Jewish Legion

The Jewish Legion was the name given to the 38th, 39th and 40th battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, Jewish volunteer units of the British Army in the First World War. The idea came from Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor, who in 1915 had formed the Zion Mule Corps in Alexandria, which served at Gallipoli under Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson. After two years of campaigning by Jabotinsky, the British government announced a Jewish regiment in August 1917. The 38th battalion, commanded by Patterson, was raised in London; the 39th was recruited in America and Canada, with David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi in its ranks; the 40th was formed from Jews of the land itself. Some 5,000 men served, under a menorah badge with the word Kadima.

The battalions fought in the Jordan valley in Allenby's final offensive of 1918. For the first time since the Bar Kokhba revolt, Jewish units fought for the Land of Israel, and many of their veterans went on to found the Haganah.