zur, first Travel Ministry commissioner of Israel • Shalom Zysman, politician ==See also==