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{{Short description|Palestinian Jewish unit of the British Army (1944–1946)}}
{{For|other Jewish regiments|Jewish Legion (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = Jewish Brigade
| image                         = [[File:Brigada.jpg|100px]] [[File:JB sleeve patch.jpg|135px]]
| caption                       = Insignia and sleeve patch of the Jewish Brigade
| country                       = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| branch                        = {{army|United Kingdom}}
| type                          = [[Infantry]]
| role                          = 
| dates                         = 1944–1946
| command_structure             = 
| size                          = 5,000 Palestinian Jews
| nickname                      = 
| motto                         = 
| colors                        = 
| march                         = 
| battles                       = {{tree list}}
* [[Second World War]]
** {{tree list/final branch}} [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]]
{{tree list/end}}
| notable_commanders            = [[Ernest Benjamin]]
}}
The '''Jewish Infantry Brigade Group''',<ref name="AJYB46">{{cite book|last1=Adler|first1=Cyrus|author2=Henrietta Szold|title=American Jewish Year Book, Volume 48|publisher=American Jewish Committee|page=69|year=1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNcyAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jewish+Infantry+Brigade+Group%22|access-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref> more commonly known as the '''Jewish Brigade Group'''<ref name="teaching">{{cite book|title=Teaching About the Holocaust: A Resource Book for Educators|publisher=DIANE Publishing|page=27|year=1995|isbn=1-4289-2637-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0t8vFaujpkMC&q=%22jewish+brigade+group%22&pg=PA27}}</ref> or '''Jewish Brigade''',<ref>Medoff (2002), page 111</ref> was a military formation of the [[British Army]] in the [[World War II|Second World War]]. It was formed in late 1944<ref name="AJYB46" /><ref name="teaching" /> and was recruited among [[Yishuv|Yishuv Jews]] from [[Mandatory Palestine]] and commanded by [[British Jews|Anglo-Jewish]] officers. It served in the latter stages of the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]], and was disbanded in 1946.

After the war, some members of the Brigade assisted [[Holocaust survivors]] to illegally emigrate to Mandatory Palestine as part of [[Aliyah Bet]], in defiance of British restrictions. Other members formed the vigilante groups [[Gmul]] and the [[Tilhas Tizig Gesheften]], which assassinated hundreds of German, Austrian, and Italian war criminals.<ref name="medoff217">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMl0-azdbVYC&dq=%22+many+thousands+of+lives+were+saved%22&pg=PT227|title=Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948|first=Rafael|last=Medoff|date=July 2, 2002|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn=9780817310714 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Paraszczuk">{{cite news |last=Paraszczuk |first=Joanna |date=March 12, 2010 |title='We proved to the world that we can fight'. Veterans attend a special showing in Tel Aviv of Chuck Olin's award-winning documentary about the outstanding all-Jewish Brigade that helped defeat Hitler. |url=https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Tel-Aviv-And-Center/We-proved-to-the-world-that-we-can-fight |work=[[Jerusalem Post]] |location= |access-date=February 14, 2021}}</ref> There were also at least two instances in which Brigade veterans were implicated in the assassinations of Jewish [[Kapo]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Porat |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-SsDwAAQBAJ |title=Bitter Reckoning: Israel Tries Holocaust Survivors as Nazi Collaborators |date=2019-10-15 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-24313-2 |pages=16–18 |language=en}}</ref>

==Background==
===Anglo-Zionist relations===
[[File:JB HQ.jpg|right|thumb|Jewish Brigade headquarters under both [[Union Flag]] and [[Flag of Israel|Zionist flag]]]]
After the [[World War I|First World War]], the [[British Empire|British]] and the [[French colonial empire|French empires]] replaced the [[Ottoman Empire]] as the preeminent powers in the [[Middle East]]. This change brought closer the [[Zionism|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]]".<ref name="GA">Goldstein, Joseph (1995). ''Jewish History in Modern Times'', pp. 122–123</ref>

The [[League of Nations]] incorporated the Declaration in the [[Mandatory Palestine|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]].<ref name="GA"/>

