It’s time to return to the subject of the earliest posts at this blog: The loss of over 130 soldiers of the 462nd General Transport Company, a British military unit comprised of Jewish soldiers from the Yishuv. This tragic event occurred when the transport ship S.S. Erinpura was sunk by Luftwaffe aircraft of Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26) north of the Libyan coast, on May 1, 1943. This event and its aftermath were covered in these nine posts, which include lists of the Jewish and African soldiers lost that day:
I: Introduction
II: What Was Known, Then – What Is Known, Now
III: The Sky Above / The Sea Below
IV: The Fallen – Soldiers of the 462nd General Transport Company – I
IV: The Fallen – Soldiers of the 462nd General Transport Company – II (Biographical Information)
V: The Fallen – Basotho Soldiers
VI: The Fallen – Merchant Navy and Indian Merchant Navy Sailors
VII: The Survivors: How many? Who?
VIII: Thoughts
IX: References
This recent post presents photographs and biographical information a soldier of the 462nd, about whom little was previously known:
“This” new post – the one you’re viewing right now! – presents information about the 462nd General Transport Company from a very different angle: The focus is less on individuals than it is information. That is, four documents pertaining to the history and service of the 462nd. I recently discovered these items while randomly searching “to and fro” for information about the 462nd in particular, and Jewish soldiers from the Yishuv, in general. In this, I fortuitously (and luckily, too!) chanced upon the Kedem Auctions Judaica and Israeliana Auction House, which features among its abundant holdings memorabilia pertaining to Jewish military service, from the diaspora, the Yishuv, and the re-established nation-state of Israel. Kedem’s website is simple and pleasing to the eye, very well designed, and easy to use, and typically features images of items-for-auction in high resolution, accompanied by pithy descriptions. (This isn’t a plug on Kedem’s behalf – it’s true.)
Anyway. Kedem’s website features four items about the 462nd General Transport Company, three of which have been sold, and one of which is awaiting a purchaser. Kedem’s images of these items (edited a bit in Photoshop) follow below, accompanied by descriptive text from their website. Taken together, they lend a fuller dimension to the history of the 462nd General Transport Company, revealing that despite the disaster of the first of May in 1943, the unit persevered and continued. This, I think, was the best way to honor and remember its fallen soldiers.
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A booklet (mimeographed typescript) marking the anniversary of the sinking of SS Erinpura which carried hundreds of soldiers of the 462nd Transport Company of the British Army. Published by the 462nd Transport Company, May 1, 1944. A booklet commemorating the soldiers of the 462nd Transport Company, volunteers of the Jewish Yishuv in the British Army, who perished with the sinking of the SS Erinpura on their way to Malta, before the invasion of the Allies to Sicily. The booklet was printed by the surviving members of the company to mark the anniversary of the sinking of the ship. It contains a list of the members of the company who perished at sea, alongside testimony by one of the survivors, a short tribute by company commander Major Harry Yoffe, and additional texts. Enclosed are three leaves of the newspaper “A Missive to the Male and Female Soldiers” issued by the executive committee of the Histadrut Labor Federation (June 1943 / May 1944), which contain articles about the 462nd Transport Company and the sinking disaster. One of the articles covers a memorial service the company held on the anniversary of the sinking of the Erinpura, noting that “the company published a special booklet in their memory that was distributed among the participants” (presumably, referring to the booklet before us). – Booklet: 13 leaves, in a transparent nylon cover (new), 16.5X22 cm. Good condition. Stains. Worming. Closed and open tears to edges, most of them restored. Enclosed leaves: 25 cm. Numerous stains. Small tears, holes and filing holes. Not in NLI. [National Library of Israel] Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.
