228 • HALDANE, J. B. S.
British Mandate. Although the Haganah was declared illegal, many
of its members were enrolled as special constables by British authori-
ties and armed during the 1936 –39 period when Jewish property was
under attack from Arabs.
During World War II some 120,000 Palestinian Jews fought in the
British army, and bothSecret Intelligence ServiceandSpecial Op-
erations Executivetrained volunteers from the Jewish Brigade as
agents for parachute operations (with 20 dropping into Nazi-occu-
pied territory) or, like Moshe Dayan, to be organized instay-behind
networks. Capitalizing on the knowledge acquired, the Haganah de-
veloped a commando unit, the Palmach, and an intelligence branch,
theShai, and played a key role in the creation of an underground
railroad guiding Holocaust survivors from Central Europe to the
Adriatic for transport to Palestine.HALDANE, J. B. S.Educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, Pro-
fessor J. B. S. Haldane was known byMI5to be aCommunist Party
of Great Britainsupporter of long standing, although he did not join
the party formally until 1942. However, until MI5 studied theven-
onatraffic, there had never been any suspicion that he spied for the
GRU. As well as influencing several generations of British scientists,
Haldane possessed one of the most remarkable scientific minds of his
generation and was exceptional in every sphere.
During World War I he served in the Black Watch and was de-
scribed by Field Marshal Haig as ‘‘the bravest and the dirtiest officer
in my army.’’ He was sent to France in January 1915, after four
months of training, and was appointed his battalion’s bombing offi-
cer, which required him to experiment with rather primitive trench
mortars. Among his inventory of unusual weapons were ‘‘stove-pipes
almost as dangerous to their users as to the enemy.’’ Nevertheless,
his men admired his gallantry under fire and his exploits in no-
man’s-land.
As a nephew of Lord Haldane, then lord chancellor and later secre-
tary of state for war, Haldane was able to advise about effective coun-
termeasures for the clouds of chlorine deployed at Ypres in April
- In that month, he was wounded in the Festubert offensive and,
after a period in hospital in Bethune, was evacuated and later posted
to the Nigg Bombing School as an instructor in the use of grenades.