FORMATION OF THE ZION MULE CORPS
From the days of my youth I have always been a keen student of the
Jewish people, their history, laws and customs. Even as a boy I spent
the greater part of my leisure hours poring over the Bible, especially
that portion of the Old Testament which chronicles battles, murders, and
sudden deaths, little thinking that this Biblical knowledge would ever
be of any practical value in after life.
It was strange, therefore, that I, so imbued with Jewish traditions,
should have been drawn to the land where the Pharaohs had kept the
Children of Israel in bondage for over four hundred years; and it was
still more strange that I should have arrived in Egypt just at the
psychological moment when General Sir John Maxwell, the
Commander-in-Chief, was looking out for a suitable officer to raise and
command a Jewish unit.
Now, such a thing as a Jewish unit had been unknown in the annals of the
world for some two thousand years--since the days of the Maccabees,
those heroic Sons of Israel who fought so valiantly, and for a time so
successfully, to wrest Jerusalem from the grasp of the Roman legions.
It had happened that there had come down to Egypt out of Palestine many
hundreds of people who had fled from thence to escape the wrath of the
Turks. These people were of Russian nationality but of Jewish faith, and
many of them strongly desired to band themselves together into a
fighting host and place their lives at the disposal of England, whom the
Jews have recognised as their friend and protector from time immemorial.
Indeed, by many it is held that the British people are none other than
some of the lost tribes; moreover, we have taken so much of Jewish
national life for our own, mainly owing to our strong Biblical leanings,
that the Jews can never feel while with us that they are among entire
strangers.
Now these people having made known their wishes to the
Commander-in-Chief, he, in a happy moment of inspiration, saw how much
it would benefit England, morally and materially, to have bound up with
our fortunes a Jewish fighting unit.
The next thing to be done was to find a suitable British officer to
command this unique force, and at the time of my arrival in Cairo,
General Maxwell had already applied for "a tactful thruster" to be
chosen from among the officers of the Indian Brigade then doing duty on
the Suez Canal.
My opportune arrival, however, coupled with a strong backing from an old
friend, Major-General Sir Alexander Godley, decided him to offer me the
command.
It certainly was curious that the General's choice should have fallen
upon me, for, of course, he knew nothing of my knowledge of Jewish
history, or of my sympathy for the Jewish race. When, as a boy, I
eagerly devoured the records of the glorious deeds of Jewish military
captains such as Joshua, Joab, Gideon and Judas Maccabæus, I little
dreamt that one day I, myself, would, in a small way, be a captain of a
host of the Children of Israel!
On the 19th March, 1915, I was appointed to my unique command, and on
the same day I left Cairo for Alexandria, where all the refugees from
Palestine were gathered together as the guests of the British
Government.
On my arrival there, I lost no time in getting into touch with the
leading members of the Jewish Community, and I found the Grand Rabbi
(Professor Raphael della Pergola), Mr. Edgard Suares, Mr. Isaac Aghion,
Mr. Piccioto and others, all most sympathetic and eager to assist me in
every possible way. Nor must I forget that an impetus was given to the
recruiting by the receipt of a heartening cablegram from Mr. Israel
Zangwill, whose name is a household word to all Zionists.
On the 23rd March, 1915, the young Jewish volunteers were paraded for
the purpose of being "sworn in" at the refugee camp at Gibbari.
It was a most imposing ceremony; the Grand Rabbi, who officiated, stood
in a commanding position overlooking the long rows of serious and
intelligent-looking lads. He explained to them the meaning of an oath,
and the importance of keeping it, and impressed upon them that the
honour of Israel rested in their hands. He then asked them to repeat
after him, word for word, the oath of military obedience to myself and
such officers as should be appointed over them, and with great
solemnity, and in perfect unison, the men, with uplifted hands, repeated
the formula.
The Grand Rabbi then delivered a stirring address to the new soldiers,
in which he compared them to their forefathers who had been led out of
Egypt by Moses, and at the end he turned to me and presented me to them
as their modern leader.
This memorable and historic scene aroused the greatest enthusiasm among
the throng of Jewish sympathisers who had come to witness this
interesting ceremony.
The sanctioned strength of the Corps in officers and men was roughly
500, with 20 riding horses for officers and the senior non-commissioned
officers, and 750 pack mules for transport work.
To assist me in commanding the Corps, I had five British and eight
Jewish officers.
The Grand Rabbi of Alexandria, a most pious, earnest and learned man,
was appointed our honourary chaplain.
I was extremely fortunate in my British officers, for although they had
never served in the Army, or knew anything about military routine, yet
they were all practical men, and, after all, at least in war-time,
everything depends upon having officers with plenty of common sense.
I had Mr. D. Gye, who was lent to me from the Egyptian Ministry of
Finance; Messrs. Carver and Maclaren, expert bankers and
cotton-brokers; and the two brothers, Messrs. C. and I. Rolo, whose
business house is known not only in Egypt, but also in the greater part
of the world.
