Less than one more before the end of the Second World War in Europe, the Palestine Post – today the Jerusalem Post – published news editor Ted R. Lurie’s account of his meeting with members of the Jewish Brigade. Though the location of his encounter with the Brigade’s members at the unit’s headquarters is not specified, it obviously occurred somewhere on the front lines in Italy.
Probably for security reasons, only three names are mentioned in the article: newly-married Signals Officer Robert Grossman whose wife then resided in Rome, and, two men who had just recently become casualties: “Zilberger” (actually, Zilberberg) – killed in action, and, Goldring – missing in action; both respectively mentioned in brief accounts of their final, and, last known, military actions.
For Zilberberg, Lurie’s report is entirely accurate.
For Goldring? Lurie’s report concludes on a highly inaccurate note. While Lurie wrote, “Another of the same fraternity, a man called Goldring, stayed behind to help a wounded soldier when the remainder of his patrol withdrew. The soldier died and his body was brought in next morning, but Goldring was not found so it was assumed that he had been taken prisoner. But not he; he lived in hiding in no-man’s land for two days, crawling around by night until he got back safely to carry on,” his final statement was completely incorrect. Uszer Goldring never returned from battle, and was never seen again.
In 2021, his fate is still unknown.
To shed further and more complete light on Zilberger and Goldring’s stories, I’ve included excerpts from Jacob Lifshitz’s chronicle of the Jewish Brigade (published in 1950), appropriately entitled The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah). These excerpts comprise the book’s original Hebrew text, followed by English-language translations, as well as portraits of the two soldiers. These accounts are representative of much of the content of Lifshitz’s book, which comprises biographical profiles and portraits of fallen members of the Brigade.
And so, Lurie’s article…
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“I’m Killing Germans” Is Captain’s Message
By T.R. Lurie
Palestine Post War Correspondent
Palestine Post, April 13, 1945
JEWISH BRIGADE GROUP H.Q. – To kill Germans and still more Germans is the aim of every man-jack in the Jewish Brigade Group.
That is the first impression one gathers from talking to men in the line who have already been at grips with the enemy. These men have fired their tommies, and hurled their grenades and mortars and have fired their twenty-five pounders at some of Hitler’s picked troops. The forces attacking them are some of the best soldiers of the Wehrmacht – and our men have the satisfaction of knowing that their fire has not been ineffectual.
One tall ginger-haired captain who heard I was from Jerusalem asked me to telephone to his wife when I got back. “What message do you want to send her?” I asked.
“Just tell her I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do for so long. I’m killing Germans.” Then he went on to tell me that that was the best message of greetings he could send, as her parents had been murdered in Poland.
Ahead of Schedule
The only criticism one has been able to hear about the men of the Brigade – praise of course, has been hearty and well-earned, too – has been over-keenness. “In the Army,” a staff officer told me, it’s important to do things a hundred per cent, not 125 per cent.” But the men have succeeded in doing more than a good job. For example, they went into the line a month ahead of the date called for on their training schedule. They have replaced other units who were hardened and seasoned. And they take it all in their stride.
Seeing these lads in their dugouts or back of the line in their bivvies, one wonders of what stuff heroes are made. In one battalion I heard high praise of one of their officers for the courage he displayed one night under fire. He is not a company or a platoon commander, but the unit’s Signals Officer, and his job is to maintain contact between the units and with the various headquarters by telephone and wireless.
It sounds cushy enough, but he did not join up to sit back in a safe area and do a base job. So with the first chance he got, he went out with a patrol carrying his phone line as far forward as he could.
It was one of the stickiest night encounters so far, and the officer back at headquarters was not a little worried when for over two hours he had no contact with the patrol or the Signals Officer. Then with the earphones glued to his ear lobes he heard the faintest of voices calling his name.
Contact had been re-established, and the men were crawling back bringing their wounded with them, but knowing that they had given the enemy at least as much as they had taken. The name of the officer is Robert Grossman, and he was married in Rome a few weeks ago to a Palestinian A.T.S. serving there. On a blitz-trip back to Rome the other day I looked her up to tell her how her newly-wed husband was getting on. She asked me to take her regards to him when I went back north, and added: “Tell him to carry on ‘Hazak veamatz’ – “Be strong and of good courage.”
Medal for Barber
In the Second Battalion it was the man who was the soldiers’ Cantor and barber who was among the first to display outstanding valour. He was a stretcher-bearer and risked his life over and over again during a night skirmish doing his job.
The next morning his name was put up for a Military Medal. A couple of hours later he was shot dead by a sniper as he went into no-man’s land with a red Cross flag in his hand to bring back a wounded man.