[[File:Jewish Brigade October 1944.jpg|right|thumb|Brigadier [[Ernest Benjamin]], commander of the Jewish Brigade, inspects the 2nd Battalion in Palestine, October 1944.]]
In 1939, the British Government of [[Neville Chamberlain]] appeared to reject the Balfour Declaration in the [[White Paper of 1939]], abandoning the idea of establishing a Jewish Dominion. When the United Kingdom declared war on [[Nazi Germany]] in September 1939, [[David Ben-Gurion]], the head of the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]], stated: "We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is no White Paper."<ref>Blum, Howard. ''The Brigade''. p. 5.</ref>

===Origins of the Jewish Brigade===

[[Chaim Weizmann]], the President of the [[World Zionist Organization|Zionist Organization]] (ZO), offered the British government full cooperation of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. Weizmann sought to establish an identifiably Jewish fighting formation within the [[British Army]]. His request for a separate formation was rejected, but the British authorized the enlistment of Palestinian volunteers in the [[Royal Army Service Corps]] (RASC) and in the [[Royal Pioneer Corps|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.<ref>For the whole history of the 1915–1943 units formed in Palestine, see Marcel Roubiçek, "Echo of the Bugle", [[Franciscan Printing Press]], Jerusalem 1975</ref>

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 Pioneers Companies 601 to 609. All but two were lost during the Greece Campaign, with the last two returned to Palestine and disbanded there.<ref name="ReferenceA">For the whole history of the 1915–1943 units formed in Palestine, see Marcel Roubiçek, "Echo of the Bugle", Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem 1975</ref>
[[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Volunteers marching on Allenby street in Tel Aviv in favor of enlistment into the British army.jpg|thumb|Volunteers marching on [[Allenby Street]] 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,<ref>Numbered 148, 178, 179, 405, 468, and 650.</ref> a women's [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] and a Woman Territorial Air Force Service,<ref>Respectively 3,500 and 500 strong.</ref> and several auxiliaries in local units of the [[Royal Army Ordnance Corps]], [[Royal Engineers]], and [[Royal Army Medical Corps]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Nine non-combat infantry companies were raised as part of the [[Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)|Royal East Kent Regiment ("the Buffs")]], to be used as guards for prisoners-of-war camps in Egypt. In August 1942 the [[Palestine Regiment]] was formed, again plagued by the same mixed recruiting and its associated low-quality problems. The regiment was derisively called the "Five Piastre Regiments", due to the large number of Arab "volunteers" who had enlisted just for the cash bonus provided by the Jewish Agency.<ref>For the whole history of the 1915–1943 units formed in Palestine, see Marcel Roubiçek, "Echo of the Bugle", Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem 1975.</ref>

There was no designated all-Jewish, combat-worthy formation. Jewish groups petitioned the British government to create such a force, but the British refused.<ref name="medoff111">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMl0-azdbVYC&pg=PT121|title=Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948|first=Rafael|last=Medoff|date=July 2, 2002|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=9780817310714 |via=Google Books}}</ref> At that time, the White Paper was in effect, limiting Jewish immigration and land purchases.<ref name="Paraszczuk" />

Some British officials opposed creating a Jewish fighting force, fearing that it could become the basis for Jewish rebellion against British rule.<ref name="Paraszczuk" /> In August 1944, Winston Churchill agreed to the formation of a "Jewish Brigade". According to [[Rafael Medoff]], Churchill consented because he was "moved by the slaughter of Hungarian Jewry [and] was hoping to impress American public opinion."<ref name="medoff111" />

==Jewish Brigade==
===Creation===
[[File:The British Mandate in Palestine 1917-1948 E29794.jpg|thumb|right|1st Battalion of the Jewish Brigade on parade]]
After early reports of the [[Nazism|Nazi]] atrocities of [[the Holocaust]] were made public by the Allied powers in the spring and early summer of 1942,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Medoff |first1=Rafael |title=How America First Learned of the Holocaust |url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2012/06/11/how-america-first-learned-of-the-holocaust/ |website=the algemeiner |publisher=Algemeiner.com |access-date=June 16, 2020}}</ref> British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] sent a personal telegram to the [[President of the United States|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..."

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 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.

