The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Sabotaged the Nazis in North Africa D

In the desert of North Africa in the summer of 1942, a small band of soldiers were selected by [music] the British for a unique mission. They all have the same [music] special skill. They spoke fluent German. These men were the children of German Jews, victims of the Holocaust. And now, they would have their revenge.

They called themselves the Lions of Judah. They were hurt by the Nazis and they wanted to take revenge in fighting the Nazis. They had a motive to fight the Nazis. The Lions of Judah were the special interrogation group, or SIG. They consisted of less than 40 men and were operational for just 6 months in 1942.

Nothing could be closer than men who are all in it together saving each other’s lives. They’ve all been through it. Operating exclusively behind enemy lines, their mission was simple. Elimination, sabotage, and demolition. Anything that would disrupt and demoralize the German army. They did their good job to cross the line and lay ambushes or patrol terrain behind enemy line.

In all of their operations, they would face overwhelming odds. During their short quest to disrupt the Nazi war effort in North Africa, almost all were killed. My father was a brave man. He gave his life for his country. This is the extraordinary story of a special interrogation group and how they became part of British military folk war.

In March 1942, a man staggered out of the desert in North Africa. He wore an Africa Corps uniform [music] of the German army. Bloodied and dying of thirst, he had to make it back to base. Finally, after many days, he glimpsed civilization. Before him, the outskirts of the city of Tobruk, the base for the British forces.

He was quickly spotted, picked up, and taken to the British HQ, where he was treated for his wounds, given clean clothes, and a stiff drink, then driven to British High Command in Cairo. Only then did he meet with his commanding officers. For the man was not a German, but Captain Herbert Buck of the Scots Guards, and he had an extraordinary tale to tell.

>> Buck had been out fighting with the British Eighth Army west of Tobruk in January 1942 when he was wounded and captured. He was shackled and taken away in a truck. But the Germans had no idea just how dangerous this soldier was. Captain Beck succeeded to evade German captivity by killing the driver who took him into captivity and wearing his uniform and taking his arms, throwing out his body from the cabin.

And he crossed the Western Desert as a German. Buck easily passed himself off as a German soldier. Wearing an Africa Corps uniform, he simply marched back to British territory passing through Axis lines without difficulty. That was why two weeks after escaping Buck was back in British hands. As he related his experience to his superiors an idea began to formulate in their minds.

Buck seemed the ideal man to put in charge of a new unit called the Special Interrogation Group or SIG. The job of the SIG was to go behind the enemy lines to create chaos. For that they needed men fluent in German and willing to operate in hostile territory. Buck’s own experience made him the perfect leader.

The SIG were needed urgently because the German army were on the march in North Africa. >> [music] >> General Erwin Rommel and his Africa Corps had landed at Tripoli in Libya in February 1941. Despite being outnumbered, Rommel surprised the British by attacking, driving them out of Libya in just weeks.

As the British were forced to retreat to the Egyptian border, they realized it would take [music] more than just conventional forces to beat this foe. That is why the SIG was formed. The SIG would be predominantly drawn from one particular body of men. The 51st Middle East Commando were 600 strong unit made up mostly of German-speaking Jews who’d fled the Nazis.

Most of them had some previous account to settle with the Germans. And they experienced the regime of persecutions the German Jewry underwent since uh 1933. So, this was a special motivation. In October 1941, the 51st were part of a commando force whose mission was to attack Rommel’s headquarters and kill him.

They failed. But most of the 51st got away unscathed. Among its ranks was a 26-year-old German Jew, Morris Tiefenbruner. In 1938, Morris and his family were deported to Poland, but he escaped. Leaving his family, he eventually found his way to Antwerp in Belgium. I said goodbye to my parents. I didn’t know that I will not come back.

Nobody dreamt of a war yet. And all all the difficulties came on later. But if I would have known that I probably would have wouldn’t have left from that left my parents. With help from the Jewish underground [music] movement in Europe, Tiefenbruner and 950 other Jewish refugees boarded a ship in Marseille bound for Palestine in June 1939.

Even in those early days, his strength of character was apparent. The SS Parita reached Palestine, but the British refused permission for it to dock. Tiefenbruner seized control of the ship and ran it aground on Tel Aviv beach. He was interned by the British, but 2 weeks later war broke out and he was released and granted Palestinian citizenship.

