Striking Back: A Jewish Commando's War Against the Nazis

Novato, CA: Presidio, 1997. Presumed First Edition/First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 23 cm. xiii, [1], 340 pages. Illustrations. Map. Bibliography. Index. Foreword by Stephen Ambrose. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Derived from a Kirkus review: Masters, an Austrian-born Jew originally named Peter Arany, has an unusual war story to tell. Masters was one of 87 Jewish refugees from Hitler who volunteered for military service in Troop 3, No. 10 Commando, an elite unit of the British army. Troop 3 was unusual in that almost all of its members were Austrian and German Jews, men who spoke German fluently and who would be trained in the ways and means of the German army. For these men, some of them concentration camp survivors, this assignment represented a unique opportunity to fight back against the Nazis. Nearly all of them had previously been interned by the British as ""friendly enemy aliens"" when the war broke out. When they were recruited for ""special and hazardous duty,"" they were required to assume new identities, with elaborate cover stories to explain their oddly accented English. Thus, Masters recounts their grueling training with wit and gusto, leaving readers with little doubt that these men were ready for combat. Masters and other members of Troop 3 fought in Normandy for three long months; he would return to action in the Netherlands and participate in the final invasion of Germany. He presents the reality of the violence he witnessed. One of the best kept secrets of World War II, however, has been the nature of the existence of No. 3 (Miscellaneous or "X" Troop) of the unique No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando/Special Services Brigade. The reason? They were virtually all German speaking Jewish refugees mainly from Germany and Austria (but also some from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other European countries). X Troop were, even by the standards of No 10 Commando, a particularly extraordinary bunch having, as well as the normal skills of all Commandos, in explosives, parachuting and so on, extremely high intelligence and education, and were indeed by far the most highly trained group in the British Army, especially in fieldcraft, camouflage, compass marching, street fighting, housebreaking and lockpicking. Many were attached to the SSRF (Small Scale Raiding Force, part of SOE), All together 88 men passed through their ranks, of whom 19 became officers - many commissioned in the field for specific acts of bravery - and the rest sergeants and above. Twenty one (24%) were Killed in Action and at least another 22 wounded (of the 44 men from No 3 Troop who fought in Normandy , 27 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner). The Troop never fought as a unit; they were often detached to serve with other Special Forces in order that they could use their special skills (in silent reconnaissance, capturing and interrogating prisoners in the most hazardous of situations, often alone behind the lines and usually at night. They also were particularly knowledgeable about German military units and training, as well as weapons). The 3 Troop CO was a quiet Welsh, Cambridge languages graduate, Capt. Bryan Hilton Jones. All his men came as volunteers from the Alien Companies of the Pioneer Corps from July 24th 1942 , arriving for training at Irvine in Ayrshire. As Peter Masters wrote, "Getting back at the Nazis was an ever present motivation " in No 3 Troop "...our Jewish Commando was the very antithesis of the 'lambs to the slaughter' allegations". The men had to take English "Nommes de Guerre" and new identities,false personal histories, regiments, next of kin, and so on (most chose to keep the same initials, though) to at least have a chance of not being found out if captured by the Nazis, as being Jews. Writing a Secret report on No 3 Troop after the war from his home at Crug, Caernarvon in April 1946, Bryan Hilton-Jones said that No 3 Troop "were conspicuously successful and earned high praise all round, the best illustration of which is that many were Commissioned as officers into the Commandoes to which they had been attached." After D-Day, Capt. Griffith (aka Glaser) became the first Jewish CO of the Troop until he was killed at the River Aller crossing on 11.4.45. In September 1945 the whole Commando was disbanded, but many of No 3 Troop continued in sensitive and secret work in the Occupation Forces, tracking Nazi Resistance groups, war criminals, translating captured documents etc.