Jewish Brigade

After years of pressure by the Zionist leadership, and with Winston Churchill's support, the British War Office announced in September 1944 the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group, the only Jewish national unit in the Allied armies of the Second World War. About 5,000 volunteers, most from the Jewish community of the Land of Israel, served under Brigadier Ernest Benjamin and under the blue-and-white flag with the Star of David. After training in Egypt and Italy, the brigade went into the line in March 1945 on the Senio River near Alfonsine and fought the German army there in the spring offensive of April 1945.

After the war its soldiers met the survivors of the Shoah in Italy, Austria and Germany, cared for them and helped organize the Bricha, the escape of survivors toward the Land of Israel, and illegal immigration. Many veterans became commanders of the Israel Defense Forces, among them the chiefs of staff Mordechai Maklef and Chaim Laskov.