Jewish Legion
The Jewish Legion was an unofficial name used to refer to five battalions of the British Army's Royal Fusiliers regiment, which consisted of Jewish volunteers recruited during World War I. In 1915, the British Army raised the Zion Mule Corps, a transportation unit of Jewish volunteers, for service in the Gallipoli campaign. Two years later in August 1917, the decision was made to raise an infantry battalion of Jewish soldiers which would be integrated into an existing British Army regiment.
For other uses, see Jewish Legion (disambiguation).Jewish Legion
1917–1921
5 battalions
Eventually, due to large recruitment numbers, including Jews from Russia and the United States, five battalions were raised and integrated into the Royal Fusiliers; collectively, they were referred to as the "Jewish Legion". The new units raised were designated as the 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 42nd battalions of the regiment. The Jewish Legion saw action during the Sinai and Palestine campaign, where they fought at the Battle of Megiddo before being reduced to one battalion, nicknamed the "First Judaeans".
Formation[edit]
Between the dissolution of the Zion Mule Corps and the formation of the Jewish Legion, Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor and 120 Zion Mule Corps veterans served together in 16 Platoon of the 20th Battalion, London Regiment.
In August 1917, the formation of a Jewish battalion was officially announced. The unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and included British volunteers, as well as members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. In April 1918, it was joined by the 39th Battalion, raised at Fort Edward, Nova Scotia, which was made up almost entirely of Jews who were resident in the United States and Canada.[8]
Thousands of Palestinian Jews also applied to join the Legion and in 1918, more than 1,000 were enlisted. Ninety-two Ottoman Jews who had been captured in the fighting earlier were also permitted to enlist. This group was organized as the 40th Battalion. The 41st and 42nd Battalions were depot battalions stationed in Plymouth, England. In his memoirs about the Legion Jabotinsky described the composition of the 5,000-member Legion as; "thirty-four per cent from the United States, thirty per cent from Palestine, twenty-eight per cent from England, six per cent from Canada, one per cent Ottoman war prisoners, one per cent from Argentina." The soldiers of the 38th, 39th and later the 40th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers served in the Jordan Valley and fought the Ottomans north of Jerusalem.
Zion Mule Corps Ammunition Company in Egypt 1915
A recruitment poster showing Daughter of Zion: "Your Old New Land must have you! Join the Jewish regiment."
Private Morris Ziggles of the 39th Battalion and his daughter Stella, 1917.
February 1918 The 38th battalion of the Jewish Legion marches in the streets of London.
Officers of 39th Royal Fusiliers (Jewish), Helmieh Camp, Cairo, August 1918.
Gershon Agron in his Jewish Legionnaire uniform, 1918
Shimon Kushner in the uniform of the Hebrew Battalion 1918
Yaakov Dori
Private Jacob Epstein
HaYishuv Volunteers for British Army 1918.
Jewish Legion Soldiers at El Arish Egypt 1918
The Jewish Legion celebrates Passover 1919.
The choir of the Jewish Legion.
Jewish Legion Standard 1 January 1915 it reads "By Blood and Fire Judea fell-By Blood and Fire Judea will rise"
Jewish Legion standard 1 January 1918
The flag of the First Judeans 1919–1921.
The cap badge of the First Judaeans 1919–1921: menorah and word קדימה Kadima
Judea Liberated postcard. At the lower right is a Jewish Legion soldier.
Jewish Legion Veterans March in Jerusalem in protest against the "Palestine White Paper" restricting Jewish Immigration 18 May 1939
Veterans of the Jewish Legion, 27 September 1942, Tel Aviv.
