The Special Interrogation Group (SIG) was a unit of the British Army during World War II, formed largely of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-speaking

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish volunteers from

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

. Disguised as soldiers of the German

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

, members of the SIG undertook

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and

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

operations against Axis forces during the Western Desert Campaign.

Formation

The inspiration for the SIG belonged to Captain Herbert Cecil Buck, MC of the 3rd Bn.,

1st Punjab Regiment The 1st Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamated w ...

and later the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

, an Oxford scholar and German linguist. He had been captured in January 1942, but had soon managed to break free and had then escaped back across Libya to Egypt, partly using German uniforms and vehicles. He was surprised by the ease of his deception and felt that, with greater planning and preparation, the concept could be used more offensively, to assist raiding parties attack key targets behind enemy lines. His plan was approved and, in March 1942, he was appointed the commander of this new unit, the SIG. In March 1942, Col.

Terence Airey Lieutenant General Sir Terence Sydney Airey (9 July 1900 – 26 March 1983) was an officer in the British Army. Family and education Airey was the son of Sydney Airey. He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and the Royal Military College, S ...

, Military Intelligence Research at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in London wrote that "a Special German Group as a sub-unit of M ddleE[astCommando.html" ;"title="st.html" ;"title="ddleE[ast">ddleE[astCommando">st.html" ;"title="ddleE[ast">ddleE[astCommando... with the cover name 'Special Interrogation Group', to be used for infiltration behind the German lines in the Western Desert, under 8th Army... the strength of the Special Group would be approximately that of a platoon... The personnel are fluent German linguists... mainly Palestinian (Jews) of German origin. Many of them have had war experience with No. 51 Commando..."The Jewish Commandos of the SIG
by Martin Sugarman, BA (Hons), Cert Ed. - Assistant Archivist,

Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women The Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX; prior to 1939, the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen, and from 1928 to 1939, the Jewish Ex-Servicemen's Legion) is a non-political charitable organization that focuses on issues affecting ...

(AJEX) Jewish Military Museum. February 6, 2002 (The Allied Special Forces Association) Accessed July 9, 2006 Some personnel was also recruited directly from the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Companies") was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. The Palmach ...

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the I ...

and the

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

. Other recruits came from the

Free Czechoslovak Forces Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

, the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...

and German-speaking Jewish troops. The SIG was a part of D Squadron, First Special Service Regiment. Its strength varied between 20 and 38, according to various sources.

Training

According to ex-SIG member Maurice "Tiffen" Monju Tiefenbrunner, their first training base was located near

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same bou ...

. The SIG were trained in desert

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation ...

, unarmed combat, handling of German weapons and explosives. They were given fake German identities and were taught German marching songs and current German slang. For their missions, they were supplied with German pay books, cigarettes, chocolates and love letters from fictitious sweethearts in Germany. Walter Essner and Herbert Brueckner, two non-Jewish Germans, had been conscripted from a POW camp to train the SIG. Before the war, both had been members of the French Foreign Legion who had been captured in November 1941 serving in the 361st Infantry Regiment of the ''

'' and were subsequently recruited by the British

Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre The term Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) was used for facilities in the UK, the continent (Belgium and Germany) between 1942 and 1947, the Middle East, and South Asia. They were run by the British War Office on a joint basis ...

(CSDIC) as

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

Operations and betrayal

The SIG drove captured German vehicles behind German lines near

Bardia Bardia, also El Burdi or Barydiyah ( ar, البردية, lit=, translit=al-Bardiyya or ) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called ''Bórdi Slemán''. ...

, set up roadblocks and carried out acts of sabotage. Dressed as '' Feldgendarmerie'' (German military police), they stopped and questioned German transports, gathering important

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

. On 3 June 1942 the SIG was assigned its first assault operation. They were to assist the Special Air Service, led by Lt. Col.

David Stirling Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War. ...

in destroying ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' airfields which were threatening the

Malta convoys The Malta convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War. The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack ships carrying supplies ...

. These airfields were located 100 miles west of

Tobruk Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...

at Derna and Martuba in the Italian colony of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. During the raid, on the night of 13/14 June, Herbert Brueckner managed to run away by faking an engine problem of the truck he was driving and betrayed the Derna party, nearly all of whom were killed or captured. Essner, closely guarded by Tiefenbrunner throughout the raid, was handed over to the Military Police and later shot while trying to escape.

Disbandment

On the night of 13/14 September 1942, the SIG participated in

Operation Agreement Operation Agreement was a ground and amphibious operation carried out by British, Rhodesian and New Zealand forces on Axis-held Tobruk from 13 to 14 September 1942, during the Second World War. A Special Interrogation Group party, fluent in Ger ...

