We Are Coming, Unafraid
The Jewish Legions and the Promised Land in the First World War
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- $69.99
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- $69.99
Publisher Description
This book tells the little-known stories of three all-Jewish battalions formed in the British army as part of the Allies' Middle East campaign, recruiting soldiers from the United States, Canada, England, and Argentina. Many of the soldiers, ranging widely in education level, social class, and combat experience, were displaced immigrants or children of such immigrants. Together, they coalesced into the all-Jewish battalions: "the liberators of the Promised Land."
The ranks of the Jewish Legions included some who would become prominent leaders, such as David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Israel's second president; however, this book focuses on the experiences of ordinary soldiers who served alongside them. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, and letters, the book follows their journey at sea through unrestricted submarine warfare; by trains and trucks through Europe, Egypt, and Palestine; and their battlefield experiences. The authors show how these Yiddish-speaking young men forged a new kind of soldier identity with unique Jewish features, as well as an evolving sense of nationalism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Keren (War Memory and Popular Culture) and Keren assemble letters and journal entries of Jewish men who fought with the British during World War I, recruited from England and abroad and largely forced into service, detailing their hopes, fears, and the dreadful privation they faced. Upon entering a part of the Atlantic declared a war zone by Germany, one man wrote, "I know full well that I am in great danger, and yet it does not bother me at all. One becomes accustomed to every bad thing, and I am, after all, a soldier." Those "truly devoted to the mission" would be allowed to settle in Palestine, but initial excitement about the "Promised Land" gives way to a depressing realization that they'd been duped; settlements were marked by poor living conditions, little direction from superiors, and hostile neighbors, and yet, as one man writes, "I myself cannot believe that it is really true, that after striving for so many ears, I am finally in the land of Israel. Well, I am going to stay here." Through the intimate notes of these men, readers will share a journey wrought with fear, hope, and pride.