He enlisted in the British Army and fought with the 51st Commando, where he witnessed the horrors of desert warfare. We were in a state of shock, many of us, cuz we lost personal friends. I lost my second gunner, Josef was really we were so close friends and he was killed to bits uh next to me and I was the lucky one.

On the 17th of March 1942, Tiefenbacher and the other men of the 51st were resting at a camp near the Suez Canal when a stranger appeared. It was Captain Herbert Buck. A cryptic entry by the commanding officer in the 51st diary for that day reads, “Captain Buck selects Germans.” Captain Buck was a person to be trusted, a person I could talk to, a person although he was a from a very aristocratic family who would speak like man to man, all right, and highly intelligent.

Buck said he was looking for men for a different kind of challenge. He addressed us with his idea what we could do if we would volunteer for this kind of work. He said we would be trained by experienced [snorts] people to behave like German soldiers, put on German uniforms, and go into enemy territory and do intelligence as well as sabotage work there.

In the days that followed, Buck recruited almost 30 men to his new SIG, including Tiefenbacher. Volunteering for the commando was one step nearer to my aim to hurt the Nazis as much as possible and perhaps being in a position to help my parents who were didn’t know what in what conditions they are.

So, um I and 27 others they volunteered and they were building to take the risk and go. While most of the SIG were Jews from the 51st, some were recruited from free Czech forces and the French Foreign Legion. The only criterion for selection was that they would be able to impersonate [music] German soldiers impeccably.

With the team assembled, the training began. Training went very well. We learned how to march and goose step. We learned how to curse each other in in German. We learned how to snore in in in German. And all these things to look as normal as possible, to act like some soldiers. The SIG had to master all aspects of German military machinery, weaponry, and conduct because their disguise had to be flawless.

This note was sent to headquarters in Cairo requesting equipment in the shape of one German staff car and two 1 and 1/2 ton trucks. Any other captured German equipment was highly valued and put to immediate use. They used German light weapons like Schmeisser, field rifle, other German machine guns, MG 34, whatever.

Uh they wore German uniforms. They had German helmets. They used German notebooks. The smallest details were German. But Buck took a gamble and recruited two German prisoners of war to help in the training. This was his idea. And the role of the German prisoners of war was to teach the current military German language, the current orders, habits, customs in the German army.

Walter Essner and Herbert Bruckner had been captured in November 1941 serving in the 361st Regiment of the Africa Corps. They claimed to be anti-Nazis and were recruited by Buck to teach the SIG everything they knew about the Africa Corps. But first Buck had to ask permission to hire them. In his plans for the SIG, >> [music] >> he described the decision as a necessary risk for training purposes to have men who had recently been in the German army.

But Tiefenbrunner had his suspicions and went to Buck to [music] tell him. Captain Buck said to me, uh Morris, everything is all right. They They have been uh tried and they have been interviewed and they have been inter- rogated and uh they have been observed. They are 100% all right.

They are really at least fighting the Nazis like you. Buck instinct was that the Germans could be trusted and the training continued. The SIG were based on their own site, but within earshot of the main British camp. Every morning the British would hear the SIG being woken with the alarming words, “Company aufstehen.

” or “Company, get up.” The men would be questioned suddenly on their German identities and marched to the mess room for interrogation. The tough regime knitted them into a team that became experts in handling explosives, desert navigation, and unarmed combat. They also became skilled mechanics and drivers of German vehicles.

But no one in the camp had any idea what mission these men were training for. Initially, the SIG mingled in prisoner of war camps with German soldiers to gather intelligence and learn how they behaved. This was the interrogation part of their job. Only then could they be deployed on exploratory sorties behind enemy lines.

>> But the Nazis soon got wind that there were German spies in their camps. In fact, in June 1942, British intelligence translated a secret message from Hitler to Rommel regarding the existence [music] of numerous German political refugees fighting in Africa and that should they not be mercilessly wiped [music] out in battle, should have a military sentence pronounced immediately.

