THE ORIGINS OF "GRANDMA'S ARMY" II

 

THE ORIGINS OF “GRANDMA’S ARMY” - II

Once World War I came to an end, the British gained control over the Land of Israel as part of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which divided the Middle East between the British and French.

By the beginning of 1919, the three  Jewish battalions numbered over 5,000 men After the victorious end of the Palestine campaign, the name "Royal Fusiliers" was changed to "Judean Regiment". Its insignia became a menorah with the Hebrew word "kadimah" (“forward”), and all officers and men at the front wore a Magen David on their sleeves. The actual strength of the Legion could have been more than twice as large. Applications for enlistment came from several countries; 1,500 volunteered in Salonika; in Italy 2,000, Transylvanian prisoners of war applied to be enlisted; the "Mountain Jews" from Dagestan in the Caucausus sent emissaries offering all their youth. The number of those who were allowed to actuall enlisted – in addition to the 5,000 in active service – by Armistice Day (Nov. 11, 1918) was 5,600.                                                                                

At an early stage, there was a definite plan to convert the Legion into a full-fledged brigade, comprising four battalions. This plan was never fulfilled. "Instead," relates Colonel Patterson, "we were pushed around from brigade to brigade and from division to division. In the space of three months we found ourselves attached to no less than 12 different formations of the British Army." British military authorities openly discriminated against the Legion. Jerusalem was placed out of bounds for Jewish soldiers. They were often so molested by the military police that, according to Patterson, the only way they could enjoy a peaceful walk outside the camp limits was by removing their distinctive badges.                                                                        

As long as the Legion remained in full strength, occupying strategically crucial positions, there was peace and order in Palestine. The situation began to deteriorate with the progressive whittling down of the Legionnaires. The anti-Zionist military administration was eager to promote their demobilization at the earliest possible date. When the formation of a standing army of occupation was announced, several hundred overseas (predominantly American) volunteers offered their services, but British headquarters sabotaged their reenlistment. Jabotinsky, who was urging the volunteers to stay on and who had himself registered for further service, was forcibly demobilized in August 1919. In the second part of 1919, only two of the three battalions were still in existence, then one (the Palestinian unit), and then only part of that. In the spring of 1920 a mere 400 men remained.

When anti-Jewish riots broke out in Palestine during Passover 1920, Legionnaires still on active duty were confined to their barracks by the British. Sir Herbert Samuel, the first high commissioner of Palestine, created a mixed Arab-Jewish militia, based on voluntary enlistment. The last 400 Palestinian Legionnaires joined this formation, and Eliezer Margolin was appointed commander of its Jewish half. On May 1, 1921, when anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa, leaving behind 13 massacred Jews, Margolin entered the town with his men fully armed, without asking permission from the military authorities. Accused of breach of discipline, he was forced to resign.

This effectively marked the end of the Jewish Legion. The Palestine government promised to facilitate the settlement of demobilized Legionnaires on government land, but the promise was not honoured,

The experience of the Zion Mule Corps. in Gallipoli was the stormy epilogue of an era of vacillation, timidity and fear. The prelude to a new age of action, of which the Jewish Legion was only the beginning, arose. The service of the Jewish Legion established a precedent that Jews could, should, and would fight to achieve the aims of Zionism. They would not wait for Palestine to be paid for with the blood of other nations’ soldiers, but would take their future in their own hands.