51 Middle East commando/ SIG

London Gazette Issue 37310 published on the 16 October 1945. Page 2 of 8

War Office,18th October, 1945.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve
the following awards in recognition of gallant and
distinguished services in the field : ?

The Distinguished Service Order.

Lieutenant-Colonel (temporary) John Neilson LAPRAIK, O.B.E., M.C. (132519),
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (Glasgow).

Mat Heywood wrote: Another name I found was Capt. C Hillman from the Pioneers.

I understand that the British element of 51ME was taken from the Palestine regiment of the Pioneer Corps (later the Royal Pioneers).

So, that gives me another angle to dig.

Matt, I have a good friend who runs the Pioneer Association and will have details on Capt Hillman and others, if they served with the Pioneers. Do you have a nominal roll that I could pass on to him?

Regards

Geoff

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 19/08/2011 13:38:05

I have received the following message from Martin Sugarman. I have replied by email to him advising him of the contents of this forum thread and in particular those of Matt Heywood. Should anyone have information from official sources, or other material that might assist, please reply here :

Dear Sir,
I hope you and your colleagues can assist. I am searching for any details about a Jewish Commando , killed in Syria possibly with 51st Middle East Commando in June 1941 called Eliyahu Rapoport. He is commemorated by the CWGC web site and remembered on the Alamein Memorial , but not as a Commando. Do you know anything about him, or who may have a roll of 51 Commando? Or can you direct me to any archives that may have more on his membership of 51 Commando
Best wishes
Martin Sugarman
(Archivist of the Jewish Military Museum of AJEX ? see www.ajex.org.uk)

and a copy of my reply by email to Martin in which I refer to this forum message:

Thank you for your email regarding Eliyahu Rapoport. I have no personal knowledge of this man, and I am not aware of any official, or otherwise, roll of those who served in 51 Commando, but I would like to point you in the direction of a previous forum message on our site from last year. I have posted a copy of your message to me there and it can be seen on this link:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/1116.page

I am not sure how far the originator of that message, Matt Heywood, has got regarding his quest for information, but it may be worth your while trying to contact him. He was based in Israel at the time.

As I understand it on the 15th October 1940 some 300 men of the 1st Palestinan Company AMPC formed the nucleus of the new 51 Commando. The remainder continued within their unit. The book mentioned in that forum thread (The Middle East Commandos by Charles Messenger) has a significant amount of information about 51ME Commando. In that book on Page 68 of the copy I have it indicates that 51 ME Commando were in Eritrea at the time of Rapoport?s death. However on the 8th June 1941 Operation Exporter took place in Syria, and there is mention of a Brigade being moved from Eritrea to support this action. Which units these men came from I do not know but I believe 51 Commando remained in Eritrea. No.11 Commando were involved in Operation Exporter, and I have heard of Commando type operations in Syria at this time by a group called Palmach, whom I am sure you must be aware of.

I am aware of your previous excellent research work, and your knowledge I am certain will be far greater than my own, but I always believe that if you don?t put something down then there is no means of having it either verified or corrected by those in the know. The danger with relying on the content of some books in relation to historical accuracy, is that they are only as accurate as the amount of research put in by the author.

I wish you all the best in your research on Eliyahu Rapoport, and please keep me informed of any progress you make

In Memory of Corporal ELNAHU RAPOPORT
PAL/14539, Pioneer Corps
who died age 19 on 07 June 1941
Son of Chaim and Hasia Rapoport, of Tel-Aviv, Israel. Formerly served in the R.A.F.
Remembered with honour ALAMEIN MEMORIAL

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 15/10/2011 15:55:51

Martin Sugarman has sent me the following information he has discovered about Eliyahu Rapoport, service number Pal/14539 Pioneer Corps. This information is held in the Israeli Defence Force archives for WW2 and is a copy of their reply to Martin:

According to our sources in Yizkot - In Memoriam book, there is an entry re. Eliahu ("Chiko") Rapoport, som of Tanya and Hayim, born at February 2,1922in Pahlawi, Iran. Has made Alyiah in 1933 with his father and sister and settled in Tel Aviv. His mother went to visit Soviet Union and didn't recieve an exit visa , only 15 years later. Eliahu studied at Tel Nordau school and later at professional school Max Fein. Was an outstanding swimmer

