CHAPTER CCXXVI. THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM.

REVIEW OF PALESTINE OPERATIONS JULy-DECEMBER, 1917-GENERAL ALLENBY'S PLANS­ TURKS' DEFENSIVE PREPARATIONS- MINOR OPERATIONS-BRITISH OFFENSI~E OPENED-BoM­ BARDMENT OF GAZA-BEERSHEBA CAPTURED- STIFF FIGHTING ON THE HEBRON ROAD-OUTER DEFENCES OF GAZA CAPTURED-TURKISH CENTRE SMASHED AT SHERIA- GAZA EVACUATED BY THE ENEMy- TURKISH ARMY IN RETREAT-YEOMANRY CHARGE AT HUJ- THROUGH THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES- BATTLE OF EL MUGHAR- TURKISH FORCES CUT IN ,+WO-YEOMANRY CHARGE AT ABU SHUSHEH-JOPPA CAPTURED-ADVANCE INTO JUDEAN HILLS- ENVER AND FALKENHAYN AT JERUSALEM-GERMANS LEAVE THE CITy-NEBI SAMWIL RIDGE WON-HEAVy'ENEMY COUNTER­ ATTACKS-THE VVELSH HORSE AT BETH HORON-BRITISH ADVANCE RESUMElD-HEBRON AND BETHLEHEM OCCUPIED-NoRTHERN DEFENCES OF JERUSALEM CAPTURED-FLIGHT OF THE TURKS TO JERICHO- SURRENDER OF THE HOLY CITy-GENERAL ALLENBY'S OFFICIAL ENTRy--FREEDOM FOR ALL FAITHS- TURCO-GERMAN ATTEMPTS TO DISCOUNT Loss OF JERUSALEM- GRATITUDE OF THE ARABS- EFFECT ON THE JEws-ATTITUDE OF THE VATICAN AND OF GERMAN CATHOLICS ,

ENERAL ALLENBY opened the between the second battle of Gaza and the open­ campaign which, in seven weeks, iug of General Allenby's offensive they had G resulted in the surrender of J eru­ constructed most formidable defences on the salem by an attack on Beersheba on Gaza-Beersheba front. Strategic railways were October 31, 1917. Since the failure of the built, the garrison of Southern Palestine was Egyptian Expeditionary Force to capture Gaza largely reinforced and provided with powerful in the spring of 1917 there had been little fight­ artillery; the air service waFl · enlarged and ing on the Palestine border, but on both sides rendered very efficient. In all these measures great preparations had been made for the the Turks had the active help of the Germans, coming contest. who were concerned for the p reservati~n of The military situation in the autumn of Up7 their own interests in the Near East. General in the outlying provinces of the Turkish Empire von Falkenhayn had been sent to Syria af> was not favourable to the Ottomans. They had mil'itary adviser of the Turks and from his lost Baghdad in March, 1917, and had since headq uarters he watched developments both suffered serious reverFles both on the Tigris and on the Mesopotamia and Palestine fronts. Euphrates; the Russian Army of the Caucasus, If the Turks succeeded in holding the British though inactive, still held Armenia, while the at Gaza and Beersheba, von Falkenhayn was forces of the Grand Sherif of Mecca, who had crecti ted with the intention of endeavouring to proclaimed his independence in the summer of recapture Baghdad. The Turks, however, 1916, had advanced to the south-eastern borders failed to hold their lines in Palestine. of Syria. In these circumstances the Turks Beersheba was captured the same day it was were compelled to defend Palestine to the attacked, and during the next. few days the utmost of their ability, and in the six months enemy line was crumpled up and the Turks Vol. XV.-Part 187. 145 146 THE TIJYIES HISTORY OF THE WAR. driven from their positions between Beersheba The Turkish Army, which ha c~ now recovered and the Mediterranean, Gaza itself being taken its moral, took up very strong position::; a ' few on November 7. The swiftness with which miles north and east of Jerusalem. The loss of General Allenby followed up these first successes Jerusalem, next to Mecca and Medina the most completely disorganized, for a time, the Turkish sacred of cities to Moslems, was a severe blow Army. The British made rapid progress across to Ottoman prestige, and a serious effort was the Plain of Philistia, seized the junction made to recapt'ure it. For this attempt the of the Jerusalem-Damascus railways, cut the Turks were reinforced by a considerable part enemy forces in two, and on November 17 of two German divisions. A determined occupied Jaffa (Joppa). The disorder into attack waa made on the British lines on which the Tm'ks had ' been thrown enabled December 27. It failed, an.d the British General Allenby's troops to penetrate the gorge~ in a counter-attack captured positior:.s which of the Judean Hills from the west with com- rendered Jerusalem secure against ' any

Scale of Miles 15 VUU 'e !

