Category: First World War

Chronicles From the East: Eastern European Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – in the First World War – An Overview

My prior two posts, “The World at War, The Jews in War: Jewish Military Service in World War One, in David Vital’s “A People Apart”“, and, “Images From the East: Russian Jewish Soldiers of the First World War, in “The Jewish World”“, focused upon the experiences of Jewish soldiers in the First World War. 

The former post centers upon a passage from D. David Vital’s book A People Apart, which presents a sociological and historical overview of the participation of Jews in the armed forces of the Allies and Central Powers from 1914 to 1918. 

The latter post is a little different: It displays a few of images published in the periodical The Jewish World (brother publication of The Jewish Chronicle) from 1914 through 1916, showing Jewish soldiers who served in the Army of Imperial Russia. 

Given the tremendous number of Jewish soldiers who served in the Army of Imperial Russia during the First World War, as well as the demographic and historical centrality of Eastern European Jewry in the history of the Jewish people, these pictures directly resonate with observations about Jewish WW I military service expressed in Dr. Vital’s book.  As a lengthy follow-up to this topic, I plan to bring you more information about this subject in future posts. 

This will be in the form of transcripts of a news items, letters-to-the-editor, essays, and investigative reports published in WW I-era issues of The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish World, l’Univers israélite from France, and The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia, which – like The Jewish Chronicle – is still very much in publication over a century after the end of The Great War.

How did I find these items? 

Well, the second-best answer is … very, very (very!)* slowly.

The best (and lengthier) answer is by reviewing all issues of the above periodicals published between late 1914 and early 1919.  While the four publications are available as 35mm microfilm at the New York Public Library, I believe that only l’Univers israélite, published between 1849 and 1939, is available in digital format: via the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The above-mentioned review was an effort to find news items directly covering, pertaining to, or even tangentially addressing military service by Jews in World War One.  Of which, from late 1914 through early 1919, there were, alas, inevitably many such items.

The near goal?  To identify and transcribe such items, simply for their own sake. 

The far goal?  As part of an effort to corroborate records about Jews who were military casualties and award recipients in the Allied armed forces, whose names appear in commemorative volumes about Jewish WW I military service (typically published in the 1920s; no such study was ever created concerning the military service of American Jews…), and of greater importance, to simply identify soldiers whose names never appeared in such books, in the first place.

Among the many, many (many!) such news items I discovered in this endeavor are a select few about:

1) Russian Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – and the Russian War Effort

2) Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe – The experiences of Jewish civilians in Eastern Europe, as the tides of war carried the opposing armies of the Central Powers and Allies (specifically Imperial Russia) hither and yon; from west to east; from east to west; unpredictably; chaotically; often with appalling and tragic effect, through and across the world’s then demographic center of Jewish population;

3) Russian-Born Jews in England, and Military Service in the Allied Armed Forces –The controversy within English Jewry the about the military service of Jewish immigrants from Russia resident in England in the Allied armies, and thus indirectly in support of Russia, the country from which they sought refuge;

4) Thoughts and Observations – “Why are the Jews Fighting Germany?”, and, a subtle segue into Zionism.

5) Stories from the War – Non-Fiction (?), and Fiction – Two tales: One, a story about Jewish soldiers in a Russian military unit, in terms of the Jewish soldiers’ relationships with each other, and equally, their Russian officers and fellow soldiers.   Another, a brief tale about an encounter between Cossack troops and an impoverished Jewish woman in Poland.

Importantly, these news items weren’t categorized as such in the original publications.  Rather, it was only after reviewing these items and pondering their content, that I realized they could be set within the five above general areas, which are based on my own judgement.

So.  Here are these items, arranged as per the above categories, listed by periodical name, date of publication, and item title.  Unless otherwise specified, all these items are from The Jewish Chronicle.  I hope to bring them to you as full-text in the reasonably near future.

Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe

January 1, 1915 – The Atrocities in Poland
March 12, 1915 – Russian Troops Take Jewish Prisoners
April 16, 1915 – Russian Accusations Against The Jews

The Jewish Exponent – February 19, 1915 – The Tragedy of Israel in Poland (by Herman Bernstein)
The Jewish Exponent – April 16, 1915 – The War and The Jews of Russia (by George Kennan)
The Jewish Exponent – August 13, 1915 – If It Be True…  A Terrible Indictment Against Russia
The Jewish Exponent – August 27, 1915 – Loyalty of Jews in War Lands Unshaken (by Alexander Brin)
The Jewish World – October 27, 1915 – A Roadside Scene in Russia (Photograph)
February 11, 1916 – The Russo-Jewish War Victims – (Photograph: “Driven Out”)
The Jewish Exponent – November 3, 1916 – How Russian Jews Suffered in War

The Jewish Exponent – March 4, 1921 – Tragic Plight of the Ukrainian Jews

Russian-Born Jews in England and Military Service in the Allied Armed Forces

July 7, 1916 – Russian Jews in Leeds
July 21, 1916 – The Plea of the Russian Jew (Letter from S. Paul)
November 17, 1916 – Russian Jews Appeal
November 17, 1916 – Russian-Born Jews and Military Service – Attestation in England

February 2, 1917 – Russians in the British Army – Attestation in Egypt

Thoughts and Observations

June 4, 1915 – Why the Jews are Fighting Germany

September 22, 1916 – From a Russian-Born Jew – Neo-Nationalism and Jewish Rights (3)

Russian Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – and the Russian War Effort

September 11, 1914 – Freedom for the Russian Jew
October 9, 1914 – Russian Jews and The War – Christian Soldiers Commend Jews
October 16, 1914 – Russian Jews and The War (Pardiztal)
October 16, 1914 – Russian Jews Daring Exploits (Miller)
October 23, 1914 – Russo-Jewish Bravery
November 27, 1914 – Tribute to Jewish Loyalty in Russia
December 25, 1914 – Russo-Jewish Loyalty – More Distinctions (Yoffin, Korman, Umansky, Zeitlin, Chutz, others)

January 1, 1915 – More Jewish Bravery in Russia (Kane, Marslialek, Tziz, Shuler, Dushansky)
January 1, 1915 – Russian Archbishop Kisses Jewish Hero
January 1, 1915 – Jewish Collections for Russian Soldiers
l’Univers israélite – January 1, 1915 – Les soldats juifs dans I’armee russe
January 8, 1915 – Young Jewish Heroes in Russia (Reichelson, Sharfinowitch, Gelfenstein, others)
January 22, 1915 – More Russo-Jewish Distinctions at the Front (Goldberg, Goldner, Kaplan, Yapolski, others)
January 29, 1915 – The Russian Army and The Jews (Holtzman, Itke, Schuster)
February 5, 1915 – Further Jewish Distinctions in Russia (Glickman, Grusenberg, Gunzburg, Rivkin, Treistman)
February 12, 1915 – Growing List of Russo-Jewish Heroes
February 19, 1915 – Russian Jews and the War
February 26, 1915 – Russian Jews and the War – Declaration in The Duma
February 26, 1915 – Another Striking List of Russian Jewish Heroes
March 12, 1915 – Large Russo-Jewish Honours List
March 19, 1915 – More Russo-Jewish Distinctions (Alexander, Kaplan, Olshwanger)
March 26, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Distinctions (Koffman, Markovitch, Shlionsky)
April 9, 1915 – Russo-Jewish War Honours (Annie X, Abramovitch)
April 16, 1915 – Russian Jews and The War
April 30, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Distinctions In The War (Markovitch, Lev Israel, Leipuner)
May 14, 1915 – Heavy List of Russo-Jewish War Honours
The Jewish Exponent – May 21, 1915 – Three Hundred Russian Jews Decorated
The Jewish Exponent – June 11, 1915 – A Jewish Girl in the Ranks
September 3, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Prisoners of War in Germany
September 3, 1915 – Five Hundred Russo-Jewish Heroes
December 24, 1915 – More Distinctions for Russo-Jewish Soldiers (Dubovitzky, Frenkel, Maltinsky, Rubinstein)

February 4, 1916 – General Kuropatkin and Jewish Soldiers
l’Univers israélite – February 4, 1916 – Les Juifs russes et la guerre
February 11, 1916 – A Russian Jewish Heroine (Madame Bernstein)
March 31, 1916 – Russian Rabbis Exempted From Service
April 21, 1916 – A Russian Commander of Jewish Soldiers
July 21, 1916 – Jews and Field Work in Russia

The Jewish Exponent – May 18, 1917 – Jewish Soldiers in the Russian Army
July 27, 1917 – A Jewish Legion Formed in Russia
l’Univers israélite – November 23, 1917 – Les Volontaires juifs russes

Stories from the War, Non-Fiction (?), and Fiction

The Jewish World – October 11, 1916 – The Cossack in a New Light
The Jewish World –June 23, 1915 – Reinforcements (Samuel Roth)

*Very?  Yes, very!

Images From the East: Russian Jewish Soldiers of the First World War, in “The Jewish World”

My post, The World of Soldiers: Images of British Jewish Soldiers in The Jewish World, during the First World War, presents examples of images of soldiers of the British Commonwealth during the First World War that appeared in The Jewish World, a sister publication of The Jewish Chronicle.  Though the overwhelming majority of such photographs in the World were of members of Commonwealth Forces, a small but significant number were of other subjects, notably and naturally Jewish soldiers in the armed forces of other Allied nations.  First in number among these pictures are images of French Jewish soldiers, while a second, tiny, but notable few are of Jewish soldiers in the army of Imperial Russia.

Six of these photos are shown below.

Significantly, this small group of images date from the early stages of the war; from autumn of 1914 through 1915, with the “last” picture – of prisoner of war Samuel Mlaver – dating from March of 1916.  Like most other pictures in the World, these images are captioned; also like most other pictures in the World, neither the photographer’s name nor the source of the image – whether personal or official – is listed.

Though “at six” this sample is rather tiny (!), it seems that the pictures – except for that of the Russian and Turkish border guards – are formal, studio portraits.  (Well, this was decades before Brownie cameras and Kodachrome, and a century before the portable electronic panopticons otherwise “smart”-phones.)  Perhaps these portraits were provided to the World by family members of these soldiers, who were then citizens of or recently emigrated to England; England; maybe by correspondents of the Chronicle, World, or other news publications or organizations, then stationed in Saint Petersburg.

Like the portraits in The World of Soldiers, I created these images at the New York Public Library, by taking digital SLR photos of 35mm microfilm copies of the World, as viewed through the display screens of reel-to-reel microfilm readers.  The quality of the pictures was then enhanced through Photoshopificationology.  (Just kidding: Adobe Photoshop.)

The presence of this very small number of images reflects the much larger attention of The Jewish Chronicle, The Jewish World, The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia, PA), and l’Univers Israelit, towards the experiences of Russian Jewish soldiers, and Eastern European Jewry – particularly that of Poland and Russia – during the Great War.  Appearing in these publications especially from from late 1914 through 1916, such topics as the experiences of Jewish soldiers in the armed forces of Imperial Russia; the fate and suffering of Jewish civilians in Poland amidst the ebb and flow of the German and (especially) Russian armies; the military service of recent Jewish immigrants of Russian origin in England, were the topics of not infrequent focus and discussion.  Sometimes briefly; sometimes in very great length and detail.

I hope to bring you the full text of these news items (well, those that I’ve discovered) in future posts.   

In any event, in the way that “the map is not the territory”; a musical score is not sound; light is not vision, more than the photos as simple images, what about these five men, as people?

Aside from Jacob Dubov (killed in battle), the subsequent life and fate, as it were – to paraphrase Vasiliy S. Grossman – of Bogdanoff, Mlaver, Persitz, and Williamovsky, is unknown. 

Did they survive the Great War? 

Did they leave Russia during the chaos between 1917 and the consolidation of Soviet power? 

Did they remain in the Soviet Union? 

Probably in their forties or fifties by June 22, 1941, did they and their families survive the Second World War? 

And afterwards…?

All, unknown. 

So, on to the photos…

September 9, 1914

September 16, 1914: “On the frontier between Turkish and Russian territory.  Both soldiers on guard are Jews.”

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February 17, 1915: “A portrait of the Russian Jewish Volunteer, Bogdanoff, who had been awarded the Order of St. George for bravery.”

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April 28, 1915: “S.R. Persitz, who has been awarded a Military Order for bravery.”

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May 5, 1915: Russo-Jewish Hero: “Jacob Dubov, who received a Russian order for bravery, was killed on the field of battle.”

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June 2, 1915: Head Doctor: “Samuel Williamovsky, who has attained the highest doctor’s rank in the Russian Field Hospitals.”

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March 8, 1916: “Samuel Mlaver, Russian prisoner of war in Wittenberg.

 

The World at War, The Jews in War: Jewish Military Service in World War One, in David Vital’s “A People Apart”

Thus far, many of the posts at TheyWereSoldiers have focused upon Jewish military service in the Second World War.  While I possess a vast amount of information “waiting in the wings” for future posts pertaining to that era, some of my forthcoming posts may (? – !) have a change of emphasis: I hope to focus upon aspects of Jewish military service in the (now) over-a-century-passed First World War, or, as that conflict was known until the advent of World War Two, the “Great War”.

By way of a preface to this vast topic, I searched for a substantive, yet not overly detailed summary of Jewish military service in the military forces of both the Allies and Central Powers during the years of 1914-1918.

Then, I remembered Dr. David Vital’s magisterial, brilliantly written book A People Part – A Political History of the Jews in Europe, 1789-1939, which includes – as an introduction – just such an account.  There, Dr. Vital’s describes the military experience of European Jewry in the First World War in sociological, cultural, political (and geopolitical) terms.  (This text appears within the book’s third and final section, entitled “New Dispensations”, as the start of Chapter 7, pertinently entitled “War”, on pages 647 to 651.)   

Dr. Vital’s treatment of Jewish military service in the Great War is consistent with the underlying nature of his book.  His 896 page monograph (in the softbound edition, the cover of which is displayed below) covers a 150-year-span of the history of European Jewry in a tone that is at once analytical, quietly impassioned, and practically (well, seems to me…I couldn’t put the book down) novelistic in literary style.  This is particularly so in the sense that the “contemporary” reader – contemplating Vital’s text from the vantage of the early 21st century, after the events recounted in the book have receded into and become part of the past – already “knows” how the story will conclude … even as the innumerable individuals mentioned within the book’s pages, by the very nature of time would not, could not, and did not.

Notably, the late Dr. Robert S. Wistrich wrote a very insightful review of A People Apart that appeared in the November, 1999 issue of Commentary.  While praising Dr. Vital’s book, Dr. Wistrich expressed ambivalence about what he deems to have the book’s focus upon interpretation of Jewish history centered upon politics and power relations, coupled with a relative lack of attention to the contributions and successes of European Jewry.  Be that as it may, the overall thrust of his review is solidly positive.  Other reviews – all laudatory – can be found at GoodReads.   

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By way of digression, thus far, my posts at this blog have avoided presenting opinions, musings, or speculations about culture, politics, and religion.  Yet, the verbal “structure” of the title of Dr. Vital’s Book – the end of which temporally “brackets” the course of European Jewish history within the time-frame of “1789-1939”, can’t help but make one ponder the condition of the Jewish people in contemporary times: Only one year before the commencement of the third decade of the twenty-first century.  Thus, whether a historian in a future distant, or a future only a few decades from now, will compose a study paralleling A People Apart – for the history of post-WW II European Jewry; for the history of American Jewry – or whether such a work will be unnecessary, is as yet unknown.   

What is certain about the history of the Jewish people (and, truth be told, the history of all men) is that though there can be similarities in the pattern and course of events between historical eras, history never repeats itself, from one era to another, with complete geometric congruence.  The only certainty we possess about the future is that “things” and “events”; “occurrences” and “circumstances” – in the lives of individual men and women; within families; among communities; in nations; and, within civilizations – can be expected to continue much as they always have. 

Until, of course, an era arrives when they no longer do so. 

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So.  With appreciation and acknowledgement to Dr. Vital, his text is presented verbatim, below.

“THE Jews of Europe passed through the valley of the shadow of death during the years 1914-18 with the rest of the continent’s population – which is to say, as best they could.  That they were no more spared the crippling horrors of the war than any one else was at once the result and the supreme expression of the radical change in their circumstances.  The days when, insignificant exceptions apart, it was natural, but also possible, for Jews to keep out of the way when the gentiles foolishly and incomprehensibly fought each other were over.  Where their participation in continental warfare, if any, had been on an essentially individual basis – as bankers and provisioners, but only very rarely as soldiers – it was now first and foremost as ordinary fighting men in the ranks of each of the armies of the belligerents.  Countless numbers of perfectly ordinary, non-political Jewish people marched off to war and to personal, often fatal involvement in the great and terrifying events that proceeded to unfold from August 1914 onwards along with all the other ordinary, non-political people who were marching off to war.  They did so, moreover, for all the world as if it were a natural and (in central and western Europe) a worthy and desirable thing to do.  Their political masters had still to determine whether, and if so in what way and to what degree, further advantage was to be taken of their services.  And in this respect there were differences.  In Russia there was no question at all of access to positions of influence and authority of any kind.  In Germany too the contradiction between what wartime state interest appeared to dictate and the political and military classes’ refusal to acquiesce in a really serious relaxation of the rules by which society had been governed in the past remained incapable of resolution to the end.  It would be worn down somewhat by undeniable necessity – as in the case of the sullen (and temporary) appointment of Walther Rathenau to a post as a principal organizer of the German war economy – but, no lasting change occurred.  In the west Jews were taken on freely enough wherever they seemed likely to bring advantage and, unlike in Germany, regret at the prospect of irreversible change in the social order tended to be wistful rather than bitter.  The unspoken rule remained, however, that while, when it was really necessary to do so, Jews might be admitted to the inner sanctums where high policy was decided, they would only be given places below the political salt, those reserved for specialists and experts, not those that would entitle them to wield real power.

Admission into the ranks of the armies themselves was free and unrestricted everywhere.  In the dire circumstances of the times and the universal, unslakeable thirst for men to man the trenches, the old assumption that the Jew was useless as a fighting man was forgotten.  In an environment that had generally been alien and hostile to him, the Jewish soldier was apt to be treated rather more decently than he had been in the past.  If he distinguished himself in battle he was more likely than before to be awarded the honours that were his due.  In some armies distinction in battle opened the way to promotion as well.  But not in all.  The imperial Russian army stood its ground in this respect to the end: its high command, with the full approval of the Tsar, refusing to sanction the granting of officer rank even to the most able, willing, and battle-proven of Jewish soldiers whatever the occasional fair-minded regimental commanded might say on his behalf.  But even here matters were not absolutely cut and dried.  Officer rank as military surgeons was conceded to Jewish doctors.  Here and there, where the dearth of literate, willing, and responsible echt-Russian candidates had reduced a battalion or brigade commander to desperation, the official eye might briefly overlook an individual Jewish soldier’s being given de facto authority to perform an officer’s role. (1)  (Of the flatly infamous treatment to which the Russian army’s high command subjected the civilian Jewish population in the area through which its forces moved on their way to the west and, more especially, on their retreat back towards the east, more will be said in in a moment.)

