AJEX – Excursions in Jewish Military History and Jewish Genealogy

Soldiers of The Great War: Jewish Military Service in WW I, as Reported in The Jewish Chronicle – “Jews Respond”, August 14, 1914

The prior blog post presented an interview with Reverend Michael Adler, concerning military service by British Jewry on the outbreak of the First World War, which appeared in The Jewish Chronicle of 14 August, 1914.

This post presents the lead editorial that appeared in the same issue of the Chronicle, which in spirit, idealism, and patriotism, is very much a companion piece to the above-mentioned article. This is evident by the quote appearing at the editorial’s end – “England has been all she could be to Jews – Jews will be all they can be to England,” which appeared in the Chronicle on August 7, a few days after Britain’s entry into the war.

As seen in the image below (from the August 19 issue of the Chronicle’s sister publication, The Jewish World), this quote was prominently affixed to the exterior of the Chronicle’s offices by mid-August.

Akin to the interview of Reverend Adler, the editorial is available in PDF format via the link at the end of this post.

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Jews Respond

The Jewish Chronicle

August 14, 1914

The free spirit of determination to resist and overcome the enemies of this country, which has been manifested by all classes throughout the land is no small consolation for the affliction of war that has been cast upon it. The calm, and implacable sentiment which from the highest to the most humble throughout the country has impelled all classes is one of the finest assets of victory that England possesses. That sentiment, that spirit, Jews of all ranks are sharing to the full. All thought except a desire to serve this country has been banished from the minds of our people. The fact that the war is likely to bear, both from the economical and the sentimental standpoint, more heavily upon them than upon any other of the races or peoples that are involved, as must necessarily be the case with a people positioned as are Jews in the world, has not been given a moment’s consideration. The supreme law of loyalty to the country of which Jews are citizens has over-ridden every other impulse. When we find that even the Jews in Russia have declared themselves determined to fight with Russia, for Russia’s cause, side by side with those who have for generations been their bitter persecutors, it is no wonder that the Jews of England have thrown themselves into the duties involved by war upon the English citizen with an ardour and an enthusiasm matched perhaps by other classes in the country, but exceeded by none.

At the call of duty a considerable army of Jews from England have responded. Countless instances of the remarkable sacrifice and self-abnegation involved in this prompt answer are pouring in upon us as we write. Jewish mothers, who of all creatures on God’s earth have a tender heart for their offspring, have urged their sons – the apple of their eye – to go forth and serve for the King and the country. Jewish fathers who had fondly pictured for their sons careers of advancement in commerce or profession have set their lips stiff and bid their sons wrench themselves away from the vocations designed for them, and go help to overcome the enemies of England. In the day of trial, in the stress of battle, these sons of Israel will not be found wanting. The pluck and the spirit of old these Jews have not lost. The rely upon God for His protection, and upon their own strong arm for shielding the country which so nobly had sheltered their people. This spirit is no mere frothy and ebullient martial ardour. England is face to face with a test and a trial such as she has never been put to, and our sons have leapt gladly to the supreme opportunity of doing their share as English citizens.

Not again has the spirit and sentiment of duty at this anxious time animated only those who have hurried to the colors for active service in the field. It has seized the whole community. Everyone, man and woman, is anxious to find some means whereby, if not in the field then at home actively, or at least passively, they may help this country to victory. The energetic loyal co-operation in a hundred ways which Jews are now undertaking can be judged from such records as we are able to provide in another column. These do not by any means constitute all. They are, at most, typical. Yet they are remarkable. For Jews are naturally a peace loving people, to whom war is hateful, to who, the shedding of human blood is detestable, who traditionally and historically have magnified peace as an ideal, who turn day by day in their prayers to the city named of Peace. We Jews are conscious that to day, more than ever, Peace is Jewry’s most faithful ally. But we see this great country gone forth to a war which was forced upon it by a haughty and intolerable systems of militarism. We see this country with a clear conscience and clean hands going forth to do battle for freedom, for freedom from an overbearing Empire of “blood and iron”. We see this country defending with all its vast resources the rights of the smaller nationalities and the existence on earth of the smaller States free from the engulfing greed of the brute force of armaments. In such a cause we feel we have a cause for which to fight. In such a cause we feel we have a cause for which to suffer, and to sacrifice, in such a cause it can be no matter for surprise that to a unit we are responding with a spirit worthy of the highest conceptions of our race. In such an hour it is but natural that we in this country should recollect and be inspired by the thought that, “England has been all she could be to Jews,” and should determine that, “Jews will be all they can be to England.”

