I happened by chance one day to meet a prominent member of the Sanballat deputation in the War Office, and, in the course of conversation, I asked him why he objected so strongly to the formation of a Jewish Regiment. He replied that he had no faith in the Russian Jews, and feared they would bring discredit on Jewry. I said that, from what I had seen in Gallipoli of the Jew from Russia, I had more faith in him than he had, and that I felt confident I could make him into a good soldier. He was kind enough to remark, "Well, perhaps under you they will turn out to be good soldiers, but then they might win Palestine, and _I_ don't want to be sent there to live." I replied that his fears in this respect were entirely groundless. He remarked that he was not so sure about that, for if the Jews had a country of their own, pressure might be brought to bear upon them to go and live there--which clearly shows that these rich and fortunate Jews cannot have given much real thought to the question, for there is nothing in the Zionist movement to force anyone to live in Palestine, and it would be manifestly impossible to pack 14,000,000 of people within the narrow limits of their ancestral home. When my pessimistic friend told me that these foreign Jews were no good, and would bring discredit upon the best part of Jewry, I made a mental resolve that I would prove to him one day that his despised Jewish brethren, from Russia and elsewhere, would make as good soldiers, and as good all-round men, as those in any unit of the British Army. As these pages progress, and the history of the 38th Jewish Battalion is unfolded before the eyes of the reader, it will be seen that my expectations were more than realised, for the Battalion drilled, marched, fought, and generally played the game as well as any battalion in the Army. It is a curious fact that, so far as I could gather, the Inner Actions Committee of the Zionist organization, with the honoured exception of Dr. Weizmann, looked on us with suspicion. The formation of Jewish Battalions did not appeal to them. How it was possible that the leaders of Zionism should not have grasped, and taken to their hearts, this gift of Jewish Battalions from the British Government, for the furtherance of their own ends, is one of the greatest examples of ineptitude that have ever come within my experience. Here was a body of keen and enthusiastic men, devoting their lives to the restoration of the Holy Land to its rightful owners, and yet they shied when the one essential weapon that could have given it to them was being virtually thrust into their hands. How different would have been the position of the Zionists at the Peace Conference after the Armistice was signed if they had been able to point proudly to 50,000 Jewish troops in Palestine, instead of to the 5,000 who were actually serving there at the close of the War.