His name is Zilberger.
Another of the same fraternity, a man called Goldring, stayed behind to help a wounded soldier when the remainder of his patrol withdrew. The soldier died and his body was brought in next morning, but Goldring was not found so it was assumed that he had been taken prisoner. But not he; he lived in hiding in no-man’s land for two days, crawling around by night until he got back safely to carry on.
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From The Book of the Jewish Brigade, the story of “Zilberberg”: Private Moshek Josif Zilberberg.
First in Hebrew, and then in English.
נפל ביום ו’ בניסן תש”ה, 20 במארס 1945
Friday, April 20, 1945 / Yom Shishi, 7th Iyar, 5705
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
ביום 19 במארס 1945, ה’ בניסן תש”ה ערכה פלוגתו (פלוגה ג’ של הגדוד השני) התקפה גלויה על האויב במטרה להגיע עד התעלה, שמאחוריה נתבצרו הגרמנים. משה הוציא באלונקות את חבריו הפצועים משדה הקרב, פעם אחר פעם, מתוך סיכון-נפש תחת מטר כדורים והפצצות. עם תום המערכה נשאר מרצונו הטוב בשדה וחיכה לאחרוני השבים כדי להראות להם את המעבר הנוח והבטוח ביותר לשוב בו. באותו ערב אמר לחבר: ,,כנראה שאני מחוסן בפני כדירים, כי יצאתי היום שלם ממטר כדורים,,. המיגיור האנגלי, מפקד פלוגתו, הביע באותו ערב הערכה לאומץ-לבו של משה והמליץ להעניק לו אות-הצטיינות. למחרת היום, ב-20 במארס, כשחידשה פלוגתו את ההתקפה על האויב, חידש גם הוא את מעשי גבורתו ורץ גלוי לעיני האויב מפצוע לפצוע, כשדגל צלב האדום בידו. אחד החיילים נפצע ונאנק, ו על אף אזהרות חבריו שלא להסתכן, יצא להגיש לו עזרה. בו ברגע פגע בו כדור אויב והרגו במקום, ודגל הצלב האדום בידו. אחרי מותו נתכבד באות ההצטיינות הצבאי
נולד בשנת , עם פרוץ מלחמת-העולם הראשונה, בפלונסק שבפולניה להורים דתיים, קיבל חינוך דתי ולמד בישיבה, ויחד עם זה מעורה היה בתנועת-נוער ציונות מימי ילדותו. בגיל 18 היה בין מייסדי פלוגות ההכשרה בנאדבורנה (גליציה). בשנת 1935 עלה לארץ ועבד כפועל. כשפרצו המאורעות בארץ בשנת 1936 היה פעיל בשורות הבטחון. בשנים 1938-1939 עבד כנוטר. פעם בעמדו על משמרתו ביער להגן על אחת הנקודות עם עוד חבר מחברין, הותקפו על-ידי כנופיה ערבית והחבר נפל מת ומשה שנפצע קשה המשיך לירות עד שהדף את המתקיפים ואחר כך הרכיב את חברו על כתפיו והביאו אל המושבה. אותו פצע כמעט הטרידו מן העולם והרופאים אמרו נואש לחיין ,אך הוא חפץ חיים היה ובשארית כוחותיו נלחם במוות ויוכל לו. כאשר החלים ציינו כולם את הדבר כנס ופלא. לאחר שהבריא חזר לנוטרות. כשקמה תנועת הגיוס ל,,באפס,, התגייס ואמר לאשתו: ,,נולדתי בתקופת מלחמה ואני מוכרח להילחם,,. באוקטוכר 1944 עבר יחד עם גדודו לחי”ל.