The German army, previously at one with the Russians in this respect, now rescinded its once unwavering refusal to promote suitable Jews to officer rank.  By the end of the war some two thousand Jews had been commissioned.  Still, no Jew was allowed to reach senior rank in the German army, unlike the Austro-Hungarian army in which, interestingly, some Jews had held rank as general officers even before the war.  And the true spirit in which the German high command viewed the matter of then Jewish citizens, and that of Jews in uniform in particular, is conveyed by its notoriously bloody-minded decision in October 1916 to launch a formal investigation into the contribution of the German Jews to the national war effort and of Jewish soldiers to service in the trenches by initiating a systematic counting of heads.  This so-called Judenzahlung (or Jew-count) was not only nastily hostile, but unwarranted.  Actual Jewish Frontsoldaten (front-line soldiers) were outraged.  It was, someone said, ‘as if the yellow patch had been sewn back on’. (2)  A tiny handful of pacifists and extraordinarily courageous and determined social democrats had indeed opposed the war and been jailed or otherwise hounded out of society and home.  But rare exceptions apart, German Jewry’s support for the war had been immensely (in retrospect almost embarrassingly) wholehearted at every level: from men of the greatest academic distinction (Hermann Cohen, the Kantian philosopher, and Fritz Haber, the chemist, for example) down to the simplest and least politically imaginative petit bourgeois.  When the war was over, the society of Jewish Frontsoldaten, the stain on their honour still burning, conducted a meticulous survey of its own.  It found that at least 100,000 Jews had served in the German armed forces or 18 per cent of the total Jewish population of imperial Germany of 550,000.  Of these 12,000 had been killed in action or died of wounds: namely 2.2 per cent of German Jewry.  Their study further demonstrated that these figures were virtually identical with those for the population of the city of Munich (a fair comparison, the Jews being a largely skilled and educated, urban population, much like the citizens of Munich): 645,000 citizens in all; 13,700 war dead. (3)  The German general staff’s own figures were never published.  But perhaps the most ominous aspect of the Judenzahlung was that when it was proposed and brought up in the Reichstag it was supported not only by the right wing, as was to be expected, but by the Catholic Centre Party and the National Liberals under Gustav Stresemann as well.

No such inquiries were instituted in other countries; nor were any warranted. (4)  The general record of Jewish participation in the fighting forces of the various belligerents was in each case at least as high as that of the general population and in some cases higher.  No figures as precise as those collated in Germany are available, but it has been fairly reliably estimated that some 450,000 Jews served in the immense Russian army – where it appears, moreover, that in consequence of the severely restrictive rules governing the military functions Jews might or might not perform, they tended to serve somewhat more commonly than others as front-line infantry soldiers and to suffer higher than average casualty rates in consequence.  Some 275,000 Jews served in the Austro-Hungarian army: c. 11 per cent of the total Jewish population of the empire; 41,000 served in the British armed forces or a little under 14 per cent of British Jewry; (5) 35,000 in the French army: or c. 20 per cent of the total Jewish population of France.  The overall figure for Jews serving in all belligerent armies (including the American army, in due course, in which the proportion of Jews was exceptionally high) was of the order of 1,500,000 or about 2 per cent of all mobilized manpower.  It was therefore roughly double that of the Jewish proportion of the entire population of the countries concerned. (6)

There was thus a sense – an ironic one, one may think – in which the Great War, in practice, was the supreme occasion on which the Jews Europe were called upon to be ‘useful’ to each of the several states which they were nationals in very much the sense that those men of the Enlightenment who had troubled themselves either to think about or to legislate for the Jews or both had had in mind.  The Jews’ skills, knowledge, experience, and native energy – coupled, in the central and western states, but not totally absent even in the east under the Russians, to their habitual loyalty to the sovereign power in the land and their manifest desire to please it – proved as easily available for harnessing to the machinery of war as Joseph II of Austria or his advisers had ever wished.  And the total effect, again very much as the men of the Enlightenment would have wished, was further to promote and hasten their acculturation.  The war initiated none of the essential processes of social and cultural change to which European Jewry was subject.  But by dint of scattering and dissolving great numbers of young Jewish men into the larger mass of mobilized society on a basis that was unprecedentedly random it did greatly accelerate them and intensify their impact.  It loosened the ties binding the individual to his community.  It provided Jewish soldiers – much as it provided great numbers of other disoriented people – with new, alternative, if of course no more than temporary focuses of loyalty.  And while it lasted there would be much else in its impact to support those who felt that the now century-old, imperfectly kept promise of fair dealing and equitable integration had not, after all, been false.  None the less, perversely, the lasting impact of the war so far as the Jews were concerned was to reassert and re-emphasize the ascription to the Jewish people of their ancient status as a distinct – and for certain purposes justifiably autonomous – national entity.  The major powers of Europe were moved, each in its way, in varying degrees, and, to be sure, with unequal consequences, to consider whether and how their own urgent national-political needs and interests might be squared with what were reckoned to be the collective needs, Interests, and aspirations of the Jewish people.  This was a most dramatic alteration of perspective, as remote from the ordinary hostility that fueled policy towards them in some cases as from the somewhat more considerate, but always unsystematic and severely limited, philanthropic basis on which their affairs were viewed (when they were viewed at all).  Nothing, certainly, could have been more remote from the legacy and purposes of the Enlightenment itself.”

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The following information, from The Committee for A Jewish Army’s 1943 publication The Fighting Jew, presents a statistical overview of Jewish military service in the First World War.  The data is, “Condensed from the booklet Jews in the World War, published by the Jewish War Veterans of the United States, in October of 1941.”  Notably the figures given below are identical to those presented in Martin Gilbert’s Atlas of Jewish History, on a map (appropriately) entitled “Jewish Soldiers 1914-1918”, on page 87 of that work.

Personnel Mobilized
Allies  
Belgium 1,000
British Empire 50,000
France 55,000
Greece 4,400
Italy 6,000
Rumania 38,000
Russia 650,000
Serbia 1,200
United States 250,000
   
Central Powers  
Austria-Hungary 320,000
Germany 100,000
Bulgaria 12,500
   
Total Casualties (Killed or Died in Service)
   
Allies  
Belgium 125
British Empire 2,400
France 9,500
Greece 300
Italy 500
Rumania 900
Russia 100,000
Serbia 250
Turkey 18,000
United States 3,400
   
Central Powers  
Austria-Hungary 40,000
Bulgaria 1,000
Germany 12,000
Turkey 1,000

(1) See Yohanan Rattner’s autobiography, for example: Hayyai ve-ani (Tel Aviv, 1978)

(2) Cited in Peter Pulzer, Jews and the German State (Oxford, 1992), 205

(3) The Reichsverband Judischer Frontsoldaten’s compilation was published in 1932 as the 423-page Die judischen Gefallenen des deutschen Heeres, der deutschen Marine und der deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918; ein Gedenkbuch.  It consisted chiefly of the names, regimental affiliations, and dates of death of the war dead (where known).  The great warlord himself, Hindenburg, now president of the republic, contributed a friendly preface.

(4) One partial exception was the case of Jews of Russian nationality who had settled in Great Britain, who for the greater part of the war were neither obliged nor permitted to serve in the British army, and who regarded consequent pressure to return to Russia to serve the Tsar as absurd, if not monstrous.  They were therefore a source of unending embarrassment to the established segments of English Jewry, but of opportunity to the Zionists who saw them as natural recruits to the ‘Jewish Legion’ that they founded to fight alongside the Allies (on which more below).

(5) The proportion of the general population serving the British armed forces was 11.5 per cent (Geoffrey Alderman, Modern British Jewry (Oxford, 1992), 235).

(6) A.G. Duker, ‘Jews in the World War’, Contemporary Jewish Record, 2, 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1939); Y. Slutsky, and M. Kaplan, Hayyalim yehudiim be-ziv’ot eiropa (Tel Aviv, 1967); Encyclopaedia Judaica, xi, col. 1550; Felix A. Theilhaber, Die Juden im Wcltkriege (Berlin, 1916); Michael Adler, The Jews of the Empire and the Great War (London, 1919).

References

Gilbert, Martin, Atlas of Jewish History, Dorset Press [no location given], 1976

Gitelman, Zvi, A Century of Ambivalence – The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present, Schocken Books [Published in cooperation with YIVO Institute for Jewish Research], New York, N.Y., 1988

Nathans, Benjamin, A People Apart: The Jews in Europe, 1789-1939 by David Vital [Book Review], The Jewish Quarterly Review, Spring, 2006, 288-295, at JSTOR.org

Vital, David, A People Apart – A Political History of the Jews in Europe, 1789-1939, Oxford University Press, 2001

Vital, David, A People Apart – A Political History of the Jews in Europe, at GoodReads.com

Wistrich, Robert S., A People Apart, by David Vital (Book Review), Commentary, November, 1999

The Fighting Jew [no author], The Committee for a Jewish Army, New York, N.Y., 1943

 

The World of Soldiers: Images of British Jewish Soldiers in The Jewish World, during the First World War

While the majority of my posts have thus far focused upon Jewish military participation in the Second World War, I want to “step back” – chronologically, and, in in terms of subject matter – and shift attention to Jewish military service in World War One: The “Great War”.  Thus, this post will focus upon the British Jewish newspaper The Jewish World, a companion publication to The Jewish Chronicle. 

I discovered The Jewish World by chance, in the midst of reviewing The Jewish Chronicle for information about the military service of Jewish soldiers of the British Commonwealth within both world wars. 

As such, the World has proven to be an invaluable resource, albeit not in terms of “information”, but instead, in terms of images.

Founded by George L. Lyon and published in London from 1873 to 1934, The Jewish World, “filled a position of some importance in Anglo-Jewish life, publishing articles by various Zionist leaders, as well as by non-Jewish precursors of Zionism such as Henry Wentworth Monk, and Holman Hunt, the painter.  It was taken over in 1913 by The Jewish Chronicle, with which it was merged in 1934.” 

Though presumably edited at the same London office as the Chronicle, a review of issues of the World published between August, 1914 through late 1918 reveals the latter to have been notably different from the Chronicle in content and format, while both – presumably under the same ownership and editorial control – paralleled one another in terms of their central focus upon Jewish solidarity, unity, and Zionism.  As such, both periodicals covered significant news events (both in the United Kingdom and internationally) effecting individual Jews, or Jewish communities as a whole, with the World sometimes mirroring, to greater or lesser degree, the Chronicle’s coverage of such stories. 

(Digressing, the language of the Wikipedia entry for The Jewish Chronicle is quite revealing in stating that “The JC got a strong opposing voice by The Jewish Guardian, who counterbalanced the dominant Zionist propaganda of the Chronicle”.  Which raises the question: Is it not anti-Zionism that has ever been, and continues with increasing fervor, irrationality, and ferocity, to be the genuine propaganda?)

Anyway…

The differences between the publications, however, are notable – at least, as viewed through a 35mm microfilm reader!

The World featured little to no (well, it seems no…) advertising, and virtually none of the plethora of brief, ostensibly mundane, but nevertheless essential notices and news items – encompassing such topics as religious education, religious ritual, holidays, charity, community service, and philanthropy – vital; central to the ongoing activity of any Jewish community, regardless of its size or location, that was typical of every issue of the Chronicle.  Likewise, though the leading page of the Chronicle during the Great War sometimes carried obituaries and death notices (when I first saw this, I thought it very, very odd: “What, obituaries on a newspaper’s first page?!”), as well as new about “life cycle” events, such items appeared nowhere within in the World. 

In terms of its coverage of military service of Jews in the armed forces of the British Commonwealth, the Chronicle is invaluable, featuring lists of killed, wounded, and missing, and carrying news items – sometimes, news items in great depth! – about the experiences and observations of soldiers; excerpts of soldiers’ letters from soldiers to family friends; testimonials (sometimes, understandably hagiographic) about fallen soldiers; on rare occasion early in the war, even brief items about military service of Jews in the armies of the Central Powers.  In the World, such lists were absent; such stories relatively few. 

(Regretfully, no American Jewish periodical seems to have covered the military service of American Jews in WW I in such a systematic and comprehensive manner as did the Chronicle for Jews of the British Commonwealth.  But, that may be the subject of another post…) 

In appearance and essence, one might say that – issue per issue – the “density” and sheer quantity of information in the Chronicle far exceeded that of the World, which was reflected in their main content.  The World had a somewhat “lighter”, somewhat literary emphasis, rather than the comprehensive, detailed, and direct news reporting characteristic of the Chronicle.  As such, the World published fiction, with such items manifesting noticeable variations in style, length, literary quality.  A notable theme of such items was the challenge of maintaining Jewish belief and identity over time, individually and collectively, in the face of assimilation, acculturation, and intermarriage (yet not so much anti-Jewish persecution), amidst the unpredictable and increasingly turbulent tides of modernity, a topic penetratingly covered in Todd M. Endelman’s Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History, 1656-1945.  In addition, some of the World’s content was taken from other publications, such as the American Hebrew, The Hebrew Standard, and Jewish Comment.

And one final, striking and singular difference between the Chronicle and the World…  Throughout the Great War, the latter published photographs of Jewish servicemen serving in the United Kingdom’s armed forces. 

Such photographs typically appeared within the two centermost pages of most any randomly selected issue, with the total number of “photos-per-issue” varying greatly from issue to issue.  The photographs were typically grouped thematically.  For example, some issues displayed photographs of soldiers in the Royal Engineers; sailors in the Royal Navy; soldiers in the Levant; members of the Royal Air Force; soldiers recovering from wounds in hospital; members of the French and other Allied Armies (the United States Army, not so much, if at all!); and inevitably, soldiers wounded, killed, and missing in action. 

The quality of the images – as viewed and copied from 35mm microfilm (remember film?!) viewed at the New York Public Library, in the Milstein Microform Reading Room (First Floor, Room 119, to be specific) varies tremendously from issue to issue.  Upon the same page within a randomly viewed issue, some images may be of excellent quality, and others?  Well, not so much. 

This difference in quality of the photographs is probably due to an overlapping set of factors, encompassing: 1) the quality of the original photographic print supplied to the World, 2) the quality of the printed image in the published newspaper, 3) the quality of the microfilmed image taken of the original newspaper, and finally, 4) (here’s a big one…) the reliability and optics of the 35mm microfilm reel-to-reel reader via which these images were viewed. 

Having reviewed issues of the World published during 1914 through 1918, I copied many, many (many) of these images by photographing the projected microfilm image – as displayed on a microfilm reader’s viewing screen – using a 35mm digital SLR.  Well, this was a few years before the NYPL replaced most of the mechanical / optical 35mm film readers with digital 35mm film viewers.  (C’est la vie…)

In cases of soldiers and sailors killed in action, missing, and wounded, I was able to find corroborating information in The Jewish Chronicle, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the British Jewry Book of Honour, Australian Jewry’s Book of Honour, and maybe another publication or two.  Or three.  (Or four?)  ((Or five?!)) 

Oh, a small caveat…  While the British Jewry Book of Honour is replete with portraits of soldiers and sailors, I’ve not yet reviewed my copy to see if the photographs in the World’s 1914-1918 issues appeared in the former. 

So.  Below are nine images from the The Jewish World of the early twentieth century, now visible in the twenty-first: “images” evocative of a world that no longer exists; events that have ceased; people who exist only as memories … and most likely, memories of memories. 

For even if the memory of man – and particularly, memories of individual men – is a fleeting thing, the past yet exists, and can never be erased.   

References and Suggested Reading

The Jewish Chronicle, at Wikipedia

The Jewish World, at Jewish Virtual Library

Adler, Michael, Reverend (editor), British Jewry Book of Honour, Caxton Publishing Company, London, England, 1922

Endelman, Todd M., Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History, 1656-1945, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, In., 1990

______________________________

______________________________

“Pte. J. Aarons, Lond. Regt. (Wounded)”
(The Jewish World, August 22, 1917)

.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

Private Joseph Aarons, 233751
He was killed in action of June 15, 1917
Member of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 2nd / 2nd Battalion
Born in 1897
Son of Judah and Sarah Aarons, 5 Bishop’s Road, Cambridge Heath, London
Memorialized at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France – Bay 9
The Jewish Chronicle: Casualty List of July 13, 1917 (incorrectly lists surname as “Aaron”)
British Jewry Book of Honour, page 76 (also lists surname as “Aaron”)

______________________________

“Pte. Isaac E. Balon, 7th Manchester, killed at the Dardanelles.”
(The Jewish World, July 7, 1915)

.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

Private Isaac “Eric” Balon, 2403
He was killed in action on May 29, 1915
Member of Manchester Regiment, 1st / 7th Battalion, E Company
Born 1896
Son of Sophia Balon, 15 Shorncliffe Green, Whitworth Park / 91 Oxford St., Manchester
Buried at Redoubt Cemetery, Helles, Turkey – Sp. Mem. A,93
The Jewish Chronicle: Obituary Section of July 9, 1915 and May 30, 1919
British Jewry Book of Honour, page 78

______________________________

“Pte. L. Da Costa, Middlesex Regt.”
(The Jewish World, August 22, 1917)

.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

Private Lewis Da Costa, L/14851
He was killed in Action on August 1, 1917
Member of Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born 1897
Son of Isaac and Rachel Da Costa, 35 Hedson Buildings (and) 73 Walton Buildings, Shoreditch, London, E
Buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium – XLVII,B,11
“Deeply Mourned by His Parents & Relatives.  May His Soul Rest in Peace”
The Jewish Chronicle: Casualty List of August 17, 1917
The Jewish Chronicle: Obituary Section of August 17, 1917, and August 2, 1918
British Jewry Book of Honour, page 86

______________________________

“Pvt. David Eckstein, Devonshire Regt., who was killed in action.”
(The Jewish World, January 20, 1915)

.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

Private David Eckstein, Z/6943
Killed in action on December 17, 1914
Member of Devonshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born 1893
Mother was Eva (Eckstein) Moss (mother), 13 Providence Place, Aldgate, London
Address also 22 Collingwood St., Bethnal Green, London, E
Memorialized at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium – Panel 21
British Jewry Book of Honour, page 87

______________________________

“Lieut. J.H. Levey has just received commission having risen from the ranks.”
(The Jewish World, October 21, 1914)

This man’s name does not appear in the CWGC database; he presumably survived the war.  His name is also absent from The Jewish Chronicle between August of 1914 and mid-1919.

Of all the many soldiers’ photographic portraits published in wartime issues of The Jewish World, the photo of Lieutenant Levey is among the best – if not the very best – in terms of focus, contrast, and composition, let alone quality of reproduction as a microfilmed image.  

______________________________

“Pte. Harry Myers, Lord Lovat’s Scotts.”
(The Jewish World, March 8, 1916)

Akin to Lieut. Levey, Pte. Myers’ name does not appear in the CWGC database. 
During the war, The Jewish Chronicle listed the names of eight soldiers surnamed “Myers”, whose first names began with the letters “H…”, of whom four were killed, and four others wounded.  However, none of these eight soldiers were recorded as having been assigned to Lord Lovat’s Scotts.  Perhaps Harry (at least, this Harry Myers) survived the war? 

______________________________

“Seaman Sam Stump, H.M. “New Zealand” Troopship.”
(The Jewish World, April 5, 1916)

Like Lieutenant Levey, and probably like Pte. Myers, Seaman Stump’s name does not appear at the CWGC database.

______________________________

“Gunner A. Stern, Cape Peninsular Rifles, one of four brothers serving in the same regiment.”
(The Jewish World, August 11, 1915)

Gunner Stern, name also absent from the CWGC database, is posed at a Vickers machine gun.

______________________________

“Pte. S. Zimmerman, Ox. & Bucks L.I., Reported Killed.”
(The Jewish World, March 21, 1917)

.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה.