The Nazis would show no mercy to the men of the SIG. Capture would mean certain death. But by now, the SIG were needed more than ever because the war in North Africa had taken a turn for the worse. In June 1942, Rommel began a massive new assault on British forces. His Africa Corps crossed the Egyptian border and drove the British 8th Army deep into Egypt.

Rommel was less than 100 miles from the Suez Canal. If that fell, then the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean would be under threat. Now was the time for the SIG. And their first mission was about as deadly as it could be. The British were particularly troubled by enemy aircraft based on the North African coast.

They were bombing Royal Navy ships resupplying the 8th Army. The SIG’s task was to assist a new special forces unit, the Special [music] Air Service or SAS, and destroy as many aircraft as possible at two airfields 100 miles west of Tobruk. The SAS was founded by Colonel David [music] Stirling of the Scots Guards.

Stirling had a lot to prove. A third of the SAS had been killed or captured on their very first operation [music] in Libya. It was Stirling >> [music] >> who requested that the SIG assist with his new mission. But were they ready for action? Though he was keen to fight the [music] Nazis, Maurice Tiefenbrunner still had real concerns about the two Germans training the SIG.

Essner and Bruckner uh they were very good instructors. But uh when we were told that we were going in action and uh Bruckner and uh the two Germans thought they would go with us, I uh protested. I said it’s too dangerous. >> [music] >> Tiefenbrunner’s concerns were ignored and he and the SIG were transported to the vast Siwa Oasis in Egypt.

>> [music] >> Essner and Bruckner accompanied them. From there, 12 SIG men including Tiefenbrunner boarded a captured Africa Corps truck and a British 3-ton lorry. 14 men [music] from a Free French squadron also climbed in the back of the lorries. They were to act as captured prisoners of war.

The SIG would be their German guards. We as the guards [music] have taken prisoner these soldiers. So, whenever they’re on any checkpoints, so we have to we are taking these soldiers back to some camp, right? That’s our order, right? On the 8th of June, 1942, the SIG set out from Siwa, escorted by the SAS. After 4 days, their escort left and deep in the desert, the SIG changed into their German uniforms.

Now, they were on their own. One lorry was driven by the German [music] prisoner of war, Bruckner, and had nine French soldiers in the back. On the other lorry, there was some more Free French and the rest of the group and with Captain Buck being the driver and Esna going with me. A top each truck was an SIG guard posted German style as a lookout.

Each man carried a German issue Luger pistol, machine gun, bayonet, and grenades. The The were dressed in khaki with blue caps and carried a pistol each. And each lorry also concealed two ready-mounted machine guns. The convoy soon came across several roadblocks manned by Germans and Italians. But their disguise was convincing and they were waved through.

Even being warned about the presence of British commanders. They spent the night a few miles from the two airfields, their intended targets. The next day, they carried out their first reconnaissance. The Germans, Essner and Bruckner, were sent to a German outpost and came back with the password for entry to the airfields.

The raid could now begin. At 9:00 p.m. on the 13th of June, Buck and the German prisoner, Essner, took three SIG and five French to the Martuba airfield. The French commanding officer and the other German prisoner, Bruckner, took nine French and the remaining SIG to the airfield at Derna. Tiefenbrunner stayed behind at the rendezvous point.

I was detailed to be the liaison officer between the two camps and being in touch on the walkie-talkie. I had at the time, right, to follow progress which they are making on the way. Right. So, I didn’t have They went out on this side and the others went on this side and I was in charge of the in between.

Later that night, Buck’s group returned to Tinfououchy with no casualties and revealed that their mission had been a total success. 27 German aircraft had been destroyed at the Matuba airfield. But what of the other party? Somewhere in the darkness, Tinfououchy heard a commotion. I heard a noise and there things and shouting and and the free French officer who was with the lieutenant who was in charge of the scope came back with another free French soldier who said, “What’s What’s going on? What What happened?” I asked him. He was completely out of breath and he had to give him some time until he could speak to me. The French officer told him that en

route to the airfield at Derna, German prisoner of war Bruckner had slammed his hand down on the dashboard. Bruckner said there’s something wrong with the motor. He I will try to fix it. He told them to wait here and he opened up the hood and looked at the motor and fiddled some around and said, “No, I can’t fix it myself.

