Jewish Legion

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Jewish Legion
Jewish Legion soldiers in 1919
Active	1917–1921
Country	Mandatory Palestine
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Size	5 battalions
Engagements	World War I Sinai and Palestine campaign Battle of Megiddo

The Jewish Legion was an unofficial name used to refer to five battalions of the British Army's Royal Fusiliers regiment, which consisted of Jewish volunteers recruited during World War I. In 1915, the British Army raised the Zion Mule Corps, a transportation unit of Jewish volunteers, for service in the Gallipoli campaign. Two years later in August 1917, the decision was made to raise an infantry battalion of Jewish soldiers which would be integrated into an existing British Army regiment.

Eventually, due to large recruitment numbers, including Jews from Russia and the United States, five battalions were raised and integrated into the Royal Fusiliers; collectively, they were referred to as the "Jewish Legion". The new units raised were designated as the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 42nd battalions of the regiment. The Jewish Legion saw action during the Sinai and Palestine campaign, where they fought at the Battle of Megiddo before being reduced to one battalion, nicknamed the "First Judaeans".

Background

Jabotinsky (left) and Trumpeldor (right) in uniform.

In November 1914, David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi proposed to the Ottoman commander in Jerusalem that a Jewish Legion could be raised to fight with the Ottoman Army.^[1] The proposal was approved and training began but was soon cancelled by Djemal Pasha, who became known for persecuting Zionists.^[1] Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi were among thousands of Jews deported.^[1]

In February 1915, a small committee in

The need on the

A Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded to Private M. Groushkowsky, who, near Krithia on 5 May, prevented his mules from stampeding under heavy bombardment and despite being wounded in both arms, delivered the ammunition.^[5] Trumpeldor was shot through the shoulder but refused to leave the battlefield.^[6] Patterson later wrote: "Many of the Zionists whom I thought somewhat lacking in courage showed themselves fearless to a degree when under heavy fire, while Captain Trumpeldor actually revelled in it, and the hotter it became the more he liked it ..."

The men returned to Alexandria on 10 January 1916. The Zion Mule Corps were disbanded on 26 May 1916. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 13 members of the Zion Mule Corps as fatalities.^[7]

Formation

Between the dissolution of the Zion Mule Corps and the formation of the Jewish Legion, Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor and 120 Zion Mule Corps veterans served together in 16 Platoon of the 20th Battalion, London Regiment.

In August 1917, the formation of a Jewish battalion was officially announced. The unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and included British volunteers, as well as members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. In April 1918, it was joined by the 39th Battalion, raised at Fort Edward, Nova Scotia, which was made up almost entirely of Jews who were resident in the United States and Canada.^[8]

Thousands of Palestinian Jews also applied to join the Legion and in 1918, more than 1,000 were enlisted. Ninety-two Ottoman Jews who had been captured in the fighting earlier were also permitted to enlist. This group was organized as the 40th Battalion. The 41st and 42nd Battalions were

Besides various skirmishes, the Legion also participated in the Battle of Megiddo in mid-September 1918, widely considered to have been one of the final and decisive victories of the Ottoman front.

The Legion's mission was to cross the Jordan River. Jabotinsky led the effort. Later, he was decorated and Chaytor told the Jewish troops: "By forcing the Jordan fords, you helped in no small measure to win the great victory gained at Damascus."

In August 1919, 56 Legionnaires were court-martialled for refusing to continue guarding prisoners of war in the Egyptian desert. They received sentences of 2 to 7 years hard labour.^[10]

Legacy

Almost all the members of the Jewish regiments were discharged immediately after the end of the First World War in November 1918. Some of them returned to their respective countries, others settled in Palestine to realize their Zionist aspirations – among them the future first Prime Minister of

• 
  Zion Mule Corps Ammunition Company in Egypt 1915
• 
  A recruitment poster showing Daughter of Zion: "Your Old New Land must have you! Join the Jewish regiment."
• 
  Colonel John Henry Patterson.
• 
  Colonel Eliezer Margolin of the "First Judeans".
• 
  Private Morris Ziggles of the 39th Battalion and his daughter Stella, 1917.
• 
  December 1917. Jewish Legion soldiers at the Western Wall after the British take-over of Jerusalem.
• 
  February 1918 The 38th battalion of the Jewish Legion marches in the streets of London.
• 
  Lt. Ze'ev Jabotinsky MBE in uniform of 38th RF (centre seated).
• 
  39th Battalion, Jewish Legion, at Fort Edward (Nova Scotia), Yom Kippur, 1918.
• 
  Officers of 39th Royal Fusiliers (Jewish), Helmieh Camp, Cairo, August 1918.
• 
  Col. Margolin leading the 39th Battalion of the Jewish Legion through Bet Shemen.
• 
  Jewish Legion camped at what would become

