Identifer: CJF-RFC2015333

Medium
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Description
“The Mule Drivers Corps”, recruited in Egypt from among Palestinian Jews was the original link and it participated in the 1915-16 Galipoli Campaign.  Joseph Trumpeldor was the chief instigator in organizing this military unit.  Several infantry units, composed of Jewish soldiers were formed in 1917 by the British Army.  The first unit was organized through the efforts of Ze’ev Jabotinsky.  At the same time, a Jewish legion was organized by Pinchas Rothenberg in the United States.  Yitzhak Ben Zvi and David Ben Gurion served in it and came back to Palestine with it.  A Jewish Legion was formed by volunteers from the Jewish settlements in Palestine in 1918.  Ze’ev Jabotinsky headed the recruitment effort and Eliyahu Golomb was one of its organizers (later, Chief of Hagannah).
 
            At the end of the war, the three units combined to form a Legion “The First Judeans” which was intended to be part of the troops permanently stationed in Palestine.  The Legion was dissolved in 1921 as punishment for rushing to the defence of Tel Aviv which was attached by Arab mobs.
 
            About a million and a half Jews served in the Allied Forces during the Second World War.  However, the 35,000 Jewish volunteers from Palestine-Israel serving in the British Forces, fulfilled a unique national service as representatives of the Hebrew State in the making.
 
            Following a protracted struggle with the Britain Government “The Brigade” was established in 1944 – A Jewish Fighting Unit – its emblem included the Star of David.  The Unit participated in the battles of the “Eighth Army”.  Its members extended aid to the survivors of the holocaust and played an important role in organizing “escape routes” and clandestine immigration.
 
            The volunteer movement was nothing less than a reflection of Jewish valor, Jewish honor, Jewish redemption and independence.  The graves of its 1706 casualties can be found from the Persian Gulf to Tripolitania, from Ethiopia to Northern Italy, forming the milestones along the many roads leading to the establishment of the State of Israel.