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Collection of booklets and journals of Jewish units in the British army. The first half of the 1940s. Approx. 40 booklets and journals (mostly mimeographed typescripts), printed for various Jewish units in the British army, including the Jewish Brigade and transport companies. The journals provide much information about the activity of the units, the battles and the lives of the Jewish soldiers in Europe. Some of them are accompanied by illustrations. Included: • “Basha’ar” (At the Gate), internal booklet no. 3, 1941 – a booklet encouraging students to enlist in the British army. • Journals of No. 5 Water Tank Coy. R.A.S.C; 462 General Transport Coy. R.A.S.C; company 553, R.A.O.C; 178 General Transport Coy. R.A.S.C; and other companies. • Issue no. 3 of the journal of the 1st Palestinian Light Anti-Aircraft Battery. Merchavya, 1943. One of the articles in the issue deals with the need to enlist and fight for the Jewish Yishuv in face of the news about the destruction of European Jewry. • Issues 4-5 of “Bama’avak” (In the Struggle), the journal of the Jewish Brigade. Belgium, 1945. • A volume compiling various journals and leaflets; most of them of the Jewish transport companies. • and more. – A total of approx. 40 items (some of them bound together). Size and condition vary. Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.
The vehicle illustrated on the cover of the booklet is a Bedford QL, a truck “manufactured by Bedford [over 52,000 built] for use by the British Armed Forces in the Second World War.”
This Bedford QLC (fire engine, signals vehicle, or petrol tanker), from The Shopland Collection, was manufactured in 1943 and restored in the 1990s.
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Third… “Jewish Transportation Unit 462 – Italy, 1945“
Passover haggadah. Y.A.L. [Jewish Transportation Unit] 462, Royal Services Corps, Italy, 1945.
Non-traditional haggadah, printed for the use of the Jewish soldiers serving in Transportation Unit 462 of the British Army in Italy during World War II.
Before the meal, under the title “On This Festive Occasion” and before “The Commander’s Blessing”, the following text appears [Hebrew]: “On this night of vigil, when we sit down for the Seder of 1945, in Italy – in a foreign land, and we ourselves are wearing military uniforms, we feel the absence of our friends, seated together with us at this time last year. We are pained by the loss of Jewish communities in Europe, that are no longer, exterminated by a cruel and evil hand. We have some flashes of light: the fighting Jewish brigade, that carries the flag of Israel and is in the right place, and the first arrival of the few survivors and the children we have trained. Our longing is strong, and tonight, our hearts yearn for our home – our country”. – [15] leaves (back cover missing), 16.5 x 20.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Front cover detached and torn on margins. Stains (mostly to cover and leaf margins). The inscription “illustrations by Stiger” and the emblem of the Jewish Transportation Unit, both printed on the inner side of the front cover, are heavily blurred. – Not in the book by Aviram Paz, “The Exodus from Egypt, Then and Now, Collection of Rare Passover Haggadahs from the 1940s, from the Author’s Collection” (Kibbutz Dalia, 2015).
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HaHayil, daily newspaper for Jewish soldiers. “Western Europe” [probably Brussels], January to June, 1946. Issue Nos. 519-21, 523, 540, 547-48, 550, 557, 563, 570, 582, 594, 605, 625, 640. Hebrew.
First image… 16 issues of the newspaper “HaHayil.” The newspaper was first published in Italy under the title “LaHayal…” [“To the Soldier, Daily Newsmagazine for Jewish Soldiers in Continental Europe”], but following the surrender of Nazi Germany, the soldiers of the Jewish Brigade were transferred to the Low Countries, the newspaper’s editorial board moved to Brussels, and the paper then began to appear under its new title. The issues printed during the newspaper’s second incarnation, in Brussels, document the defeat of Germany and the lives of Jewish soldiers in postwar Europe, containing a wealth of information regarding Palestine and the Jewish Yishuv there, in addition to dealing with the Holocaust and its survivors, and the Jewish Brigade and it soldiers.
Newspaper issues 34 cm; invitation sheet 29 cm. Condition varies.
This issue of HaHayil, number 570, published March 8, 1946, can be viewed in full at the National Library of Israel.
Second image… Enclosed: A one-page invitation to a Hanukkah party in December 1942 in Tobruk, Libya, extended to the soldiers of the 5th and 11th RASC (water supply) Companies, and the 462nd, 178th, and 179th RASC (general) Companies.
The units listed in the invitation can be seen just below the title, in the first and second lines of text.