[[File:Demonstration in Tel Aviv for the British army recruiting during World War II H ih 047.JPG|thumb|A march in Tel Aviv for recruitment to the British Army during the Second World War]]
The [[Flag of Israel|Zionist flag]] was approved as its [[flag|standard]]. It included more than 5,000 Jewish volunteers from Mandatory Palestine, organized into three [[infantry]] battalions of the [[Palestine Regiment]] and several supporting units.
* 1st Battalion, Palestine Regiment
* 2nd Battalion, Palestine Regiment
* 3rd Battalion, Palestine Regiment
* 200th Field Regiment ([[Royal Artillery]])

''[[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."<ref>{{Cite news |title=NEW JEWISH BRIGADE PRAISED IN SERMON | work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/24/87470869.html?pageNumber=8 |access-date=2022-12-25 |language=en}}</ref> ''[[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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Beckman |first=Morris |title=Jewish Brigade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYXzAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Manchester+Guardian+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. |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |year=1998 |page=49 |isbn=9781885119568}}</ref>

===Military engagements===
[[File:The British Army in Italy 1945 NA23041.jpg|thumb|Men of the Jewish Brigade ride on a Churchill tank in North Italy, 14 March 1945.]]
[[File:SC 474850 - 3 inch mortar crew of the Jewish Inf. Brigade preparing to open fire. 30 March, 1945. Pideura area, Italy. (52120147272).jpg|thumb|A Jewish Brigade mortar team in action, 30 March 1945.]]
[[File:SC 374840 - Infantrymen of the new Jewish Brigade moving up to take positions in the line. 24 March, 1945. (52122307619).jpg|thumb|Jewish Brigade soldiers moving to take positions in the [[Brisighella]] area, 24 March 1945.]]
[[File:Jewish Brigade-gift.jpg|thumb|Joseph Wald, a Jewish Brigade soldier, carries an artillery shell. The Hebrew inscription on the shell translates as "A gift to [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]."]]
[[File:Sniper Jewish Brigade.jpg|thumb|A Jewish Brigade sniper, Jacob Feinbuch, prepares his rifle for action.]]
In October 1944, under the leadership of Brigadier [[Ernest F. Benjamin]], the brigade group was shipped to Italy. It joined the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|British Eighth Army]] in November, which was engaged in the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Campaign]] under the [[15th Army Group]].<ref name="Paraszczuk" /><ref name="Joslen453">Joslen, p. 453.</ref>

The Jewish Brigade took part in the [[Spring 1945 offensive in Italy|Spring Offensive]] of 1945. It took positions on the front line for the first time on March 3, 1945 along the south bank of the [[Senio River]], and immediately began engaging in small-scale actions against German forces, facing the [[42nd Jäger Division]] and the [[362nd Infantry Division]]. The brigade carried out aggressive patrolling during which it engaged in numerous firefights in order to improve its positions, clear the south bank of German troops, and take prisoners, and carried out small-scale raids against German positions across the river to test the enemy's strength and map out enemy defensive positions. On March 15, it successfully ambushed an enemy patrol, inflicting an estimated eight casualties for none in return.<ref name=beckman-6/>

In one notable raid, it was supported by tanks of the [[North Irish Horse]] and [[South African Air Force]] fighter aircraft. The South African pilots, many of whom were Jewish, flew in a Star of David formation during their attack run as a tribute to the brigade. During the raid, the brigade's infantrymen ran ahead of the tanks and mopped up the German positions, returning with prisoners and greatly impressing the seasoned troops of the North Irish Horse.<ref name=beckman-6>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', Chapter 6</ref>

The brigade first entered into major combat operations on March 19–20, 1945 at [[Alfonsine]].<ref name = "museofelonica1">{{cite web|title= Il contributo della brigata ebraica nella Campagna d'Italia 1943-1945|author = Simone Guidorzi|language=it|website= Sermidiana Magazine|date = February 2008|url = https://www.museofelonica.it/doc/stampa/Sermidiana/feb08.pdf}}</ref> In its first sustained action on March 19, the brigade inflicted 30 enemy casualties and took 11 prisoners for the loss of two killed and 19 wounded in a series of clashes. The brigade continued the action into the following day and repulsed an attack by a strong enemy patrol, losing another three dead and six wounded. On March 27, the brigade's third battalion took positions facing elements of the German [[4th Parachute Division (Germany)|4th Parachute Division]] commanded by ''[[Generalleutnant]]'' [[Heinrich Trettner]]. Both sides sent out patrols which clashed in a series of short and intense firefights and engaged each other with intermittent artillery and mortar bombardment.<ref name="Consonni">{{cite web|author=Manuela Consonni|url=http://www.lastampa.it/2016/05/03/cultura/la-brigata-ebraica-alla-liberazione-dellitalia-T3j0U3KepIrY3SllYPZKdN/pagina.html|language=it|title=La Brigata ebraica alla liberazione dell'Italia|website=La Stampa|date=3 May 2016|access-date=17 April 2020}}</ref> Other brigade forces also engaged in clashes with the Germans throughout the following days.

