The Jewish Legion
(1915 - 1918)
Military formation of Jewish
volunteers in World
War I, who fought in
the British Army for the liberation of Eretz
Yisrael from Turkish
rule. The idea was raised,
on December 1914, by Vladimir
Jabotinsky and was fully embraced by Joseph
Trumpeldor. By the end of March 1915,
500 Jewish volunteers from among the yishuv
deportees in Egypt had started training.
The British military command
opposed the participation of Jewish volunteers
on the Palestinian front and suggested the
volunteers serve as a detachment for mule
transport on some other sector of the Turkish
front. Trumpeldor succeeded
in forming the 650-strong Zion Mule Corps,
of whom 562 were sent to the Galipoli front.
Meanwhile, Vladimir
Jabotinsky pursued his project of a Jewish
Legion for the Palestinian front. Finally,
on August 1917, the formation of a Jewish
regiment was officially announced.
The unit was designated
as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.
It included British volunteers, members of
the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number
of Russian Jews. On April 1918, it was joined
by the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers,
more than 50 percent (1,720) of whom were
American volunteers.
In June 1918, The 38th Battalion
of the Royal Fusiliers was sent to Palestine,
where the volunteers fought for the liberation
of Eretz Yisrael from Turkish rule some
20 miles north of Jerusalem.
In the fighting in the Jordan Valley, more
than 20 Legionnaires were killed, wounded,
or captured, the rest came down with malaria,
and 30 of this group later died. The Legion
then came under the command of Major General
E.W.C. Chaytor. 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 General 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 late 1919, the Jewish
Legion was reduced to one battalion titled First
Judeans, and awarded a distinctive cap
badge, a menorah with
the Hebrew word קדימה Kadima (forward)
at the base. The Jewish
Legion was demobilized by the Anti-Zionist British
Military Administration (1918 -1920).
Sources: The
Pedagogic Center, The Department for Jewish Zionist
Education, The Jewish Agency for Israel, (c) 1997-2008,
Director: Dr. Motti Friedman, Webmaster: Esther Carciente;
Wikipedia;
Michael B. Oren, Power,
Faith, and Fantasy, NY: W.
W. Norton, 2007, p. 363. |