Private Soloman Zimmerman, 14678
Member of Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, 5th Battalion
Killed in action August 24, 1916
Born 1897
Buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France – IV,I,5
On matzeva: “God Rest His Soul in Peace”
The Jewish Chronicle: Casualty List of October 13, 1916
British Jewry Book of Honour, page 124

______________________________

The image below show the casualty and award list appearing in The Jewish Chronicle of October 13, 1916, with Private Zimmerman’s name appearing last in the “Killed” section.  (This image is a digitally “cleaned-up” scan of a photocopy.)   

This list, only one of the sad abundance of such lists that were published in the Chronicle from late 1914 through mid-1919, is entirely representative of the presentation of information about casualties and award recipients in that newspaper.  Note that while the soldiers’ surnames are presented in full, the first name is limited to only a first initial.  Military service numbers are absent, though the Chronicle did include soldiers’ numbers commencing in July of 1917, while the names of the regiment (or other major organization to which the soldier was assigned) appeared throughout the war.  Similarly – unfortunately! – there is absolutely no genealogical information: No next of kin; no residential address; no city or town of residence.

Taken as a whole, while this information is invaluable, it can sometimes be extremely challenging (if not impossible) to “disambiguate” – as the word goes – specific individuals.  For example, 39 soldiers by the name of “J. Cohen” appeared in Casualty Lists in the Chronicle between 1914 and 1919. 

Yet, regarding Private Soloman Zimmerman… 

Alas, that he fell for his country. 

Alas, once more, and yet again, that he was not the only member of his family to have so fallen.  Two of his brothers – Joseph and Nathan – were also killed during the war.

Rifleman Joseph Zimmerman, C/6123, a member of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 16th Battalion, was killed on April 23, 1917. 

Private Nathan Zimmerman, 42533, a member of the Yorkshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion, was killed on May 8, 1918.

Neither Joseph nor Nathan has a place of burial. 

Joseph is memorialized at the Arras Memorial, at Pas de Calais, France (Bay 7), while Nathan is memorialized at the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium (Panel 52 to 54 and 162A).  Unlike Soloman, I do not believe their names appeared in The Jewish Chronicle, though the names, first initial, and service numbers of all three brothers appear on page 124 of Reverend Michael Adler’s British Jewish Book of Honour. 

The three Zimmerman brothers were the sons of Jacob (by trade a tailor) and Eva Zimmerman, of 34 Kensington Gardens, Balsall Heath Road, in Birmingham.  According to the 1911 Census of England and Wales – when the family was residing at 30 Sherlock Street in Birmingham – their siblings included Israel, a tailor like his father (born 1880), Maurice (born 1882), Sarah (1885), Woolfe (1887), Abraham (1889), Rachel (1893), and David (1899).  Though Soloman appears in that census, brothers Nathan and Josephs’ names are absent; for Joseph, probably because he had married Florence Moore (noted in his biographical profile at British Jews in the First World War) and likely resided elsewhere.  (In the 1901 Census, Nathan is recorded as residing with his parents, the family then living at 29 Lower Essex Street in Birmingham.)    

You can view the Zimmerman family’s record in the 1911 Census (from Ancestry.com) below:
 
And, you can view Kensington Gardens in Birmingham, as seen in this image captured by the roving digital panopticon (otherwise known as Google Street View) from March of 2019.    

The Sailor’s Father: One Day on the Somme: The Fate of Serjeant Reuben Gould (Father of P/O Thomas William Gould, VC, RN ) July 22, 1916

Thus for Tommy Gould’s life before war: but what came before?  This too is a story in its own right, but one that – with the passage of time and absence of records and correspondence – may likely remain only partially known. 

As noted in Tommy Gould’s obituary in the Independent, and in more detail in his biographical profile at RN Subs, his father Reuben was killed in action in 1916, when Tommy was only two years old. 

This singularly significant “clue” – a first name and surname – is all that is needed to return the following record from the CWGC database:

Reuben Gould

Serjeant GOULD, REUBEN
Service Number L/7328

Died 22/07/1916
Aged 35

1st Bn., Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

Husband of Mrs. C.E. Cheeseman (formerly Gould), of 6, Woolcomber Lane, Dover.

Buried at CATERPILLAR VALLEY CEMETERY, LONGUEVAL
Location: Somme, France – XIV, F, 2

So, it was true:  Tommy Gould’s father lost his life in the Battle of the Somme.  He was among the 141 men of the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment who were killed in action, or died of wounds (among an initial total of 391 killed, wounded, and missing) on July 22, 1916, during a series of assaults on the German trenches at High Wood. 

A verbatim transcript of the War Diary / Intelligence Summary of the R.W.K.R., 1st Battalion for that day – found within UK WW I War Diaries at Ancestry.com – is presented below.  Note that the account concludes with details about casualties among officers, but not – perhaps inevitably, given the staggering number of killed and wounded – among Ordinary Ranks.  Which, would have included Serjeant Gould.

This is the “cover” page of the War Diary….

….and this is the “first” page of eight, covering events of July 22, 1916.

During the day orders were received that the 13th Brigade in conjunction with Brigades on right and left was to attack at night Enemy position.  As a preliminary operation the Battn. and 14th WARWICKS were to attack and capture trench along road at 10 PM.  The main attack was timed to commence at 12:30 AM but was afterwards postponed 1 hour.  The attack by the Brigade on our right was not to commence till 3:30 AM.  The main objective was the Enemy’s trench which runs almost due EAST from the N part of HIGH WOOD.  The Enemy however held an intermediate trench running partly behind and partly along the track running SE from E point of HIGH WOOD.  Our front line along the track running SE from S point of HIGH WOOD.  The Battn. was ordered to attack this intermediate trench, which was not visible from its own trench as it was some distance beyond the crest of a gently rising slope.

The main idea was that the Battn in conjunction with 14th R War Regt should attack the intermediate trench and consolidate it.  When this had been done the 2 / K.O.S. Borderers were to pass over the intermediate trench and attack the main enemy trench in rear.  The 15th R. War. Regt was in reserve.

The frontage allotted to the Battn was from the left of the trench at HIGH WOOD to point where enemy trench touched the road, a distance of approximately 400 yards.  The 14th R. War Regt being on the right on a frontage of about the same breadth.

Orders to the following effect were issued to the Battn.:  The hour fixed for the assault was 10 pm. & at that hour the barrage was to lift.  A & B Coy’s were in the front line and were to attack in two waves.  They were ordered to leave their own trenches before the barrage lifted and to get as close to the enemy trench as possible so that when the barrage lifted they could dash in.  The second waves of these boys were to carry entrenching tools which were to be left as close to the enemy trench as possible before final assault.  C Coy were ordered to occupy our original front line at 10 pm and as soon as enemy trench was captured they were to dig a support trench joining up the advance posts already made in front of our line.  This Coy was also to join up E corner of HIGH WOOD with the captured trench.  O.C. Coy had also to detail a bombing party under an Officer to seize enemy strong point at E corner of HIGH WOOD should such strong point be found to be held by enemy.  The existence of this strong point was known of, but the Division on the left guaranteed to deal with it previous to the assault, and it was afterwards stated that we had 2 Vickers Guns in position at the E edge of HIGH WOOD.  At the last moment, however, doubt arose as to the situation at this strong point, and in consequence of vagueness and uncertainty that existed, this party was detailed as an extra precaution.  D Coy was ordered to occupy our front line trenches as soon as vacated by C Coy but to keep well to the left in order that the 2 / KOSB could use this trench as an assembly trench previous to their attack on main position.  2nd Lt. Dando with bombing party was ordered to accompany the first line on extreme left and investigate a short line of enemy trench which ran at right angles to & on the left of & beyond their front trench.  If opposition was met he was to block this trench and wait till 2 / KOSB passed through, when he was to advance and seize it.  C & D Coys, in spite of above orders, were to be prepared to support A & B Coys should necessity arise and in that case all work allotted to them was to be left.  The position of Battn H.Q. was not to change.  Each man carried two Mills Bombs (to form a reserve in captured trench) and an extra bandolier of ammunition.  Communication to be by visual signaling (if smoke permitted) and by runner.  Covering parties were to be put out directly position was captured.  Wire for consolidating captured trench was to be carried up by D Coy.  The attack was to be pressed home at all costs.

At the same time as this attack other Divisions were attacking on the left and the 95th Bde. Was to attack DELVILLE WOOD, but the latter operation could not be commenced until we had gained our objective.

A & B Coys left their own trenches at 9.52 pm and advanced without many casualties until arriving near the road on the crest of the hill, when they were met with extremely heavy rifle & M. Gun fire from direction of E corner of HIGH WOOD and enemy trenches N of Wood, but also suffered casualties by shells from our own Artillery falling short.  Only two parties of these boys reached the enemy trenches.  On the right about 30 men of A Coy reached enemy trench and entered it, but were attacked by the enemy with bombs, as the 14th R. WAR. on their right had failed to reach the trench, and as their own supply of bombs soon ran short they could not maintain their position.  All the officers of this Coy. had become casualties.  On the left Lt. J.J. SCOTT with 21 men of his Platoon entered the enemy trench and killed some Germans.  Lt. SCOTT put out patrols in front, generally consolidated the position for a length of about 40 yds., and held on to it for about 4 hours.  The enemy attempted a bombing attack on the left but this was frustrated by Pte. BUTLIN, who, stepping over the enemy bombs before they exploded, threw bombs of his own and drove the enemy back.  These were the only two parties to reach enemy’s trench.  C & D Coys both went up to reinforce, and later on a part of 2 / KOSB & 2 Coys of 15th R. WAR.R. were sent forward but the latter lost direction.  Some reached enemy line but eventually all troops were withdrawn to our original front line.  The bombing party of C. Coy, sent against the strong point in HIGH WOOD, found the corner of wood already in occupation by the Brigade on left, but it is believed that it was retaken by enemy.  Lt. PEACHEY in command of party was himself wounded.  It is however probably that the strong point itself was never reached and was further back from the corner than was supposed.  In any case, the majority of the casualties in the Battn. were caused by M. Gun fire from here.  Lt. DANDO with his party did not find the isolated trench on the left flank and returned to H.Q. to report the situation.  He afterwards went forward again and brought back a further report.  Lt. HEALEY, the Adjutant, was sent forward to reorganize parties who were in front of our trenches and bring them back to our original front line.  He was, however, wounded when near the German trenches, and could not be brought in.  Lt. CALE, Lewis Gun Officer, also reached the German trenches and assisted in reorganising the line.

Eventually some 250 men were collected by Capt. WRIGHT in our original front line.

On our right, 14th R. WAR. R. were met by a sustained fire of bombs & rifle & M.Gun fire, and did not reach the enemy’s trench.

The Casualties amounted to

Officers
Killed – Missing – Wounded:14 (See below)

O.R. [Other ranks]
Killed – Missing – Wounded377

The individual casualties among officers were as follows: –

A Coy
Capt. COBB, W.R. was wounded very early in the fight
2 Lt. FLEMING, J.A. was wounded & missing [CWGC KIA “John Allister”]
2 Lt. CORNFORD, W.D. was missing [CWGC KIA “William Day”]
2 Lt. LEWINSTEIN, H. was killed by a bomb [CWGC “Harry”]

B Coy
Capt. BENNETT, C.T. was wounded & missing [CWGC KIA “Charles Tudor”]
Capt. LEATHERDALE, D.R. was missing
2 Lt. FOX, C.J. was killed

C Coy
Capt. OGLE, W.M. was wounded
Lt. BULLEN, G. was wounded
2 Lt. PEACHEY, G.F. was wounded
2 Lt. CROSS, P.F. was wounded & missing [CWGC KIA “Philip Frank”]

D Coy
Lt. BARTLETT, L.A. was missing [CWGC KIA “Lionel”]
2 Lt. GILLETT, F. was killed

H. Qrs.
Lt. HEALEY, R.E.H. was wounded & missing [CWGC KIA “Richard Elkanah Hownam”]

Many acts of gallantry were performed, the following being the most conspicuous: –

No. 7725 Corporal GEORGE HATCH.

The Battn. when advancing to the assault of the German trenches, came under very heavy machine gun and shell fire and a large number of men were wounded.  As the intensity of the fire did not diminish it was impossible for the stretcher bearers to go out and collect wounded.  However Cpl. HATCH, who was in charge of the stretcher bearers, went out by himself, walked about in the open and carried wounded to cover in shell holes.  This was done some 200 yards in front of our own lines and within very close range of the enemy machine guns.  He afterwards carried back many of the men to our own line.  He continued his work with the utmost coolness and disregard for personal safety for about 7 hours and until well after daylight when eventually he was himself wounded.  He was under very heavy fire the whole time.  He was seen to carry back at least 50 cases, and there is no doubt that he saved the lives of a large number of men. 

______________________________

A search of Google Maps for the above-listed “6 Woolcomber Lane, Dover” yielded the following three maps, showing at successively larger scales southeastern England, then Dover, and finally Woolcomber Street (formerly Lane?) in Dover.  Notably, while the map shows the nominal and presumably original location of the street, a 2018 aerial view of the same location reveals that none of the dwellings that presumably once existed there remain standing, a parking lot having taken their place.

An effort to find more information about Serjeant Gould’s family revealed the record below, from the 1911 Census of England and Wales.  (Thanks, Ancestry.com!)  Intriguingly, though there is no entry for Reuben Gould, it appears that Reuben’s wife – Tommy Gould’s mother? – appears as “Christian Elmer [Almer?] Gould, age 26.  Christian is the daughter of Maria Mary Anna Irons (58 years old), and the mother of Sidney Robert Gould (age 1/ ½ years; Tommy’s older brother?) and sister of Morris William Irons, age 16 ½.

Being that Tommy Gould was born in 1914, his name by definition would not appear in this Census. 

Notably, the document was completed by Maria Irons, who lists, below her signature, the address as 5 (not 6) Woolcomber Lane. 

Reuben’s British Army WW I Medal Roll Index Card is presented below…

…and here is the Graves Registration Report for Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, with Reuben’s name appearing second from top.  Notable is his designation as a Private (not a Serjeant, as listed in the CWGC record and Medal Roll Index Card), and the fact that his tombstone bears a Crucifix – not a Magen David – which presumably would indicate the religious affiliation he designated upon entering the Army.

If so – it may be so; it certainly seems so – this is reflective of the plethora of anecdotes, news items, and lengthy opinion pieces appearing in The Jewish Chronicle throughout the First World War – written by “ordinary ranks” as well as officers, rabbis, community leaders, intellectuals, and other public figures – pertaining to the decision by some Jewish servicemen to identify their religious affiliation as other than such upon entering the military.  This topic was also addressed in the American Jewish Press during America’s involvement in the war.

Every man is an individual, subject to and both the captain and captive of his own strengths and weaknesses; his own fears and hopes; his own life experiences and observations.  Such decisions would have been motivated by the same set of conundrums that have confronted the Jewish people ever since the beginning of Jewish emancipation only a few centuries ago: The desire to avoid antisemitism; the natural, universal, perennial human desire to want to smoothly belong to a “group” – any group – be that group military, civilian, or familial – without “rocking the boat”; pure self-interest; and even more than realized, a degree of acculturation and assimilation that would gradually and bear-inevitably have moved the centrality of Jewish identification – in time irrelevant or muted – to the quiet periphery of one’s life and priorities.

Far, far more could be said about this topic.  Vastly amounts have already been written.  Even in and after 2018, more will follow.  But two excellent monographs on the subject – enlightening and disturbing; illuminating and disillusioning; revelatory and astute – are the late Barry Rubin’s Assimilation and Its Discontents (Times Books, 1995) and Radical Assimilation in English-Jewish History 1656-1945, by Todd M. Endelman (Indiana University Press, 1990). 

In any event, though Serjeant Gould’s name did not appear in The Jewish Chronicle, or Reverend Michael Adler’s 1922 British Jewry Book of Honour, the names of two other serviceman – 2 Lt. Harry Lewinstein – (listed above) and Pvt. Hyman Rosenthall – did. 

In its issue of 11 August 1916, as it did throughout the war, the Chronicle published the most recently available list of the names of Jewish soldiers reported killed, missing, wounded, and injured, or who died in service.  Typical of WW I casualty lists presented in that newspaper, soldiers’ names are given in “descending” order by rank, with officers appearing first. 

Importantly – exasperatingly, in terms of genealogical research! – throughout the war, the Chronicle rarely published a soldier’s full first (and middle, if any) name, instead using only his initials.  I don’t know if this reflected the editorial policy of the Chronicle itself, or, was simply the format of Casualty Lists released by the War Office.  In any event, the ambiguity inherent to some names can make the identification of specific, identically-named individuals more than challenging.  

So, here is the Chronicle’s casualty list for August 11, showing (for the purposes of this post) only soldiers killed in action.   

Genealogical information covering Jewish soldiers killed in action on July 22, 1916 – as well as two Jewish soldiers wounded on that date, Sapper Myer Joseph Isaacs and Gunner Cyril N. Mandelson, both Australians – follows below….

Known Jewish Military Casualties – July 22, 1916

Killed

– .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –

Ben Kimoun, Maurice Mouchi, Soldat de 2eme Classe, Armée de Terre, Zouaves, 3eme Regiment de Zouaves
Number 11452, Class 1913, Matricule 1881, Recrutement Oran
France (Algérie)
Born in Oran, Algeria, 10/24/93
Killed by the enemy [Tué a l’ennemi]; France, Meuse, Bras
Place of burial unknown
l’Univers Israélite  9/28/17
Les Israelites dans l’Armée Francaise – 12
Le Livre d’Or du Judaisme Algérien (1914-1918) – 204

Braver, Max, Soldat de 2eme Classe, Armée de Terre, Infanterie, 352eme Regiment d’Infanterie
Number 11135, Class 1915, Matricule 59, Recrutement 3eme Bureau, Seine
France (Roumanie)
Born in Craiova, Roumania, 12/2/77
Killed by the enemy [Tué a l’ennemi]; France, Somme, Assevillers
Necropole Nationale “Lihons”, Lihons, Somme, France – Tombe Individuelle, No. 1685
Les Israelites dans l’Armée Francaise – Not listed

Fraenkel, Bruno, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 49 Infanterie Regiment, 2nd Bataillon, 6 Kompagnie
Born May 5, 1884, Berlin, Germany
Lived in Eberswalde
(Missing)
Place of burial unknown
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 138

Gros, Arnold, Soldat de 2eme Classe, Armée de Terre, Artillerie, 13eme Regiment d’Artillerie de Campagne
Number 13716, Class 1917, Matricule 833, Recrutement 3eme Bureau, Seine
France
Born at 9eme Arrondissement, Paris, 9/19/97
Killed by the enemy [Tué a l’ennemi]; France, Somme, Mametz
Necropole Nationale “La Cote 80”, Etinehem, Somme, France – Tombe Individuelle, No. 750
Les Israelites dans l’Armée Francaise – 38

Jonas, Emil, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 252 Pioner Kompagnie
Born Dec. 12, 1877, Hamburg, Germany
Lived in Altona
(Missing)
Place of burial unknown
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 372

Kahn, Nathan, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 1 Lazarett Trupp, Freiwilliger Krankenpflege
Born Jan. 18, 1884, Munchen, Germany
Lived in Altenstadt
Place of burial unknown
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 292

Kronheim, Georg, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 113 Infanterie Regiment, 2 Bataillon, 5 Kompagnie
Mrs. Rosa (Brodek) Kronheim (wife); 1 child, Winsstrasze 4, Berlin, Germany
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan and Maria Theresa (Lewinberg) Kronheim (parents), Berlin, Germany
Born May 31, 1879, Berlin, Germany
Lived in Berlin
Judischen Friedhof zu Weissensee, Berlzu, Germany
Hank, Sabine, and Simon, Hermann, Bis der Krieg uns lehrt, was der Friede bedeute [Until the War Teaches Us What Peace Means] Hentrich & Hentrich, Teetz, Germany, 2004, 79
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 147

Lazarus, Hans Heinz, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 223 Reserve Infanterie Regiment, 1 Bataillon, 1 Kompagnie
Born April 20, 1894, Munchen, Germany
Lived in Berlin
(Missing)
Place of burial unknown
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 292

Lebenstein, Manfred, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 3 Garde Grenadier Regiment, 3 Bataillon, 12 Kompagnie
Born August 3, 1886, Munchen, Germany
Lived in Charlottenburg
Kriegsgräberstätte in St.Quentin (Frankreich), Block 3, Grab 68
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 292

Levi, Julius, Soldat, Deutsches Heer, 25 Reserve Infanterie Regiment, 2 Bataillon, 7 Kompagnie
Born May 21, 1878, Schluchtern, Germany
Lived in Kassel
Place of burial unknown
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – 330

Lewinstein, Harry, 2 Lt., British Army, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 1st Battalion
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and Fanny Lewinstein (parents), 22 Great Windmill St., London, W, England
Born London, England, 1889
KIA July 22, 1916
Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France – XXX,B,7
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 72

The 2017 Google Maps image below shows the contemporary appearance of the wartime home of the Lewinstein family: 22 Great Windmill Street, London, W., now the location of Soho Radio.   

