Where there any jewish combat units created to fight in the allied armies?

Please phrase your question in the title! - If the question needs more words, you can replace this text to add more information.

Please only post one (1) question in a topic post - you can post multiple questions, just please keep them separate

7 Likes

The British did raise an all jewish brigade group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Brigade

The Americans believed in a high integration approach vis a vis religion, jewish Americans served in all arms, including front line combat groups (hell, my paternal grandfather was in one of those as a medic) but there were some groups in the military that were noticeably more jewish than others due to education and trade backgrounds, immigration status or their parent’s immigration status.

As far as I can tell, the Soviets also took an integrationist approach (there were about 500k Jewish soldiers in the Red Army)

The Free French and The Free Polish and other “We’re now working with/inside Britain” also took an integrationist approach, but that seems mostly due to size.

Also, I am officially volunteering. I really would like to see a special about Jewish, particularly Jewish American, soldiers during ww2 since it is a SUPER undiscussed element of American Jewish history and Jewish life, how America perceives religion, and it is super important in the framing of the holocaust (among other issues)

Editors Note about the Americans: The US Military has been religiously integrated since the revolutionary war across all arms and branches.(and yes, there were Jewish soldiers and officers who fought in the Revolutionary War, before someone asks) The place of religion in the US military has been an on-again/off-again issue since the Military’s founding as well because of the US’s enlightenment background vs the needs to serve faith vs various on-again/off-again waves of primarily Christian theological outreach (the Awakenings). At the point of ww2, for most people, we’re at a religious low point/holding pattern, though white ethnicity was still a strong driver in stuff.

That said, there have been units that have been at points filled with primary people of specific background for reasons about how the US military functions and recruits (the fighting 69th in NY is probably the most famous one. Historically Irish Catholic and linked to the Sinn Fein because it was raised from very Irish Catholic immigrant neighborhoods in NYC, today a national guard unit that has a catholic priest as its chaplain by custom even though the VAST majority of the unit isn’t Irish Catholic).

The super-integrationist approach towards religion while having units that are dominated by one group should be seen in this light when discussing the US military.

6 Likes