From April 1–9, the brigade continued to engage the Germans in a series of small-scale clashes. It returned to offensive operations during the "[[:it:Battaglia dei tre fiumi|Three Rivers Battle]]" on April 10, during which it crossed the Senio River and captured the two positions allocated to it, establishing a bridgehead. While the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West|Free Polish]] unit on the brigade's right flank also succeeded, the attack on the German [[redoubt]] on its left flank by the [[Italian Co-belligerent Army]] failed and the brigade was subsequently assigned to destroy it. The brigade launched a fierce attack that began with a bayonet charge and wiped out all enemy positions in fifteen minutes. It then withdrew as ordered.<ref name=beckman-9>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', Chapter 9</ref><ref name = "museofelonica1"/>

The brigade proceeded to expand its bridgehead over the Senio River and advance further, engaging in more clashes. On April 12, the brigade captured Monte Ghebbio in a battle with German paratroopers.<ref name=beckman-9/> As the Allies advanced on [[Bologna]], the brigade was ordered to take command of a sector in the Monte Grande area north of San Clemente, which overlooked Bologna and was at the junction of the US Fifth Army and British Eighth Army. The brigade's headquarters took six British and Indian battalions and the only British mountain artillery unit in Italy under its command. Their task was to hold the Monte Grande area as Bologna was besieged. As Allied forces pushed towards the [[Po (river)|Po River]], the Germans retreated and the main brigade forces lost contact with them. A handful of units attached to other nationalities encountered rearguard actions. The brigade's engineering units assisted in bridging the Po River to enable Allied forces to cross it. The brigade then received orders to break off from the advance and remain as a reserve unit in the British 10th Corps. This marked the end of its wartime combat operations. The Jewish Brigade spent 48 days on the frontline in Italy - March 3 to April 20, 1945.<ref name = "museofelonica1"/>

The commander of the [[X Corps (United Kingdom)|British 10th Corps]] praised the Jewish Brigade's performance:

<blockquote>The Jewish Brigade fought well and its men were eager to make contact with the enemy by any means available to them. Their staff work, their commands and their assessments were good. If they get enough help they certainly deserve to be part of any field force whatsoever.<ref>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', p. 94</ref></blockquote>

There are indications that brigade members summarily executed surrendering German soldiers, particularly SS soldiers, in order to take revenge for the Holocaust. Although Brigadier Benjamin urged his troops not to kill surrendering Germans, emphasizing that intelligence gleaned from interrogation of prisoners would hasten the end of the war, he and his staff understood the desire for vengeance among the soldiers, and no Jewish Brigade soldier was ever punished for killing or otherwise mistreating surrendering enemy troops.<ref>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', p. 77</ref>

The Jewish Brigade was represented among the liberating Allied units at a papal audience. The Jewish Brigade was then stationed in [[Tarvisio]], near the border triangle of [[Italy]], [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and [[Allied-occupied Austria|Austria]]. They searched for Holocaust survivors, provided survivors with aid, and assisted in their immigration to Palestine.<ref name="Paraszczuk" /> They played a key role in the [[Berihah]]'s efforts to help Jews escape Europe for British Mandatory Palestine, a role many of its members were to continue after the Brigade disbanded. Among its projects was the education and care of the [[Selvino children]]. In July 1945, the Brigade moved to [[Belgium]] and the [[Netherlands]].<ref name="Joslen453"/>

During the course of the Second World War, the Jewish Brigade suffered 83 killed in action or died of wounds and 200 wounded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1 |title=Find War Dead |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=9 December 2016 |quote=The CWGC lists 110 names of the Palestine Regiment of whom about 20 have non-Jewish surnames }}</ref>  Its dead are buried in the Commonwealth's Ravenna War Cemetery at Piangipane.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/70505/Ravenna%20War%20Cemetery|title=RAVENNA WAR CEMETERY|publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] |access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref>

