Armistice centenary: Our students’ brave sacrifice
More than 240 ex-JFS pupils lost their lives in the Great War. Tim Barringer, a history teacher at the school, tells one of their stories
“We admire the pluck and patriotic spirit of Joseph Rosenbloom who enlisted in Kitchener’s army in November last, being 13-and-a-half-years-old at the time. But we cannot condone the acts that accompanied this. He knew he was legally obliged to be attending school, he made the false declaration that he was 19 years of age, and joined another regiment when he discovered his father was summoned by the attendance officer. A two month search has failed to discover him.”
So begins the March 1915 edition of the Jewish Free School magazine. Only eight months into the war, 13-year-old Joseph Rosenbloom decided to join up along with hundreds of thousands of others to serve as a soldier in the Great War. The trail goes cold at this point, and the school and Joseph’s parents can do nothing but pray for his safe return.
It is not until a year later that Joseph reappears in the Jewish Free School magazine. He writes his own article describing his experiences on the front line. He writes: “I joined Essex Regiment and no one knew I had joined again… I went to Stratford and from there to Warley. Here they gave me a suit of khaki and a complete kit. They sent me on garrison duty. We did drills with rifles and physical exercise. At the end of this month we were fit for service.”
Joseph, by then 14, goes on to give an extraordinary account of his journey to Turkey and his role in the Gallipoli campaign. “When we arrived near Turkish soil the bullets and shrapnel were dropping all around us. After a few hours of fierce fighting we got firmly set on land. The Royal Naval Division, many of them young lads, brought up ammunition to us in the firing line. The day we landed was April 25th 1915, a day that will never be forgotten by any soldier who was in it.”
Joseph had been part of the 29th Division. They had been in the thick of the fighting during the landings and had lost 2,000 men in the first few days of the campaign alone, trying to take the hill of Achi Baba.
They failed, and Joseph describes how they “gained about six miles along the line, and the Turks lost heavily. They were burying Turks 50 at a time in trenches that we captured from them”.
Joseph was fortunate to survive these early battles, although not without sustaining injuries later on. He described how, on 6 June, “we made a charge in which I was wounded. I thought my last day had come. I fell unconscious when I was hit and when I opened my eyes again, I was in Egypt at Alexandria. I was blind for three weeks and thought I lost my sight, but thank God I regained it”.
And then on 6 August when “we made our great charge. We had helmets on on account of the heat of the Sun. A bullet went through the top of my helmet, and escaped my head by an eighth of an inch. Another bullet hit my left shoulder, but luckily did not go through”.
By November, his father had at last managed to track him down, leading to him being recalled to England. He made the voyage home aboard a minesweeper and then a cattle boat.
After a tricky encounter with a German submarine, he soon found himself back in “dear old England” where he “came home, and my father, who tried hard to get me out, and succeeded was happy to see my face again”.
Joseph ends his article ruefully: “Now I am at work, and think seriously I had better stick to it.” He adds: “I may say that although I was discharged on account of the untrue statement I made about my age, I left the army with a very good character from my commanding officer, a fact I remember with pride.”
The 14-year-old Joseph Rosenbloom escaped with his life. Many others were not so lucky.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
