Book Notes: The Jewish Brigade: An Army with Two Masters, 1944-5, Morris Beckman

<plain_text><page sequence="1">The Jewish Brigade: An Army with Two Masters, 1944-5, Morris Beckman (Staplehurst 1998) ISBN 1-86227-032-5. ?18.95. This is a readable and interesting account of the history of the Jewish Brigade, whose formation was actively sponsored by Winston Churchill, and deals with its three months in action against the German army in Northern Italy from March to May 1945. Thereafter its men and resources were engaged in two 176</page><page sequence="2">Book Notes other enterprises. In the first of these, under instructions from the Jewish Agency, they organized the collection of Jewish holocaust survivors and their transportation to Palestine, against British Colonial Office policy. In this they had much help and sympathy from Allied officers in all armies. Their other enterprise was the setting up of a clandestine unit, named DIN, which sought out and killed as many SS men and other Nazi murderers as they could find. This episode is dealt with very frankly in the book, which is based on inter? views with several former officers in the Jewish Brigade. My only criticism of the book is that the story is not told in chronological order so the non? sequential parts of the narrative are confusing for the reader, but it is well written and informative. Edgar Samuel</page></plain_text>