The past leads to destinations unexpected.
While searching for information concerning fallen soldiers of the Jewish Brigade – via the website of the National Library of Israel – I was startled to find records not heretofore published – well, that I’d previously known of! – whether as pixels or in print: Lists of names of the Jewish Brigade soldiers who were wounded in action, but survived the war.
The names of these men appear in four of five Casualty Lists (I suppose issued by the British War Office and covering Jewish Brigade casualties) and published in The Palestine Post, Haaretz, and other Yishuv newspapers on April 13, and 27, and May 6 and 15, of 1945, the “first” list covering Jewish Brigade casualties having been published in the first week of April. The lists are simple in content: They comprise a soldier’s surname, the initial of his first name, rank, and serial number, albeit the latter without any “PAL/” prefix commonly associated with Commonwealth soldiers from the Yishuv.
As published in The Palestine Post, the lists by definition appear in English. And so, here’s an example: The fifth Brigade casualty list, as it appeared in the Post on May 15, 1945:
In Haaertz, Haboker, and other Hebrew newspapers, the lists of course appear in Hebrew, and it’s lists published on May 4 and May 15 that are of particular historical value, for these two papers arranged the names therein by the specific calendar dates on which the soldiers were casualties, with – linguistic “curveball” here – the month published as Hebraicized English, not Hebrew. For example, in Haaretz on May 15, we have the date of April 6 given as “bayom 6 v’aprele 1945”, rather than the Hebrew equivalent of 23 Nisan 5705. I have to give Haaretz and Haboker historical “credit” here, for The Palestine Post did not publish this information!
Here’s the fifth Brigade casualty list, as it appeared in Haaretz on May 15, 1945…
…and in Haboker on the same date. This newspaper even took the step of arranging casualty information by date headings:
In this manner, of the total of 77 Jewish Brigade soldiers who were wounded in action and survived the war, the specific day when this occurred – April 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13 – is known for 39 men.
So, fortunately, the lists exist.
So, unfortunately, an enigma, albeit an enigma unrelated to the editorial policies of The Palestine Post, Haaretz, Haboker, and other Yishuv newspapers, which I assume were working in conformance with information released and rules mandated by the British War Office: The lists include absolutely no other information about these soldiers: No next of kin; no country of origin (if from outside the Yishuv); city, town, village, moshav, or kibbutz of residence; no residential address are listed. Though I’m not directly familiar with British policies regarding the release of information pertaining to Commonwealth military casualties in WW II – in terms of content and timing – perhaps the limited nature of these lists was simply reflective of the information released by the War Office?
____________________
Digressing, this stands in interesting contrast with the information in Casualty Lists released to the American (print) news media by the United States War Department. Examples of two such lists are shown below.
This is the Casualty List of October 2, 1945, as published in The New York Times on October 3.
…and the Casualty List of April 20, 1946, as published in the same newspaper on April 21:
Note that American Casualty Lists obviously lists a serviceman’s name and rank, they also include names of next of kin, residential addresses, and the general military theater where a soldier was killed, wounded, missing in action. The same holds true for liberated prisoners of war, though the specific theater in which they were captured and liberated – Europe or the Pacific – isn’t listed.
For every man’s name there is a story, and for every story there is a name. One of the names appearing in both of these lists is that of 1 Lt. Philip Schlamberg. A pilot in the 78th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, 7th Air Force. Last seen near Futagawa, Japan on August 15, 1945, he was probably shot down by anti-aircraft fire. A little over a half-hour later, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender. (Perhaps the subject of a future post.)
____________________
So, returning to the topic at hand, the names of the 77 wounded Jewish Brigade soldiers are presented below.
Those records where the date is prefixed by a squiggle (“ ~ ”) indicate that neither Haaretz nor Haboker published the date on which the soldier was wounded, so the date is my approximation, consistent with (and certainly not before!) the Brigade’s start of combat operations.
Six of these soldiers (Pvt. L. Bermanes / Bermanis, Pvt. Y. Bulka, Sgt. A. Kaplanskis, Pvt. Aharon Ben Kimchi / Kimchy, Pvt. Moshe Silberberg, and Sgt. B. Zarhi) received military awards, as indicated in articles published in The Palestine Post in June of 1946, and, The Jewish Chronicle.
