Jews throughout Palestine today mourned the death in action of Brigadier Frederick Herman Kisch, chief engineer of the British Eighth Army, and, perhaps, the outstanding Jewish officer in the British forces. His death from a mine explosion during the advance on Sousse, Tunisia, was announced in Cairo yesterday.
Brigadier Kisch, who was 55 years old, had an eventful military career dating back to 1909. He served with distinction in the last war and was thrice wounded and twice decorated, receiving the British DSO and the French Croix de Guerre. Since re-entering military service in 1939, Kisch had played an important role in the British campaigns in the Middle East. He is credited with constructing the fortifications at El Alamein, where the British held the Afrika Corps last year, and from where they launched their present victorious offensive.
In 1922 Kisch, who had previously devoted himself to a military and diplomatic career, decided to throw in his lot with the Zionist cause. From 1923 to 1931 he was a member of the Zionist Executive in Palestine in charge of the political department. In 1929 he visited the United States in connection with Palestine matters and was given an official reception by Mayor Walker of New York City who hailed him as the outstanding British-Jewish hero of World War I.
Brigadier Kisch was born in India where his father was an important British official. He was educated in England at Clifton College and the Royal Military Academy. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1909, serving with them in the last war in France and Mesopotamia. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and became a general staff officer to General Sir G. Macdonogh, being recognized as one of the most promising staff officers of his generation. As a result of wounds he became temporarily unfit for service and in 1917 and 1918 was employed by the British Military Intelligence. He was a British delegate to the Versialles Peace Conference in 1919, and was at one time attached to the British Embassy in Paris. He was the author of “Palestine Diary,” published in 1938. Brigadier Kisch re-entered military service in 1939.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