The Jewish Chronicle, August 14, 1914: Jews Respond

Soldiers of The Great War: Jewish Military Service in WW I, as Reported in The Jewish Chronicle – “Jews and The War”, August 14, 1914

As part of an effort to learn about Jewish military service in the First World War – “The Great War” as the conflict was known at the time due to its unprecedented, staggering scope and scale – I’ve done extensive research within periodicals published during that era by the Jewish and general press. This effort has been focused upon locating articles and news items covering Jewish military service, military awards received by Jewish servicemen, the experiences of Jewish civilians in various battlefronts (particularly Eastern Europe), casualty lists, and, more.

The periodicals I’ve researched in this endeavor are many and varied. Some can be accessed on the Internet, while others – to the best of my knowledge – have not been digitized, existing only as 35mm microfilm (remember film?!…) thus necessitating visits to the libraries or institutions having such resources in their holdings.

Prominent among the periodicals I’ve researched have been The Jewish Chronicle (London, England), its companion publication The Jewish World, and, The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

Both the Chronicle and Exponent are still “going strong” in this year of 2017, over a century after the end of the Great War.

The Chronicle presents an invaluable picture of military service by Jews of the British Empire, presented in the wider context of British Jewry as a whole, set within the even larger scope of news about world Jewry.

The following article – based on an interview with Chaplain Michael Adler – appeared in the August 14 issue of The Jewish Chronicle, ten days after Britain’s entry in the war on August 4. In tone and spirit, the closing and opening paragraphs are reflective of and consistent with the patriotic ardor and enthusiasm permeating much of Europe – among both the Allies and Central powers – at the war’s very beginning. Reverend Adler, who passed away in 1944, was also responsible for the creation of the memorial / commemorative volume British Jewry Book of Honour, in 1922. More information about him can be found at Sarah Hurst’s blog post, A Chaplain in the Trenches.

The article is also available in PDF format via the link at the end of this post.

I hope to present further material relating to the Jewish military experience in WW I from later issues of the Chronicle, and other periodicals, in future posts.

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Jews and the War

INTERVIEW FOR THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

WITH THE CHAPLAIN TO THE JEWISH TROOPS (the Rev. M. ADLER)

The Jewish Chronicle

August 14, 1914

THE Jewish manhood is responding with alacrity and enthusiasm to the call of England. Even the glowing fervor at the time of the Boer War is thrown into eclipse by the ardour that is being shown in these momentous days. There is not a Jew in this country who cannot tell of friends enlisted, of relatives enrolled in one or other of the British legions, of youthful zeal that will not be denied, of love of the Motherland exquisite in its tenderness, boundless in strength, unsurpassed in all the wonderful annals even of British loyalty and British enthusiasm.

These are early times to estimate the true muster of English Jews in this campaign. British born and foreign born, rich and poor, have answered with equal swiftness the summons to the colours. But, if ever the total is ascertained, it will form another unforgettable testimony to the spirit which wise and just government evokes in all the children of the realm.

The Chaplain to the Jewish troops, the Rev. Michael Adler, B.A., who has always thrown himself with enthusiasm into his work, is to-day a sort of human focus for the waves of patriotic eagerness that are sweeping the community, and to him many of the Jews under arms, from Hindustan to Aldershot, look for religious sustenance and moral inspiration. Mr. Adler is himself a captain in the Territorial Force (London and Eastern Command). He was at Deal with the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, and was about to go to the Territorial Camp at Wareham when the present storm broke over Europe. He now holds himself at the disposal of the General Officer commanding, to be attached to any military station where London Territorials are assembled, and will be heading as soon as the latter are at their respective stations – which will be very soon. It is possible that he will have to arrange for deputy chaplains in various parts of the country – probably in Lancashire and Yorkshire to begin with.