==Post-war deployment and disbandment==
{{Main|Tilhas Tizi Gesheften|Gmul}}
[[File:Trevisopalmach2.jpg|thumb|Jewish Brigade soldiers in [[Tarvisio]]]]
[[File:Italia austria.jpg|thumb|Jewish Brigade troops on the Italian-Austrian border]]
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]].<ref name="Paraszczuk"/>

The Jewish Brigade also joined groups of Holocaust survivors in forming assassination squads known as the [[Nakam]], for the purpose of tracking down and killing former [[SS]] and [[Wehrmacht]] officers who had participated in atrocities against European Jews. Information regarding the whereabouts of these fugitives was gathered either by torturing imprisoned Nazis or by way of military connections. The British uniforms, military documentation, equipment, and vehicles used by Jewish Brigade veterans greatly contributed to the success of the TTG. With the end of the war in Europe, a secret unit within the Jewish Brigade called [[Gmul]] ("Recompense") was formed to hunt Nazis. Working in teams of no more than five men, Gmul operatives generally approached their targets wearing British military police uniforms and told them they were being taken for interrogation before killing them. The operation lasted for three months, during which between 100 and 200 Germans were killed. It ended when the British, hearing complaints about disappearances from German families, understood what had been happening and redeployed the brigade to the Netherlands and Belgium. The Haganah command also issued an order to end the Gmul operations. However, brigade members continued to hunt and kill Nazis, working under the name "Operation Judgement" in secret killing squads. The number of Nazis the TTG killed is unknown, but may have been as high as 1,500.<ref>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', p. 213</ref><ref>Ian Black and Benny Morris: ''Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services'', p. 188</ref><ref name=vengeance>{{cite book|last=Beckham|first=Morris|author-link=Morris Beckman (writer)|title=The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters, 1944-45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEs4QwAACAAJ&q=The+Jewish+Brigade:+An+Army+With+Two+Masters,+1944-45.|year=1999|publisher=Sarpedon Publishers|isbn=1-885119-56-9}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jewish-vengeance-wwii Jewish Vengeance]</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" />

After assignment to the [[VIII Corps (United Kingdom)|VIII Corps District]] of the British Army of the Rhine (Schleswig-Holstein), the Jewish Brigade was disbanded in the summer of 1946.<ref>Watson, Graham E., Rinaldi, Richard A., ''The British Army in Germany (BOAR and after): An organizational history 1947–2004'', [[Tiger Lily Publications]], 2005, p. 7</ref>

===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.<ref>{{cite book |last= Carmi |first= Israel |title= In the Footsteps of Fighters (in Hebrew) |year=1960 |publisher=[[Marachot]] |location= Tel Aviv |page=165 }}</ref>

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 ''[[Hakhshara|hachsharot]]'', supplying food, and compiling lists of survivors.<ref>{{cite book |last= Carmi |first= Israel |title= In the Footsteps of Fighters (in Hebrew) |year=1960 |publisher= Marachot |location= Tel Aviv |page=165 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bauer|first=Yehuda|title=Flight and Rescue: Brichah|url=https://archive.org/details/flightrescuebric0000baue|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=Random House|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/flightrescuebric0000baue/page/64 64–66]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hebrew University Oral History Archive|title=Interview with Aharon Hoter-Yishai (in Hebrew)|date=January 5, 1964|location=Jerusalem, Israel|pages=(4), 22}}</ref>
[[File:Arthur_Szyk_(1894-1951)._Visual_History_of_Nations,_Israel_(1948),_New_Canaan,_CT.jpg|thumb|A 1948 art piece by [[Arthur Szyk]] 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.<ref name="Carmi 1960 248–255">{{cite book|last=Carmi|first=Israel|title=In the Footsteps of Fighters|language=Hebrew|year=1960|publisher=Marachot|location=Tel Aviv|pages=248–255}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Carmi 1960 248–255"/>