Rosenthall, Hyman, Pvt., 28134, British Army, Northumberland Fusiliers, 16th Battalion
Mr. Isaac Rosenthall (father), 44 Grafton St., Leeds, England
(also) 42 Whitlock St., Leeds, England
Born 1893
KIA July 22, 1916
Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authville Wood, Somme, France – III,E,1
British Jewry Book of Honour – 115

This image of Hyman Rosenthall appeared in The Jewish World (The Jewish Chronicle’s sister publication) on May 2, 1917.  The image was recorded from 35mm microfilm – at the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library – using a digital SLR.  (I don’t think The Jewish World has yet been digitized.)

These two soldiers were wounded on July 22, 1916, but survived.  Biographical information about them was found by reviewing their digitized Attestation Papers, via the website of the National Archives of Australia.   

Isaacs, Myer Joseph, Sapper, 1288, Australian Imperial Forces, 3rd Tunneling Company
Wounded in France
Mrs. Ruby Isaacs (wife), Mayville, Tupper St., Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia
Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1885
WIA July 22, 1916
British Jewry Book of Honour – 558
Attestation Papers list religion as “Jewish”; Civilian trade: Fitter

Mandelson, Cyril Nathaniel, Gunner, 3972, Australian Imperial Forces, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Trench Mortar Battery
Wounded at Pas de Calais, France
Mr. Joseph Mandelson (father), 101 Victoria St., Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1887
WIA July 22, 2916
British Jewry Book of Honour – 561
Attestation Papers list religion as “Jewish”; Civilian trade: Agent; Married: Ruby Jane Hannah Mandelson

Genealogical information about the ten other soldiers whose names appear in the Chronicle’s casualty list – aside from 2 Lt. Levinstein and Pvt. Rosenthall – follows:

Casualty List – The Jewish Chronicle – August 11, 1916

– .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –

Baum, Harry Hyman, L/Cpl., 22701, British Army, Border Regiment, 1st Battalion
Mr. and Mrs. Nathan and Leah Baum (parents), Stepney, London, England
(also) 7 Dempsey St., London, E, England
Born 1894
KIA July 3, 1916
Louvencourt Military Cemetery, Somme, France – Plot I, Row D, Grave 2
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 79

Cohen, John, Rifleman, 5467, British Army, Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion
86 Boundary St., Shoreditch, London, E, England
KIA July 1, 1916
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France – Pier and Face 16B and 16C
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 84

Davis, J., Rifleman, R/15167, British Army, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 13th Battalion
42 Vallance Road, London, E, England
KIA July 10, 1916
Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle, Somme, France – VII,Q,2
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 87

Gluckman, Samuel, Pvt., 6171, South African Infantry, 3rd Regiment
Mr. and Mrs. J. and J. Gluckman (parents), 61 Fortescue Road, Yeoville, Johannesburg, South Africa
(also) P.O. Box 66, Vereenigang, South Africa
Born 1900
KIA July 9, 1916
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France – Pier and Face 4C
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 91

Jacobs, Joel, 2 Lt., British Army, Yorkshire Regiment, 5th Battalion
Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Pearl Jacobs (parents), Harringay, 52 Walter Road, Swansea, England
Born 1895
KIA July 20, 1916
La Laiterie Military Cemetery, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium – VII,D,13
On Matzeva: “I WAS GUIDED BY THY COUNSEL AND AFTERWARD RECEIVED WITH THY GLORY”
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16, 7/28/16 (obituary)
British Jewry Book of Honour – 71

This picture of Lt. Joel Jacobs appeared in The Jewish World on August 23, 1916.  Identical to that of Pvt. Rosenthall, the image was copied from microfilm via a digital SLR.  Throughout the First World War, The Jewish World published several hundred portraits of Jewish servicemen of England and the Commonwealth countries, as well as more candid images of life in the military.  The quality of these images varies enormously.

Levy, Lewis, Pvt., 18418, British Army, Hampshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Mrs. Sarah Levy (wife); Henry and Evie (children), 104 Eric St., Mile End Road, London, England
(also) 132 Bridge St., London, E, England
Mrs A. Levy, Mat, John, Mrs. Moss Harris, Mrs. Mark Harris, Mrs. L. Zimmerman, Mrs. R. Simmons, Morris, Kate, and Beck (brothers and sisters)
Born 1893
KIA July 1, 1916
Bertrancourt Military Cemetery, Somme, France – Plot I, Row G, Grave 13
On Matzeva: “NOBLY HE ANSWERED HIS DUTY’S CALL”
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16, 7/14/16 (obituary)
British Jewry Book of Honour – 104

Lewis, J., Pvt., 16891, British Army, Somerset Light Infantry, 8th Battalion
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and Leah Lewis (parents), 11 Sandfield Road, Aberavon, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales
Born 1892
KIA June 29, 1916
Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, Somme, France – I,A,81
On Matzeva: “IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE FROM MOTHER, SISTER, BROTHER R.I.P.”
The Jewish Chronicle 7/21/16, 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 105

Rubin, Jack, Pvt., 4583, South African Infantry, 9th Regiment
Mr. and Mrs. Morris and Sarah Rubin (parents), Cape Town, South Africa
Born 1894
KIA July 16, 1916
Dar Es Salaam War Cemetery, Tanzania – 2,A,14
On Matzeva: “MAY HIS DEAR SOUL REST IN PEACE”
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 115

Shilling, Harry, Pvt., 2267, British Army, London Regiment, 7th Battalion
Mrs. Eva Shilling (wife), 34 Peter St., Hightown, Manchester, England
(also) 16 Mount St., London, E2, England
Born 1881
KIA May 24, 1916
Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France – I,C,24
On Matzeva: “IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAR HUSBAND FROM HIS LOVING WIFE AND CHILDREN”
The Jewish Chronicle 8/11/16
British Jewry Book of Honour – 116
British Jewry Book of Honour gives surname as “Schilling”, while CWGC and LJC Casualty List give surname as “Shilling”

References

Thomas W. Gould

Biography (Military Art)

Biography (Royal Navy Subs)

Biography (Kent History Forum)

Obituary (Independent)

Place of Commemoration / Burial (FindAGrave)

Miscellaneous

Victoria Cross (Wikipedia)

Jewish Victoria Cross Recipients (London Jews in the First World War)

VC * GC Association (VCGCA)

Books

Adler, Michael, British Jewry Book of Honour, Caxton Publishing Company, London, England, 1922

Hank, Sabine, and Simon, Hermann, Bis der Krieg uns lehrt, was der Friede bedeute (Until the War Teaches Us What Peace Means) Hentrich & Hentrich, Teetz, Germany, 2004

Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch, Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten, Forward by Dr. Leo Löwenstein, Berlin, Germany, 1932

Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française (Israelites [Jews] in the French Army), Angers, 1921 – Avant-Propos de la Deuxième Épreuve [Forward to the Second Edition], Albert Manuel, Paris, Juillet, 1921 – (Réédité par le Cercle de Généalogie juive [Reissued by the Circle for Jewish Genealogy], Paris, 2000)

Le Livre d’Or du Judaisme Algérien (The Gold Book of Algerian Jewry) (1914-1918) (Réédité par le Cercle de Généalogie juive, Paris, 2000) [Avec la collaboration de Georges Teboul et de Jean-Pierre Bernard]

 

 

Soldiers from New York: A Spitfire in April – Ernest Willy Rosenstein – I

The chronicle of Jewish military casualties for April 2, 1945, is not yet complete, for an additional name must be added: Lieutenant Ernest Willy Rosenstein of the South African Air Force. 

But, his story can only be told by way of the life of his father: Leutnant d.R. Willy Rosenstein, who served in the Imperial German Air Service during the First World War…

“Like father, like son.”

A cliché; brief, yet valid, describing a perennial aspect of human nature.

While hardly true for all families, there sometimes occurs striking similarities across the lives of parents and children:  Some sons indeed recapitulate the paths of their fathers, as least as much as the intersection between human decision and the spirit of an era will allow.  Yet, even as men make choices and “act”, the course of their lives – however fleeting; however lengthy – appear to be carried upon currents of chance: sometimes benevolent; sometimes callous; often puzzling.  As noted by World War One Orthodox German-Jewish soldier Martin Feist, contemplated from the finite perspective of man – the decree of God can indeed appear to be unsearchable.  Thus for “mankind” in the abstract; thus for men as individuals.

Such was epitomized some seven decades ago, one month before the end of the Second World War in Europe. 

On the second of April in 1945, a Royal Air Force Spitfire was lost during a combat mission over Italy.  Its pilot, Ernest Willy Rosenstein, a 22-year-old Jew who like his parents had been born in Germany, did not survive.  

As had lived the son, so had – for a time – lived the father, Willy Rosenstein. 

Born in Stuttgart (1) in 1892, Willy was an aviator and aerial “ace” in Germany’s World War One Air Service, the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte, in which he attained nine (or ten?) aerial victories in combat against Britain’s Royal Air Force and France’s Armée de l’Air, while flying alongside such figures as Hans Jeschonnek (future Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe), six-victory ace Herman Gilly, Pour le Mérite winner Carl Degelow, and – with tremendous irony – Herman Göering.  A figure within the automotive and especially the aviation worlds of pre-war Germany, he would survive “The Great War” and eventually return to those fields of endeavor, becoming an amateur racing-care driver, while enjoying private flying at Böblingen (a town in Baden-Württemberg).  However, technology and military service were not the only; hardly the central, embodiments and definitions of his life.  Forced to leave Germany with the advent of the Third Reich, he would in 1936 settle in South Africa with his family.  Alas; as a husband and father; as an immigrant whose adopted homeland would eventually be at war with the land of his birth; and as the father of an only son, time and chance never gave him a solid respite from the winds of the twentieth century.   

If any respite, at all. 

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The above is a very brief recapitulation of Willy’s life, but rather than present the entirety of his story, “this” post actually serves as a steppingstone for an account of the brief life of his son. 

As such, it’s focused upon the central aspects of Willy’s military service, and largely (but not only) based upon what is probably the most detailed account of Willy’s life, which was written by Robert B. Gill some 33 years ago.  Published in the Winter, 1984 (Volume 25, Number 4) issue of the Cross & Cockade Journal, “The Albums of Willy Rosenstein – Aviation Pioneer – Jasta Ace”, includes 65 illustrations (2), and is derived from material in Willy Rosenstein’s three photo album scrapbooks, which Mr. Gill received from Jules Loth of Johannesburg, “…who “discovered” Willy Rosenstein’s memorabilia.”  As comprehensive as it is detailed, Robert Gill’s article covers Willy’s pre-war life and participation in German aviation, and concludes with a fascinating and moving account of Willy’s eventual emigration to South Africa and all-too-brief postwar life.  The issue’s cover is shown below:

The list of cited references at the end of this post includes links to other sources of information about Willy Rosenstein.

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Photographs

It helps to attach a face to a name, let alone an image to the designation of a military aircraft.  So, here are representative images of Willy’s story, beginning with a picture of Willy, himself:

Willy, seated atop an Albatross D.III.  This image, which appears on various websites and as a sepia-toned image in the epilogue of Nikolai Müllerschoen’s 2008 movie “The Red Baron”, appears in Robert Gill’s Cross & Cockade article.  The caption: “Summer 1917 at Flugplatz Isegehem, in Flanders, with Jasta 27 as Rosenstein poses aboard his Albatross D.III, possibly 163/17.”

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Marek Mincbergr’s 1/48 model of the Pfalz E.1 (215/15) flown by Willy while an Offizier Stellvetreter (Officer Deputy) in FFA (Feldfliegerabteilung) 19.  Two photographs of this aircraft, both taken in December of 1915, appear in Robert Gill’s article.  One image shows Willy standing in the aircraft’s cockpit.   

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Peter Hochstrasser’s 1/72 model of the Fokker D.VII Willy flew while in Jasta 40, bearing his personal “white heart” emblem.  A photo of this aircraft (perhaps the only one extant?) also appears in Bob Gill’s article, captioned thusly:  “The black Fokker D.VII with der Weisse Harz (The White Heart) personal insignia of Willy Rosenstein.  Carl Degelow discussed Rosenstein’s insignia in his memoirs, Germany’s Last Knight of the Air.  He stated: “The remarkable choice of this pilot (Rosenstein) clearly indicated a good relationship with the eternal woman.  If we had to forgive him for this, we did it gladly, for he was our ‘patron saint,’ performing for us the essential duty of keeping the rear free of our enemies, as he flew last and highest in our formation.”  Rosenstein attained seven of his 10 aerial victories after joining Jasta 40 (on July 9, 1918), at least some while flying this aircraft.

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Four Jasta 40 Fokker D.VIIs, each bearing the emblem of its pilot.  The aircraft (left to right) are those of: 1) Leutnant Carl Degelow (white stag), 2) Leutnant Frodien (white eagle), 3) Leutnant Willy Rosenstein (white heart), and 4) Leutnant Hans Jeschonnek (white bull).  The pilots who would have flown these aircraft were identified through Pheon Decals’ decal sheet for aircraft of Jasta 40 under Leutnant Carl Degelow.  (Unfortunately, the identity of the artist (the image being present on Tumbler) is unknown.) 

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Postwar: A column from the 1928 telephone book for the post office district of Stuttgart (Amtliches Fernsprechbuch fur den Ober post direktionsbezirk Stuttgart, 1928), from Ancestry.com.  This appears to have been a version of what is known as the “Yellow Pages” (if you can still find yellow pages…!); that is, a directory of names, address, and phone numbers of private businesses, retail establishments, and factories.

The entry for Willy is listed as “Fabrikant, Teilnehmer der Fabrik Lederfabrik Zuffenhausen Sihler und Cie.  (Fernspech * 807 49), Eduard-Pfeiffer-Strasse 178”.  (Manufacturer, Member of Zuffenhausen Sihler Leather Fabric Company (Phone Number * 807 49), 178 Eduard-Pfeiffer Street)

Though not specifically mentioned in Robert Gill’s article, this is consistent with Willy’s postwar activity in the leather manufacturing business, in which he was employed – between 1926 and 1929 – by, “the firm that manufactured the world-famous “Salamander” shoe line.” 

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Historical Accounts

Information about Ernest Willy’s military service appeared as early as 1924, in Dr. Felix A. Theilhaber’s Jüdische Flieger im Weltkrieg, which publication was preceded in 1919 by Dr. Theilhaber’s Jüdische Flieger im Krieg.  The text concerning Willy, followed by Adam M. Wait’s 1988 English-language translation, is presented below.  Page numbers (from the original 1924 edition) are given in parentheses following the excerpts.

In diesem buch hat Herr Dr. Theilhaber authentisches und wohlgepruftes material zusammengetragen, das der grossen offentlichkeit zum ersten male kenntnis gibt von dem anteil der Juden an der entwicklung und nicht zuletzt an den opfern der fliegerwaffe.

Herausgegriffene beispiele nennen uns die namen der im schulbetrieb wie vor dem feinde gefallelenen.  Sie alle fanden ihren tod in frieden unde krieg auf dem flugfeld der ehre.  Nie hat je das gemeinsame band eine kampfgruppe inniger umschlungen und gefesselt als die flieger.

Bon diesem grossen horizont aus gesehen schrumpfen politsche, soziale und religiose gegensatze innerhalb der zunft in ein “nichts” zusammen.

Der gedanke, etwa einem der fruhesten vorkampfer im Deutschen flugwesen, Willy Rosenstein, Jablonsky oder Abramowicz, den ihnen gebuhrenden ehrenplatz nicht zu gonnen, entstammt lichtscheuen maulwurfsnaturen, aber nicht fliegerherzen. (page 6)

In this book Herr Theilhaber has compiled authentic and well-scrutinized material which for the first time gives the general public knowledge of the part played by Jews in the development of – and not least, sacrifice to – the aerial weapon.

Selected examples tell us the names of those who died in training as well as in the face of the enemy.  They all found their death in peace and war on the field of honor.   Never has a common bond bound a fighting force more intimately than in aviation. 

Political, social, and religious differences dwindle away to nothing within the fraternity.

The idea of perhaps begrudging one of the earliest pioneers in German aviation, like Willy Rosenstein, Jablonsky or Abramowicz, the place of honor due them comes from lowly characters, but not from the hearts of aviators.

Wohl aber durfen wir den fliegerwerdegang des Willy Rosenstein, sohn der Frau Regierungsrat Dr. Nordlinger (jetzt in Stuttgart wohnhaft) etwas eingehender behandeln.

Mit 18 jahren treffen wir ihn anno 1911 als flugschuler bei Rumpler, am 3 November 1911 besteht er das pilotenexamen und wird bei Rumpler fluglehrer.  Er gibt offizieren der ersten ausbildungskurfus auf den beruhmten Rumplertauben.

Der junge pilot flog bei Rumpler einige der flugwochen mit.  Da er aber nur ein schulflugzeug uberwiesen bekommen hatte, erzielte er keine besonderen leistungen.

Im jahre 1913 geht er von Rumpler ab, um bei der gothaer waggonfabrik den flugzeugbau einzufuhren.  Zuerst war Rosenstein vier monate bei der Zentrale Fur Aviatik in Hamburg, einem spezialunternehmen der gothaer.  Dort konnte er bei dem Mecklenburger Rundflug eine gute gothaer taube fliegen, die ihm den ersten preis im gesamtklassement und den gewinn samtlicher ehrenpreise einbringt.

Nach uberfiedelung nach Gotha fliegt Rosenstein die neuen militarmaschinen ein, beteiligt sich bei den neukonstruktionen und nimmt an den abnahmeflugen anteil, sowie an der ausbildung weiterer flugschuler.  Wahrend der fluglehrerzeit bildete er 80 offiziere und 40 zivilflieger aus, in Hamburg absolvierte er bereits den 2,000.  Flug, in Gotha den 3,000 mit seiner mutter als passagier.  Da viele fluge auf unerprobten apparaten vollfuhrt wurden, stellt diese tatigkeit nicht gerade das einfachste, was es auf der welt gab, dar.