Jewish Lads’ Brigade Enlistments

In conversation with a representative of the JEWISH CHRONICLE, Mr. Adler commented on what he described as the very strong feeling of loyalty among English Jews. One pointed illustration of this which he gave is the fact that a number of officers and senior boys of the Jewish Lads brigade volunteered for service immediately on the Brigade returning to town last Tuesday week. Practically all were accepted.

But it is, of course, to the normally constituted forces of the Crown that we have to look for some more adequate representation of the numbers of Jews who are bearing arms in the present crisis, and of the Jewish elements in these. Mr. Adler gave an interesting account.

Jews in the Navy

“There are,” he said, “a dozen Jewish officers in the Navy. In regard to the men, the last official return gave the numbers of the Jews at about fifty. But if you multiply that figure by four or five you will get the more correct number, for I constantly hear of Jews entering themselves as of another creed. One interesting fact about the Navy is that it contains quite a considerable number of Jewish petty officers, including a warrant officer in the Marines. There is a Jewish warrant officer – M.M. Bright – who was originally a pupil of the Jews’ Free School, and was, at one time, in the Jewish Lads’ Brigade. He has been raised to commissioned rank, and it is worth noting that he is one of the ten in the entire Navy recently selected for promotion. He is now probably on active service. One Jewish warrant officer, named Pash, is warrant officer of signals on one of the super-Dreadnoughts. There are a Jewish major and captain of Marines and several Commandants, and others who may be mentioned here are Midshipman Charles Marsden (“St. Vincent”), and Claude Telfer (son of Mr. W.T. Leviansky), and F. Lowy (grandson of the late Dr. A. Lowy), of the Royal Naval Reserve.

“By the way, the medical officer of the Jewish Lads’ Brigade, Dr. L. Mandel, joined the Royal Navy as a doctor the day after the camp broke up.”

Jewish “Regulars”

What about the Jews in the regular army?

“I know of fifty-two Jewish ‘regular’ officers. They include among their number members of the Sassoon, Mocatta, Beddington, Halford, Solomon, Henriques, Sebag Montefiore, Seligman, De Pass, and other well-known Jewish families. Many of them will be in the Expeditionary Force.

“In regard to Jewish non-commissioned officer and men, the last official return dated October, 1913, put the number as 236. This figure, however, should be multiplied by three at least to arrive at the true total.

Jews in the Cavalry

“Since March last a system has been instituted at the military recruiting stations of notifying to the chaplain every professing Jew who enlists, and over fifty names have been sent in to me. In one week alone four Jews joined the 4th Hussars. There has, indeed, been a great tendency on the part of the Jews to enlist in cavalry regiments – a new feature in Jewish enlistment.

“Of course, in addition, a very large number of Jews in the Reserves have now returned to the Colours, but how many it is impossible to say.

Jewish Guardsmen

Do Jews figure to any extent in the Guards regiments?

“Well, there are Sergt. Instructor J.H. Levey of the Scots Guards; Sergt. M.J. Marks, of the 3rd Coldstreams; Sergt. Lewis, in Coldstreams, and Sergt. Rosenberg, of the 2nd Scots Guards, besides a large number of Jewish privates.

“It may truly be said that there is hardly a regiment in the Regular Army in which Jews are not represented, a number of the recruits of recent date having come from Leeds and Manchester.

“Jews are also represented in the Artillery. There are, for instance, Sergt.-Major Shapeere and Quartermaster-Sergt. F.J. Wooley, of the Royal Horse Artillery, to say nothing of a number of privates in that branch, as well as in the Royal Field Artillery and Royal Garrison Artillery. One Jews, a Canadian by birth, is one of the principal gun-layers of his battery.

Rothschilds in the Trenches

“There are seventeen Jewish reserve officers. And in addition I have ten names of Jewish Special Reserve officers. One of these, Lieutenant W. Stanford Samuel, 4th King’s Liverpool Regiment, has already written me to say that he has been ordered to the front. The last official return gave sixty-nine Jewish privates in the Special Reserve. For that too, must be considerably increased to give the true figure.”

There are, of course, many Jews in the Territorial ranks.

