Jewish Legion

This article describes the regiments of the British Army that fought against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. For more see Jewish Legion (disambiguation) .

Members of the Jewish Legion in front of the Western Wall after the conquest of Jerusalem, December 1917

Jewish Legion was the name of five battalions , made up of Jewish volunteers who in the First World War as a battalion no. 38 to 42 of the Royal Fusiliers ( Royal Fusiliers ) of the British Army fought. The first unit, called the Zion Mule Corps , was set up in 1914/15 to be used against the Ottoman Army .

History until 1918

Jabotinsky in the uniform of the Jewish Legion

Joseph Trumpeldor 1917

Fallen of the Jewish Legion

battalion	dead
38.	43
39.	23
40.	12
42.	3
38./40.	9

In December 1914, Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor spoke out in favor of the formation of a Jewish unit to aid the British army in its struggle to liberate the Holy Land from Ottoman rule. By the end of March 1915, 500 volunteers from Egypt , who had been deported there by the Ottoman government, began their military training. The following April 562 men were sent to the Battle of Gallipoli under the leadership of Commander John Henry Patterson , as Great Britain initially refused to allow Jewish volunteers to take part in the front in Palestine for political reasons. The Zion Mule Corps was disbanded in 1916.

After Jabotinsky's intensive lobbying in Great Britain, the formation of a Jewish regiment was officially announced on August 23, 1917 . Jabotinsky also reports for duty in the new unit. However, the units that were subsequently set up were led as battalions of the Royal Fusiliers Regiment . The 38th and 39th Battalions consisted almost entirely of Jews from Great Britain, Russia , the United States, and Canada . Patterson took command of the first deployed unit, the 38th Battalion.

In June 1918, the 40th battalion, which consisted of Jews from the Ottoman province of Palestine and other areas, was deployed under the command of New Zealand Major General E.WC Chaytor in the Jordan Valley and in a battle about 30 km north of Jerusalem . Over 20 legionaries were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The rest became ill with malaria , and 30 out of that group later died. The Legion's task was to cross the Jordan , led by Jabotinsky. He later received an award for it, which he returned immediately afterwards.

After 1918

Almost all members of the Jewish Legion were released in November 1918 immediately after the end of the First World War. Some of them returned to their homeland, others settled in Palestine in order to realize their Zionist ideas. In 1919 the Jewish Legion was downgraded to battalion strength and given the name First Judeans . She received a special badge on her peaked cap, a seven-armed candlestick with the Hebrew word קדימה kadima (forward) at its foot .

Former members of the Jewish Legion participated in the defense of Jewish institutions during the riots of 1920. One consequence of this was the arrest of Jabotinsky. Joseph Trumpeldor was killed with two former members of the Jewish Legion near Tel Chai .

During the Jaffa riots of May 1921, another member of the Jewish Legion was killed.

Other veterans founded the moshav Avihayil near Netanyas in 1932 .

Well-known members of the Jewish Legion

Visor badge of the Jewish Legion

Flag of the First Judeans

• David Ben-Gurion , first Israeli Prime Minister
• Yitzchak Ben Tzwi , second President of Israel
• Yaakov Dori , First Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
• Sir Jacob Epstein , English sculptor and draftsman
• Levi Eschkol , third Israeli prime minister
• Dov Hoz , one of the founders of the Haganah
• Berl Katznelson , Israeli labor leader, journalist and politician
• Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky , Zionist revisionist
• John Henry Patterson , British soldier and author
• Nehemiah Rabin, father of Yitzchak Rabin
• Edwin Herbert Samuel, son of Herbert Louis Samuel
• Elieser Sukenik , Israeli archaeologist, father of Jigael Jadin
• Joseph Trumpeldor , one of the commanders of the HaSchomer HaTzair

See also

• Jewish Brigade
• History of the State of Israel

Web links

Commons : Jewish Legion  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The Zion Muleteers of Gallipoli (English) , Jewish Virtual Library - American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

literature

• Elias Gilner: War and hope. A History of the Jewish Legion . Herzl Press, New York 1969.
• Wladimir Jabotinsky: The Jewish Legion in the World War . Jewish publishing house, Berlin 1930.
• Martin Watts: The Jewish Legion and the First World War . Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke 2004, ISBN 1-4039-3921-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mordechai Naor : Eretz Israel. The 20th century. Könemann, Cologne, 1998, ISBN 3-89508-594-4 , p. 77.