ספר וחזן ונושא-אלונקות היה בחטיבה, ובכל המקצועות האלה נצטיין הן מבחינת הידיעה והן מבחינת המסירות. כספר היה חביב על כל החיילים והקצינים. בהיותו בעל קול ערב ומוכשר, היה עובר לפני התיבה כחזן קבוע בבית-הכנסת של הגדוד השני והיה מנעים את התפילות לפני קהל החיילים. כל אנשי הגדוד השני זטכרים לו לטוכה את התפילות, שעוך בימים הנוראים ובמועדיה לפי המנגינות המסורתיות. ביחוד נחקקה בזכרונם תפילת ,,כל נדרי,, בליל הכיפורים תש”ה במדבר המערבי בין בנגזי לדרנה תחת כיפת השמים, בשעת מסעם מתחותם הישנה אל-עבייר ליד בנגזי לבורג-אל-ערב, מקום רכוז החטיבה (לעיל פרק’ סעיף ב’). במשך שירותו בצבא שמר על קשרים עם המסורת ועם החיילים הדתיים. עם אירגונו של הגרעין הדתי להתישבות נצטרף אליו. כנושא-אלונקות בז היה לפגזי האויב וצעד בגלוי לחבוש פצועים נקובי-כדורים, זבידם ומחוסרי-הכרה, לחוקם ולעודדם. ולא חלילה מפני שמאס בחיים התנהג כך, להיפך, חפץ חיים היה, כאמור, אלא לנקום רצה מידי הגרמנום אם דם משפחתו ודם בית ישראל, שנשפך בפולנוה, כדכריו במכתבו לביתו מיום 10 במארס 1945: ,,ביד חזקה ובזרוע נטויה נלך קדימה עד נצחוננו הגמור על אויבינו,,. והיות והוא עצמו לא היה לוחם, רצה להציל לוחמום, שיוכלו הם להרוג ולהשמיד את צוררי היהודים, גם טוב-לבו הביאהו להקרבת עצמו.
לבו ניבא לו את מותו. בשעת ביקורו האחרון בביתו אמר לרעיתו: ,,הקריירה שלי כבר נגמרה,,. כן הביע את חרדתו לגורלו במכתביו האחרונים מקווי החזית. נזכרהו כאחד מבני-העם האלמונים והצנועים, שקידש במותו את גבורת ישראל.
__________
Moshek Josif Zilberberg PAL/15435
He fell on Friday, March 20, 1945
On March 19, 1945, the fifth of Nisan 5705, his company (Company C of the Second Battalion) made an open attack on the enemy in order to reach the canal (Fosso Vetro), behind which the Germans were fortified. Moshe retrieved his wounded comrades from the battlefield on stretchers, time and time again, under mental danger beneath a barrage of bullets and bombs. At the end of the campaign he remained of his own free will in the field and waited for the last of the returnees, to show them the easiest and safe passage to return. That evening he said to a friend: “Apparently I am vaccinated against bullets, because I remained out of the “rain” for a whole day.” The English major, the commander of his company, that evening expressed appreciation for Moshe’s courage and recommended that he be awarded the Medal of Excellence. The next day, on March 20, when his company resumed its attack on the enemy, he also resumed his heroic deeds and ran openly in front of the enemy from wounded to wounded, with the Red Cross flag in his hand. One of the soldiers was wounded and groaned, and despite warnings from his comrades not to take the risk, went out to help him. At that moment an enemy bullet hit him and killed on the spot, with the Red Cross flag in his hand. After his death we will be honored with the Medal of Merit [Military Medal; M.M.]
Born in the same year, with the outbreak of World War I, in Płońsk, Poland, to religious parents, he received a religious education and studied in a yeshiva, and at the same time he was involved in the Zionist youth movement from his childhood. At the age of 18 he was one of the founders of the training companies in Nadborna (Galicia). In 1935 he immigrated to Israel and worked as a laborer. When the events in the country broke out in 1936, he was active in the security ranks. In the years 1938-1939 he worked as a notary. Once standing on his guard in the woods to defend one of the points with another friend of theirs, they were attacked by an Arab gang and the friend fell dead, and Moshe who was badly wounded continued to shoot until he repelled the attackers and then mounted his friend on his shoulders and brought him to the colony. The same wound was almost took him from the world and the doctors said his life was desperate, but he wanted to live and with the rest of his strength he fought death. When he recovered, everyone mentioned the conversation with wonder. After recovering he returned to Notre Dame. When the recruitment movement for “Buffs” arose, he enlisted and said to his wife: “I was born in a time of war and I have to fight.” In October 1944, he moved with his battalion to the army.
Sefer and Hazan and a member of stretcher-bearers in the division, and in all these professions he would excel both in terms of knowledge and dedication. As a sefer he was a favorite of all the soldiers and officers. Having a deep voice and being talented, he would pass in front of the ark as a regular cantor in the synagogue of the Second Battalion and would recite the prayers in front of the soldiers. All the members of the second battalion remember the prayers for him, which are sung during the days of awe and times according to the traditional melodies. In particular, the prayer “Kol Nidre” was engraved in their memory on the night of Yom Kippur 5755 in the western desert between Benghazi and Darna in the open air, during their journey from their old stretch of al-Abiyar near Benghazi to Burg-al-Arab. During his service in the army he maintained ties with tradition and with religious soldiers. With the organization of the religious nucleus for settlement, he will join it. As the subject of stretcher-bearers he was to the enemy shells and openly marched to carry the bullet-ridden and unconscious wounded; to arm and encourage them. And, not God forbid, because he was tired of life behaving like this, on the contrary, Hefetz Chaim was, as mentioned, but seeking revenge from the Germans for the blood of his family and the blood of Beit Yisrael, spilled in Poland, as he wrote in his letter to his home dated March 10, 1945: “On our enemies …” And since he himself was not a warrior, he wanted to save warriors, so that they could kill and destroy the oppressors of the Jews; even his kindness led him to sacrifice himself.