“I have the names of ninety-four officers, with ranks ranging from colonel to second lieutenant. Among these are the three sons of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, viz, Mr. Lionel de Rothschild, M.P., Major in the Royal Bucks Yeomanry, and Mr. Evelyn and Mr. Anthony de Rothschild, who are lieutenants in the same regiment. Among other Jewish Territorial officers are Major F. Goldsmith, M.P. (Suffolk Yeomanry), Col. Claude Beddington (Westmoreland Yeomanry), Lieut. Sir Philip Sassoon, M.P. (Royal East Kent Yeomanry), and Mr. Robert M. Sebag-Montefiore, a captain in the last-cited regiment; other Jewish Yeomanry officers are Major H. Weinberg (City of London Yeomanry), and Lieuts. Reginald and Desmond Tuck (3rd City of London Yeomanry). The latter are the sons of Sir Adolph Tuck.

“In the Artillery, there are Col. H.D. Behrend; Major E.G. Heilbron, and a number of other officers; and, in the Engineers, Col. De Lara Cohen, on reserve. Major R.Q. Henriques, and Capts. R.H. Joseph and G.C. Kennard, Col. H.M. Jessel, M.P., is Hon. Commander of the 1st Royal Fusiliers, Major J. Waley Cohen belongs to the 16th Queen’s Westminsters, Major F.D. Samuel to the 3rd Royal Fusiliers, and Major S.S.G. Cohen to the 5th Liverpool Regiment.

Well Known Names

“Among others that may be mentioned are Lieut. Lionel L. Cohen, son of Mr. Leonard Cohen, and Lieut. Leonard G. Montefiore, son of Mr. Claude G. Montefiore. In the 6th Regiment City of London are five Jewish officers – Capts. G.A. Myer, M.H. Schwersee, and E.L. Phillips, Lieut. H.D. Myer, and Second Lieut. J.E. Lowy (grandson of the late Dr. Lowy). In the 4th Royal West Kent Regiment are two sons of the late Sir B.L. Cohen – Capt. Sir Herbert Cohen, Bart., and Capt. A.M. Cohen. In the 7th London Regiment are Capt. C.D. Enoch and Lieut. F.M. Davis (son of Mr. Felix Davis). In the 16th Queen’s Westminsters, besides Major Alfred Waley Cohen, are Capt. J. Henriques, and Lieut. E.G. Waley (son of Mr. Alfred Waley). In the 19th County of London there are four Jewish officers – Capt. Edgar J. Davis, and Lieuts. L.J. Davis, J. de Meza, and J. Lumley Frank.

In the Provinces

“The Provinces are further represented by Lieut. Col. S.L. Mandelberg (Manchester), Capt. J.M. Heilbron (Glasgow), Lieut. J.M. Goldberg (6th Welsh Regiment), Lieut. L.G. Harris (7th West Riding), Lieut. J.B. Brunel Cohen, son-in-law of Sir Stuart Samuel, M.P. (5th Liverpool Regiment), and Capt. N.J. Laski (6th Lancashire Fusiliers).

Jewish “Terriers”

What of the Jewish privates in the Territorial ranks?

“As regards the men, it is impossible to estimate the exact total of Jews. But of London men alone I receive official returns for the last military service of some 400 names, representing practically every unit in the London command. In the 4th Fusiliers there were 36 Jews, and many of the other regiments had long lists. In the country, too, there are a very large number of Jewish Terriers. At the last Territorial camp of the London regiments held on Salisbury plain in August of last year, 90 Jewish officers and men attended parade for service.

“Then there is one specifically Jewish voluntary aid detachment, under the charge of Dr. Myer Dutch, the duty of which is to act as nurses to the Territorial Force.” An appeal, in this connection, appears in another column.

Volunteers

A great many Jews are volunteering for service in the present emergency.

“I have reason to believe that a very large number of Jews have been accepted. I have received a number of communications from coreligionists who are anxious to join, whether as officers or privates. There is also soon to be a great number of Jews in the Colonial contingents.

“In short,” added the Chaplain, in conclusion, “there has been a great outburst of enthusiasm among Jewish young men everywhere.”