[[File:Ot lohem banazim-1.jpg|thumb|100px|The [[Fighters against Nazis Medal]]]]
Jewish Brigade soldiers, assisting with the Bricha, specifically took advantage of the chaotic situation in post-war Europe to move Holocaust survivors between countries and across borders. Soldiers were intentionally placed by Merkaz Lagolah at transfer points and border crossings to assist the Jewish DPs ([[displaced persons]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Dan|first=Haim|title=From the Egyptian Desert to Munich: Diary of a Jewish Brigade Soldier |language=HE|year=1972|publisher=Am Oved|location=Tel Aviv|page=84}}</ref> 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.<ref>For more information on specific involvement of Jewish Brigade soldiers in Bricha missions, see Israel Ben Dor, ''Book of the First Battalion of Jewish Brigade Fighters,'' (in Hebrew), (Macabim: Melzer, 2000): 260, 264 and Gabriel Sheffer, ''Moshe Sharett: Biography of a Political Moderate'' (Oxford: [[Clarendon Press]], 1996): 752–755.</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gelber|first=Yoav|title=Jewish Palestinians Volunteering in the British Army during the Second World War: The Standard Bearers - The Mission of the Volunteers to the Jewish People, Vol. III (in Hebrew)|year=1983|publisher=Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi|location=Jerusalem|page=441}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Haganah Archive|title=Oral Testimony of Liev Garfunkel|language=Hebrew|date=February 13, 1968|location=Tel Aviv, Israel|pages=93.28}}</ref>

===Military legacy===
[[File:Ha-Hitnadvut.svg|thumb|[[The Volunteer Ribbon]] 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]]. Many veterans served as high-ranking officers in the Israeli military, with 35 becoming generals.<ref>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', p. 140</ref><ref name=revenge>{{cite web|last=Kossoff |first=Julian |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/jewish-brigade-shot-nazi-prisoners-in-revenge-1191139.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/jewish-brigade-shot-nazi-prisoners-in-revenge-1191139.html |archive-date=2022-06-08 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Jewish Brigade shot Nazi prisoners in revenge |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=1998-12-13 |access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref>

==Legacy==
===Medals and awards===
[[File:Valor militare gold medal BAR.svg|thumb|The Italian [[Gold Medal of Military Valour]] awarded in 2018 to the warflag of the Jewish Brigade]]
[[File:7thArmoredBrigade.svg|thumb|7th armored Brigade]]
[[File:תג חטיבת גבעתי.svg|thumb|The Jewish Brigade legacy is most notably carried on by the Givati Brigade]]

Among the brigade's soldiers, 78 were [[mentioned in dispatches]], and 20 received military decorations (7 [[Military Medal]]s, 7 [[Order of the British Empire]] medals, 4 [[Military Cross]]es, and 2 US awards).<ref>Morris Beckman, ''The Jewish Brigade'', p. 161</ref> Veterans of the Brigade were later entitled to the [[Volunteer Ribbon]] and the [[Fighters against Nazis Medal]] of the State of Israel.<ref>{{cite news |title=73 years on, Italy awards Jewish Brigade medal of valor for fighting Nazis |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/73-years-on-italy-awards-jewish-brigade-medal-of-valor-for-fighting-nazis/ |newspaper=[[Times of Israel]] |date=3 October 2018 |access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>

In October 2018, after a unanimous support vote by the Italian Parliament, the war flag of the Jewish Brigade Group was awarded the Italian [[Gold Medal of Military Valour|"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 (Israel)|7th Armored Brigade]], heirs of the Jewish Brigade Group, in a celebration at the Bet Hagdudim (Battalions Museum) in [[Avihayil]].<ref>{{cite news |title=73 years on, Italy awards Jewish Brigade medal of valor for fighting Nazis |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/73-years-on-italy-awards-jewish-brigade-medal-of-valor-for-fighting-nazis/ |newspaper=Times of Israel |date=3 October 2018 |access-date=17 July 2020}}</ref>

===Legacy===
The Jewish Brigade inspired numerous memoires, books<ref name="Amazon">{{cite book|first=Howard|last=Blum|authorlink=Howard Blum|title=The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII|date=6 November 2001 |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]]|isbn= 0060194863}}</ref> and films.<ref name="Olin Associates">{{Cite web|url=http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/index.htm|title=Olin Associates (2010)|access-date=2010-11-20|archive-date=2011-05-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518110025/http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 (Uris novel)|Exodus]]'', and the subsequent [[Exodus (1960 film)|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.