I’m going to there’s a garage nearby I have just passed by. I will go ask for help.” Bruckner never returned. Minutes later, the truck was surrounded by Germans who ordered all French out. No one moved. Instead, the SIG’s machine guns opened up. >> In the fierce firefight, many Germans died. But not before they’d killed the three SIG men and seven Free French soldiers.

Though shocked at their losses, Buck, Tiefenbacher, and the remaining men gathered their equipment and headed back to base. It was clear that Bruckner had betrayed the SIG. Captain Buck was devastated and was now more concerned about the other German, Essner. Very ashamed of himself. He was nervous.

I said, “Look here, I will take it up on myself. We’re going all back. We try to get back to to our camp, but I will sitting next to Essner. For me now, he was a German, an enemy. All right? And I said, “Nothing else mattered.” And I said, “When you move, you are a dead man.” Tiefenbacher guarded Essner for the week-long journey back to base.

When we came to our camp, I said, “This man has to be taken to British headquarters, but he’s very dangerous. If he moves, makes a wrong move, shoot him. Don’t take any risk with him. He will try to shoot you or escape.” So, was Essner a double agent, too? We will never know. But he did try to escape and was shot dead.

In subsequent weeks, the full story behind the airfield raids became clear. Two Luftwaffe pilots captured in July 1942 revealed that the Germans knew the SIG were coming weeks before the raid. It was also rumored that Bruckner was flown to Berlin and awarded a golden iron cross. And that this double agent’s real name was in fact Brokmann.

And though the raid on the airfields was partly successful, it didn’t slow Rommel’s Africa Corps. Rommel, who by now had been promoted to field marshal, made an attempt to break through to the Egyptian capital, Cairo. If Cairo fell, it would only be a matter of time before the German army reached the Suez Canal, which controlled all shipping in and out of the Mediterranean.

A British defeat looked beyond the cards. But Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery had other ideas. Montgomery had [music] been tipped off by British intelligence and was ready for Rommel. In the Battle of Alam el Halfa, Monty deliberately left a gap in the front [music] line, enticing Rommel to attack.

He then ordered his tanks to remain in [music] their positions instead of charging the enemy. The ground was now laid for [music] the fiercest of battles. And Monty held the line. Meanwhile, British High Command in Cairo once again summoned Captain Herbert Buck of the SIG, where he was given orders for the SIG’s next mission.

It was even more dangerous than their first. In early September 1942, Tiefenbrunner and the other commandos were sent to a new base deep in the Sahara called Kufra. The Kufra base was home to another special force, the Long Range Desert Group or LRDG. The LRDG was made up almost entirely of men from New Zealand and Rhodesia.

Many of its members would go on to serve in the SAS. The LRDG were experts in desert navigation and specialized in reconnaissance and intelligence. During their stay at Kufra, the SIG rested or went swimming in either the salt lake or the fresh water pool constructed by the LRDG. But finding the SIG drilling in German uniforms and using German commands astonished even them.

Then on the 5th of September, Lieutenant Colonel John Haselden, the man who would command the SIG on the next mission, and 83 men of the SAS drove into the Kufra base. My father was pretty athletic. He was a good shot. He rode. He sailed. Uh he had a thoroughly good time if you ask me. Haselden was born in Egypt and was fluent in both Arabic and Italian.

His love for the land of his birth was his motivation for keeping the Nazis [music] out. He arrived in Kufra to collect the men of the SIG for a perilous mission. It was called Operation Agreement, a raid on Tobruk. He was the man who had the idea first. But, his original plan was only to go uh on the raid with a handful of men, say 20, no more.

But, it wasn’t to be. I think what happened was that uh the planners got hold of the idea that what a super thing it would be to smash up Tobruk totally. Uh and it it blossomed into some enormous raid. Tobruk was the most important seaport in Libya. It was the chief supply route for Rommel’s army. It had been captured by the Africa Corps on the 21st of June, 1942.

By September, Tobruk and the surrounding coastline had become heavily fortified. Rommel had 50,000 men and over 400 tanks in and around the port. And there were anti-aircraft and shipping defenses spread along the shoreline. The British knew that if they could destroy Tobruk, they would strangle Rommel’s army.