, the raid on Tobruk. Its objective was to destroy supplies in the port. The SIG were to play the role of German guards transporting three truckloads of British POWs to a camp at Tobruk. The assault failed and the British forces lost three ships and several hundred soldiers and Marines. Surviving SIG members were transferred to the Pioneer Corps.

Tiefenbrunner account of SIG

In January 1999, Maurice (Monju) Tiefenbrunner, a surviving member of SIG, recorded his life story in an unpublished autobiography booklet called "A Long Journey Home". On pages 37–41, he provides information on SIG unit formation and operations. After the SIG was disbanded, Tiefenbrunner was caught by the Italians and sent to a POW camp in Italy. He was moved to a POW camp in Nazi German territory, where he met Vic Crockford. They were released in early 1945.

Partial list of SIG members

* Capt. Herbert Cecil Buck, MC, 3/1 Punjabis ervice no.: IA. 1117 Killed in an aircraft crash just after the war: 22 November 1945, aged 28 * Maurice "Tiffen" (Monju) Tiefenbrunner (a veteran of No. 51 (Palestine) Commando and later a member of the SAS) - MiD * Ariyeh Shai * Dov Cohen, a veteran of No. 51 Commando and, after the war, a member of the Jewish

organisation, also known - from its initials - as (EtZeL), where he was known as 'Shimshon'. Killed at the age of 32 in the aftermath of the

Acre Prison Break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Central Prison in Acre and freed 27 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members. History ...

in 1947 * Bernard Lowenthal * Lt.Herbert Delmonte-Nietto-Hollander, attached from the largely Jewish

Tower Hamlets Rifles The 17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles), was a unit of Britain's Territorial Force formed in 1908 from Volunteer corps dating back to 1859. It saw considerable service on the Western Front, at Saloni ...

, part of the London Regiment; British born of German father. Attended St.Pauls School, London. Army officers Welterweight Boxing champion 1937/8. Later Staff officer at Ranby P.O.W camp Notts and subsequently interrogator at

Belsen Concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...

of Joseph Kramer. * Israel Carmi later, a Captain in the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the World War II, Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv, Y ...

and an officer of the Israeli

Tzahal The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

* Karl Kahane served in the regular German army for 20 years, had an

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...

from World War I, a Town Clerk in Austria until forced to flee after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

"Anders Lassen" by M Langley, New English Library, 1988 pp.199 and 210. For Kahane's SIG participation in the Benghazi raid of June 1942, see "Rogue warrior - Paddy Mayne", Bradford and Dillon, Arrow Books 1989 pp. 43–44 and Appendix 1 and "The Phantom Major", V Cowles, Collins 1958, pp. 156–16

/ref> * Dolph Zentner a veteran of No. 51 (Palestine) Commando * Philip hraga-IserKogel a veteran of No. 51 (Palestine) Commando * Walter Essner German POW - non-Jewish traitor * Herbert Brueckner German POW - as above * Charlie 'Chunky' Hillman/aka Steiner (Austrian Nazi Baiter) - MC and Bar Gottlieb - believed kia Haas, Peter - believed kia Rosenzweig Weizmann/Opprower Goldstein/Wilenski Berg/Rohr

Popular culture

The 1967 film ''

'' was about a raid of the SIG and the

Long Range Desert Group The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Originally called the Long Range Patrol (LRP), the unit was founded in Egypt in June 1940 by Major Ralph Alger Bagnold, acti ...

(LRDG) on a German ''Afrika Korps'' fuel depot in Tobruk, starring

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

and

George Peppard George Peppard (; October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994) was an American actor. He is best remembered for his role as struggling writer Paul Varjak in the 1961 film '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', and for playing commando leader Col. John "Hannibal ...

. The film depicting elements of

shows the raid to be successful. In the 2022 BBC TV series '' SAS: Rogue Heroes'', the failure of the Derna raid and its betrayal by Brueckner are depicted in one of the episodes.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Silvio Tasselli, ''Special Interrogation Group "S.I.G." in Nord Africa'', "Storia & Battaglie", N.5, Novembre 2000

External links

Combat and Resistance: Jewish Soldiers in the Allied Armies
on the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

website * {{in lang, it}
silviotasselli.com
Special forces of the United Kingdom Jewish resistance during the Holocaust Jewish military units and formations Commandos (United Kingdom) Military units and formations of Mandatory Palestine in World War II