His heart foretold his death. During his last visit to his home, he told his wife: “My career is over”. He also expressed his anxiety about his fate in his recent letters from the front lines. He is remembered as one of the anonymous and humble people who consecrated the heroism of Israel in his death.
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A member of the 2nd Battalion of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, Private Moshek J. Zilberberg is buried at the Ravenna War Cemetery in Piangipane, Ravenna, Italy (Grave IV, A, 2). His name appeared (as “Moshe Silberberg”) in casualty lists published in the Palestine Post on April 2 and 13, 1945, and can be found on pages 178 and 263 of volume I of Henry Morris We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945.
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And, the story – at least, what was known as of 1950 – of “Goldring”: Private Uszer Goldring.
As for Zilberger, Hebrew then English.
נעדר בליל יז’ בניסן תש”ה, 31 במארס 1945
Saturday, March 31, 1945 / 17 Nisan, 5705
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
משמר בן 12 חיילים מפלוגתו (פלוגה א’ גדוד א’), בפיקוד הסרג’נט לייזר ז”ל, התקיף באותו ערב בית-עמדה אחד בשם “דמפסי” על-יד פוגאנאנא בעמק הסנין. מטר-אש קטלני מ”שמייסר” ומספר גדול של רימוני-יד ניתכו עליהם ממרחק קטן, ואחד הרימונים פגע בלייזר. הוא צעק: “נפצעתי, הגישו עזרה ראשונה”. וגולדרינג הושיטה לו מיד. לייזר פקד לסגת וממלא מקומו מילא את פקודתו. אך גולדרינג לא רצה להיפרד מלייזר ועמד לעורתו עד הרגע האחרון. דבר זה נתגלה בשעה שהמשמר נתרחק מן הבית בתשעים מטר. החיילים לחזור ולהביאם, אבל מחמת ריבוי הפצועים לא היו מוכשרים להליכה וחזרו לעמדתם. כעבור זמן-מה יצא משמר לוחם בן 15 אנשים בפיקודו של קצין לחפש את שני הנעדרים ולהביאם אתם. אבל אלה תעו בדרך והיו מוכרחים לחזור. עם אור הבוקר הוציאו נושאי אלונקות את לייזר מת, ואילו גולדרינג לא נמצא ועקבותיו לא נודעו עד היום. אולי בידי הגרמנים והם לקחוהר אתם? אנו קיווינו שנשבה ונשאר בחיים, אבל עד עתה לא נתקבלה כל ידיעה עליו.
בן 31 אב לשני ילדים. לא היה חייב גיוס לפי צו המוסדות. אבל מצפונו הניעו להתנדב בין הראשונים. השקיע מרץ רב בעסקנות הצבורית שבין החיילים. חיוד תמיד בפניו, שקט בתנועותיו וקסם באישיותו. כשפגע פגז באנשי מחלקתו בתוך הקווים, הגיש הוא את העזרה הראשונה והרגיע את הפצועים. ביחוד הצטיין ביחסו החברי בשעת פעולות של פאטרול. אז כל חיוך וכל מלה טובה מרגיעים והוא היה איש ההומור העדין והאופי החזק כאחד.
__________
He was missing on the night of 17 Nissan, March 31, 1945.
A 12-man guard from his company (Company A, 1st Battalion), under the command of the late Sergeant Leiser [Sgt. Shuli Leiser, PAL/17637], attacked a post office “Dempsey” that evening called near Fuganana in the Senin Valley. A deadly barrage of fire from “Schmeisers” [MP-40 submachine guns] and a large number of hand grenades were fired at them from a short distance, and one of the grenades hit Leiser. He shouted: “I’ve been injured; first aid.” And Goldring gave it to him at once. Leiser ordered a retreat and his deputy fulfilled his order. But Goldring did not want to part with Leiser and stood alongside him until the last minute. This was discovered as the guard moved ninety feet away from the house. The soldiers returned to fetch them, but due to the large number of wounded, they were not able to walk and returned to their position. Some time later, a 15-man combat guard under the command of an officer set out to search for the two missing and return with them. But they got lost along the way and had to go back. At dawn the stretcher-bearers removed the dead Leiser, while Goldring was not found and his traces are not known to this day. Maybe [he was] in the hands of the Germans and they took him with them? We had hoped him to have [him] been captured and left alive, but so far no information has been received about him.