==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'''
{{div col}}
* [[Yehuda Amichai]], poet and author
* [[Yehuda Arazi]], military officer and businessman
* [[Meir Argov]], activist and politician
* [[Ted Arison]], businessman
* [[Yehoshua Bar-Hillel]], philosopher, mathematician, and linguist
* [[Hanoch Bartov]], author and journalist
* [[Ephraim Ben-Artzi]], general and businessman
* [[Haim Ben-Asher]], politician
* [[Gideon Ben-Yisrael]], politician
* [[Shmuel Ben-Dror]], [[association football]] player
* [[Yehezkel Braun]], composer
* [[Zvi Brenner]], soldier
* [[Israel Carmi]], founder of [[Tilhas Tizig Gesheften]]
* [[Reuven Dafni]], soldier and diplomat
* [[Yehiel Duvdevani]], [[Zionist]] activist and politician
* [[Michael Evenari]], botanist
* [[Mordechai Gichon]], author and [[military]] [[historian]]
* [[Amir Gilboa]], poet
* [[Elazar Granot]], politician and writer
* [[Dov Gruner]], soldier and [[Zionist]] activist
* [[Shraga Har-Gil]], journalist, Middle East correspondent and writer
* [[Yehoshafat Harkabi]], chief of [[Israel]]i [[Aman (IDF)|military intelligence]]
* [[Aharon Hoter-Yishai]], Israeli Military Advocate General
* [[Yigal Hurvitz]], farmer, businessman and politician
* [[Hans Jonas]], philosopher
* [[Haim Laskov]], fifth [[Ramatkal|Chief of Staff]] of the [[Israel Defense Forces]]
* [[Guenter Lewy]], author and political scientist
* [[Mordechai Maklef]], third [[Ramatkal|Chief of Staff]] of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] 
* [[Danny Matt]], military officer
* [[Shimon Mazeh]], military officer, agronomist, and businessman
* [[Issachar Miron]], composer
* [[Nissan Nativ]], actor and director
* [[Yitzhak Orpaz]], writer
* [[David Rubinger]]
* [[Gideon Schocken]]
* [[Shlomo Shamir]]
* [[Chaim Sheba]]
* [[Mordechai Surkis]]
* [[Israel Tal]]
* [[Adin Talbar]]
* [[Avraham Tamir]]
* [[Moshe Tavor]]
* [[Meir Zorea]]
* [[Amram Zur]]
* [[Shalom Zysman]], politician
{{div col end}}

==See also==

<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦--->
* [[Fighters against Nazis Medal]]
* [[Jewish Legion]]
* [[Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine]]
* [[Special Interrogation Group]] (SIG)
* ''[[The Sixth Battalion]]'' – a documentary about Jewish soldiers forced to fight for the Nazis in the Slovak Republic during the Second World War.
* [[Tilhas Tizig Gesheften]], a paramilitary sister effort undertaken by many members of the brigade
* [[Volunteer Ribbon]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|last1=Adler| first1= Cyrus|author-link1=Cyrus Adler| last2=Szold| first2=Henrietta| author-link2=Henrietta Szold |title=American Jewish Year Book, Volume 48|publisher=American Jewish Committee|year=1946|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNcyAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Jewish+Infantry+Brigade+Group%22}}
* {{cite book|last=Beckham|first=Morris|author-link=Morris Beckman (writer)|title=The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters, 1944–45|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEs4QwAACAAJ&q=The+Jewish+Brigade:+An+Army+With+Two+Masters,+1944-45.|year=1999|publisher=Sarpedon Publishers|isbn=1-885119-56-9}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite book| first=Howard| last=Blum| author-link=Howard Blum| title=The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation, and WWII| publisher=HarperCollins| location=New York| year=2002| isbn=0-06-019486-3| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/brigadeepicstory0000blum}}
* {{cite book| title=With the Jewish Brigade| first=Bernard M |last=Casper| publisher=Edward Goldston| location=London| year=1947}} Contains a foreword by E F Benjamin former commander of the Jewish Brigade. Casper was Senior Chaplain to the Brigade.
* {{Joslen-OOB}}
* {{cite book|last=Medoff |first=Rafel |author-link=Rafael Medoff|title=Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States|publisher=University of Alabama Press|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMl0-azdbVYC&q=%22jewish+brigade%22|isbn=978-0-8173-1071-4}}
* {{cite news | last=Paraszczuk| first=Joanna |title=We Proved to the World That We Can Fight; Veterans Attend a Special Showing in Tel Aviv of Chuck Olin's Award-winning Documentary About the Outstanding all-Jewish Brigade that Helped Defeat Hitler |newspaper= [[The Jerusalem Post]]|date= March 3, 2010|url=https://www.jpost.com/LocalIsrael/TelAvivAndCenter/Article.aspx?id=170842 }}
* {{cite video| title=In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II| year=1998| url=http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/resources/index.html| publisher=Film Resource Center| medium=DVD| access-date=2005-07-24| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222200152/http://www.olinfilms.com/brigade/resources/index.html| archive-date=2008-02-22| url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book| title=The Jewish Brigade Group and the Jewish Units in the British Army in World War II| first=Sam M| last=Rocca| publisher=[[Soldiershop Publishing]]| location=Italy| year=2013| url=http://www.soldiershop.com/press/s&w018.htm| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919225845/http://www.soldiershop.com/press/s%26w018.htm| archive-date=2013-09-19}}
* {{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Maj.-Gen. Shamir (Rabinowicz) |title=Divine Intervention and a Jewish Flag in the British Army |year= |location=Israel (2014) |isbn=978-965-555-748-0}} (Private edition in Hebrew). Shamir was the Jewish Brigade Covert Commander on behalf of the Haganah and the Jewish Institutions in Palestine.
* Maj.-Gen. Shamir (Rabinowicz), Shlomo. ''Dance of the Fire, The Jewish Brigade in WWII, Facts, Myths, Appraisal''. UK (2025). {{ISBN|978-1-917458-31-3 }}. Unicorn Publishing Group. Shamir was the Jewish Brigade Covert Commander on behalf of the Haganah and the Jewish Institutions in Palestine. Introduction by the President of the State of Israel.