SOUTHERN PALESTINE AND PHILISTIA. parative ease, and on November 21 the Nebi surprise attack. Meantime the forces of the Samwil ridge, five miles north-west of Jerusalem, King of the Hedjaz (the Sherif of Mecca) had was seized. Oh December 4 an advance was become increasingly active on the left flank of made from the south through the hill country, the Turks and by the beginning of February 1918 and Hebron was occupied on the 6th. There had established themselves in the neighbourhood had meantime been severe fighting in the N ebi of the Dead Sea. The capture of Jericho by Samwil district, but as the force from the south General Allenby on February 21 practically got nearer Jerusalem the troops at Kebi completed the conquest of Southern Palestine. Samwil advanced (December 8). The next morning the troops from the west gained General Allenby, when he took over the positions astride the road running north to command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force Shechem, and those from the south reached from Sir Archibald Murray (June 28, 1917), had on the east the road to Jericho. The Turks instructions to report upon the conditions in had already fled, and J erusalem, thus isolated, which offensive operations might be undertaken was surrendered (December 9) by its mayor. in the autumn or winter. After visiting the Two days later General Allenby, on foot, front and consulting Sir Philip Chetwode, the made his formal entry into the city. commander of the Eastern Force he submitted THE TINIES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 147

. _ (H. W!liter F!!lY1tett, photograph. GENERAL SIR EDMUND ALLENBY, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief Egyptian Expeditionary Fo"ce operating in Palestine. proposals in the second week of J ·uly. They situation and on the scheme which he put received the approval of the vVar Cabinet. His forward to me on my arrival in Egypt." And plan was to strike the main blow at the eastern to General Chetwode's "strategical foresight and end of the Turkish line and thus obtain an open tactical skill," added the Commander-in-Chief, flank against which to operate. General " the success of the campaign was largely due." Allenby put on record that this plan wad based Much had to be done before the plan was on G

of preparation included the summer months, The decision not to make the main attack when the heat is so great in the Sinai-Palestine at the Gaza end of the line was fully justified borderlands that campaigning is usually avoided by the character of the Turkish defences. -though the Turks in 1916 had invaded Sinai Gaza had been made into "a strong modern in August, the very hottest season. For the fortress, heavily entrenched and wired, offering purposes of the offensive two striking forces every facility for protracted defence." Beyond were formed out of the troops of the Eastern the immediate environs of Gaza, following Force; one, which General Chetwode personally roughly the road to Beersheba, the Turks directpct, was to operate nt the eastern or had constructed a. series of works known as the Beersheba end of the Trout. The other, with Sihan group, the Atawina Ridge works, the _'''Iajor-General E. S. Bulfin, C.B., in loc3-l Baha group, and the Hareira-Sheria group. Gommand, W3,S on the western or Gaza side. By the end of October these works had been Major-General Sir H. Chauvel commanded the joined up, and formed a practically continuous' mounted troops, composed of Yeomanry, ' line fr0m the Mediterranean to a point south Australian Light Horse, N~w Zealand Mounted of Sheria. Then, after a gap of some 4-! miles, Rifles, and Indian cavalry. The infantry were the defences covering Beersheba. Beyond divisions chiefly employed were the 5:lrd Beersheba was a considerable desert area where· (Welsh), which was with Chetwode, and the the Turks had no troops. The forces they 5'4th (Lowland), with Bulfin. The Imperial had still farther west, to the south of the Dead Camel Corps was with the Beersheba force. Sea and along the line of the Hedjaz railway, Major-General L. J. Bols, C.B., D.S.O., WB,S' took no part in the campaign; they had enough Chief of Staff to General Allenby and performed to do to meet the attacks of the Hedjaz Arabs. "brilliant work." * Including the gap between Sheria and Beer­ sheba the Turkish front was about 30 miles * Other officers whom General Allenby specially mentioned were Major-General J. Adye, Deputy Adjutant long. The enemy's communications were good General, Major-General Sir WaIter Campbell, Deputy and any' threatened point of his line could be Quartermaster-General, and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel G. P. easily reinforced. Beersheba was connected Dawnay, Brig.-General, General Staff. Chetwode, Bulfin andChauvel all held the temporary rank of Lieut.-General. by raiJway with Sheria and the north, and