1914 meldet er sich als kriegsfreiwilliger und kommt Januar 1915 zum Armeeflugpark V nach Montmedy, im Februar zur Feldfliegerabteilung 19 nach Porcher.  Dort flog er mit Leutnant Martin als beobachter.  Ein jahr spater wird er Leutnant d. R. der fliegertruppe.  Im April 1916 zieht Rosenstein bei einem fernaufklarungsflug jenseits der Maas bei Verdun im kampf mit einem Franzosischen jagdflugzeug den kurzeren.  Leutnant Martin erhielt einen schweren oberschenkelknochenschusss und zwei weitere steckschusse in das andere bein und wurde sosort ohnmachtig.  Rosenstein hatte drei dumdumschusse in beiden beinen.  Mit dem einen bein steuert er jedoch sein flugzeug nach dem flughafen, um noch glatt zu landen.  Von der stelle fuhr man ihn ins lazarett.  Aus der narkose aufgewacht, findet der operierte auf der bettdecke das E.K. I.

Rosenstein gesundet rascher als sein begleiter.  Aber ohne ihn will er nicht mehr beobachtungsfluge ausfuhren.  So wird er jagdflieger bei der armeefokkerstaffel in der Champaigne, dann bei der Jadgstaffel 27 in Flandern, bei der er seine zwei ersten abschusse erzielte.

Zur erholung zum Grenzschutz in die heimat (Karlsruhe) kommandiert, erhalt er fur einen abschuss uber Hagenau den “Zahringer Lowen”.  Und wieder also gekraftigt, bittet er um ein frontkommando, wo es mehr zu tun gibt.  So erscheint er bei der Jagdstaffel 40 bei Lille.  Der erste frontflug lasst gleich einen Englander brennend dicht neben ihm niedergehen.  Unter der weiteren fuhrung der staffel unter Leutnant Pegelow erzielt Rosenstein sechs weitere anerkannte asbchusse, wofur er zum Hohenzollern-Hausorden eingereicht wurde, dessen aushandigung die revolution verhinderte.

Mit ausnahme der knappen lazarettzeit und des zweimonatigen oben gekennziechneten heimatkommandos war Rosenstein ununterbrochen also vier jahre lang als flieger an der feindlichen front.  (pages 76-77)

Now let’s deal in somewhat more detail with the flying career of Willy Rosenstein, the son of Frau privy councilor Dr. Nordlinger (now residing in Stuttgart). 

We meet him in the year 1911 at 18 years of age as a flight pupil with Rumpler, with whom he became a flight instructor after passing the pilot’s exam on 3 November 1911.  He gave officers their first training course on the famous Rumpler Taube. 

The young pilot flew with Rumpler in some of the Flight Weeks.  But since he had only been assigned a school aircraft he achieved no special performances. 

In the year 1913 he left Rumpler in order to be initiated into aircraft construction with the Gothaer Waggonfabrik.  First Rosenstein spent four months at the Center for Aviation in Hamburg, a special venture of Gotha.  There at the Mecklenburg Round Flight he was able to fly a good Gotha Taube, which brought him first prize in general classification and the winning of all first prizes. 

After emigrating to Gotha, Rosenstein test-flew the new military machines, participated in new construction, and took part in acceptance flights, as well as the training of further flight pupils.  During his period as a flight instructor he trained 80 officers and 40 civilian flyers.  In Hamburg he completed his 200th flight and in Gotha his 300th with his mother as passenger.  Since many flights were executed on untested machines, this occupation didn’t exactly represent the easiest in the world. 

In 1914 he enlisted as a wartime volunteer and in January 1915 arrived at Armeeflugpark 5 at Montmedy.  In February 1915 he was assigned to Feldflieger Abteilung 19 at Porcher.  There he flew with Leutnant Martin as observer.  A year later he became a Leutnant der Reserve in the air service. 

On 28 April 1916 during a long-range reconnaissance flight, Rosenstein drew the shorter straw in combat with a French fighter plane on the other side of the Meuse near Verdun.  Leutnant Martin received a bad hit in the thigh and two further bullets in the other leg and became faint.  Rosenstein had been wounded in both legs by three dum-dum bullets.  However, with one leg he steered the aircraft to the aerodrome and managed to make a smooth landing.  He was driven from the spot to the hospital.  Upon awakening from anesthesia, the patient found on his bed cover the Iron Cross 1st Class. 

Rosenstein recovered more quickly than Martin, but didn’t want to carry out any more observation flights without him.  He became a fighter pilot with the Armee-Fokker-Staffel in the Champagne and then with Jagdstaffel 27 in Flanders, with whom he achieved his first two victories. [1] 

Ordered to the homeland (Karlsruhe) for border protection during recuperation, he received the “Zahringer Lions” for a victory over Hagenau.  Restored once more, he asked for assignment to the front, where there was more to do.  Thus he appeared at Jagdstaffel 40 near Lille. [2]  His first operational patrol with this unit resulted in an Englishman going down in flames close beside him. [3]  Under the further leadership of the Staffel by Leutnant Degelow, Rosenstein achieved six further victories, for which he applied for the Hausordern von Hohenzollern, the delivery of which was prevented by the revolution. 

With the exception of the brief time in hospital and the above-mentioned two-month home assignment, Rosestein had flown on the enemy front for four years without interruption.

***

Es sind also drei zivilpiloten der vorkriegszeit todlich verungluckt: Abramowitsch, Neufeld, Dunetz; dazu konnen noch absolut sichergestellt: Rosenstein, Jablonsky, Wechsler, zwei Dr. Lisauer, einige andere sind fraglich.  Somit waren unter den 500 friedenspiloten sieben, wahrscheinlich mehr Judische piloten gewesen!  (page 78)

Three Jewish civilian pilots of the pre-war era crashed fatally: Abramowicz, Neufeld, and Dunetz.  Other pilots for certain in addition were Rosenstein, Wechsler, and two Dr. Lissauers.  Some others are questionable.  So amongst the 500 peacetime pilots there had been in fact seven, probably more, Jewish pilots. 

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Mention of Willy appeared twice in Der Schild, the publication of the association of German-Jewish war veterans, the “Reichsbundes Jüdischer Frontsoldaten”.  The first was in the paper’s issue of December 27, 1935, which, under the title “Makkabaer der Lufte – 200 jüdische Kriegsflieger”, presents a list of German-Jewish airmen of the First World War, within many names accompanied by the airmens’ ranks, cities or towns of residence, and for a small few – as in the case of Willy – the identity of the specific military unit(s) in which they served.  The brief entry for Willy is presented below:

Der Schild
December 27, 1935

“Juden bei der Luftwaffe”

Rosenstein, Willy
Leutnant der Reserve
Armeeflugpark V
Feldfl.-Abteilung 19 u. Jagdstaffel 27 u. 40

Rosenstein, Willy
Leutnant der Reserve
Armeeflugpark V
Field Flying Unit 19 and Hunting Squadrons 27 and 40

______________________________

A subsequent article under the same title appeared in the February 7, 1936 issue of Der Schild and presented biographical profiles of several German Jewish aviators, among them Willy:

Der Schild
February 7, 1936

“Makkabaer der Lüfte”

Wurttembergische Frontflieger
Von acht fielen vier.

Aus Wurttemberg sind mindestens acht judische Frontflieger fetsgestellt worden.  Vier davon sind gefallen: Lt. d.R. Pappenheimer aus Mergentheim, Zurndorfer aus Rexingen, Weil aus Ulm und Kriegsfreiwilliger Flugezugfuhrer Eugen Levi aus Stuttgart.

Aus Stuttgart sind ferner die Kameraden Hermann Schmidt, Willy Rosenstein, Lt. d.R. Wolfenstein und aus Oberdorf-Bopfingen Uffz. Flugzeugfuhrer Siegfried Heimann.

***

Kam. Willy Rosenstein

Zu der kleinen Zahl der Vorkriegs-piloten gehört unser Kam. Willy Rosenstein – Stuttgart.  Schon mit 19 Jahren macht er im Jahre 1911 (!) sein Pilotenexamen bei Rumpler in Berlin.  Als junger Pilot fliegt er einige der Flugwochen mit, freilich nur im Schulflugzeug.  1913 geht er von Rumpler ab, um bei der Gothaer Waggonfabrik  den Flugzeugbau einzuführen.  Zunachst ist er vier Monate bei der Zentrale für Aviatik in Hamburg, ein Spezialunternehmen der “Gothaer”.  Dort konnte er bei dem Mecklenburger Rundflug eine Goather Taube fliegen, die ihm den Ersten Preis im Gesamtklassement und den Gewinn samtlicher Ehrenpreise bringt.  Nach Uebersiedlung nach Gotha fliegt Kam. Rosenstein die neuen Militärmaschinen ein, ist bei den Neukonstruktionen und an den Abnahmeflügen beteiligt sowie an der Ausbildung weiterer Flugschüler.  (Wir haben auf seine Vorkriegstätigkeit schon kurz in der Sonderuasgabe, “Juden bei der Luftwaffe: nom 27 12 1935 auf Seite 2 unter “Jüdische Vorkriegspiloten” hingewiesen.)

Bei Kriegsausbruch meldet sich Kam. Rosenstein sofort als Freiwilliger, muss aber zunachst weiter Offiziere als Flieger ausbilden, und fürchtet schon, nicht mehr rechtzeitig ins Feld zu kommen.  Januar 1915 kommt er zum Armeeflugpark V, nach Montmedy, im Februar zur Feldflieger-Abt. 19.  Gechzehn Monate flog er mit Leutnant Martin aus Stuttgart als Beobachter, bis beide eines Tages mit erheblicher Verletzung gerade noch ihren Flugpark erreichten.  Es war im April 1916 bei einem Fernaufklärungsflug jenseits der Maas bei Verdun, im Kampf mit einem französichen Jadgflugzeug.  Leutant Martin erhielt einen schweren Oberschenkel-Knochenschusz und zwei Steckschüsse in das andere Bein; Rosenstein hatte drei Schüsse in beiden Beinen; mit dem einen Bein steuerte er jedoch sein Flugzeug nach dem Flughafen zurück und landete glatt.  Von der Stelle fuhr man ihn ins Lazarett.  Aus der Narkose erwacht, findet der Operierte auf der Bettbecke das E.K. I.  Inzwischen zum Leutnant d. R. befördert, flog er die verkschiedensten Typen bei mannigsachen Formationen.  Eines Tages ist er bei der Jagdstaffel 27 in Flandern und vollfuhrt bald seine ersten beiden Abschüsse.

Zur Erholung zum Grenzschutz nach Karlsruhe kommandiert, erhält er für einen Abschüss über Hagenau den “Zähringer Löwen”.  Bald bittet er wieder um ein Frontkommando und erschient bei der Jadgstaffel 40 bei Lille.  Er bringt es im ganzen auf

neun Abschüsse

Der erfolgreiche, mutige Kampfflieger wird zum Hausorden von Hohenzollern eingereicht, – die Aushandigung wird durch den Ausbruch des Umsturzes verhindert.

***

The Shield
February 7, 1936

Maccabees of the Air

Württemberg Front Flyers
Of eight, four fell.

From Wurttemberg are found at least eight Jewish front airmen.  Four of them have fallen: Lt. d.R. Pappenheimer from Mergentheim, Zurndorfer from Rexingen, Weil from Ulm and war volunteer Flugflugfuhrer Eugen Levi from Stuttgart.

From Stuttgart also are comrades Hermann Schmidt, Willy Rosenstein, Lt. d.R. Wolfenstein and from Oberdorf-Bopfingen Corporal Aircraft pilot Siegfried Heimann.

***

Comrade Willy Rosenstein

Among the small number of prewar pilots belongs our comrade Willy Rosenstein – Stuttgart.  At the age of 19, in 1911 (!), he completed his pilot exam at Rumpler in Berlin.  As a young pilot he flies some weeks with them, but only in a trainer airplane.  In 1913 he left Rumpler to import [?] aircraft from the Gotha wagon factory.  First, he spent four months with the Hamburg Aviation Office, a specialist company of “Gothaer”.  There he was able to fly a Goather Taube on the Mecklenburg sightseeing flight, which gives him the first prize in the overall classification and the winning of all honorary prizes.  After moving to Gotha Comrade Rosenstein is involved in flying new military aircraft, the construction of the new designs and test flights, as well as in the training of further flight schools.  (We have already referred to his pre-war status in the special edition, “Jews in the Air Force: issue of December 27, 1935 on page 2, under “Jewish Pre-War Pilots”.)

At the outbreak of the war, Comrade Rosenstein reports immediately as a volunteer, but must first continue to train officers as an aviator, and is already afraid not to come into the field [of battle] in time.  In January 1915 he comes to Army Flying Park V, to Montmedy; in February to Field Flying Unit 19.  He flew with Leutnant Martin from Stuttgart as an observer for a total of sixteen months, until they both just managed to reach their flying park one day with considerable injury.  It was in April 1916 during a remote reconnaissance flight beyond the Maas at Verdun; in the fight with a French pursuit plane Leutnant Martin received a heavy shot in the thigh bone and two shots into the other leg; Rosenstein had three bullets in both legs; but with one leg he returned his plane to the airport and landed smoothly.  From the place he was taken to the hospital.  Awakening from anesthesia, operated upon, he finds on the corner of the bed the Iron Cross First Class.  Meanwhile promoted to Leutnant der Reserve, he flew the most diverse types in various formations.  One day he is at Hunting Squadron 27 in Flanders and soon executes his first two kills.

Commanded to rest for border protection at Karlsruhe, he receives the “Zahringer Lowen” for a kill over Hagenau.  Soon he asks again for a front command and appears at Jadgstaffel 40 at Lille.  He gets on the whole

nine kills

The successful, courageous military pilot is submitted for the House Order of Hohenzollern, – the delivery [of the award] is prevented by the outbreak of the revolution.

______________________________

Willy Rosenstein’s Military Assignments and Awards

Robert Gill’s article identifies the units to which Willy Rosenstein was assigned, their locations, and, his military awards, which are summarized below:

Summer, 1914 – Enlisted; assigned to Infantry Regiment No. 95, Gotha
24 August 1914 – Militärische Fliegerschule-Gotha
18 October 1914 – Transferred to Flieger Ersatz Abteitung 5 at Hannover
19 October 1914 – Promoted to Unteroffizier
~ 26 October 1914 – Awarded the Flugzeugführerabzeichen (Military Pilot’s Badge)
24 November 1914 – Promoted to Vizefeldwebel and appointed Offizierstellvertreter (equivalent of Warrant Officer)
January 1915 – Ordered to Ettappen Flieger Park 5 at Montmedy
6 March 1915 – Ordered to first combat unit, Feldfliegerabteilung 19, located at Flugplatz Porcher, northwest of Mars-la-Tour
29 March 1915 – Received Iron Cross 2nd Class
21 August 1915 – Awarded Württemburg Silver Military Service Medal
28 April 1916 – Seriously wounded in action; awarded Iron Cross 1st Class
30 May 1916 – Released from hospital and sent home on reparative leave to Stuttgart
31 May 1916 – Reported to Flieger Ersatz Abteilung 10 at Böblingen
2 June 1916 – Awarded Württemburg Service Medal in Gold
17 September 1916 – Assigned to Armee Flug Park 3
19 September 1916 – Reported to Armee Fokker Staffel A.O.K. 3; redesignation of Armee Fokker Staffel A.O.K. 3 to Jasta 9 effective 7 October 1916
9 November 1916 – Ordered to Jastaschule at Valenciennes for four weeks duty as flight instructor
14 December 1916 – Returned to Jasta 9
21 January 1917 – Ordered to Reserve Officers Course for Flying Troops at Döeritz
13 February 1917 – Ordered to join newly forming Jasta 27, then forming in Flanders
10 December 1917 – Left Jasta 27 for Flieger-Beobachterschule-West
8 January 1918 – Transferred to KEST la (Kampfeinsitzerstaffel) [Home Protection Squadron] Mannheim
4 April 1918 – Transferred to Karlsruhe, joining KEST lb
2 July 1918 – Travelled to Flugplatz Lomme, near Lille, arriving on 2 July 1918.  (Jasta 40)
9 July 1918 – First flight with Jasta 40
28 September 1918 – Received the Ritterkreuz zweiter Klasse mit Schwerten des Ordens vo Zaringer Löwen from Grand Duke of Baden for third victory scored over Hagenau on 26 June while with KEST lb

______________________________

Aerial Victories of Leutnant d.R. Willy Rosenstein

Willy’s aerial victories and combat claims follow.  This list is supplemented by information concerning the identities (where known) of the pilots of these aircraft.  The names of the Allied aviators are from Frank Bailey and Christophe Coney’s The French Air Service War Chronology 1914-1918, and, Trevor Henshaw’s The Sky Their Battlefield, which were published in 2001 and 1995, respectively; over a decade after the appearance of Robert Gill’s article in the Cross and Cockade Bulletin.

Robert Gill’s analysis of Willy’s aerial victory claims follows this list.

No. 1:  21 September 1917
D.H.4
Confirmed as the 33rd victory of Jasta 27, by Kogluft Nr. 113092 dated 11 November 1917.
Possibly a Bristol F2B Fighter of No. 22 Squadron, R.F.C.  The victory occurred in the vicinity of Zillebeke Lake.

No. 2:  26 September 1917
Sopwith Single-Seater
Confirmed as the 34th victory of Jasta 27, by Kogluft Nr. 113422, dated 17 November 1917.
The victory occurred in the vicinity of Blankartsee.  The enemy aircraft was seen to crash in the flood containment area of the Blankart-See following a very hard twisting and turning fight of 15 minutes duration.

Sopwith Camel B6275, No. 70 Squadron
2 Lt. C.L. Lomax, POW
Offensive patrol, seen low near Passchendaele going southeast to Lines
Left 11:05 a.m., last seen 12:15 p.m. (Henshaw, p. 232)

No. 3:  27 September 1917
Not confirmed
This claim was denied due to deficient ground confirmation.  Ltn. Stoltenhoff was denied his claim on the same day, probably in the same fight.  No details of aircraft type, location or time have been located.

No. 4:  26 June 1918
D.H.4
Confirmed as the 3rd victory for Rosenstein and the 2nd victory of KEST lb.  Aircraft serial A8073.  Crew: 2/Lt. F. Bryan, Sgt. A. Boocock, made P.O.W.s.  Confirmed by Kogluft Nr. 126995 dated 11 July 1918.  This victory is erroneously credited to Jasta 40, as Rosenstein had transferred as the confirmation was being made.  He was awarded the Baden Order of the Zäringer Lion for this victory.

DH4 A8073, No. 55 Squadron (L.F.)
2 Lt. F.F.H. Bryan and Sgt.  A/ Boocock, both POW
Bombing Karlsruhe, seen in control south of Strassburg landing field near Saverne (Henshaw, p. 345)

No. 5:  14 July 1918
S.E.5A
Confirmed as the 4th victory for Rosenstein by Kogluft Nr. 131153, dated 31 August 1918.  The Jasta victory number is not included.  The aircraft was most likely one belonging to either No. 64 or 85 Squadrons, R.A.F. (See Text).