I was, indeed, lucky in getting such good men who loyally seconded me in
everything and quickly mastered the details necessary for the running of
the Corps; nor did they spare themselves during those four weeks of
slavery which we together put in while getting the men ready for active
service.
In addition to these British officers, I had, as I have already stated,
eight Jewish officers. One of these, Captain Trumpledor, had already
been a soldier in the Russian Army, had been through the siege of Port
Arthur, where he had lost his left arm, and had been given the Order of
St. George (in gold) by the Czar for his gallantry and zeal during that
celebrated siege.
Among the N. C. O.'s and men I had every conceivable trade and calling;
highly educated men like Mr. Gorodisky, a Professor at the Lycée in
Alexandria, and afterwards promoted to commissioned rank; students of
Law, Medicine, and Divinity; mechanics of all kinds, of whom I found the
tinsmith the most useful. Even a Rabbi was to be found in the ranks,
who was able to administer consolation to the dying and burial rites to
those who were struck down when death came amongst us before the enemy
in Gallipoli. I also discovered among the enlisted soldiers a
fully-qualified medical man, Dr. Levontin, whom I appointed our surgeon
after having obtained permission to form a medical unit.
Through the kindness and practical sympathy of Surgeon-General Ford, the
Director of Medical Services in Egypt, I soon had a hospital in being,
with its tents, beds, orderlies and sanitary section.
Altogether we were a little family unit complete within ourselves.
I divided the Corps, for purposes of interior economy, into four troops,
each with a British and Jewish officer in command; each troop was again
divided into four sections with a sergeant in charge, and each section
was again subdivided into subsections with a corporal in charge; and so
the chain of responsibility went down to the lively mule himself--and,
by the shades of Jehoshaphat, couldn't some of those mules kick!! Sons
of Belial would be a very mild name for them.
One of the first things to be attended to was to find a suitable place
upon which to train the men and mules. I eventually secured an excellent
site at Wardian from Brigadier-General Stanton, then commanding at
Alexandria. Here we pitched our tents and went into camp on April 2nd,
1915.
It was no light task to get uniforms, equipment, arms, ammunition, etc.,
for such a body of men at short notice, but in a very few days I had my
men all under canvas, my horses and hundreds of mules pegged out in
lines, and the men marching up and down, drilling to Hebrew words of
command.
Never since the days of Judas Maccabæus had such sights and sounds been
seen and heard in a military camp; indeed, had that redoubtable General
paid us a surprise visit, he might have imagined himself with his own
legions, because here he would have found a great camp with the tents of
the Children of Israel pitched round about; he would have heard the
Hebrew tongue spoken on all sides, and seen a little host of the Sons of
Judah drilling to the same words of command that he himself used to
those gallant soldiers who so nobly fought against Rome under his
banner; he would even have heard the plaintive soul-stirring music of
the Maccabæan hymn chanted by the men as they marched through the camp.
Although Hebrew was the language generally used, nevertheless I drilled
the men in English also, as it was fitting that they should understand
English words of command.
The men were armed with excellent rifles, bayonets and ammunition, all
captured from the Turks when they made their futile assault on the Suez
Canal.
For our badge we had the "Magin David," an exact reproduction of the
Shield of David, such as he perhaps used when, as the Champion of
Israel, he went out to fight Goliath of Gath.
It may, perhaps, be wondered why we were equipped with rifles, bayonets
and ammunition, but this is one of the unique things about this unique
Corps that, although it was only a Mule Corps, yet it was a fighting
unit, and of this, of course, the men were all very proud.
When we were getting our equipment from Cairo, I left Lieutenant Carver
there to draw it from the Arsenal in the Citadel and bring it to
Alexandria, telling him that above all things he must never lose sight
of the gear, for if he did it would certainly be appropriated by
somebody else.
Among other things, he was drawing pack saddlery for our mules, which I
was anxious to obtain quickly in order to go on with the training of the
men.
Carver saw the pack saddles safely put into the railway wagons at Cairo,
saw the wagons locked, sealed, and consigned to me at Alexandria, but
the moment they arrived at Gibbari a prowling marauder from the Royal
Naval Division, happening to spot the wagons and see what they contained
by the ticket on the outside, induced the "Gippy" station-master to
deliver them to him, and before I even knew that they had arrived at the
station, all my pack saddles were safely on board ship and on their way
to Suez with the Naval Division!
I tracked down the culprit, who not only had to disgorge but, I
understand, to pay for the transit of the saddlery back to Alexandria;
although this may have been a lesson for the buccaneer and might for the
future make him "tread lightly" like Agag, yet it did not compensate me
for the annoying delay caused by this unblushing robbery.
