Description
Physical description
badge
A yellow star of David set on three equal vertical stripes of blue, white and blue, this example attached to a battledress backing.
History note
The badge seems to have been the emblem adopted by the Jewish Agency during the British Palestine Mandate period and later adopted as the national emblem on the creation of the State of Israel.
The Jewish Brigade Group was not formed until 28 September 1944 and HQ became functional on 6 October. Before that time many thousands of Jews had served in the armed forces of their native countries and Jewish units had been formed in the British Army (in Palestine and the Middle East) for Lines of Communication and Guard duties etc. However, requests to form a Jewish fighting force had been denied, perhaps to some extent in deference to possible Arab sensitivities. However, Churchill had supported the creation of a Jewish force as early as 1940 and in the summer of 1944 demanded action.
The Brigade was formed in Palestine based on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions the Palestine Regiment, the first battalions of which had been mustered in early 1943. The Regiment appears to have adopted the badge later used by the Brigade. Many supporting arms units were Jewish, some coming from pre-existing non-combatant units formed earlier in the War.
The Brigade arrived in Italy on 5 November 1944 and its first operational deployment was in March 1945. Under command of 8th Army it took up a position on the Senio River line between the Poles and the Italian Folgore unit. The only official battle ascribed to the Brigade was Bologna, 14-21 April 1945, but it also took part in the Senio crossing, the advance to Lake Commachio and the early stages of the Po Valley campaign. The Brigade was then withdrawn into reserve although some sub-units, such as engineers, continued under command of other formations.
In the immediate aftermath of the German surrender in Italy the Brigade was at Tarvisio on the Italian - Austrian - Yugoslavian border. Their role was to 'pacify' the area and prevent trouble arising from tensions between Tito's partisans and Allied occupation troops.
In July 1945 the Brigade transferred to Belgium and Holland under command of 21st Army Group.
Throughout this period, the Brigade was both officially and unofficially involved in the discovery and rescue of large numbers of Jews from displaced persons camps and from various places of hiding in the liberated territories. Contrary to official policy, many of these people were forwarded to Palestine.
The Brigade was disbanded in June 1946.