SE5a C6490, No. 85 Squadron
2 Lt. N.H. (?) Marshall, POW
Offensive patrol, left 8:05 a.m., seen in combat north of Estaires at 8:35 a.m.
Claimed in combat southeast of Vieux Berquin 8:35 by Leutnant C. Degelow
Claimed in combat southeast of Vieux Berquin 8:30 by Leutnant W. Rosenstein
Claimed in combat near Berquin by 8:40 Leutnant H. Gilly (Henshaw, p. 355)

No. 6:  29 September 1918
B.F.
No record of a confirmation order for this victory can be located, although it appears in the Jasta 40 records.  Rosenstein stated that “…I shot down in flames a lone flying B.F.”  No data concerning time or location.

No. 7:  3 October 1918
Spad XIII
Confirmed by Kogluft Nr. 136591, dated 6 January 1919, as the 6th personal victory for Willy Rosenstein and as the 48th victory of Jasta 40.  This was a French aircraft of Escadrille Spa 82, one of four enemy aircraft confirmed to Jasta 40 in the vicinity of Roulers.

Spad VII, Spa 82, over Roulers
Caporal Pilote Henri Jean Marie Francois Fourier (1/3/95, Entrevaux, France), KIA
Caporal Pilote Louis Charles Leon Rolland (2/24/95, Toulle, France), KIA
Caporal Pilote Edmond Pirolley (1/28/96, Marcilly et Dracy, France), KIA (Bailey and Cony, p. 311)

No. 8:  4 October 1918
Sopwith Camel
Confirmed by A.O.K. 4, Kofl. B, Nr. TC72154/51, dated 16 October 1918.  This confirmation is unusual in that the entire combat report with original notes of confirmation by Degelow and Jeschonnek, addressed to Kogluft, are present in Rosenstein’s album.  It does not appear that this paperwork ever got where it was supposed to go.  Further, the personal victory tally has been obliterated and the number “8” written over whatever was there.  It is placed in the position of the 8th victory in the album, apparently by Rosenstein.

No. 9:  7 October 1918
Sopwith Camel
No record of confirmation order can be found.  This victory is well documented by Carl Degelow, and also in the War Diary.  However, Rosenstein had placed Kogluft order for his confirmed victory of 27 October 1918 on the page for his 8th confirmed victory and then wrote that his 9th victory was not confirmed due to the end of the war.

Sopwith Camel E7176, No. 70 Squadron
2 Lt. Herbert David Lackey (formerly Royal Naval Air Service), KIA
Mrs. Elizabeth Lackey (mother), 21 Osgoode St., Ottawa, Canada
Buried at Harlebeke New British Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium – XI,B,14
Bombing offensive patrol
Left 8 a.m., last seen near Lichtervelde
Claimed in combat at Ghent 10:30 by Leutnant C. Degelow
Claimed in combat at Ghent by Leutnant W. Rosenstein (Henshaw, p. 435)

No. 10:  27 October 1918
Sopwith Camel
Confirmed by Kogluft Nr. 137400, dated 6 January 1919, as the 7th personal victory for Rosenstein, and as the 49th victory of Jasta 40.  The unit and location are not available, although Degelow’s 28th personal victory over a Sopwith Camel occurred on the same date in the vicinity of Wynghene.

Sopwith Camel E4387, No. 204 Squadron
2 Lt. Philip Frederick Cormack, KIA
Buried at Machelen French Military Cemetery, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium
High offensive patrol, combat with 30-40 Fokker D VIIs at Saint Denis / Westrem, south of Ghent at 9 – 10 a.m.
Claimed in combat at Wynghene by Leutnant C. Degelow
Claimed in combat at Wynghene at 9:35 a.m. by Leutnant W. Rosenstein (Henshaw, p. 445)

Analysis: The Aerial Victories of Leutnant d.R. Willy Rosenstein

While Rosenstein’s first and second victories cannot be specifically identified, he did receive solid confirmation.  This was not the case with his third claim on 27 September 1917.  This denied victory has never been an issue.  He apparently accepted the deficient ground confirmation ruling without protest.  His fourth claim on 26 June 1918, while with KEST lb, is now verified as to victim, but was always a solid third confirmed victory.  His fourth confirmed victory, scored with Jasta 40 on 14 July 1918 is also a solid victory with the only debate being who shot down whom.  His fifth confirmed victory on 29 September 1918 is a bit shaky – no confirmation in hand, no details of any kind as to who, where or when – but yet it appears on the Jasta 40 list as a confirmed victory for him.  Did it appear on the Kogluft records as well?  This writer is inclined to believe that it did for Kogluft gave him written credit on 6 January 1919 for his next victory of 3 October 1918 as his sixth personal confirmed.

His seventh claim on 4 October 1918, though well documented in his own records with original combat reports, may never have reached Kogluft for unknown reasons.  In Jasta 40 records it is listed as his seventh confirmed.  His eighth claim on 7 October 1918 is not supported by written confirmation in his records by Kogluft documentation, although on that day, apparently following the action,  Degelow nominated him for the Hohenzollern Haus-orden, stating that he had eight confirmed victories.  His ninth, which he shrugged off as not being confirmed due to the end of the war was, in fact, confirmed by Kogluft as his seventh personal victory – and as the 49th victory of Jasta 40.  This is the number of official confirmed victories he is usually credited with in most accounts.  So, it appears that Rosenstein was victorious on 4 and 7 October 1918, and that these victories were not included in his tally at Kogluft.  Therefore, this writer submits to those interested that Willy Rosenstein should have received credit for at least nine confirmed victories, plus one not confirmed moving him from position 240 to new position 183 on the Ace List of German aviators in World War I.

______________________________

History does not end: The past becomes the present. 

Nearly a century had passed, and then, Willy Rosenstein once more appeared before the public.  Well, to be specific, an image of Willy appeared before the public. 

This occurred within Nikolai Müllerschoen’s above-mentioned, movie “The Red Baron”, the epilogue of which reveals the ultimate fates of the film’s protagonists: Manfred von Richtofen, Nurse Käte Otersdorf (about whom “No further records exist on her remaining life”), Captain Roy Brown, Manfred’s brother Lothar and cousin Wolfram, Werner Voss, and, Kurt Wolff.  Regardless of the film’s historical inaccuracy and contrived plot (!), all these characters are solidly historical individuals.  Obviously, they existed.

But…

…the epilogue includes another central character, who – in a film already largely and deliberately ahistorical in its presentation of events (true, the CGI depictions of aerial combat were superbly done, the aerial action having been depicted in the abrupt, “hand held” style so characteristic of contemporary films) – is revealed to the viewer to be completely fictional.

Who? 

The Jewish pilot: Friedrich Sternberg.  Tellingly, while the epilogue presents photographic images of the above-mentioned aviators, as well as Käte Otersdorf, Sternberg is not represented with the image of actor who played him, Maxim Mehmet.  Rather; strikingly, the viewer is presented with the image – the same image at the “top” of this post – of Willy Rosenstein seated upon the fuselage of his black Albatross.  This sepia-toned photo is accompanied by the following text:

DURING WW I MANY JEWISH PILOTS FOUGHT
FOR THE GERMAN EMPIRE.
MANY OF THEM WERE HIGHLY DECORATED
FIGHTER ACES.

THEY ARE REPRESENTED
BY THE FICTITIOUS CHARACTER OF
FRIEDRICH STERNBERG

You can view this “snippet” from the movie (the full film, uploaded by teo7121941, is available here) below:

This following sequence, which appears immediately after the movie’s opening scene (showing the childhood incident which allegedly inspired Manfred von Richtofen to become an aviator – well, hey, it makes a nice story) portrays von Richtofen leading a trio of pilots, as the group salutes – literally and symbolically – a fallen British aviator.  Note that while the camera fleetingly captures – very quickly! – the personal insignia on all four Albatross fighters, the very first insignia to be shown is a Magen David on Sternberg’s aircraft.

The next two clips are fraught.  Very, highly, fraught.  They depict Sternberg and his comrades engaged in aerial combat with British bombers and fighters near Ypres.  And then, Sternberg is shot down and killed.

In terms of Sternberg’s ultimate fate, let alone a bevy of minor and fleeting details which are not at all that minor (the Magen David upon Sternberg’s black Albatross, the fuselage of which is dotted with stars; the Hebrew characters painted upon the horizontal elevator of his plane; the revelation that Sternberg had been awarded the Pour le Mérite) this entire sequence is deeply symbolic and intentionally so, and in terms of actual history, more than a little ironic.     

This kind of symbolism has been manifest in other military-themed movies and literary works featuring Jewish characters.  A few examples: Sands of Iwo Jima; Objective Burma; Destination Tokyo (where the role of “Tin Can”, played by Dane Clark [Bernard Elliot Zanville], merits a blog post unto itself!); Steven Spielberg’s over-rated (like the bulk of his oeuvre, but I’ll leave that for another discussion…) Saving Private Ryan; Enemy at The Gates; James Jomes’ superb The Thin Red Line; Norman Mailer’s The Naked and The Dead; MacKinlay Kantor’s extraordinary Andersonville. 

But, I digress.  Perhaps I’ll save that topic for a future blog post.  (Posts?  There is lots of material there…)

*
* * *
* * * * * * *
* * *
*

Robert Gill’s article concludes with a single paragraph about Willy’s son, Ernest Willy.  In its starkly enigmatic brevity this account stands in striking contrast to the information available about his father:

“The final irony was yet to come.  His son, Ernest Willy, enlisted in the South African Air Force when he was 19 year of age.  Following in his father’s footsteps, he became a fighter pilot.  He was seconded to the Royal Air Force and assigned to No. 185 Squadron in Italy.  While flying a Spitfire, this expatriot, German-born Jew was posted Missing in Action, later confirmed Killed in Action, on 2 April 1945, flying against his former countrymen.  (3)  He was 22 years of age.  This writer has attempted, without success, to obtain the details concerning the young Ernest’s combat record and his last mission.”

Robert Gill was correct.  This was the embodiment of irony; a deep and powerful irony.  But, it was even more than mere irony – as seen in conventional terms.  This was “unfair”, solidly unfair.  But, it was far more than simple unfairness – as in everyday life.  Rather, it seemed to be unjust, at an almost inexpressible, if not poetic level. 

I became curious about this, and contacted Robert Gill for information about Ernest Willy.  He replied rapidly, favorably, and with great generousity, providing me with photocopies of Ernest Willy’s Log Book, photographs, Attestation Papers, and related documents.   

That material – which has been the impetus for “this” post, about the father – has become the basis of the “next” post, about the son…

______________________________

References

First and foremost, my sincere and deep thanks to Robert B. Gill, for providing me with material about Ernest Willy Rosenstein, and, for his research into the life of Willy Rosenstein.

______________________________

Willy Rosenstein (General)

Biography of Willy Rosenstein (at Wikipedia)

Genealogy of Willy Rosenstein, by Alex Calzareth (at geni)

Genealogy of Willy Rosenstein, by Rolf Hofmann (“Family Sheet Willy Rosenstein of Stuttgart + South Africa”) (at Alemannia Judaica)

Willy Rosenstein as pilot and racing car driver (“Karriere als Pilot und Autorennfahrer”) (at Wikiwand)

German Jewish Aces (at Militarian Military History Forum)

Willy Rosenstein in his Hansa Taub (postcard) (at ansichtskarten-center)

Matzeva of Willy Rosenstein (at Jewish Photo Library)

Cross & Cockade Journal, Winter 1984 (at Flying Tiger Antiques)

Willy Rosenstein (Aerial Victories)

List of aerial victories (at The Aerodrome)

Discussion of aerial victories (at The Aerodrome)

Willy Rosenstein (Aircraft)

Willy Rosenstein’s Pfalz E.1 (Marek Mincbergr)

Willy Rosenstein’s Fokker D.VII (at Modellversium)

Jasta 40’s Fokker D.VIIs

Pheon Decals – Decal Set 48005: Jasta 40 under Degelow (at Pheon Decals)

The Red Baron (Movie)

The Red Baron (at Internet Movie Database)

The Red Baron (at Wikipedia)

The Red Baron (at Rotten Tomatoes) – Tomatometer currently stands at 20%

The Red Baron (Discussion at A.E. Larsen’s blog)

Other References

World War One Luftstreitkraefte (at Wikipedia)

Jewish Knights of the Air (German Jewish aviators in the First World War) (at Dayton Holocaust Resource Center)

Kurt Katzenstein (at Wikiwand)

Keeping Faith: A Letter from an Orthodox Jewish Soldiers in the Germany Army During the Great War (at They Were Soldiers)

Books

Bailey, Frank W., and Coney, Christophe, The French Air Service War Chronology 1914-1918 – Day-to-Day Claims and Losses by French Fighter, Bomber and Two-Seat Pilots on the Western Front, Grub Street, London, 2001

Henshaw, Trevor, The Sky Their Battlefield: Air Fighting and The Complete List of Allied Air Casualties From Enemy Action in the First War (British, Commonwealth, and United States Air Services 1914 to 1918), Grub Street, London, 1995

Theilahber, Felix, Jüdische Flieger im Weltkrieg, 1924, Verlag der Schild, Berlin.

Wait, Adam M., Jewish Flyers in the World War, Original Title “Judische Flieger im Weltktrieg” – English-Language Translation, Adam M. Wait, 1988.

Notes

(1) Rolf Hofmann lists his birthplace as Wiesbaden.

(2) 55 photographs and 10 documents.

(3) Whether Ernest Willy would have been perceived as a fellow countryman – in 1945, let alone 2018 – remains open to conjecture. 

Infantry Against Tanks: A German Jewish Soldier at Cambrai, November, 1917

Stories and depictions of World War One combat, composed both during and after the “Great War”, are abundantly available in print and on the web. 

A fascinating source of such accounts – but even moreso a source particularly; poignantly ironic – is the newspaper Der Schild, which was published by the association of German-Jewish war veterans, the “Reichsbundes Jüdischer Frontsoldaten”, from January of 1922 through late 1938, the latter date paralleling the disbandment of the RjF.  Der Schild is available as 35mm microfilm at the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library, and in digital format through Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.  

The screen-shot below shows the Goethe University’s catalog entry for Der Schild, which allows for immediate and direct access of the library’s holdings of the newspaper.  All years of the publication, with the exception of 1924, are available; all as PDFs. 

Of equal (greater?!) importance, accessing digital holdings is as simple as it is intuitive (and easy, too!)  In effect and intent, this is a very well designed website!  This is shown through this screen-shot, presenting holdings of Der Schild for 1933. 

The total digitized holdings of Der Schild in the Goethe University’s collection comprise approximately 530 issues.  “Gaps” do exist, with 1922 comprising only four issues (9, 10, 13, and 14) and 1923 comprising three issues (14, 15, and 17).  However, holdings for all years commencing with 1925 are – I believe – complete, through the final issue (number 44, published November 4, 1938).

Not unexpectedly, Der Schild’s content shed’s fascinating and retrospectively haunting light on Jewish life in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s; on Jewish genealogy; on the military service of German Jews (not only in the First World War but the Franco-Prussian War as well), often focusing on Jewish religious services at “the Front”, rather than “combat”, per se (see the issue of April 3, 1936, with its cover article “Pesach vor Verdun”); on occasion about Jewish military service in the Allied nations during “The Great War”(1); on Jewish history, literature, and religion; on Jewish life and Jewish news outside of Germany.

There is much to be explored.

While reviewing Der Schild at the New York Public Library, I discovered a front-page article – published less than a year before the newspaper’s final issue – which was particularly striking both in its content and prominence:  An account of an infantry battle against British tanks, at Cambrai, France, in November of 1917.  Certainly Der Schild carried innumerable articles – lengthy and brief – about the military service of German Jews, but these items were not always so boldly displayed as one might assume.  The prominence of this article prompted curiosity and in turn, an attempt at translation.  Which, is presented below.

Unlike the letter of Martin Feist, Carl Anker’s article neither carries nor imparts any deep spiritual insights or moral messages. 

It is simply an utterly direct story about a battle now almost a century gone by.

Erinnerungen an die
Tankschlacht bei Cambrai

Memories of the
Tank Battle at Cambrai

Der Schild
December 10, 1937

Unser Kam. Carl Anker, Hamburg, überlässt uns freundlicherweise seine interessanten Erinnerungen aus der grossen Durchbruchs-Schlacht bei Cambrai 1917 nach seinen Kriegstagebuch-Aufzeichnungen.

Our comrade, Carl Anker, of Hamburg, kindly leaves his interesting memoirs from the great breakthrough battle at Cambrai in 1917 according to the notes in his war diary.

In der Nacht vom 16 zum 17 November kamen wir, die 8. Komp. I.R. 84, von Noyelles nach vorne auf Wache.  Ich hatte einen Unteroffizier-Posten, also mit 6 Mann eine Wache für mich.  Um 8 Uhr abends kamen wir an, um 1 Uhr zog ich mit meinen 6 Mann nach __rne in die Feldwache.  Drei Löcher, jedes für 2 Mann, in Abständen von ca. 30-40 Schritt, nahmen uns auf.  Ich, als Wachthabender, hatte beständig von Loch zu Loch zu patrouillieren; dieses Vergnügen dauerte bis früh um 7 ½ Uhr.  Dann wurde es so hell, dass man von hinten Uebersicht über das gesamte Gelände hatte, und wir zogen uns auf ein anderes grösseres Loch, das “Gruppennest” ca. 20 Schritte weiter hinten zurück und blieben dort von früh um 7 ½ bis abends 6 Uhr: – dann wurde es wieder so dunkel, dass die Posten besetzt werden mussten.  Vom Greppennest wurde durch einen Mann Posten gestanden; von hier aus ging auch ein Verbindungsgraben nach hinten, – ca. 600 m zur Feldwache -, wo ein tiefer Unterstand mit dem Wachthabenden und der Ablösung lag.  Von abends 6 Uhr lagen wir wieder vorne auf Posten,

In the night of the 16th to 17th of November we arrived, the 8th Company, 84th Infantry Regiment, forward on guard from Noyelles.  I had a non-commissioned officer’s station, with 6 men on guard duty for me.  We arrived at eight o’clock in the evening; at 1 o’clock I went with my 6 men to the field guard.  Three holes, each for two men, in intervals of about 30-40 paces, were taken by us.  I, [keeping watch], had to patrol constantly from hole to hole; this pleasure lasted until early in the morning at 7:30 hours.  Then it was so bright, that we had an overview of the whole terrain from behind, and we moved to another larger hole, the “group nest” about 20 paces farther back, and stayed there from early morning at 7: 30 to 6 o’clock in the evening: – then it was again so dark again, that the posts had to be occupied.  A man stood post by the group nest; from here a connecting trench also went to the rear – about 600 meters to the field guard -, where there was a deep dugout with the guard and the detachment.  From the evening at 6 o’clock we were again located at the post,

ca. 49 Schritte vom englischen Graben entfernt.

about 49 steps from the English trench.

Nach Einsetzen der Dunkelheit erhielten wir Verpflegung.  Um 1 Uhr Nachts kam unsere Ablösung von der Feldwache, nachdem wir also 24 Stunden vorne gewesen.

After darkness we received food.  At 1 o’clock in the evening, our detachment came from the field guard, after we had been at the front for 24 hours.

Zwei mal 7 Stunden hintereinander auf Posten, ohne Bewegung, lautlos, in denkbar nächster Nähe des Gegners, am Tage ein Lager auf hartem Brett, in freier Luft, nur ein Stück Wellblech gegen Regen über dem Körper!  Nicht rauchen, tagsüber der Qualm, nachts der Feuerschein!

