Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Formed in 1914-1915, the Jewish Legion consisted of five battalions of Jewish volunteers established as the British Army's 38th through 42nd (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers.

In December, 1914, Zeev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor raised the idea of a Jewish unit that would participate in the British military effort to conquer Palestine from the Ottoman Empire.
By the end of March, 1915, 500 Jewish volunteers from the Jews in Egypt, who had been deported there by the Turks had started training.
Zeev Jabotinsky supported the Jewish Legion project, which was to be the subject of discussion at the June, 1915, xecutive Committee of the World Zionist Organization was meeting in Copenhagen. but the Russian Zionist delegation, led by Menachim Ussishkin, was adamantly against it.
Otto Warburg and Alfred Klee were also opposed.
Menachim Ussishkin argued that the Jews owed a historic debt to the Turks, who had provided a safe haven, and a refuge to the Jews exiled by the Spanish inquisition.
Zeev Jabotinsky argued that, "If the Jews in Palestine were not slaughtered wholesale, it was not due to Turkey's humaneness towards the Jews but to the presence of Ambassador (Henry) Morgenthau in Constantinople and of two American cruisers off Jaffa, which demonstratively served us. If the German Ambassador in Turkey advised the Turks not to quarrel with the Jews in Palestine, it was also due to his fear of the Americans."
Arthur Hantke. tried to convince Jabotinsky that Germany would win the war that the Zion Mule Corps was a grave mistake and propaganda for a Jewish Legion would destroy Zionism.
On June 10-11, 1915,.the Executive Committee met and passed their resolution aimed at Zeev Jabotinsky -
'In view of the oft-repeated rumors about the formation by England of a Jewish Legion for the conquest of Palestine, the Zionist Actions Committee declares:
That every undertaking of this kind is in sharpest contradiction to the entire character of Zionist activities:
That the Zionist Organization will have nothing in common with any such undertaking;
Therefore, the Actions Committee demands that no Zionist should under any circumstances participate in or support any such undertaking."
The World Zionist Organization had disowned Zeev Jabotinsky, declaring him an enemy of the Zionist movement.

The Zion Mule Corps served on the Gallipoli front, although the British opposed participation of Jewish volunteers on the Palestinian front. In August 1917, the formation of a Jewish regiment was officially announced.

Between the dissolution of the Zion Mule Corps, and the formation of the Jewish Legion, Zeev Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor and 120 Zion Mule Corps Veterans served together in Platoon 16 of the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment.

The 38th and 39th Royal Fusilier Battalions were made up almost entirely of Jews from Britain, Russia, the United States and Canada.
In 1918, more than 1,000 Palestinian Jews were enlisted.
92 Turkish Jews, captured in earlier fighting, were also permitted to enlist.
This group was organized as the 40th Royal Fusilier Battalion.
They served in the Jordan Valley, and fought the Turks some 20 miles north of Jerusalem.
The 41st and 42nd Royal Fusilier Battalions were Depot Battalions stationed in Plymouth.

In November, 1918, most of the members of the Jewish regiments were discharged .
Some of them returned to their respective countries, others settled in Palestine.
In late 1919, the Jewish Legion was reduced to one battalion, the First Judeans,
They were awarded a distinctive cap badge, a menorah with the Hebrew word קדימה Kadima at the base.
Former members of the Jewish Legion took part in the defense of Jewish communities during the 1920 riots in Palestine.
Two former members of the Jewish Legion were killed with Captain Joseph Trumpeldor at Tel Hai.
One former member of the Jewish Legion was killed in Tel Aviv-Jaffa during the 1821 Jaffa riots.
Several members of the Jewish Legion settled in moshav Avihayil.
One former member died in service in World War II,