Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

In 1940, Jewish Brigade Jewish Brigade Group הבריגדה היהודית חטיבה יהודית לוחמת הבריגדה העברית Organization of the Jewish Brigade consisted of fifteen Palestinian Jewish battalions were authorized:
* 1st Palestine Regiment
* 2nd Palestine Regiment
* 3rd Palestine Regiment
* 200th Field Regiment (Royal Artillery)
The Jewish battalions were quickly sent to Greece.
100 Palestinian Jews were killed and 1,700 taken prisoner by the Germans.

From 1941, small Jewish Palestinian battalions faught for Britain actively in North Africa.

On May 26, 1942, a battalion of 400 Jewish Palestinians under the command of Major Liebmann from Tel Aviv, was sent as the British brigade, to hold the far end of the French line near Bir-el Harmat.
They were a battalion of mine layers, poorly armed and provisioned, without heavy weapons, or anti-aircraft equipment
On June 5 and June 6, German and Italian armor attacked, but the Jewish position held.
On June 10, orders from the British 8th Army reached the French at Bir Hakeim and the Jews at Bir-el Harmat: retreat.
The British 8th Army was safe. It had retreated in good order with its equipment and supplies.
The delaying action could be called off.
Onf the night of June 11, the French and the Jews slipped away, unbeknownst to the Germans.
Of the 400 men who made up the battalion, over three hundred, 75%, had been killed or wounded.

In September, 1944, the British formally permitted the creation of the Jewish Brigade Group.
5,000 Palestinian Jewish Brigade volunteers fought under the flag of Zion.

In 1945, the combat soldiers of the Jewish Brigade Group were sent to Bologna, where they received training in combat and logistics from the British Army.
Mordechai Gichon cites: "The soldiers from the Palmah hadn’t any real battle training. They had learned to fight against Arab gangs – but they had no experience fighting in an actual war.”
From March 1945 until the war ended in May 1945, the Jewish Brigade, led by Brigadier Ernest Benjamin, fought against the Germans in Italy.
In April, 1945, the Jewish Brigade saw action on the front lines, in the Senio River valley, near Bologna. where the fighting was fierce and the Brigade suffered many casualties, and hundreds lost their lives.
The Jewish Brigade was transferred to Fiuggi, not far from Roma.
In March, 1945, the Jewish Brigade saw action in the Lago Comacchio area, in the weeks leading to the German surrender.

Mordechai Gichon cites. “After the war ended, we were the first ones to meet the Holocaust survivors.”
Individual soldiers of the Jewish Brigade took leave, with and without permission, to find remnants of their families in Germany, Austria, Poland and Romania; sometimes they were away for weeks
and months.

Mark Hyatt, who transferred from 8th Army, with which he had fought in north Africa, served as an NCO in the Jewish Brigade, cites he provided the hit squads with "logistical support".