Two times seven hours in a row, without a movement, silently, in the immediate vicinity of the enemy, in the day camping on a hard plank, in the open air, only a piece of corrugated iron over the body against the rain!  Do not smoke, smoke during the day, the fire at night!

In der nacht vom 17. zum 18. wurde ich also abgelöst, kam kurz nach 1 Uhr in der Feldwache an und konnte bis früh um 6 Uhr schlafen.  Da wurde alles alarmiert.  Eine Gewaltspatrouille kam zur Durchführung.  Lt. Hegermann, Lt. Störzel, am Tage vorher befordert, und noch einige andere Offiziere leiteten die Sache.  Artillerie, Minen- und Granatwerfer riegelten das betreffende englische Grabenstück ab, die Patrouille drang vor, sprengte den Draht und brachte einen Vizefeldwebel und 6 Mann als Gefangene zurück.  Wir selbst verloren Lt. Störzel als Toten und mehrere Verwundete.  Der Gegner erwiderte unser Feuer sehr lebhaft, und auf einmal kam von vorne der Befehl: “Verstärkung nach vorne, der Feind macht einen Gegenangriff.”  Ich musste mit meinen 6 Mann vor, stürmte los, traf aber unterwegs schon die zurückkehrende Patrouille mit den Gefangenen – die Verstärkung sei nicht mehr nötig.  Also wieder zurück.  Hpt. Soltau verhörte die Gefangenen, die bald nach hinten abgeschoben wurden, und nach einer weiteren Stunde Alarmbereitschaft hatten wir den Tag über wieder Ruhe.

In the night of the 17th to the 18th, I was relieved, came to the field guard shortly after one o’clock, and could sleep until early at 6 o’clock.  Everything was alerted.  A violent patrol came to pass.  Lt. Hegermann, Lt. Störzel, who had been summoned the day before, and still a few other officers lead the affair.  Artillery, mines, and mortars cordoned off the English trench, the patrol pushed forward, pulled the wire, and returned with a non-commissioned-officer and six men as prisoners.  We ourselves lost Lt. Störzel (2) as dead and several wounded.  The enemy repulsed our fire very vigorously, and suddenly the command came from the front: “Reinforcements forward, the enemy is making a counter-attack.”  I had to go forward with my 6 men, storm, but on the way I met the returning patrol with the prisoners – the reinforcement was no longer necessary.  So back again.  Soltau interrogated the prisoners, who were soon shuffled off to the rear, and after a further hour on high alert, we had the rest of the day.

In der Nacht vom 18. zum 19. November musste ich um 1 Uhr nach vorne zur Ablösung.  Die Nacht war ruhig, es fiel fast kein Schuss.  Am 19. früh 9 Uhr, während wir im Gruppennest standen, bemerkte ich 2 Engländer an ihrem Drahtverhau.  Am hellen Tage gingen sie aufrecht herum – für uns unfassbar.  Ich beobachtete sie eine Zeitlang und vertrieb sie dann durch ein paar Schüsse.

In the night from the 18th to the 19th of November, I had to move forward at 1 am.  The night was quiet, there were almost no shots.  On the morning of the 19th, at nine o’clock, while we were standing at the group nest, I noticed two Englishmen at their wire entanglement.  In the bright of the day they walked upright – for us incomprehensible.  I watched them for a time, and then drove a few shots through them.

Mittags um 12 Ich war unruhig geworden, verliess mich nicht auf meinen Posten, sondern passte selbst auf und sah wieder 5 Mann am Draht herumlaufen.  Ob sie die von unserer Patrouille gesprengte Lücke besichtigen oder ausbessern wollten oder was sonst, ich wusste es nicht.  Ich alarmierte meine Leute, und wir gaben eine ruhig gezielte Salve ab, worauf sie verschwanden.  Ich meldete den Vorfall sofort nach hinten.

At 12 o’clock I was restless, did not leave my post, but took care of myself and saw another five men running around the wire.  Whether they wanted to see or repair the gap exploded by our patrol, or what else, I did not know.  I alerted my people, and we gave a quiet salvo, whereupon they disappeared.  I immediately reported back the incident.

Um 6 Uhr abends am 19. zogen wir wieder auf Posten.  Bald kam der Feldwachhabende, Vizef. Sörensen und meldete mir, hinten sei alles

At 6 o’clock in the evening on the 19th, we moved back to the post.  Soon came the field guard on duty, Senior NCO Sörensen (3), and told me, that everything behind was

in allerhöchster Alarmbereitschaft.

in very high alertness.

Beobachtungen und die Aussagen der Gefangenen liessen vermuten, dass für den kommenden Morgen ein grosser Angriff bevorstände.  Die Gräben seien voll, alle Reserven seien herangezogen, auch alle höheren Stäbe etc. seien weit nach vorne geschoben.  Dabei gab er mir gleich Instruktion, bei einem Infanterie-Angriff unbedingt zu halten, bei Artillerie-Feuer mich langsam zurückzuziehen.  Na, dachte ich, denn man los!  Aber die Nacht auf den 20. verlief wieder absolut ruhig.  Um 1 Uhr wurde ich abgelöst und fand die Feldwache dicht an dicht besetzt.  Hptm. Christiansen, der unsere Kompagnie übernehmen sollte, Lt. Simon und viele Leute hatten jeden Winkel dicht besetzt.  So gut es ging, hockte ich mich mit meinen Leuten irgwendo hin zum Schlafen.

Observations and the statements of the prisoners suggested that a major attack would take place on the coming morning.  The trenches were full, all the reserves were drawn up, and all the higher staff, etc., were pushed far forward.  At the same time, he gave me the instruction, to hold on to an infantry attack, to retire slowly with artillery fire.  Well, I thought, because you go!  But the night on the 20th proceeded perfectly quiet again.  At 1 o’clock I was relieved and found the field guard closely packed.  Captain Christiansen, who was to take over our company, Lt. Simon, and many people had crowded [into] each corner.  As best I could, I crouched with my people to sleep.

Am 20. früh 6 Uhr alles raus, gefechtsbereit, Handgranaten, Munition, etc. …

On the morning of the 20th at 6 o’clock everything went out, ready at hand, hand grenades, ammunition, etc. …

Ich arbeitete Schützenstände aus, damit für den Fall eines Angriffs jeder Mann Licht- und Schussfeld habe.  Es blieb alles ruhig.  Um 7 Uhr hiess es, die Alarmbereitschaft sei zu Ende, die Leute könnon zur Ruhe gehen.  Ich sprach mit Vizef. Sörensen, na, nun sei es hell, und es sei nichts mehr zu befürchten, es sei wieder mal blinder Alarm gewesen.  Da, mitten im Satze – das werde ich wohl nie vergessen – wie ein einziger dauernder riesiger Blitzschlag in allernächster Nähe ein schlagartiger Angriff riesiger Artilleriemassen.  Alle Schüsse sausten über uns hinweg, gingen in unsere vorderste Linie und weiter nach hinten zu unseren Reserven und zur Artillerie.  Ich sah nach hinten.  Es war, als sei Weltuntergang, ein furchtbares Krachen und Sausen; der ganze Horizont war, trotzdem es schon hell war, blutig rot von den platzenden Granaten, berstenden Schrapnells.  Im Nu wurde durch diesen schlagartigen Angriff hinten alles zusammengeschossen, – es feuerte eine Unzahl Geschütze gleichzeitig und so andauernd, wie ich nie vorher gehört.  “Aha,” sagt Sörensen, “das ist die Vergeltung.”  “Nein,” sage ich, “das ist viel mehr, das ist der Angriff!”

I worked at gunnery stations, so that in the event of an attack every man had light and a shooting area.  Everything remained quiet.  At 7 o’clock it was said that the alert was over; the people could go to rest. I spoke with Senior NCO Sörensen, well, now it was bright, and there was nothing to fear, it was once again a blind alarm.  There, in the middle of the sentence – I shall never forget – like a single giant lightning bolt in the immediate vicinity, a sudden strike of giant artillery.  All the shots rushed over us, went into our front-most line, and farther back to our reserves and artillery.  I looked back.  It was as if there was an end of the world, a terrible crash and a whirl; the whole horizon was still bright, blood-red from the exploding shells, bursting shrapnel.  In an instant, this sudden attack brought everything back to the ground, firing an immense number of guns at the same time, as I never heard before.  “Ah,” said Sörensen, “that is the retribution.”  “No,” I say, “that is much more, that’s the attack!”

Unsere Leute waren von selbst alle heraus und auf ihren Ständen.  Das riesige, nicht zu überbietende Trommelfeuer hielt an; aber auf uns, die wir so weit vorne lagen, fiel nicht ein Schuss.  Plötzlich liefen von vorn auf uns Leute zu.  Unsere M.G.’s setzten mit rasender Schnelligkeit ein.  “Halt, halt!”, brüllte ich, “das sind ja unsere!”  Unsere Wachtposten von vorne kamen an, Sörensen stoppte unser M.G.-Feuer und die Leute kamen richtig zu uns in den Graben.

Our people were by themselves all out and on their [firing] stands.  The huge barrage [drum-fire], which was not to be surpassed, continued; but not a shot fell on us, who were so far ahead.  Suddenly people came running towards us.  Our machine guns set in with rapid speed.  “Stop, stop!” I yelled, “these are ours!”  Our guard posts came from the front, Sörensen stopped our machine gun fire and the people came to us right into the trench.

Wir standen und warteten.  Nichts als das andauernde ungeheure, fürchterliche Bombardement nach hinten.  Ich bereitete mich auf mein Ende vor; denn dass nach dieser kolossalen Vorbereitung ein gewaltiger Stoss erfolgen würde, war mir gewiss.  Die 3 Jahre Krieg zogen blitzschnell in Gedanken vorbei, – na, und dann stand ich da: schussbereit, totbereit.  Alles war ruhige.  Entschlossenheit, kalte Vernunft, zielbewusste Energie.

We stood and waited.  Nothing but the protracted, tremendous, terrible bombardment to the rear.  I prepared myself for my end; because after this colossal preparation, a tremendous blow would take place, I was certain.  The three years of war passed quickly, and then I stood there, ready to shoot, ready to kill.  Everything was quiet.  Determination, cold reason, purposeful energy.

Das Feuer liess nicht nach, es lag dauernd in unerhörter Stärke hinter uns.  Der Engländer musste hunderte Geschütze aufgefahren haben, die ohne Pause das entsetzlichste Trommerlfeuer unterhielten.

The fire did not stop; it was always behind us, in unheard of strength.  The Englishman had had to take hundreds of guns, which kept the most terrible barrage fire [drum fire] without pause.

Da tauchte vor uns aus Nebel und Rauch etwas Dunkles auf.

Then darkness, fog and smoke appeared in front of us.

Ich sah etwas Grosses Schwarzes.  “Das ist ein Tank” sagt Sörensen so ruhig wie nur was.  Wahrhaftig, jetzt erkenne ich es auch.  Langsam aber sicher schiebt sich das Ungeheuer feuernd und krachend auf uns zu, entsetzlich wie ein unabwendbares Verhängnis.  Unempfindlich gegen Kugeln und Handgranaten, ist es nur durch Artillerie-Volltreffer zu vernichten.  Es kommt näher, vielleicht 50 Schritt noch!  Ueber uns, ganz, ganz niedrig, kreisen die Flieger und bestreichen uns mit M.G.  Hilfe von hinten ist ausgeschlossen -: durch solch ein Sperr- und Vernichtungsfeuer kommt kein Hund lebendig!

I saw something large and black.  “This is a tank,” says Sörensen as quiet as that.  Now I also truly recognize it.  Slowly but surely, the monster is firing and crashing toward us, terrible as an inevitable doom.  Immune to bullets and hand grenades, it is only to be destroyed by artillery hits.  It comes closer, maybe no more than 50 paces!  Above us, all, very low, airplanes circle and spread machine gun fire.  Help from behind is impossible -: by such a block and destructive fire no dog comes [out] alive!

Da, jetzt endlich ist es Zeit!  In dichten Massen schreiten aufrecht hinter dem Tank, der sie völlig schützt, die Engländer.  Aber der geht an uns vorbei, mehr nach links, er geht geradezu seitlich an uns vorbei, so dass wir die Massen dahinter flankierend fassen können.  Natürlich, der Tank geht parallel mit unserem Graben direkt auf unsere Hauptstellung zu.

There, now finally it’s time!  In dense masses, the British are standing upright behind the tank, which protects them completely.  But it goes past us, more to the left; it goes to the side of us, so that the masses behind it can be flanked.  Of course, the tank goes directly to our main position parallel to our trench.

Nun, wir schossen, so lange wir Munition hatten.  Bald war der Tank links an uns voruber, die englische Infanterie also vor uns.  Gruppenweise kamen sie auf uns zu.  Ich nahm mir einen ihrer Führer, der sie mit der Hand auf uns zu dirigierte, aufs Korn.  Hinter uns lag noch immer das furchtbare Artilleriefeuer, von dem wir glücklicherweise garnichts abbekamen; rechts zog sich der Graben nach unserem Gruppennest.  Langsam rückten wir alle in dieser Richtung vor, immer im Graben entlang und feuernd.  Neben mir schrien Verwundete auf.  Wir bekamen jetzt starkes Infanteriefeuer.  Ich liege auf dem Grabenrand, ziele und schiesse dauernd; da fällt neben mir Sörensen herab; Schuss in die Schädeldecke.  Kein Ton, kein Laut.  Er wird blau im Gesicht, das Haar raucht vom warmen Blut.  Nun denke ich, einer nach dem anderen, heraus kommt hier keiner.

Well, we shot as long as we had ammunition.  Soon the tank was on our left; the English infantry before us.  They came to use in groups.  I took [killed] one of their leaders, who directed them to us with his hand.  Behind us still lay the terrific artillery-fire, which we were fortunate not to mention; to the right, the trench moved to our group nest.  Slowly we all advanced in this direction, always along the trench and firing.  Beside me, the wounded cried.  We are now given strong infantry fire.  I am lying on the edge of the ditch, aiming and shooting; Sörensen falls next to me; shot in the cranium. No sound, no sound.  He becomes blue in the face; the hair fumes of the warm blood.  Now I think, one by one, no one comes out here.

Bald hatten wir

Soon we had

keine Munition mehr.

no more ammunition.

Vor uns links bewegte sich der Tank vorwärts und ihm nach die Massen des Gegners; hinten lag dauernd das unheimliche Trommelfeuer, vor uns kam der Gegner in Gruppen heran.  Wir zogen uns nach rechts, also nach vorne zu, weiter.  So kamen wir bis fast ans Gruppennest.  Auch hier bereits alles voll vom Gegner.  Unsere Munition war ja verschossen.  Da, ein Ruck – und ein leichter Schmerz an der rechten Schulter…

In front of us, on the left, the tank moved forward, and after him the masses of the enemy; in the rear was the eerie barrage [drum] fire, before us the enemy came in groups.  We moved to the right, so forward.  So we came almost to the group nest.  Here too, everything is full of the enemy.  Our ammunition was gone.  There, a jerk – and a slight pain on the right shoulder …

In unserem Löchern sassen Gruppen des Gegners, die uns mit der Pistole in der Hand den Weg in ihren Graben wiesen…

There were groups of our opponents in our holes, who pointed at us with their pistols in their hands…

*

Ein anderer Kamerad, Dr. Caspary, Stettin, hat die Tankschlacht bei Cambrai beim Inf. Regt. 50 mitgemacht (S. Regt. Gesch. S. 280).  Er geriet mit seinen Leuten in die Gewalt der Engländer und wurde in einem der bekannten “Nester” gefangen gehalten, die eine Spezialität der Engländer waren.  Kam. Dr. Casparys Plan, mit den Seinen weider Verbindung aufzunehmen, gelang – wie er selbst berichtet – vornehmlich durch die Kaltblütigkeit eines seiner Krankenträger.  Zwar war die Situation mehr als schwierig, allein um so schöner der Erfolg, als er ausser der Befreiung noch die Gefangennahme von 3 englischen Offizieren, 46 Mann und 2 Maschinen-Gewehren einbrachte.

Another comrade, Dr. Caspary, Stettin, participated in the tank battles at Cambrai at the 50th Infantry Regiment.  He fell into the hands of the British with his men, and was imprisoned in one of the well-known “nests”, which were a specialty of the English.  Comrade Dr. Caspary’s plan to connect with his two partners was, as he himself reports, chiefly due to the cold-bloodedness of one of his patients.  The situation was more than difficult, but it was all the more successful when, besides the deliverance, he brought in as prisoners three English officers, 46 men, and two machine guns.

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I’ve been unable to find any record “Carl Anker” – or even an approximation of his name – in Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims Names.  This would suggest, though not definitively confirm, that he was able to escape Nazi Germany and perhaps German-Occupied Europe, “in time”.  To where, and when, is unknown.   

What happened to him after 1937? 

Notes

(1) See the issue of June 24, 1938, which includes coverage of the Evian Conference (as did three issues in July), and – on the first page – an illustrated article about the commemoration of a memorial to French Jewish soldiers fallen at the Battle or Verdun. 

(2) “Lt. Storzel” was probably Leutnant Georg Storzel, who is listed as having been killed on November 18, 1917.  He is buried at Kriegsgräberstätte in Neuville-St.Vaast (France), Block 1 Grab 516.

(3) “Sorensen” was probably Offiziersstellvertreter Friedrich Sørensen.  He was born in Haderslav, Denmark, on October 25, 1889.

These men were identified from reference works (listed below) available at denstorekrig1914-1918. 

The three images of displayed above are scans of photocopies made at the Dorot Jewish Division of the NYPL, Photoshop-“ed” for clarity.  Ironically, the quality of these images – derived from a physical media: paper, from a plain ‘ole microfilm photocopier – is better than that of the PDF available via the Goethe University’s Website.  Notably, the article is appropriately headed with a sketch of a British Mark I tank  (drawn by “Adam Zeichnung” and…simply and aptly labeled as “Englisher Tank ’17”) advancing over the lip of a trench.

Some other German Jewish military casualties on March 20, 1917 include…

– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –

Hagedorn, Josef, Soldat, Garde-Schutz Bataillon 2
Born in Padberg 6/28/97 / Resided in Giershagen
Casualty Message (Verlustmeldung) 820
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine und der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – page 314

Rosenthal, Isak, Soldat, Garde Regiment 11, Bataillon 3, Kompagnie 9
Born in Beuthen (O.S.) 1/7/88 / Resided in Bitschin / Gleiwitz
Casualty Message (Verlustmeldung) 814
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine und der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – page 169

Simmenauer (first name unknown), Soldat, Garde Regiment 11, Bataillon 3, Kompagnie 9
Born in Breslau 8/4/95 / Resided in Halle / S.
Casualty Message (Verlustmeldung) 814
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine und der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – page 182

Westheimer, Heinrich, Soldat (Landsturmrekrut), Reserve Infanterie Regiment 263, Bataillon 3, Kompagnie 10
Born in Grosseicholzheim 2/19/81 / Resided in Grosseicholzheim
Kriegsgräberstätte in Neuville-St.Vaast (Frankreich), Block 9, Grab 315
Casualty Message (Verlustmeldung) 851
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine und der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch – page 230

References

Books

Banks, Arthur, A Military Atlas of the First World War, Leo Cooper (Pen & Sword Books), Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, 2001.

