Five Photographs of Zion Mule Corps Soldiers – Alexandria, 1915 – Rabbi Raphael de la Pergola / Colonel John Henry ...

Five Photographs of Zion Mule Corps Soldiers – Alexandria, 1915 – Rabbi Raphael de la Pergola / Colonel John Henry Patterson
Five large photographs of Zion Mule Corps soldiers, by the photographers Aziz Bandarli and Umberto Dorés. Alexandria, [1915].
Five photographs that were presumably taken in a military camp in Alexandria, before the Zion Mule Corps left to fight in Gallipoli in April 1915: • Photograph from a visit of Rabbi Dr. Raphael de la Pergola, the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria. • Photograph of a formation of soldiers from the Corps in front of their commander, Colonel John Henry Patterson. • Three photographs depicting the soldiers of the Corps alongside men and women in festive clothing; possibly taken during a visit of the dignitaries of the Jewish community of Alexandria to the camp.
The photographs were taken by the Italian photographers Aziz Bandarli and Umberto Dorés, active in Alexandria. All five bear embossed stamps in their lower right corner ("Aziz & Dorés- Alexandrie") and are mounted on cardboard. On four of the mounts appear labels with the legend "Aziz & Dorés - Rue de l'Hospital Grec 3. Alexandrie".
The Zion Mule Corps was the first Jewish unit in the British Army; it served, in practice, as a transport unit which numbered about 650 Jewish soldiers. The corps was commanded by Colonel John Patterson, his deputy being Joseph Trumpeldor, who even replaced Patterson as the commander of the Corps during the final months of its existence, after Patterson resigned his position due to an illness.
Photographs: 18X28.5 cm. Cardboard mounts: 33.5X24 cm to 34.4X25 cm. Good to good-fair condition. Stains. Creases and minor blemishes to the recto of cardboard mounts. Abrasions and blemishes to verso of mounts. A vertical cut to the margin of one of the mounts (alongside the photograph), reinforced with tape on verso. Worming and a long tear to one photograph (depicting the military formation) and cuts to the margins of its mount (cut and tears reinforced with tape on verso).
Provenance: The Rimon Family Collection.