Operation Agreement was to be a three-pronged attack. >> [music] >> The Royal Air Force would begin the operation with a surprise bombing raid. The combined SAS and SIG team, code named Force B, were to destroy the coastal guns east of Tobruk. With the guns knocked out, 396 commandos waiting offshore on board HMS Zulu, HMS Sikh, and HMS Coventry would attempt a landing west of the port.

They were code named Force C. And then, an amphibious assault by motor torpedo boat, code named Force A, would land and attempt an assault [music] on the port itself. As in the raids on the Libyan airfields in June, the SIG would play the same trick they trained for. The SIG were to be disguised as Germans, but this time would be escorting British prisoners of war, the SAS.

The SIG would be dressed in German uniforms, speaking German, and carrying German weapons, paybooks, insignia, cigarettes, chocolates, and even love letters from fictitious wives in Germany. Joining Captain Buck and the SIG for this mission was a new officer from the SAS. Lieutenant David Russell had approached Buck and volunteered his services.

Buck had spotted or been told about David Russell who was fluent in six dialects, spoke German like a a German and um would have contacted him. Russell had no illusions about what he was getting into. It is what you would say is high very high risk. I think they all had the intention of coming out alive if they could, but they knew how dangerous it was.

On the 5th of September, Force B including Captain Buck, David Russell and six men of the SIG left Kufra the 800-mile journey to Tobruk. They traveled in German trucks that had been painted with stolen African core stencils. >> [music] >> After leaving their base, Force B were soon finding the going hard.

In searing heat, they had to negotiate great seas of sand and almost [music] sheer cliffs to reach their objective. Trucks had to be dug out of the sand on several occasions. But on the 10th of September, Force B reached Hatchet Etla, a depression in the desert where they could hide and rest without fear of discovery.

They would stay here for 3 days rehearsing their assault on Tobruk. Even having time to pose for photographs. This is most of the group with Lieutenant Colonel Haselden in the center. >> [music] >> Here are the Sappers in the group. On the 13th, Haselden read his men a morale-boosting telegram. It came from Churchill himself.

With their spirits [music] raised, Force B and the SIG, now just 90 miles from Tobruk, set off for their objective. At first, the convoy did not attract attention from the German and Italian patrols. 4 miles from Tobruk, one of the trucks was deliberately disabled and parked for use as a getaway vehicle.

The three remaining trucks each had 30 SAS acting as prisoners of war and were driven, of course, by the German-speaking SIG. But as day turned to night, they faced their first test. Out of the darkness, the lead truck was challenged loudly in German. It stopped, and a German guard began asking more questions than anyone was expecting.

Fearing they’d been rumbled, David Russell did what he had to do. David jumps off, goes into the darkness, then comes back with a gun, chucks it back into the lorry, and says he won’t need this anymore. And he does write to his sister saying, um, “When you feel as I do about family, it is very difficult to steal yourself and to have to go and kill people in cold blood.

But in this game, it’s kill or be killed. And, uh if you’re on the run and you’re being hunted, your blood’s up and you just have to go and uh try and save your life and anybody with you. It was now 10:30 p.m. Above the convoy, the RAF were about to signal the start of the mission. Under cover of the bombing raid, Haselden, Buck, Russell, and Force B reached a small house overlooking Tobruk.

They burst in and drove out or killed the Italian platoon inside. From here, they and their fellow commandos could stage raids on their intended targets, the coastal gun emplacements. The SIG and SAS teams worked separately through the night and knocked out as many of the guns as they could. At 2:00 a.m.

, they were satisfied that enough guns had been destroyed and signaled that landings could commence. So far, Operation Agreement was going to plan. But as the sun rose above the horizon on the 15th of September, the enemy, now fully alerted, regrouped and closed in on Force B. Realizing they were under attack, the Germans sent in masses of reinforcements.

Cut off and outnumbered behind enemy lines, Force B, the SIG, and the SAS were now sitting ducks. But they continued [music] with their mission. They moved inland and took control of four anti-aircraft positions. But they were soon in deep trouble. They were beginning to be overrun by both Italians and Germans and you know, after all, they were a very small force.

