We read a narrative given by 3 soldiers Israel Carmi, Johanan Peltz and Arie Pinchuk woven into the story of the Jewish Brigades 5000 soldiers recruited in Palestine. Ben Gurion wanted Jews to learn the skills of war but the British saw a problem and only after Normandy did Churchill arrange for them to go into battle in Europe. They were kept training in Benghazi and at the time realized that the British were more interested in keeping Jewish fighters out of Palestine until the were shipped to Italy.
In central Italy they were based in Fiuggi for winter and training Bernard Caspar was the army chaplain there, he later became chief Rabbi of South Africa. From Ravenna, River Sieno they were on the front against the Germans who were under Kesselring's command.
Haim Laskov was one of the officers there later became the 2nd Chief of Staff of IDF. Italy capitulated and later Germany and they were based in Tarvisio from where they met Jewish refugees coming out of Austria and reporting on the holocaust. Carmi and Peltz describe going into Austria and later Germany and must have executed about 300 Nazis.
Abba Kovno leader of the Vilna partisans and later Hebrew poet wanted to mass murder Germans and they met him in Tarvisio Italy. Moshe Sharett visited them also he later became the 2nd Israeli PM
They now started working with the Jewish agency to bring refugees to Italy and from there on to Palestine, while the British tried to stop them. The brigade was now transferred to Belgium to get them away from helping the refugees but they were still involved as well as gun running. The British decided to return the Brigade home in June 1946. Carmi organized that 138 refugees would be trained and took papers of Brigade soldiers thus becoming their doubles and put on the ships to Palestine. Those left behind got new documents from the Hagana. Soldiers returned home were ready to fight in Israel's War of Independence.
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