At the very beginning of the war, the President of the World Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann, offered the government of Great Britain the full cooperation of the Jewish community in Palestine in mobilization and began to negotiate for the formation of a Jewish combat force under British Army auspices. Although many Palestinian Jews joined the British ArmyΓÇösome in Jewish companiesΓÇöthe British refused to establish an identifiably Jewish formation at brigade strength that would fight under a Jewish flag.
In the summer of 1943, the Zionists revised their proposals. Churchill favored them and, applying all of his personal authority, urged his colleagues to approve them. On July 3, 1944, the British War Cabinet decided that, although the formation of a Jewish division was not feasible on practical grounds, the creation of a brigade should be immediately and positively examined. On September 20, 1944, an official communiqué by the War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group. The Zionist flag was officially approved as its standard.
The Brigade Group took part in the early stages of the AlliesΓÇÖ final offensive in Italy in April 1945 and then was withdrawn for reorganization. It was the first and only Jewish formation to fight in World War II under the Jewish flag, recognized as representing the Jewish people.
After the termination of hostilities, the Brigade Group was stationed in Tarvisio, near the border triangle of Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria. Soon, it became a source of attraction for young Jewish survivors all over the Continent.
In July 1945, the Brigade Group moved to Belgium and the Netherlands. About 150 of its soldiers were clandestinely dispatched to engage in organizational and educational work in the displaced personsΓÇÖ camps, to organize the Beriha ("Escape") stations in Austria and Germany, and to help prepare for "illegal" immigration to Palestine. Other soldiers concentrated on arms purchase for the Hagana (the main Jewish underground military organization in Palestine). Despite last-moment attempts by the Jewish Agency to prolong the existence of the Brigade Group, the British were determined to disband it according to their demobilization plan, and this was accomplished in June and July of 1946.