GAZA: A STRONG TRENCH WELL PROTECTED WITH CACTUS. . THE TIMES HISTORY. OF THE WAR. 149

·CAMEL AND CATERPILLAR IN THE DESERT.

another railway crossing the Plain of Philistia The difficulties to be overcome to maintain came to Beit Hanun, only five miles north of the Expeditionary Force in the desert were Gaza. A short branch line served Huj, a dealt with· in the chapter on the first battles of place nine miles north-west of Sheria and 8i Gaza (Vol. XIV., Chap. CCXVI.). These miles north-east of Gaza, where the Turks difficulties did not become less as time passed: had a huge depot. Roads fitted for motor Practically the whole of the transport available in traffic connected several of the defence systems. the Force* (wrote General Allenby), including 30,000 pack camels, had to be allotted to one portion of the The Turks, too, had the great advantage of Eastern Force to enable it to be kept supplied with occupying fertile, well-watered land. With water, food, and ammunition at a distance of 15 to 20 the British it was otherwise. The Egyptian miles in advance of railhead. Expeditionary Force was in the desert, or ~n consequence of the deep sand, and the at best, near the Gaza end, "in the strip with steep banks of the wadis which scored the verdure strown, which just divides the Desert gr01.md behind the British front, little use from the Sown." Its front extended for could be made of motor transport--there 22 miles, from the sea. south of Gaza, more or was not a good road in all the lines of commu­ less along the line of the Wadi Ghuzze to nication. What could be done by extending Gamli, some 15 miles west of Beersheba, and the railways was done. From Khan Yunus a 10 miles from the nearest point of the, Turkish branch line had been built to Shellal. It was defences. Except in the small sector near now carried on, as rapidly as material could be Gaza, where only a mile or so separated the brought by the overburdened main line from Turkish and British trenches, General Allenby Egypt, towards Karm-a place midway . was not able to get within effective striking between Shellal and B ~ ersheba. Another line distance of the enemy until his .very elaborate was begun from Gamli to El Buggar, a. spot preparations were complete. These included somewhA,t nearer Beersheba than Karm. a supply of water sufficient for a week or more While preparing for the offensive a number to the tr\>ops which were to operate in the of minor opfrations were carried out. desert. * On the night of July 20-21 a raid was made on the trenches south-west of Gaza, the Turks IO f! ing 102 in * The first attack on Gaza, when success was in sight, had to be~abandoned through lack of water. * That is, the whole army in Egypt. l;ja THE TllJdE:::J HlSTORY OF THE WAlL