The work of training went on from dawn to dark, as officers and men had
to be taught everything from the ground-floor up. Not a moment could be
wasted. Drilling and parades were the order of the day; horses and mules
had to be exercised, fed and watered three times a day; the men had to
be taught how to saddle and unsaddle them, load and unload packs; they
had also to be instructed in the use of the rifle and bayonet. Camp
kitchens had to be constructed. Horse and mule lines had to be swept and
garnished, tents cleaned out, etc., and a thousand and one things
crammed into the day's work.
Notwithstanding the zeal and energy which we all put forth to get the
Corps ready, yet had it not been for the sympathy of General Maxwell,
and the active help of his Staff Officer, Captain Holdich, I fear it
would have been impossible for us to have made the rapid progress we did
in such a short space of time. I think it must be, in its way, a record
to form, equip and train a unit of this description and have it actually
in the firing line, and doing useful work there, in a little over three
weeks!
It speaks volumes for the keenness of the men, and for the intelligent
way in which they imbibed the knowledge which was crammed into them in
such feverish haste.
After a couple of weeks' training we were specially favoured by a
notification that the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean
Expeditionary Force, General Sir Ian Hamilton, would inspect us. It was
with mixed feelings that I received this order, for, of course, it meant
a special parade, and also that the whole of the routine of drills,
etc., would have to be knocked out for one afternoon, and as every
moment was precious this was no light matter.
The Commander-in-Chief came and made his inspection a few days before he
sailed for Mudros, and was most complimentary on the workmanlike
appearance which the Corps presented.
I was delighted to receive about this time a notification that my Corps
should be held in readiness to embark for the front at an early date.
A few days before we embarked I had the privilege of partaking of the
Feast of the Passover with the Grand Rabbi and his family at Alexandria.
It will readily be understood with what feelings of deep interest I took
part in the various rites. I seemed to be living again in the days of
Moses when, in this very same land and not very far distant, the
Children of Israel sprinkled their doorposts with the blood of the
lamb, and partook of the Feast with their loins girded, their staves in
their hands, on the eve of their departure from the land of bondage. I
had to ask myself if it were all a dream. It seemed so strange that I
should be partaking of the same Feast four thousand years later on the
eve of my departure, with a number of the Children of Israel, to wander
and suffer anew in another wilderness.
Every bit of the ceremony was gone through, the eating of unleavened
bread and bitter herbs, the drinking of wine and vinegar, each
symbolical of the trials to be gone through by the Israelites before
reaching the Promised Land. All had its charm for me, and when my
hostess came round with a towel and ewer and basin, to wash my hands at
certain times during the Feast, it visualised to me as nothing else
could have done those far away days when Pharaoh ruled the land.
The Grand Rabbi had his three handsome boys at his knees, the youngest a
living image of one of Murillo's cherubs. He recounted to them in Hebrew
the story of their forefathers' sojourn in Egypt, and their subsequent
wanderings in the wilderness, as no doubt the same story has been told
by the Fathers of Israel to their children for countless generations.
"And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying: This is done because
of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth from Egypt."
During our training period in Alexandria, we were the recipients of many
acts of kindness from the community there. The men were given gifts by a
committee of ladies, composed of the Baronne Felix de Menasce, Madame
Rolo, Madame Israel, Mesdames E. and J. Goar, and a host of others.
We had a last big parade, and marched from Wardian Camp for some three
miles through the streets of Alexandria to the Synagogue, to receive the
final blessing of the Grand Rabbi. The spacious Temple, in the street of
the Prophet Daniel, was on this occasion filled to its utmost capacity.
The Grand Rabbi exhorted the men to bear themselves like good soldiers
and in times of difficulty and danger to call upon the Name of the Lord
who would deliver them out of their adversity. His final benediction was
most solemn and impressive, and will never be forgotten by those who
were privileged to be present.
A couple of days later we received orders to embark for Gallipoli with
all possible speed. We therefore strained every nerve to get aboard in
good time and in ship-shape order.
The Corps was divided into two parts, the Headquarters and two troops
going on H. M. Transport _Hymettus_, and two troops on H. M. Transport
_Anglo-Egyptian_.
It was no easy task in so short a time to get men, mules, horses,
forage, equipment, etc., from Wardian Camp to the docks, a distance of
two or three miles, and we worked practically all day and all night
slinging horses and mules on board, tying them up in their stalls, and
storing baggage and equipment, etc., in the holds. Thirty days' forage
for the animals and rations for the men were also put under the hatches.
As one of our duties in Gallipoli would be to supply the troops in the
trenches with water, an Alexandrian firm had been ordered to make some
thousands of kerosene oil tins, the manufacture of which is a local
industry. Wooden frames had also been ordered to fit on to the pack
saddles, so as to enable the mules to carry the tins. Each mule was to
carry four of these full of water, equal to sixteen gallons. The tins
arrived in good time, but the wooden frames were late in delivery, and
held us up over a day and a half beyond our time in Alexandria Docks.
At last, having obtained delivery of the indispensable wooden crates, we
joyfully steamed out of harbour _en route_ for Gallipoli on the 17th
April, 1915.