Ellis and the Hagana

My Grandfather Immanuel Ashton was of Jewish decent and enjoyed his life in India. He was married to Stella and had 10 children. He had several large-scale businesses and interacted integrally with the British Rule in India. He considered himself an Indian national with strong connections to the British rule.  He was a Freemason and had many friends all over the Empire.  The Empire treated my grandfather well and my grandparents lived affluently in those days.

Ellis Ashton was my grandfather's second born. He was educated in a British managed school and in 1941 he was recruited to the British military in the Indian Regiments.  He was trained as an officer and in 1942 he was stationed in Iraq. He was enthusiastic about his military service and verbally communicated with his mother, his positive feeling about it.

In the beginning of 1942 my Grandfather was introduced to Mr. David Kritchevsky, an "American Business Man" who later turned out to be an

Agent of the O.S.S. (C.I.A. of today).  Mr. Kritchevsky's motives were not clear to my grandfather, but it seems that Mr. David Kritchevsky was a good communicator specifically about the strife of the Jewish people in Europe. He mentioned that he was also involved with the Jewish community in Israel and was seeking to get the help of my grandfather's son, Ellis. Mr. Kritchevsky got in contact with Ellis in Baghdad (Iraq) and introduced him to Anzo Sireni. Anzo Sireni was the head of the "Hagana" cell in Iraq. The "Hagana" was the Jewish military organization before the creation of the state of Israel. It had goals to arm and defend the Jewish population and bring them to Israel.

At the end of 1942 Ellis's family (The Ashtons) got a letter from the

British military stating he had died in an accident from a gunshot to his chest. At the same time a relative working for the British Military offices found Ellis's Name in the list of deserters. The Ashtons refused to believe that he was a deserter.  Later in early 1943, the Ashton family got a message from Mr. Kritchevsky (D.K.) stating he was still alive and working for the "Hagana". Mr. D.K. showed up personally to deliver this message. This message was elusive about Ellis's whereabouts. His parents believed he was still alive until the late fifties. They had heard unsubstantiated rumors that he was working for the "Mossad" and that he helped transfer weapons to the "Hagana" and also helped transfer Jewish refugees from Europe to Israel.

The Ashtons started immigrating to Israel at the late 40's. They still believed Ellis was alive.  They did not get any leads or further information and Ellis was presumed dead only in the late fifties. In 1983 I got permission to look at the "Hagana" archives in Tel-Aviv, and found some clues that proved that Ellis did work for the "Hagana" and that he was indeed recruited by an American operative (Mr. D.K.) who later declared himself as an O.S.S. agent.

In 1960 a first contact was made with Mr. Kritchevsky, after which he sent a letter to my family from California.  The letter described his personal life after the war and briefly mentioned Ellis's fate and deeds. In 1991, I researched the address of Mr. Kritchevsky and got his telephone# from his relatives in California.  I scheduled a meeting with him together with my ex-wife and another US born friend. I met him at his house and he stated the following: He, Mr. Kritchevsky worked for the O.S.S. at the time and was stationed in Iraq and Iran and later in Russia and Germany.  He confirmed that Ellis did work for the “Hagana" helping in the transferring of weapons and refugees to Israel.  He said that that Ellis was caught by the British and was kept prisoner.  The "Hagana" later helped him escape.  Then he added that later Ellis was trying to go back home to his family and was shot by the British.  He stated that he met with a person who was involved in this episode, code name "Schmuel" in Berlin after the war (Fall of 1946).  He described him as having dark brown eyes, heavy build, round face 5' 9" in height.  He said "Schmuel" should know the details of the story. (Was "Schmuel" Moshe Nativ who died in the late forties?)

D.K. also said that Ellis's girlfriend was a Polish non-Jew. He described her as an attractive young girl.  She probably served under General Andreas, the Polish General working with the British stationed in Iraq.  Later in the conversation he said that he had met with David Ben Gurion, the Israeli charismatic leader who later became the first Prime Minister of Israel.  In 1994, I called D.K. and he seemed to be angry that I had called him again.  He changed his story a little, and stated that Ellis was shot while trying to transfer a truckload of guns to the "Hagana".  If D.K. did work for the O.S.S., he may have helped the "Hagana" without the permission of his supervisors.  Even though the O.S.S. objectives were Anti-Zionist at the time, the probability exists that he may have explored the Zionist idea independent of his organization's policies. DK activities may be a proof for this theory.  In 1998 I called Mr. D.K. again. He was after a stroke and his memory did not seem to be intact. He just said that the British military police were investigating him in Baghdad and they were "up to no good".  I am not sure if Mr. D.K. is alive today.

We tried to contact many people in Israel and nobody seemed to know Ellis or to confirm the story.  In 1995 we got some leads advising us to contact General Herzog who was once the President of Israel and was active in the Hagana prior to the creation of the state of Israel.  He was also a British Officer during the 2nd world war period.  However, at the time he was in a hospital and later died.

Ellis Ashton is supposedly buried in a British military cemetery in Iraq and his grave has never been visited by any of his family members because of the political situation.  The odd aspects regarding the disappearance/death of Lt. Ashton were researched for many years without conclusive results. Furthermore, the direct or indirect involvement of the O.S.S. (C.I.A. of today) and the Israeli Hagana in his death add more uncertainty about his fate and cause of death.  In Israel I have requested that he will be recognized as a soldier who died for Israel's wars.  Nobody from the Israeli government has ever responded to my communications about Ellis.

 References:

 Mr. David Kritchevsky recent address as of 1995:

 Mr. David Kritchevsky

 280 North Nian Street

 Grover City, CAL 93433

 Tel:(805) 929-6467

According to a Commonwealth War Graves letter, Ellis is buried in the North Gate War Cemetery. The North Gate Cemetery is half a mile beyond the North Gate, on the southeastern side of the road to Baquba. The grave is marked by a standard war pattern headstone, in plot 23, Row B, grave 13.  The headstone bears the following inscription:

 2ND LIEUTENANT

 E.R. ASHTON

 5TH ROYAL BN

 5TH MAHRATTA LIGHT INFANTRY

 14TH SEPTEMBER 1942

Adapted to web-site by:Albert Talker