Finally, a bit of a caveat: The wartime residence – literally, the street address – of one of these men was revealed in The Palestine Post on June 13, 1945: Pvt. Aharon Ben Kimchi / Kimchy lived at 4 Rehov Rabbi Akiva in Bnei Brak. An Oogle Street View (vintage 2015) image of this building appears below.
________________________________________
Abramovski, H., Pvt., PAL/17851
Wounded in Action 4/6/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Adelmai, A., Pvt., PAL/60150
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Ahavov, D., Pvt., PAL/17117
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
“Botzhaim”, M., Pvt., PAL/17044
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Bahbut, M., Pvt., PAL/17026
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Becker, R., Sapper, PAL/46382
Wounded in Action 4/13/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Ben-Arie, M., Cpl., PAL/17487
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Ben-Dror, Shmuel, Sgt., PAL/16632
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Peta Tikva, Israel
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Ben-Moshe, Z., Pvt., PAL/7082
Wounded in Action 4/6/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Ben-Yaakov, J., Pvt., PAL/12946
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Berlan, S., Pvt., PAL/38302
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Bermanes / Bermanis, L., Pvt., PAL/17738, Mentioned in Despatches
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45, 6/10/46
Blau, Y., Pvt., PAL/38350
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Brinker, J., Cpl., PAL/16746
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Bulka, Y., Pvt., PAL/16832, Mentioned in Despatches
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45, 6/10/46
Bunim, S., Cpl., PAL/16108
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Cohen, D., Pvt., PAL/17012
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Danouch, H., Pvt., PAL/15365
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Efrat, S., Pvt., PAL/16745
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Ehrlich, J., L/Cpl., PAL/2662
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Ellendmann-Pompann, O., Pvt., PAL/17573
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Engel, H.H., Pvt., PAL/15996
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Etinger, G., Driver, PAL/33106
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Forst, H., Cpl., PAL/15145
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Frank, R., Pvt., PAL/38544
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Gluz, E., Pvt., PAL/17296
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Goldfarb, E., Pvt., PAL/17781
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Goolasa, S., Pvt., PAL/15028
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Greenhoot, A., Pvt., PAL/17158
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Grinberg, A., Sgt., PAL/17888
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
“Haages”, I., Cpl., PAL/16791
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Hazi, O., Cpl., PAL/15130
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Hecht, P., Pvt., PAL/32731
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45, 4/27/45
Imbrik, J., L/Cpl., PAL/17706
Wounded in Action 4/6/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Jackont, A., L/Cpl., PAL/15183
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
____________________
Kaplanskis, Abraham “Avremele”, Sgt., PAL/12220, Silver Star (United States) citation: “There was fierce combat near the Senio River and the enemy was dug in very strongly. Despite being gravely injured, Sergeant Kaplanski showed bravery and steadfastness, which encouraged his people to advance in spite of unceasing gunfire that rained on them from enemy machine guns, and in spite of danger on the road, which was heavily mined. During all that action, Kaplanski didn’t attend to his wounds, and he walked at the head of his group until he fell from loss of blood. By his brave behaviour, Sergeant Kaplanski was a source of encouragement to his people, and in spite of the fact that his small group suffered losses, it succeeded in advancing to the enemy outposts and forced them to retreat.” (From JewishGen.Org – Yizkor – Skuodas)
Date of action: 4/11/45
3rd Battalion
Born 8/9/19, Shkud (Skuodas), Lithuania
Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov and Tovah Kaplanskis (parents)
Made Aliyah in 1938
Fell in defense of Eretz Israel, during battle for Jenin, on June 3, 1949
Buried in collective grave at foot of Mount Herzl, on August 3, 1950
Haaretz 5/15/45; Palestine Post 5/15/45; Jewish Chronicle 3/20/41; Supplement to the London Gazette 3/20/47; We Will Remember Them II – 83
____________________
Kimchi / Kimchy, Aharon Ben, Pvt., PAL/38518, Mentioned in Dispatches, Military Medal
1st Battalion
From 4 Rehov Rabbi Akiva, Bnei Brak, Israel
Seriously wounded in action 3/31/45
We Will Remember Them II – 58; Haaretz 4/27/45; Jewish Chronicle 6/22/45 (as “Aharon Ber Kimche”); Palestine Post 4/27/45, 6/13/45
2015 Oogle Street view of 4 Rehov Rabbi Akiva
This address shows up at 00:23 to 00:44 in this video by Relaxing Walker, entitled “BNEI BRAK – Rabbi Akiva Street, Israel“.