Chamberlain, Peter, and Ellis, Chris, Pictorial History of Tanks of the World 1915-1945, Galahad, Books, Harrisburg, Pa., 1972.

Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch, Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten, Forward by Dr. Leo Löwenstein, Berlin, Germany, 1932

Erindringsboger tyske regimenter Udgivet under medvirken af Rigsarkivet – Infanterie-haefte 11 – Infanterie-Regiment von Manstein (Schleswigsches) Nr. 84, Oldenburg i.O/Berlin, 1922 / Dansk udgave: Jørgen Flinthom – 2016 (“Memorial Books of German Regiments, Published under the auspices of the National Archives – Infantry – Record Book 11 – Manstein 84th Infantry Regiment“) (denstorekrig1914-1918.dk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IR-84-kampkalender-udvidet.pdf) (at Den Store Krig 1914-1918)

Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments von Manstein (Schleswigsches) Nr. 84, 1914-1918, in Einzeldarstellungen von Frontkämpfern, Band III – herausgegben von Hülsemann, Oberstleutnant a.D., im felde Hauptmann und Komp.-Chef. 6./84 und Fuhrer des II. Bataillons / Revideret udgave: Jørgen Flinthom – 2011 (“History of the Manstein 84th Infantry Regiment, 1914-1918, Volume 3“) (at Den Store Krig 1914-1918)

Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments von Manstein (Schleswigsches) Nr. 84, 1914-1918, in Einzeldarstellungen von Frontkämpfern, Band IV – herausgegben von Hülsemann, Oberstleutnant a.D., im felde Hauptmann und Komp.-Chef. 6./84 und Fuhrer des II. Bataillons / Revideret udgave: Jørgen Flinthom – 2011 (“History of the Manstein 84th Infantry Regiment, 1914-1918, Volume 4“) (at den Store Krig 1914-1918)

Sønderyjske Soldatengrave 1914-1918 – Sorteret efter efternavn (“Soldiers’ Graves 1914-1918 – Sorted by Surname“) (at Den Store Krig 1914-1918)

Web

Bund jüdischer Soldaten (Home Page – dead link as of 2025)

Bund jüdischer Soldaten (YouTube Channel)

Den Store Krig 1914-1918 (“Danes in the German Army – 1914-1918”)

Der Schild (digital version) (at Goethe University Frankfurt website)

German War Graves (at Volksbund.de)

Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (at Wikipedia)

Vaterländischer Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (Patriotic Union of Jewish Front-Line Soldiers”) 

Yav Vashem – Central Database of Shoah Victim’s Names (at Yad Vashem)

Three Soldiers – Three Brothers? – Fallen for France: Hermann, Jules, and Max Boers

The sources of historical and genealogical information about twentieth century military servicemen – official documents; private correspondence; photographs; news items; ephemera, and more – are vast.  And even among the historical records of any particular nation, one finds tremendous variation – over time, in different theatres of military operations; among and between different branches of the armed forces – in the way that information is recorded, categorized, and (hopefully!) preserved.       

Regardless of the era or conflict; regardless of the country in question; such military archival information can reveal patterns, relationships, and interactions encompassing both military service and civilian life.  The fragments of history can coalesce; suggesting; revealing; unfolding a larger, often unexpected story. 

As, seems to be the case presented below…

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In an effort to identify Jewish military casualties in the French armed forces during the First Wodl War, I’ve relied upon two books – Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française (1914-1918) and, Le Livre d’or du Judaïsme Algérien (1914-1918) as the primary, central (and perhaps exclusive?) published works listing names of fallen French Jewish soldiers. 

Specific bibliographic information about these works is given below:

1) Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française (1914-1918) (Israelites [Jews] in the French Army), Angers, 1921 – Avant-Propos de la Deuxième Épreuve [Forward to the Second Edition], Albert Manuel, Paris, Juillet, 1921 – (Réédité par le Cercle de Généalogie juive [Reissued by the Circle for Jewish Genealogy], Paris, 2000)

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2) Le Livre d’or du Judaïsme Algérien (1914-1918) (The Gold Book of Algerian Jewry (1914-1918), 1919 – Pubication du Comiée Algérien d’Études Sociales 1er fascicule septembre 1919 ((Réédité par le Cercle de Généalogie juive [Reissued by the Circle for Jewish Genealogy], Paris, 2000) – Avec la collaboration de Georges Teboul et de Jean-Pierre Bernard.

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Then, it was a process of on-line searching: The French Government’s SGA (Secrétariat Général pour l’Administration – “General Secretariat for Administration”) databases covering World War One deaths and military casualties were thoroughly searched to identify and download records for the names listed in these two books.  The specific databases used in this endeavor have been “Died for France in the First World War” (for “PARTIE À REMPLIR PAR LE CORPS (‘PART TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CORPS’)” forms), “War Graves”, and to a much lesser extent, “Military Aviation Personnel.” 

Links for the three databases are given below:  

Morts pour la France de la Première Guerre mondiale (“Died for France in the First World War”)

Sépultures de Guerre (“War Graves”)

Personnels de l’aéronautique militaire (“Military Aviation Personnnel”)

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Though the above books have been absolutely essential in this endeavor, like other historical reference works (particularly those published very shortly after a historical event) they do manifest a variety of not unexpected problems. 

These include the absence of names, the presentation of information about the same person under multiple name variants, names for which other information is in error or fragmentary, and finally, names for which no equivalent (even a rough phonetic equivalent) can be identified at any of the SGA databases. 

The image below – a example of the notes I made in my copy of Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française (1914-1918) while researching the Morts pour la France de la Première Guerre mondiale database – shows the challenges involved.  The circled dots indicate names definitively identified using the Morts pour la France de la Première Guerre mondiale database.  Left-pointing arrows indicate names for which no record could be found.  (Well, the last time I searched…)  Finally, names connected by arrows indicate variants of the same name.  For example, “Mimoun Borianiche” and “Mimoun Bouaniche” are one and the same soldier.

This isn’t meant to detract from the efforts of the creators of these compilations.  Given the challenges they likely faced – incorrect, missing, or fragmentary original records, the simple unavailability of records, and, efforts constrained by limited staff, time, and other resources – they generated laudable, historically invaluable, and above all necessary works.

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The records – the “hits” – generated by the SGA website comprise low-resolution (96 dpi) scans (from microfilm?) of “PARTIE À REMPLIR PAR LE CORPS (‘PART TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CORPS’)” forms.  The information fields on these forms comprise a soldier’s surname, given (first) and middle names, military grade, military unit, matriculation number in class, number, date and place of recruitment, date of death, place of death, cause of death, date of birth, and place of birth (Department in France, or name of another country.)

A very helpful discussion about the forms, by Thierry Sabot (with various talk-backs – one as recently as June of 2017) can be found at the History-Genealogy Magazine website.)

On arriving at page 18 of Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française, I noted something intriguing; curious, and above all – portentously sad:  Four soldiers with the surname “Boers”, three of whom were born in Amsterdam during a three-year time frame.  The page is shown below:

The three from Amsterdam men were Hermann Boers, Jules Boers, and Max Boers.  (The fourth “Boers” was Michel, from Paris.)

Upon reviewing their PARTIE À REMPLIR PAR LE CORPS forms for the three men, a relationship suggested itself. 

1) Their matriculation numbers are immediately sequential: 26749 for Jules, 26750 for Max, and 26751 for Herman. 

2) All served in the 2ème Régiment de Marche du 1er Régiment Etranger. 

3) Jules and Max were killed on the same day, and at the same place: May 9, 1915, at Neuville-Saint-Vaast.  Both were missing (“disparu”), and will probably always be missing. 

Hermann was killed on September 28, 1915, at Souain, and was known to have been killed by the enemy (“Tué a l’ennemi”). 

4) Max, born on March 10, 1885, was the oldest.  Hermann was born thirteen months later, on June 11, 1886.  Jules, the youngest, was born eleven months after Hermann, on July 13, 1887.

All of which leads to a question:  Were they brothers?

I do not know. 

Unfortunately, PARTIE À REMPLIR PAR LE CORPS forms neither list the names of a serviceman’s next of kin, nor give his residential address.  Such information would be the key that answer the question.  But, the signs seem to point in that direction.

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One hundred and two years – over a century – have transpired since their deaths.  “Our” world is not the same as theirs – how could it be? – but I would like to think that one thing has remained unchanged in human nature: The need to remember. 

At least – in the world of 2017 – I hope so.

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Specific information about the men, and images of their PARTIE À REMPLIR PAR LE CORPS forms, is presented below.

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– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –

Jules

Boers, Jules, Soldat de 2ème classe, Légion étrangère, 2ème Régiment de Marche du 1er Régiment Etranger
No. 26749 au Corps E.V. 1914
Matricule S.M. 3245 au Recrutement Seine Central
Born July 13, 1887, Amsterdam, Hollande
Missing [Disparu]
May 9, 1915; Pas-de-Calais, Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Not listed in Sépultures de guerre database

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Max

Boers, Max, Soldat de 2ème classe, Légion étrangère, 2ème Régiment de Marche du 1er Régiment Etranger
No. 26750 au Corps E.V. 191_
Matricule S.M. 2709 au Recrutement Seine B.C.
Born March 10, 1885, Amsterdam, Hollande
Missing [Disparu]
May 9, 1915; Pas-de-Calais, Neuville-Saint-Vaast
Not listed in Sépultures de guerre database

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Hermann

Boers, Hermann, Soldat de 2ème classe, Légion étrangère, 2ème Régiment de Marche du 1er Régiment Etranger
No. 26751 au Corps Cl. 1919
Matricule: 3530 au Recrutement Lyon Central
Born June 11, 1886, Amsterdam, Hollande
Killed by the enemy [Tué a l’ennemi]
September 28, 1915; Marne, Souain
Not listed in Sépultures de guerre database

 

Soldiers of The Great War: Jewish Military Service in WW I, as Reported in The Jewish Chronicle – “Osnas the Hero” – A Battle Pictured

Previous posts presented two articles from The Jewish Chronicle of 1914 (“Osnas the Hero“, from September 11, and “War and The New Year”, from September 25) mentioning the award of the Cross of Saint George to a soldier surnamed “Osnas”, who was identified as a medical student from Vilna. 

According to “Osnas the Hero”, Osnas had been, “…invalided and is in hospital suffering from severe wounds received in saving the colours of his regiment in the last extremity during the terrible fighting in East Prussia.  His commander telegraphed a special request to the doctors to ‘do everything that was possible to save the life of Osnas, the hero.’”

Well…  Who, actually, was “Osnas”? 

His identity – thus far, at least based on extensive web searches – remains an enigma.  His given name – “Leo” – has been found at only source (This Day…In Jewish History) under the entry, “1914:  During World War I, “on the Eastern Front, the first award of the Cross of St George, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in Britain,” went to Leo Osnas, a Jewish soldier, “for exceptional bravery on the field of battle.” 

Unfortunately, no bibliographic reference is associated with this item.

Other references repeat, with elaboration and variation, Osnas’ story as presented in the two articles from the Chronicle.
    
For example, the 1916 book The People Who Run – Being The Tragedy of the Refugees in Russia, by Violetta Thurstan, in a chapter devoted to the suffering and experiences Jewish refugees in Eastern Europe during the First World War, states, “Very sad cases of distress come before the Jewish Committee from time to time.  There was a family in Kazan, living in one little room, who had been extremely wealthy and had lost everything they had.  They had been living in Poland and had been ordered by the military authorities to quit the town at once as the Germans were rapidly advancing.  They managed to lay their hands on three thousand roubles, and as they possessed two large barges, they decided to sail down the river to Kiev, bringing as much furniture with them as the barges would carry.  But a Jewish festival was due just then, and they foolishly decided to wait till it was over.  The Russian military authorities, finding they had not started when they were told to, got hold of the idea that they had German sympathies and were waiting till the German troops entered the town to give them information.  Their barges and money were confiscated and they were turned penniless out of the town, and are now living in miserable poverty in Kazan.  But in spite of unfortunate incidents like this, which must occur during any war, a new respect between the Russians and the Jews is steadily growing, and it is hoped that the old prejudices will disappear.  The heroic action of one young Jewish medical student at the front has done a very great deal to raise the status of Jews throughout the whole of Russia.  In the middle of a fierce battle near Goldap [a town in northeastern Poland, located on the Goldapa River], the Russian standard-bearer was bayoneted by a German soldier and the flag captured.  Young Osnas, a Jewish medical student from Vilna, seeing his chance, sprang forward, killed the German soldier and seized the flag, though he was entirely surrounded for a few moments by the enemy striving to recapture it once more.  Osnas, although severely wounded, managed to hold it until reinforcements came up.   For the heroic courage he showed the Emperor himself decorated him with the St. George’s Cross, the highest reward for courage a Russian soldier can obtain.  May it be a happy omen for the future.”

Marr Murray’s The Russian Advance (1914), in a chapter covering fighting in East Prussia, presents Osnas’ story in this manner, “It was during this period of the engagement that one of the most significant events – so far as Russia is concerned – of the whole war occurred.  A Russian battalion was in the midst of a veritable inferno.  The Germans were determined to hold an important position at all costs.  The Russians were equally determined to capture it.  On both sides the carnage had been terrible.  At last, with a desperate rush, the Russians succeeded in getting to grips with the Germans.  Indescribable hand-to-hand fighting ensued.  In the midst of the melee a German bayoneted the Russian Standard-bearer and seized the flag.  Emboldened by this emblem of victory the Germans renewed their efforts and dashed to the assistance of their comrade.  But before they could reach him a young Russian had sprung forward, killed him and recaptured the flag.  With a howl of disappointment the Germans attacked him.  For a moment he seemed to be doomed.  Germans, were all round him struggling for the possession of the flag.  Then there came a deep-throated roar, a sudden rush, and the Germans were hurled back.  The Russians had captured the position and saved their flag.

The youth who had held it against such odds was afterwards discovered severely wounded.  He proved to be a young Jewish medical student from Vilna, named Osnas.  He was at once hailed on all sides as a hero, and on being invalided back to Petrograd the Commander himself gave orders that every care was to be taken to save the life of “Osnas the hero.”  Subsequently he received the military cross of St. George, the Russian V.C., from the hands of the Tzar himself.

The significance of the incident does not lie in the bravery of Osnas, but in the fact that he was a Jew.  His action, which has made him a popular hero throughout the Russian Empire, has done more to improve the position of the Jews than any event in the whole course of their history in Russia.  It has made the nation realise that a Jew can be a worthy son of Russia.”

The story – to a brief albeit similar effect – appeared in the Reform Advocate of September 12, 1914:

London, England, Sept. 4 – A Petrograd (St. Petersburg) dispatch to the Central News says that a Jewish medical student of Vilna, named Osnas, received the military cross of Saint George for saving the colors of his regiment in the last extremity during the terrible fighting in East Prussia.

Osnas was badly wounded and his commander telegraphed the doctors to do everything possible to save the life of “Osnas the Hero”.

The report of Osnas’ bravery was not limited to the Jewish Press.  For example, The Los Angeles Herald of September 22, 1914, carried the following item:

Jew Decorated for Saving Colors of Russian Regiment – LONDON, Sept. 22 – A Petrograd dispatch to the Central News says a Jewish medical student of Vilna, named Osnas, received the military cross of Saint George for saving the colors of his regiment in the last extremity during the terrible fighting in East Prussia.

Osnas was badly wounded and his commander telegraphed the doctors to do everything possible to save the life of “Osnas the Hero”.

In contemporary times, Sir Martin Gilbert presented this account about Osnas in his book The First World War:

“The hopes of minorities could be raised in unusual ways.  On the Eastern Front the first award of the Cross of St George, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross in Britain, awarded by the Tsar for exceptional bravery on the field of battle, went to a Jewish soldier, Leo Osnas.  According to a British newspaper, the Yorkshire Herald, by his bravery in action Osnas ‘has won freedom for the Jews in Russia; he has gained for his race the right to become officers in the Russian army and navy, hitherto denied them, and he has so delighted the Russian government that it has since proclaimed that henceforth Jews in the Empire shall enjoy the full rights of citizenship.’  Commented the newspaper: ‘Surely no man’s winning of the “V.C.” ever resulted in such magnificent results for a subject people as this!’  In fact, the Jews of Russia did not receive full citizenship during the war; nor did they escape repeated violent attacks on them by Russian townsmen and villagers looking for scapegoats for Russia’s military setbacks.”

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Perhaps more information about Osnas will can eventually be found, but for now, his life and story  – both pre-war and post-war – remain a mystery.

This is ironic, because one image of Osnas does exist.  It shows him as he appeared, or, as he is imagined to have appeared. 

The image is in the form of a painting created by British cartoonist Alfred Pearse (1855-1933), which was reproduced as a picture postcard published by War Photogravure Publications of London.  The painting depicts Osnas wounded, in the midst of battle – an embodiment of courage, determination, and fury – retrieving the Russian flag from German troops.  He is situated in the center of the image, while enemy soldiers surround him, and cavalry, obscured by clouds of dust, observe the scene from behind.

The painting appeared in The Jewish Chronicle’s sister publication, The Jewish World, in late 1914 or early 1915.

Well, it’s an interesting image. (Historically.)

It’s a compelling image.  (Doubtlessly.) 

And, it’s an especially dramatic image.  (Admittedly.) 

But, pondering that no actual photographic portrait of Osnas appeared in the press or – as yet – seems to exist, a question arises:  Is this Osnas as he actually appeared, or Osnas as Pearse imagined him?

Regardless, what became of Osnas after 1914?

References

Gilbert, Martin, The First World War: A Complete History, Rosetta Books, New York, N.Y., 2014

Reform Advocate, September 12, 1914

The Los Angeles Herald, September 22, 1914, “Jew Decorated for Saving Colors of Russian Regiment”

This Day…In Jewish History, at http://jewish1191.rssing.com/chan-15120684/all_p17.html

Cross of Saint George, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_St._George

Jewish Militaria Catalog Part I (Fishburn Books), at http://www.fishburnbooks.com/catalogs/JewishMilitaryPart1_1.pdf

Alfred Pearse (biography), at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Pearse

Soldiers of The Great War: Jewish Military Service in WW I, as Reported in The Jewish Chronicle – “Osnas the Hero”, September 11, 1914

“The Jewish Volunteer Katz” was not the only Russian Jewish soldier mentioned in the September 11 issue of the Chronicle.  Within the same issue, the following article mentioned a soldier surnamed “Osnas”, from Vilna, who received the Military Cross of Saint George.

For most reports in the Chronicle about Jews serving in the Russian armed forces during the First World War, little information would be (or, more likely could be) presented, beyond the soldier’s surname and the military award he received.  This item is an exception, listing the soldier’s – Osnas’ – profession and city of residence.

As for the opening sentence: “The war will change many things in Russia,…” who – at the end of 1914 – could possibly have imagined what the next four years, let alone the subsequent seventy-two, would entail? 

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“OSNAS, THE HERO.”
RUSSIAN JEW SAVED THE COLOURS

The Jewish Chronicle
September 11, 1914

The war will change many things in Russia, and the changes will probably include improvements in the position of the Jews, whose bravery and exploits at the front are attracting attention.  A Jewish medical student from Vilna, named Osnas, has just received the Military Cross of St. George.  He has been invalided and is in hospital suffering from severe wounds received in saving the colours of his regiment in the last extremity during the terrible fighting in East Prussia.  His commander telegraphed a special request to the doctors to “do everything that was possible to save the life of Osnas, the hero.” – Central News, Petrograd