Uh split in two. And my father’s headquarters were was being besieged. Though they’d achieved their objective, Force B were now isolated and alone in hostile territory. They knew they were in trouble and managed to get a message [music] to headquarters. They received a reply that shook them. It acknowledged that Force B had done its job, but HMS Sikh had been disabled.

HMS Zulu [music] had retreated after being hit while towing HMS Sikh. HMS Coventry had been hit and was on fire. And that Force A had failed to land and were withdrawing. Operation Agreement had failed. Commander of Force B, Lieutenant Colonel Haselden, knew that time was running out. He now ordered everyone to destroy their belongings.

And then he gave the order to retreat. The SIG retrieved the getaway truck. David Russell brought the truck up to the headquarters that [music] Hazeldine had taken on and they put the wounded into that. But uh by this time some Germans had arrived and [music] were shooting at them. So um Hazeldine who was following [music] in the wireless operator’s truck uh then came rushing back and David Russell and a whole lot of men were sort of covering fire, giving covering fire for the wounded truck, etc. And I think it was then every man for himself. Hazeldine jumped into the truck with the remnants of Force B and drove off. But after just a few hundred yards, he braked hard and jumped out.

He decided to stall the enemy by standing and fighting. My father decided that he needed to try and drive the enemy back and he single-handedly charged uh uh the German positions which which and apparently, uh so I read, they were forced back to and the trucks managed to get through. Three men of the SIG joined Hazeldine and they fought a pitched battle with the advancing forces.

But they were soon overwhelmed and Hazeldine was in trouble. Unfortunately he was killed and while he was on the ground, a hand grenade uh uh exploded on on of him. Uh and one of the SIG men uh uh uh Hillman, I think, uh was bending over him when this bomb actually exploded. But, it didn’t kill him, but his face was totally blackened.

Thanks to Haselden, the SIG had enough time to escape. My father was a brave man. He gave his life for his country. Um I don’t suppose for a minute he thought that uh he was going to be killed. I I don’t think you’ll go into battle thinking, “I’m going to be killed.” Because if you do, you can’t really achieve anything.

You have it may be there, but you have to push it to the back of your mind and get on with what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’ve defeated before you start. From the original Force B party of 90 men, six of the SIG survived. Together, they marched across the desert in search of Allied forces. After many close calls with the enemy and suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, Captain Buck, David Russell, and the SIG reached Allied [music] lines 2 months later, on the 18th of November, 1942.

The assault on Tobruk had been an unmitigated disaster. From a fighting force of about a thousand, the Allies lost 746 men, along with HMS Coventry, HMS Sikh, HMS Zulu, and several other amphibious boats. German and Italian casualties amounted to just 16. I think there’s agreement throughout uh everything I read that it was a disaster.

It should never have uh it shouldn’t have been allowed, quite honestly. The failure at Tobruk marked the end of the SIG, and surviving members were transferred to other units. Many would distinguish themselves in battles to come. David Russell was asked to [music] take over the Guards Patrol of the Long Range Desert Group.

And I think everybody felt, you know, he’d really done quite a good job having been a wild card to begin with. Lieutenant [music] David Russell later joined British Intelligence, but was murdered in Romania in 1943. [music] In letters to his family, there was no doubt of his fondness [music] for his comrades in the SIG. You admire the qualities in the people.

You [music] really get to know each other, and you you act as one. And I’m sure that David and the [music] SIG and the SAS men did that, too. Captain Herbert Buck was killed in a plane crash while serving with the SAS in 1946. [music] Maurice Tibenham Brunner also joined the SAS and became David Stirling’s interpreter.

He survived the war and is the only original member of the SIG living today. Uh SIG did um the job they were asked to do and a bit more than that. I think that uh we fulfilled uh our duty which could not stand by your by your whole normal regular army. Because we were springing a surprise on onto and carried out the action which was in complete surprise of our enemy.

>> [music] >> Tobruk, whose name is written deep in our Middle East campaigns, Tobruk, >> [music] >> which we held as a fortress behind the enemy lines for 9 months and which had already changed hands twice, was ours once more. The date was November the 13th. >> [music] >> British forces in the Second World War spawned many daring, special, or unconventional units.

The SIG were the least known, but those that passed through [music] its ranks were unique in their background, their training, but above all, their courage.