3-Troop was no ordinary commando unit. Its members were exiles
from the Nazi tyranny that had infected Europe. They came mainly
from Germany and Austria. Most were Jews. Along with
"physical fitness, speed and agility, and quick
thinking," writes 3-Troop member Peter Masters in Striking
Back: A Jewish Commando's War Against the Nazis, "we had
been chosen for our initiative." They were well educated, all
fluent in German. Many had lost immediate family at the hands of
the Nazis.
Disenfranchised at home, in Bartizan they were classified as
"friendly enemy aliens." Those who arrived before war
declared and spoke out about the frightening situation in Europe
were called alarmists by the press. Then in June 1940 the British
Government began to round up these "aliens."
Several thousand were loaded onto ships headed for Australia and Canada,
and interment. Others were sent to fenced camps in England and on
the Isle of Man. However, as Tony Firth, a member of 3-Troop,
comments wryly in a recent article, "When the British finally
realized there were no Jewish Nazis, they allowed us to join the
Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, an unarmed unit consisting
primarily of the mentally, physically, and socially challenged. We
loaded and unloaded trains and trucks, dug ditches, seethed in
frustration because we felt that we could make a more significant
contribution to the defeat the Nazis."
He continues: "Eventually, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten
heard about this supply of young, fit, and intelligent men
languishing in the Pioneers and felt they might be an asset for
the commando units."
Like the others, my father was chosen for the elite 3-Troop because
of his drive, determination, and exceptional physical condition,
as well as his education and linguistic abilities.
In the spring of 1942, my father shed his identity as Endre
Kirschner of Budapest, Hungary, a Jew, and became Andrew Kershaw,
British subject, belonging to the Church of England. Like the
other 3-Troopers, he had been given an hour to choose a new,
English-sounding name and warned never again to refer to himself
by any other. He was to construct a new family history, a credible
reason to explain a less then perfect English accent, and to burn
any possessions that could give the game away.
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