It is a tribute to the wisdom of Britain – and the fortitude of a people which, whatever its faults, does not number among them ingratitude to its friends.

The Jewish Chronicle, August 14, 1914: Jews and the War

Soldiers of the Erinpura – I: Introduction

May 13, 1943

I won’t talk about us now. We have all been anxious about our friends who were lost at sea. Among them are names that are so dear to me that I am afraid to utter them. I can’t write you about everything. You may have heard of what happened to D.B. from Maoz, A. from Ashdot, M.Z. from Naan, P. from Degania Beit and others. They should have joined us but… However, we don’t know the exact number of the losses and who was saved. Perhaps you can write me about this.

Moshe Mosenson

Letters From the Desert (p. 190)

(Translated by Hilda Auerbach)

Sharon Books, Inc., 1945

In late 1983, I spent an afternoon at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel.

As I walked among the graves, I was struck by a feeling that remains indelible, even today: An overwhelming sense of recency. Recency, from the manner in which at so many graves, flowers, memorial candles, military insignia, and photographs – of soldiers in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood – had been carefully placed. The graves were obviously places of visits and commemoration, in very contemporary, very real, “time”. A few headstones were flanked with casings of expended artillery shells from which, evidently elaborately, portions of the casing had been removed, leaving behind ornate silhouettes of military emblems. Standing upright, no longer weapons of war, the casings by now served as planters for gently drooping pillars of greenery that shaded and framed these matzevot.

And then, the people. Or, more accurately, the women. I still remember being approached by a woman – in her 50s? her 60s? – and being asked a question, in Hebrew. I could not understand her, which I think she rapidly realized from my silence. We stood there, facing one another. Then, she smiled at me for a moment in a sincere, ironic, and gentle way. As she walked away, I approached the gravesite she had just visited.

There, the plants decorating the mazteva had just been watered.

I walked further. I came to the memorial for the crew of the submarine Dakar, recognizable from its stylized stone tower – representing a conning tower – projecting upwards through an elongated, faceted, smooth base. Walking into the memorial, I was struck by the simplicity of the design. Each crewman was commemorated by a stone plaque mounted within the interior walls, the primary illumination coming from sunlight shining downwards along the exterior of the “tower”.

I came to another monument, but the nature of the event it commemorated was unknown to me. A blue-tiled, shallow, rectangular pool (dry during my visit) formed its center, and was surrounded by black, rectangular tiles – each tile bearing a single name, and, a two-digit number indicating the age of the man it commemorated. A stone tower at a corner of the pool which seemed to connote the bridge of a naval vessel. Upon its upper part was a phrase in Hebrew (with vowels associated with the letters – how unusual for an Israeli monument!), with its incised letters in made more obvious by having been painted in yellow.

I realized that this structure commemorated some kind of naval event in which many lives had been lost. But, where? But, when?

I knew of no event which involved the loss of so many Jewish servicemen, in a nautical setting, in contemporary times. Obviously, this event, regardless of when it had occurred, left a deep impact upon the collective memory of the Yishuv, remaining strongly enough in the consciousness of the re-established Jewish nation state to merit the creation of such a monument.

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In the late 1990s, I discovered the website of Britain’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which is easily – in terms of design, use, capability, and scope – one of the premier websites extant in the arenas of military / genealogical / historical research. (The only real equivalents in terms of ease of use and capability are the Russian Federation’s OBD Memorial database, and, the websites of the National Archives of Australia and Australian War Memorial.)

In 2000 I acquired a copy of the book We Will Remember Them: A Record of Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown, 1939-1945, by Henry Morris, a member of AJEX, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. I then began using the CWGC database to retrieve records for every name listed in the book’s 289 pages.

Then, I noticed something.

As I searched for records for Jewish soldiers from the Yishuv (“The Palestine Jewish Volunteers”) who died in WW II, a consistent trio of data elements (date, military unit, and place of commemoration: “May 1, 1943”, “462nd General Transport Company”, and “Brookwood Memorial” (at Surrey, England) were returned with an odd and telling frequency. As I progressed through the list of names, records comprising these three parts grew in number, reaching ten, then fifty, then one hundred; and finally more. It became obvious that the common thread linking these names was a major incident; a disaster of some sort, at sea, somewhere in the European or Mediterranean Theaters of War. But, what was that incident?

