Its been a reflective sort of day for me at least - poignant & proud, watching the television coverage of the 70th anniversary of the D Day Landings. The matter of fact manner of these remarkable & terrible recollections of modest veterans, now in their late 80s & 90s. Immaculate service uniforms, medals & regiment badges paying their last official respects to some 16,000 fallen colleagues & 20,000 French civillians. But I could not fail to notice no Jewish religious representation at least at these British Services, maybe there was at the American Services . I have been asked more than once over the years by non Jews, innocently, whether Jewish people should have fought harder or stood up more against the Nazis, they are always surprised when I show them the facts: More than 1.5 million Jews fought in the regular Allied armies. In many cases the percentage of Jews fighting was greater than the percentage of Jews in the population. Approximately 550,000 Jewish soldiers fought in the US Armed Forces during World War II. They served on all fronts in Europe and in the Pacific. Some 10,000 were killed in combat, and more than 36,000 received citations. Many Jewish soldiers took part in liberating the camps. ( One of my fathers patients Mr Turgel was just one of those he lived opposite us where I grew up & had married a lovely women who he liberated, Eva Turgel, ) Approximately 100,000 Jews fought in the Polish army against the German invasion. They made up 10% of the Polish army, commensurate with the percentage of Jews within the general population. Approximately 30,000 Jews fell in battle, were taken captive by the Germans, or declared missing during the battles defending Poland, 11,000 in the defense of Warsaw. Thousands of Jews later served in various Polish armies fighting against the Germans in the Allied Forces, including my Godfather Colonel Karol Ashken who fought with the Polish Airborne Division Paratroopers at Arhnem - The movie The Bridge Too Far was made of this epic - & he was later specifically honored by The Dutch Government & decorated by many others. About 30,000 Jews served in the British army in 1939-1946, my great uncle Louis was one of those as I mentioned & helped liberate Crete, Greece & Italy . About 500,000 Jewish soldiers fought in the Red Army during World War II. Some 120,000 were killed in combat and in the line of duty; the Nazis murdered 80,000 as prisoners of war. More than 160,000, at all levels of command, earned citations, with over 150 designated “Heroes of the Soviet Union”— the highest honor awarded to soldiers in the Red Army.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 20:37:02 +0000