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Date: Thursday, February 02, 2012
Duration: All Day
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 On this day, the 38th Battalion of Royal Fusiliers, one of several battalions of Jewish volunteers formed by the British Army, marched through the city of London with the Star of David on their uniforms, cheered by thousands of the city's Jews.
The battalions had been established due to the persistent efforts of Jews to join the fight, and through the activism of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor. A popular anti-Semitic notion is that Jews are cowardly or that they shirk away from fighting for their country of citizenship. In World War I, Jews fought for their countries on opposite sides of the front line with devotion and courage, earning decorations for valor from Imperial Germany, Great Britain, and the other nations. Many officers, raised on anti-Semitic stereotypes, were initially skeptical of the value of Jewish soldiers and sought to keep them in non-combat positions. Once in action, however, attitudes changed, as the Irish colonel appointed to command a Jewish battalion later testified: "Many of the Zionists whom I thought somewhat lacking in courage showed themselves fearless to a degree when under heavy fire, while Captain Trumpeldor actually revelled in it, and the hotter it became the more he liked it..."
Detailed account of the march of the 38th Royal Fusiliers: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sugar38rf.html |
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