Not long afterwards, the answer again came from the fine work of Henry Morris. A supplementary volume of We Will Remember Them was published in 1994, and within, Mr. Morris presented the story behind the loss of these men in the Spring of 1943. Rather than summarize or recapitulate his fine account, I shall present it here, with appreciation for and acknowledgement of his research.

Herewith:

A DIFFERENT MAY DAY

There it was again: “Killed in action at sea, 1st May 1943”. I was checking the print-out for the Roll of Honour in my book, We Will Remember Them, and, again and again, this entry followed the names of men killed while serving with the Royal Army Service Corps of the Palestine Regiment. I counted them. There were 148, all killed on the same day – the greatest loss suffered by the Palestine Jews who fought and served with the British Army. “How did this happen?” I asked myself, and I learned the answer with the help of the Israel Ministry of Defence, the RASC Regimental Museum in England, records held by Israel military historians, the Israel War Veterans League and survivors of the tragedy who subsequently settled in the USA

462 Coy RASC had been part of the forces surrounded by the German Africa Korps in the siege of Tobruk and had then taken part in the battle of El Alamein. In his book, Soldiers from Judea, Rabbi Rabinowitz, Senior Jewish Chaplain MEF, writes: “In the victorious advance of General Montgomery five RASC units took part. 462 GT Coy commanded by Major H. Yoffe, a South African Jew, 178 Coy commanded by Maj. Wellesley Aron, a British Jew, 11 Water Tank eventually commanded by Maj. B. Adelman, a Canadian Jew, 5 WT commanded by Maj Y. Frumkin and 179 GT, commanded by Maj I. Boganov”. After performing heroically throughout the North African campaign, in April 1943, three weeks before the fall of Tunis, 178 and 462 Companies were informed that they had been chosen for “highly operational work of the first importance”. One hundred and seventy-eight went to Tripoli and 462 went to Alexandria. It was intended that they should go on to Malta where “the George Cross Island was to be changed from a battered place of siege to a base of attack”. But it was not to be – the flower of Palestine Jewish youth was to perish in less than five minutes.

During February and March of 1943, together with other Jewish forces, they were in Bengazi. In April they were sent to Egypt. There, in Tahay Camp, they organised for a new mission while enjoying the Passover holiday. After two weeks they transferred to Ameria Camp in Alexandria and awaited their departure. On 29th April, they sailed on the 5,000 ton World War One Indian Merchant ship, the Erinpura. She was the flagship of a convoy of twenty seven excluding escort. On board were 334 officers and men of 462 Coy and 700 Basuto soldiers from Africa. On Friday evening, 30th April, the Commanding Officer, Maj. Yoffe, informed his men that they were on their way to Malta.

From information received from survivors and the official report submitted by Maj. Yoffe, I was able to piece together the story of what happened on that fateful night.

On the evening of the 1st May the convoy was approached by an enemy aircraft. Here I have varying reports of what followed. One claims that it was Italian and was driven off by anti-aircraft gunfire, another says it was a Heinkel that dropped a torpedo that failed to hit and was shot down. There is a third version saying it was an unidentified German plane that flew too low for the guns to attack. Such is the confusion of an air raid at sea. The official report writes that, following this opening move, “In accordance with Ship’s Standing Orders, Action Stations” had been ordered. All men without duties had been ordered below deck.

At about 20.10 hrs. [8:10 P.M.] on 1st May 1943 there was an attack by enemy aircraft and, although bombs were dropped, the ship was not affected. About 20.50 [8:50 P.M.] there was a second aircraft attack. It was a very heavy raid and many bombs were dropping all around. At 21.05 [9:05] Maj. Yoffe was at his command position on the saloon deck, where he was immediately available and could employ maximum control, when a terrific explosion occurred forward of the bridge and he was knocked over by an enormous wave. When he recovered, the ship was going down at the bows. Orders came from the bridge to abandon ship. Attempts were made by officers to get the men up from below – many may have been dead already, but all ladders and gangways had been smashed by the explosion. A large number of men were still below when the bows were completely under water, within two minutes of the explosion. The ship was listing badly, making it impossible to lower boats. Of the two that succeeded, one capsized. Every raft and anything that floated had been thrown overboard and the men were ordered to jump. Taking all the circumstances into consideration Maj. Yoffe gave the opinion that everything possible had been done to evacuate the ship.

