Ebook: The Jewish Brigade: An Army With Two Masters 1944-1945

[Flyleaves:]

"Formed in 1944 as part of the British Army, the Jewish Infantry Brigade fought with distinction in Italy. It was the first all-Jewish 'army' and knowledge of its existence and its role in defeating the Nazis gave an immense boost to Jews everywhere.

But the Brigade's political masters were in Palestine, not Whitehall, and as the Second World War ended so their own agenda revealed itself. Brigaders assisted thousands of refugees to reach Palestine, then under British blockade. They also trained them in tactics and the use of weapons.

Meanwhile, in secret and without official sanction, their 'revenge squads' travelled the length and breadth of Europe hunting down and killing high-ranking Nazis. Finally, the Brigade was the template for the future Israeli Defence Force based on the British model and Brigade members were to provide no fewer than 35 of its future generals.


Morris Beckman was born in Hackney, London, and during World War II served as a radio officer in the Merchant Navy, taking part in the Battle of the Atlantic. He experienced several convoy battles, being torpedoed and bombed, which he described in his acclaimed war memoir, *Atlantic Roulette* (1996).

Late in 1942, he joined the Mogul Line in Bombay and his ships ran supplies to the Middle East--he took part in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.

He was a founder member of the 43 Group of Jewish ex-servicemen which attacked and destroyed Mosley's emergent Fascist party in a protracted campaign in the late 1940s. His thrilling history of the 43 Group was published in 1992. *The Jewish Brigade* is Morris Beckman's sixth book."