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/jewish-brigade Jewish Brigade Group]. ''[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]'' article at ''[[Encyclopedia.com]]''
* [[Yad Vashem]]. [https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/jewish-soldiers.html Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies]; archived at the [[Wayback Machine]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20240704073957/https://www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/about/combat-resistance/jewish-soldiers.html Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies]
* [[Yad Vashem]], Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies. https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206365.pdf Jewish Brigade Group]; archived at the [[Wayback Machine]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20240421062349/https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206365.pdf Jewish Brigade Group]
* [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]], Holocaust Encyclopedia. [https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/jewish-brigade-group Jewish Brigade Group].  Links to articles and photographs 
* Christy, Gabe. [https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/how-jewish-helped-found-nations.html How the Jewish Brigade Saved Lives, and Helped to Found a Nation’s Army], March 17, 2018. At War History Online
* [[Meir Pa'il|Pa'il, Me'ir]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20040623080815/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/history/modern%20history/centenary%20of%20zionism/from%20hashomer%20to%20the%20israel%20defense%20forces From Hashomer to the Israel Defense Forces Armed Jewish Defense in Palestine] [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)|Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], 22 September 2003. At the [[Wayback Machine]] 
* [[Chaim Weizmann|Weizmann, Chaim]]. [https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/chaim-weizmann-jewish-brigade/ Chaim Weizmann to Lorna Wingate on the Jewish Brigade: "There is No Shortcut to Jerusalem"] January 23, 1941. At [[Shapell Manuscript Foundation]]; archived at the [[Wayback Machine]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20250125081128/https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/chaim-weizmann-jewish-brigade/ Chaim Weizmann to Lorna Wingate on the Jewish Brigade]
* [[Chaim Weizmann|Weizmann, Chaim]]. [https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/british-palestinian-jewish-brigade-fights-nazi-germany-1944/ Chaim Weizmann the Jewish Brigade in 1944] September 30, 1944 to Lorna Wingate. At [[Shapell Manuscript Foundation]]; archived at the [[Wayback Machine]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20240622101158/https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/british-palestinian-jewish-brigade-fights-nazi-germany-1944/ Chaim Weizmann on the Jewish Brigade and Jewish State in 1944] 
* [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University Library]], Chuck Olin Digital Film Archive. [https://guides.library.illinois.edu/olin/jewish-brigade First-hand Accounts from the Jewish Brigade], digital video interviewst
{{British infantry brigades of the Second World War}}
{{Mandatory Palestine topics}}

[[Category:Jewish Brigade| ]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1944]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1946]]
[[Category:Brigades of the British Army in World War II]]
[[Category:History of Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Jewish military units and formations]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of Mandatory Palestine in World War II]]
[[Category:1944 establishments in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:1946 disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Zionism in Mandatory Palestine]]