By Joe Woolf
It is not generally known throughout the world that in World War I and World War II the soldiers who joined the Union of South Africa Defense Force (UDF) were all volunteers: there was no draft and no conscription. South Africa was then part of the British Empire, and while the number of South African volunteers was small, they played a vital role in the Allied Forces. In WW II, Jews volunteered as well, roughly in proportion to the general white population. Therefore, the tradition of voluntary military service was not something new. Jews had served on both sides during the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902: it is estimated that about 300 Jewish soldiers served on the Boer side, and it is likely that a similar number enlisted in the British Army. Some Lithuanian Jews, stranded in England at the turn of the century and anxious to get to South Africa, volunteered for the British Army. Should they survive, they would be discharged in South Africa.
On the Boer side, some Jews played a leading role. One Slobodka Yeshiva Bocher, Chaim David Judelowitz, became a legendary hero as a Boer commandant (Colonel). On May 28th 1902, he led his commando force in a last-ditch stand on the northern bank of the Orange River against a large force of British soldiers. After the battle, he was amongst those found lying dead on the battlefield. He was 24-years old.
Therefore, it was not surprising that the highly-motivated Zionist Jewish community, numbering no more than 120,000, provided proportionately the largest group of Machal volunteers. The community began its efforts to assist the Jews of the Yishuv immediately after the November 1947 U.N. Resolution was approved.
It was only between the two world wars that military training became compulsory for 18-year-olds in the Active Citizen Force (ACF). That service required participation in one parade a week, some weekend maneuvers, and full-time training for one month per year for four years. Most South African Machal volunteers were experienced WW II veterans, and many, like this writer, had received basic military knowledge as ACF trainees in the post-WW II period.
Volunteers first attempted to reach Palestine on December 15th, 1946. Eight young men – aged 18-24, and including one who later became a Mayor of Johannesburg, all members of various Zionist youth movements, including Betar, made this valiant attempt — traveled through Africa in a secondhand military 3-ton Dodge truck. They were trying to carve an overland Aliyah Bet route, and got as far as a town called El-Deum in the Sudan. Shortly after leaving El-Deum for Khartoum, in an unfortunate accident two of them were knocked off the truck. Fortunately, one was not seriously hurt but the other one suffered a cracked vertebra and was sent to hospital in Khartoum. The truck had to be sold to pay for the seriously injured volunteer to be flown back to South Africa.
Six of the eight returned to South Africa from Port Sudan, experiencing all sorts of adventures along the way, including working on a yacht. The seventh was the only one to reach Palestine in 1947, via Alexandria, almost a year after the failed attempt. He had even spent two months working on a gold mine near Port Sudan. The others did eventually reach Israel in the framework of the Machal groups, and served in various army units in 1948.
The second attempt was made by sea in May 1947. Three Cape Town Jewish businessmen, hoping to establish a Jewish fishing fleet in the Mediterranean, acquired a 500-ton whaler which had been a UDF mine-sweeper. It was renamed Drom Afrika I. Seven young Jewish men, members of various youth movements, were part of the all-South African lower deck.
The voyage via the Suez Canal lasted two months, and it was the first ship to sail into Haifa flying the flag of the future Jewish State, infuriating the British authorities who did not permit the crew to land. The ship and its crew spent several frustrating months in the Eastern Mediterranean, much of the time in dry dock in Alexandria. The ship never became a fishing vessel.
Shortly after the approval of the resolution of the U.N. General Assembly of November 29th, these Jewish sailors were smuggled ashore by the Haganah; this was the first group of South African volunteers to reach Palestine.
Several Jewish pilots, as well as one non-Jewish pilot flew a number of small civilian aircraft from South Africa to Israel, arriving on the second day of the new State. When recruiting began in earnest, there was no shortage of WW II veterans in South Africa to command, organize, recruit and train volunteers. Jewish farmers opened up their farms for secret weekend hachshara training.
There were three main recruiting organizations: The official South African League for the Haganah; the South African wing of the Irgun, which had operated in complete secrecy for 12 months, from about mid-1947; and the flamboyant Hebrew Legion, which turned out to be a scam.
This writer, and many others who had no Zionist movement background, were early recruits of the Hebrew Legion. When it broke up, the disillusioned volunteers were mostly absorbed by the Irgun, and some by the South African League for the Haganah.
Movement northwards began with small groups and individuals about six weeks before the Declaration of the State – and included experienced veterans from the Air Force, Artillery, Radar, and Tank Corps etc…These volunteers grew in volume in the months of June and July. Later on there was one Dakota flight per week until about November, when volunteers were no longer required. Some 3,000 volunteers still in training were left behind in South Africa.
The South African League for the Haganah also recruited volunteers from neighboring African countries – Kenya, Rhodesia, and the Belgian Congo. An Air Force Machal psychiatrist attributes the South African Jewish spirit and motivation to the closely-knit communities in Lithuania, as well as to the openness and frankness of South African culture.
South African Machal served in all branches of the Israel Defense Forces, and included about 170 front-line kibbutz members, a total of some 870 volunteers. Hence the title of Henry Katzew’s book on South African Machal, South Africa’s 800.
Seven South Africans died in battle:
Yehezkiel “Chatzi” Berelowitz and Zvi Lipschitz fell in the last days of Kfar Etzion’s defense, on May 12th and 13th, 1948.
Kibbutz Shoval member Gideon Rosenberg fell in battle in the Jerusalem Corridor while serving in the Palmach Harel Brigade, on May 16th, 1948.
Meir “Matey” Silber, an Etzel fighter, fell while defending Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, on May 25th, 1948.
Pilot Eddie Cohen’s plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire when he was part of the flight of four Messerschmitts, the historic engagement which halted the Egyptian advance towards Tel Aviv, on May 29th, 1948.
Pilot Leslie Bloch, also flying a Messerschmitt, was downed over the Syrian border on July 10th, 1948.
The seventh South African, Lou Hack, serving in the 72nd Infantry Battalion, fell during a deep penetration raid in the hills of Western Galilee on October 23rd, 1948.
About 30 South African married couples and some 100 women were amongst the 800. Some couples who were already engaged brought forward their wedding dates. One qualified nurse, determined to serve, left behind her one-year-old and five-year-old children with her mother and husband. Her husband, a dentist, arrived a month later. A South African nurse delivered the first Jewish baby boy born in Beersheba after 2,000 years.
Some South Africans held important command positions. Former World War II veteran and fighter bomber crewman Smoky Simon was Chief of IAF Operations at the beginning of the IAF’s creation. The role of one IAF Fighter Squadron Commander, Syd Cohen was so important and respected that he was honored by a send-off of four Spitfires as he left Israel, after service, to continue his medical studies in South Africa.
Many South African Machal volunteers interrupted their university studies and at least seven interrupted their medical studies twice: first to serve in WW II, and then again in 1948. When they qualified, they were about 10 years older than their classmates.
Note: The full story of South African Machal is recorded in the book South Africa’s 800 by the late Henry Katzew. The book is available in South Africa from Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, mobile phone: 824-402621. Direct fax 04-485-4325, and in Israel via TELFED (SA Zionist Federation) at info@telfed.org.il
Author: Written by Joe Woolf of Israel for the American Veterans of Israel (USA) see