The light was failing when the ship went down and the convoy was out of sight of land. By the time the men had been in the water for ten minutes it was completely dark. The ship sank in about four minutes. It was not certain whether it had been struck by a torpedo or an aerial mine. One survivor told me he was in the water for several hours before being picked up, as the convoy was not allowed to search and rescue. He relates that the Basuto soldiers in the water added their voices in song to the Hebrew songs being sung by the Jewish soldiers.

Another survivor wrote that he spent all night clinging to a piece of wood and was picked up by a Greek destroyer. The Captain and the soldiers manning the guns were the last to jump. The attack continued and there are reports of the men in the water being machine gunned. Sgt. Bijovsky, a survivor, reports: “The rescue was very difficult, many of us did not know how to swim, it was dark, they did not manage to get down the lifeboats, the cries of the drowning were terrible. Our commander, Maj. Yoffe, was all the time with us, he did not leave his soldiers, he could be proud of our behaviour”. The British and Greek sailors from the rescue ships did all they could to save the men in the water.

The survivors were taken by the British minesweeper Santa to the port of Bengazi and by the Greek warship Adrias to Tripoli, others went to Malta.

One hundred and forty-eight soldiers of 462 Coy died in the disaster, many others were wounded and hospitalised. After a period of recovery they were transferred to Egypt and, eventually, to live in Eretz Israel.

In July and August of 1943 the RASC unit commanded by Lt./Col. Charkham OBE was reinforced by the survivors of 462. This unit was undergoing training for the D-Day landing on Pestume Beach, Salerno. The reconstituted 462 Coy, led by Maj. Yoffe, also took part in the landings and subsequently assisted at the beach head, Anzio, until the final breakout where they suffered casualties in men and equipment. As part of the 8th Army in Italy they had returned as liberators to the continent which many had left as hunted and despised refugees, veterans of the desert, sons of Jewry in whom we take great pride.

At the Military Cemetery on Mt Herzl in Jerusalem there is a monument in the form of a ship inscribed with the names of those brave men who died on 1st May 1943.

We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown, 1939-1935, An Addendum

Written and Compiled by Henry Morris

Edited by Hilary Halter

Published by AJEX, 1994

Thus, the story which forms the basis of and inspiration for this – and subsequent – posts.

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Images of the S.S. Erinpura, and, the memorial and monument to the men of the 462nd General Transport Company at Mount Herzl Cemetery, appear below.

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This image, found at the excellent Naval Warfare website, shows the S.S. Erinpura as she appeared while in service with the British India Steam Navigation Company. Naval Warfare presents a substantive history of the ship, and, a solidly moving summary of the story of her 1943 sinking.

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An image of the Erinpura Memorial taken by Avishai Teicher, via Wikimedia Commons. As described by Azaryahu Maoz and Menashe Shani in their book In Death They Commanded – The Architecture of Military Cemeteries in Israel, the Early Years, the monument, designed by architect Asher Hiram, was unveiled on April 29, 1954.

A symbolic ship’s bridge, with Verse 23 from Psalm 68 (“I will retrieve them from Bashan, I will retrieve them from the depths of the sea.”) set apart from the main edifice as separate row of stones. A Wikimedia Commons image taken by Avi Deror.

The Erinpura Memorial viewed from behind the “ship’s bridge”. Another Wikimedia Commons image by Avi Deror.

Another view of the Erinpura Memorial. In this image, the memorial has apparently been drained of water, and more clearly shows the individual tiles bearing soldiers’ names and ages. This image is also by Avi Deror.

This Wikimedia Commons image shows an anchor; an appropriate nautical symbol at the Erinpura Memorial.

Another image from Wikimedia Commons image, showing a map of the Mount Herzl Cemetery. The Erinpura Memorial is denoted by the very small reddish-brown rectangle in the center of the cemetery, listed on the map as locality “4”.

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More will follow.