He was amongst the first volunteers to the British Army at WW II outbreak. His first assignment was with RAF ground auxilliary forces. Later, he volunteered to Commando Unit and took part in its activities. At the eve of British invasion to Lebanon and Syria, then under rule of Vichy French , he was sent to undertake a sabotage on telephone lines between Tyre and Beirut. They embarked on a boat named "Mona Lisa", 3 officers and 4 soldiers, Palestinian Jews. The group left for assignment on June 6,1941 and arrived close to the place of assignment. Part of the men were on a small boat which was hit by a great wave and the boat was drawn by the wave. The men arrived to the coast swimming, but Eliahu didn't make it and was proclaimed as missing in action at June 7, 1941. There is another information that he was found by New Zealand soldier at sea and was sent to Egypt to a hospital where he died

Martin,
Well done with your research regarding Eliahu (Chiko) Rapoport and thanks for sharing it with us.

please let us know if you uncover any other info.

Nick

Hi Mat,

I am just killing time and researching my grandfather Sgt William (Bill) warwick.

From a few letters we can figure out he was orginally Warwickshire Yeomary then later transferred to 51 Cdo, I remember a letter that my brother and I are trying to find about being in many commandos.. which was the case as the joined up..

I also remeber him talking about raids, with Jewish solides and being part of the inner guard to the Italion Officers that were captured.

If you have any info, pics etc... would love to exchange info. He was wounded and later went back into Shermans where he survived the war

Steve

[email protected]

I think someone has already mentioned 'The Middle East Commandos' by Charles Messenger as a source of unit information (a more specialised account than his book 'The Commandos 1940-1946)
It may be worth mentioning that William Seymour, author of 'British Special Forces' served in 52 (Middle East) Commando, and also includes several references to Nos 50, 51, and 52 (Middle East) Commandos in his book.

Today, 2013-08-17, I purchased an original Middle East Commando knife which has names of the users carved into the back.

12757
KATZ
JOSEF

7

51 Commando

KATZ

Cpl. E. C. Field 1 SAS

It appears that it was later carried by Cpl. E. C. Field 1 SAS.

Naturally I would like to confirm both men and ther war service to further authenticate this knife.

This knife was purchased out of England in 1971 by Jim Lang in British Columbia, Canada. Some years ago it moved to the Pat Bird Collection and then to my collection 2013-08-17.

We believe that his family name was KATZ, and that Josef was his first name.

He is NOT listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site so he appears to have survived the war.

A search on the Internet turned up several men named Josef (Joseph) KATZ but none were him.
1. Joseph M. KATZ was a U.S. businessman from 1936 onwards through WWII in the USA and has a graduate school of Business at the University of Pittsburgh named after him.
2. Josepf KATZ, Jewish survivor, deported Dec. 1941 from Lubeck, Germany and imprisoned in ghettos and concentration camps for 4 more years. Author of book "One Who Came Back."
3. Joseph KATZ, French, post-war a General, in WWII was with Vichy against the Maquis etc.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 30/08/2019 09:14:27

Hi Mat,
it's 10 years past your query. But here's to point to AviShalom Drori (Tel Aviv 1915 -- Talmay Elazar 1985) a biographical entry in the Hebrew wiki. https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/אבישלום_דרורי

Here is English translation of relevant he.wiki paragraph:
>At the outbreak of World War II Drori Avishalom volunteered for the British Army. His requests to serve in the British RAF were rejected. Like many members of the Jewish community he was recruited to Commando Unit 51. In the summer of 1941, he participated in special operations in the Lebanese estuary in Lebanon. [3] In the fall of 1941, due to his knowledge of Arabic, he joined Commando 11 (the "Scottish") as an interpreter and took part in a raid across enemy lines in North Africa (Operation Flipper). The operation, which was aimed at capturing German General Erwin Rommel, failed to achieve its purpose and most fighters were captured by an Italian policing force. Until June 1942 he was considered missing. [4] [5] Avishalom spent three and a half years in captivity, first in southern Italy, and after the Allied invasion there in September 1943, was transferred to German captivity.<

(I'm surprised that he apparently did not serve under a British pseudonym as did German Jewish refugees in the commando. Did he use his Hebrew name in Axis captivity?)

cheers. yw

ps, I just happened by here in surf, in search on Peter Masters (born Peter Aranyi in Vienna). Masters wrote a book about his time in 3 Troop 10... titled ?Fighting Back? ? died 3/05

as for Joseph Katz. That's a common name. but is there some archive web site including list of all names of Commando 51.