____________________
Koltun, N., L/Cpl., PAL/17416
Wounded in Action 4/8/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Kopstik, S., Pvt., PAL/17677
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Kornitzer, A., Pvt., PAL/15138
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Krausz, E., Cpl., PAL/38144
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Kugler, B., Pvt., PAL/16725
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Liberman, E., Pvt., PAL/16699
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Lifshitz, Z., Pvt., PAL/17258
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Lunz, B., Pvt., PAL/38243
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Manusevics, V., Gunner, PAL/8460
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Matatiah, Y.Y., Pvt., PAL/15023
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Meiri, S., Gunner, PAL/9095
Wounded in Action 4/6/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Mugrabi, M., Driver, PAL/16868
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Neufeld, Reuven, Pvt., PAL/16698
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Peta Tikva, Israel
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Pakal, D., Cpl., PAL/17486
Wounded in Action 4/8/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Pranski, M., Pvt., PAL/16586
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Rabinovici, S., Pvt., PAL/38238
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Rapaport, N., L/Sgt., PAL/16760
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Redlich, J., Pvt., PAL/16244
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Redlich, J., L/Cpl., PAL/17304
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Rivlin, D., Pvt., PAL/38471
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Rosenkranz, I., Pvt., PAL/16642
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Rosental, H., Pvt., PAL/17301
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Roth, S., Pvt., PAL/15119
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Rubinstein, E., Pvt., PAL/38276
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Schembeck, G., L/Cpl., PAL/17137
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Schetzer, E., L/Cpl., PAL/16497
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Schongut, S., L/Cpl., PAL/16687
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
“Shahory”, J., Pvt., PAL/38367
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Shaoul, D., Pvt., PAL/38489
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Shtoper, Y., Pvt., PAL/38709
Wounded in Action 4/11/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Silberberg, Moshe, Pvt., PAL/17548, Military Medal
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
We Will Remember Them II – 102; Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45; Jewish Chronicle 6/22/45
Sukiennik, M., Cpl., PAL/17378
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Sznitkies, B., L/Cpl., PAL/17914
Wounded in Action 4/6/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Tanai, L., Pvt., PAL/17900
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45
Torczin, I., Pvt., PAL/38569
Wounded in Action 4/12/45
Haaretz 5/15/45, Palestine Post 5/15/45
Tsukerman, I., Pvt., PAL/17488
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45 (lists surname as “Cukerman”)
Vishnievsky, Y., L/Cpl., PAL/38111
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Walner, F., Pvt., PAL/38344
Wounded in Action ~ 3/30/45
Haaretz 4/13/45, Palestine Post 4/13/45
Weil, C., Pvt., PAL/17376
Wounded in Action ~ 4/1/45
Haaretz 4/27/45, Palestine Post 4/27/45
Zarhi, B., Sgt., PAL/16716, Mentioned in Despatches
Wounded in Action 4/7/45
Haaretz 5/4/45, Palestine Post 5/6/45, 6/10/46
____________________
References
“Gelber 1984” – Gelber, Yoav, Jewish Palestinian Volunteering in the British Army During the Second World War – Volume IV – Jewish Volunteers in British Forces, World War II, Yav Izhak Ben-Zvi Publications, Jerusalem, Israel, 1984
Lifshitz, Jacob (יעקב, ליפשיץ), The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah ((גולהה קורות החטיבה היהודית הלוחמת והמצילה אתספר הבריגדה היהודית)), Shim’oni (שמעוני), Tel-Aviv, Israel, 1950
“We Will Remember Them I” – Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Brassey’s, London, England, 1989
“We Will Remember Them II” – Morris, Henry, Edited by Hilary Halter, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 – An Addendum, AJEX, London, England, 1994
Prisoners of War – Armies and Other Land Forces of The British Empire, 1939-1945 (“All Lists Corrected Generally Up to 30th March 1945), J.B. Hayward & Son, in Association with The Imperial War Museum Department of Printed Books, Polstead, Suffolk, England, 1990 (First published in 1945 by His Majesty’s Stationary Office)