On May 17, 1939, the British government under Neville Chamberlain issued the White Paper which abandoned the idea of partitioning the Mandate. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the head of the Jewish AgencyDavid Ben-Gurion declared: "We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is no White Paper." Howard Blum, The Brigade. p.5
The President of the World Zionist OrganizationChaim Weizmann offered the British government full cooperation of the Jewish community in the British Mandate of Palestine and tried to negotiate the establishment of identifiably Jewish fighting unit (under a Jewish flag) under the auspices of British Army.
His request was rejected, but many Palestinian Jews joined the British army, some in Jewish companies. Fifteen Palestinian Jewish battalions were incorporated into the British Army in September 1940 and fought in Greece in 1941.
Palestine Regiment
Despite the efforts by the British to enlist an equal number of Jews and Arabs into the Palestine Regiment, three times more Jews volunteered than Arabs. As a result, on August 6, 1942, three Jewish battalions and one Palestinian Arab battalion were formed. The Regiment fought in Egypt and in the battles of North Africa. British also wanted to undermine efforts of Hajj Amin al-Husayni who successfully drummed up Arab support of the Axis Powers against the Allies.
After early reports of the Nazi atrocities of the Holocaust were made public by the Allied powers, the Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent a personal telegram to the US PresidentFranklin 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..."
After much hesitation, on July 3, 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. On September 20, 1944, an official communique by the War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Zionist flag was officially approved as its standard. It included more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine organized into three infantry battalions and several supporting units.
Under the command of Brigadier Ernest Benjamin, the Jewish Brigade fought against the Germans in Italy from March 1945 until the end of the war in May 1945, then it was stationed in Tarvisio, near the border triangle of Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria. There it played a key role in the Berihah's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine, a role many of its members would continue after the Brigade disbanded.
In July 1945, the Brigade moved to Belgium and the Netherlands. The Jewish Brigade Group was disbanded in the summer of 1946.
Legacy
Out of some 30,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine who served in the British Army during WWII, more than 700 were killed during active duty. Some of the Jewish Brigade members subsequently became key participants of the new State of Israel's Israel Defense Force.
Partial list of notable veterans of the Jewish Brigade