  Shilo, Mateh Binyamin
• 
  Gershon Agron in his Jewish Legionnaire uniform, 1918
• 
  Private Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, a volunteer in the Jewish Legion 1918.
• 
  Private David Ben-Gurion, a volunteer in the Jewish Legion 1918.
• 
  Shimon Kushner in the uniform of the Hebrew Battalion 1918
• 
  Yaakov Dori
• 
  Private Jacob Epstein
• 
  HaYishuv Volunteers for British Army 1918.
• 
  Jewish Legion Soldiers at El Arish Egypt 1918
• 
  The Jewish Legion celebrates Passover 1919.
• 
  The choir of the Jewish Legion.
• 
  Jewish Legion Standard 1 January 1915 it reads "By Blood and Fire Judea fell-By Blood and Fire Judea will rise"
• 
  Jewish Legion standard 1 January 1918
• 
  The flag of the First Judeans 1919–1921.
• 
  The cap badge of the First Judaeans 1919–1921: menorah and word קדימה Kadima
• 
  Judea Liberated postcard. At the lower right is a Jewish Legion soldier.
• 
  Jewish Legion Veterans March in Jerusalem in protest against the "Palestine White Paper" restricting Jewish Immigration 18 May 1939
• 
  1940 Poster featuring Jabotinsky of the Jewish Legion. For contributions to Keren Hayesod.
• 
  Veterans of the Jewish Legion, 27 September 1942, Tel Aviv.

Notable members

• John Henry Patterson, Commander of Zion Mule Corps and 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
• Eliezer Margolin, Commander of the 39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and the First Judaeans
• Gershon Agron, Mayor of Jerusalem
• Jewish-American
  author
• Israeli President
• Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
• Maxwell H. Dubin, rabbi, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles
• Sir Jacob Epstein, British sculptor
• Levi Eshkol, third Prime Minister of Israel
• Louis Fischer, Jewish-American journalist and author
• Eliyahu Golomb, founding member of the Haganah
• David Grün, later Ben-Gurion, first Israeli Prime Minister
• Nachum Gutman, Israeli painter
• Dov Hoz, Zionist activist, Haganah fighter
• Julius Jacobs, brother-in-law of Moshe Smilansky; killed in the King David Hotel bombing, 22 July 1946
• Bernard Joseph, later
  MK
• Berl Katznelson, Zionist philosopher and activist
• Reuven Katzenelson, Sergeant under Joseph Trumpeldor at
  Battle of Gallipoli and father of Shmuel Tamir
• British Home Guard. His work served as the basis for a popular handbook on guerrilla warfare.^[12]
• 1947–1949 Palestine war; later worked in the Israeli Ministry of Health. (Note: he is the unnamed officer in charge of an anti-malaria programme during the Second World War – mentioned in Martin Sugarman's article^[14]
  on the Zion Mule Corps.)
• Nehemiah Rubitzov, father of Yitzhak Rabin
• Israel Rosenberg, also known as 'The grandfather of the Jewish Legion'^[15]
• James Armand de Rothschild, DCM Major, 39th Royal Fusiliers Battalion; Captain Royal Canadian Dragoons; a member of the Rothschild family
• Redcliffe N. Salaman, medical officer, from April 1918 in Egypt and Palestine, 38th Battalion, then 39th of Royal Fusiliers
• CMG son of Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel
• Moshe Smilansky, pioneer of the First Aliyah, a Zionist leader who advocated peaceful coexistence with the Arabs in Mandatory Palestine, a farmer, and a prolific author
• director-general of the Ministry of Trade and Industry under the British Mandate of Palestine; killed in the 1946 King David Hotel bombing
• Eleazar Sukenik, Israeli archaeologist; father of Yigael Yadin
• David Tidhar, Police officer, private investigator and author

See also

• Jewish Brigade, a similar military formation of volunteer Jews in the British Army that fought in the Second World War
• Anders Army
  in USSR during the Second World War
• Tilhas Tizig Gesheften, organisation which grew out of the Jewish Brigade

References