Some four thousand women and twenty-seven thousand men from the Yishuv in Eretz Israel volunteered to serve in the British army during World War 2. Most of the women served in the Auxiliary Territorial Services (ATS). A small group of 37 parachutists, including three women, trained for a special mission behind enemy lines: to help Allied pilots who were shot down over German-occupied territory to reach safety, assist and support partisans, and to locate and help Jews suffering under German occupation.
Of the three women, only one came back alive: Surika Braverman, who before her mission in Europe in 1944, volunteered for the Palmach (1942), and had been one the first three women in the officers` course of the Hagana in 1943. When Braverman returned from her mission in Europe she became an instructor for arms for the Hagana in the north of Israel.
In 1948 Braverman was called upon by IDF Chief of General Staff Yaakov Dori together with Shoshana Gershonowitz, (one of the first four women from the Yishuv to train as officers in the British army), to establish the Women’s Corps of the IDF.
This presentation, accompanied by footage of authentic documentation, throws light on Braverman`s achievements and re-evaluates her contribution as a trailblazer for women`s service in the IDF.