A 31 year old father of two children. Did not have to be recruited by order of the institutions. But his conscience motivated him to be among the first to volunteer. He invested a great deal of energy in public activity among the soldiers. A sharpness always in his face; quiet in his movements and charm in his personality. When a shell hit members of his platoon inside the lines, he rendered first aid and reassured the wounded. He especially excelled in his friendly attitude during patrol operations. So his every smile and every good word was soothing and he was a man of gentle humor and strong character alike.
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Sergeant Shuli Leiser, a member of the 1st Battalion of the Jewish Brigade, is – like Moshek Zilberberg – buried at the Ravenna War Cemetery in Piangipane, Ravenna, Italy (Grave IV, A, 8). His name appeared in a casualty list published in the Palestine Post (as S. Leiser) on April 27, 1945, and can be found on pages 118 and 250 of volume I of We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945 (as Shuli Leizer).
– .ת. נ. צ. ב. ה –
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Born in 1910, Private Uszer Goldring has no known grave, his name being commemorated on Panel 13 of the Cassino Memorial at Frosinone, Italy. His name appeared (as “U. Goldyring”) in casualty lists published in the Palestine Post on April 13 and 27, 1945, in Haaretz on April 27, and on page 244 of We Will Remember Them (as “Asher Goldring”). His parents were David and Sara, while his wife Chana lived at Ra’anana.
Haaretz, April 27, 1945. Uszer Goldring’s name appears in a casualty list on the paper’s last page: page 8.
The casualty list, with Goldring’s name in the right column, bottom line (see “16323”).
Unlike casualty lists published in the Jewish press in England or the United States (say, for example, in The Jewish Chronicle or Jewish Exponent), or the general press (such as casualty lists published in The New York Times and other American newspapers, which were based on information provided by the War Department) Casualty Lists in both the Palestine Post and Haaretz in the wartime Yishuv never included next-of-kin or residential information.
What happened to Uszer Goldring?
On April 20, 1945, The Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia) published an article by Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent Pat Frank entitled “Jewish Brigade Battles Germans in Hand-to-Hand Battle on Italian Front”. Frank’s article concludes with the following paragraph, which in light of Goldring’s biography as presented above obviously pertains to the missing medic: “As of several days ago, the Jewish Brigade had lost only one prisoner since they have been in action. He was a first-aid man who accompanied a patrol into the German lines, and remained when the patrol withdrew to care for a wounded comrade. When the Brigade advanced the next day, they found that the wounded man had died and the first-aid man had disappeared, and, presumably, been captured.”
Notably, Uszer Goldring was unwounded when last seen, and his body (if he had been killed) was not located after Allied troops advanced through the immediate area of battle, I think fully validating the supposition that he was indeed captured. Based on the identities of the German units encountered over time by the Brigade, Private Goldring may have been taken captive by the 4. Fallschirmjäger-Division (German 4th Parachute Division), a German division which may have been involved in the Pedescala Massacre at Veneto, Italy, from April 30 to May 2, 1945, during which 63 civilians were murdered.
Having been from the Yishuv and having served in a military unit affiliated with and under operational control of the British military, the most relevant source of information about Pvt. Goldring’s fate might be his Casualty File, which would be roughly analogous to an American WW II Individual Deceased Personnel File. That is, assuming that an investigation into his fate was conducted in the first place. (As to the location of any hypothetical Casualty File, I have no idea.) Regardless, such a document would probably reveal little beyond what has already been recounted in this post.
To the best of my knowledge, nothing further has been learned about Private Goldring’s fate in the seventy-six years since April of 1945.
It is my belief that he rests in an unknown grave, somewhere in Italy.
References
Lifshitz, Jacob (יעקב, ליפשיץ), The Book of the Jewish Brigade: The History of the Jewish Brigade Fighting and Rescuing [in] the Diaspora (Sefer ha-Brigadah ha-Yehudit: ḳorot ha-ḥaṭivah ha-Yehudit ha-loḥemet ṿeha-matsilah et ha–golah ((גולהה קורות החטיבה היהודית הלוחמת והמצילה אתספר הבריגדה היהודית)), Shim’oni (שמעוני), Tel-Aviv, 1950
Here’s the book’s cover art:
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Morris, Henry, Edited by Gerald Smith, We Will Remember Them – A Record of the Jews Who Died in the Armed Forces of the Crown 1939 – 1945, Volume I, Brassey’s, United Kingdom, London, 1989