BEERSHEBA. killed and 17 in prisoners, besides a machine -gun and before that position could be attacked . in trench mortar. In another night raid later in July 20 flank" the capture of Beersheba was a neces­ Turks were killed. Again, on the night of August 8-9, British patrols had a lively bayonet fight with the sary preliminary, to secure the water supplies enemy, whose losses were between 30 and 40, the British at that place and to give room for the deploy­ casualties being 22. Then, after several more raids, on August 30, the British line south-west of Gaza was ment of the attacking force on the high ground advanced, wit.h very slight loss, on a front of 800 yards, north and north-west of Beersheba" (General despite heavy art.illery and machine-gun fire. And throughout this period of preparation the Turkish Allenby). As in the days of Abraham and positions at Gaza were kept under fire; many direct Isaac, Beersheba still had wells and water, but hits on guns and emplacements being obtained. it was an outpost on the desert's verge, and On their part the Turks kept observation on beyond it, on the British side, was a parched the British lines mainly by aeroplane, but and thirsty land. occasionally mounted patrols, chiefly from the Beersheba is built ill a hollow in the hills, the Beersheba end of the front, were sent out, their Wadi es Saba, a t,ributary of the Wadi Ghuzze , object being to interfei'e with railway con­ running by its southern. side, and it was pro­ struction. On July 19 two regiments of tected on the west and south by works three cavalry advanced to El Buggar but were driven to five miles distant. These works were in hilly back to Beersheba; III September other country, were wen made, heavily wired, ade­ cavalry raids were made by the Turks. quately manned and provided with many field Towards the end of October anangements and machine guns. There were other defences for the offensive were completed. Everyendea­ immediately east of Beersheba, but on the vour was mad8 to indu.ce the enemy to expect south-east the Turks trusted to the desert for the chief attack at the western end of his line, protection. They were prepared for a frontal and with this object a violent bombardment assault, but they had not calculated upon what ("If the Gaza defences was begun on 9ctober ~.7 happened. General Chetwode attacked Beer­ by the land batteries-in the matter of artillery sheba not only from south and south-west, but the British were at length ahead of the Turks. his mounted troops made a wide flanking m' ov~­ On October _30 the French warship Requin and ment and attacked the place from the east. monitors and other ships of the British squadron This flanking operation decided the fate of under Rear-Admiral T. J ackson joined in the Beersheba. bombardment. The Bavarian officer, Kress von Kressen­ Genere,l Chetwo::ie's force had m eantime stein, who still commanded the Turkish Army begun to me.ke for its objectives. Its blow was in Southern Palestine-Djemal Pasha, the to be struck against the left flank d the main Commander-in-Chief in Syria, was then at TurkLsh position-that of Sheria-Hareira. But Damascus-had not guessed General Allenby's THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 151 plans, but h e was apprehensive about the exten­ rep-onnalssance in force, thus described by sion of the British railway towards Sh8ria and General Allenby: Beersheba, and in the latter part of October the On the morning of October 27 the Turks m ade a enemy cavalry were r epeatedly sent OLlt to recon­ strong reconnais;;ance t owards K arm from the direction noitre. The Turkish cavalryman was no m ean of Kauwukah [Sheria sector]. two regiments of cavalry and two or three thousa:J.d infa'1try, with []2] guns, foe. "A fine horseman, a fine shot, especially at being employed. They a ~ ta :! ked a line of outposts near long ranges, his drill and discipline are p erfect, El Girheir, held by some [London] Yeoma'1ry, covering and you have to get up very early in the morning railway construction. One small post was ru:::hed and cut up, but not before inflicting heavy loss on the enemy; to catch him out" (Captain Lord Apsley, M.C.). autlther post, though surrounded, held out all day, a:J.d These cavalrymen now pushed reconnaissances also eau. ed the enemy heavy loss. The ga'la'1t resis­ taclce ma:le by the Yeoma.ry enabled the 53rd (Welsh) 12 and 15 miles into the desert. Thus on Division to come up in time, and on their a:lva:lce the October 23 a squadron of Gloucester Yeomanry, Turks withdrew. [The British ca3ualties were under 100.] taking up an outpost line south-east of El Sha'uth just before dawn, encountered a These enemy R.ctivities did not disarrange strong enemy patrol and had a sharp skirmish. General Chetwo:ie's movements. The attack On another occasion a r egiment of Turkish on Beersheba had been fixed for October 31, cavalry was pushe d out to enable certain staff and by the previous evening his troops were officers, who followed in motor cars, to concentrated in positions of readiness. They reconnoitre from a high hilI. As it hap­ werd to make a night march, depJoy and at,tack pened, Yeomanry had been sent to seize at dawn. There were two movements, that of the same hill. Th~re was a lively little th,:;) troops which were to make the frontal fight, the Turks being driven from the hill assault, and that of the mounted men ';\'ho were "before the generals at th3 top had more to make the flanking movement. The first than five minutes to look arolmd." Apart body consisted of two divisions, infantry and from diversions such as these the Turks, just dismounted Yeomanry, with the Imperial before the British bffensive opened, made one Camel Corps and a cavalry regiment to guard

DJEMAL PASHA AT HIS HEADQUARTERS IN PALESTINE, With German officers in attendance. 152 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. the flanks. This force moved in an inner guns themselves cleverly concealed. But the circle, and was transported. by rail as far as pos­ troops advanced with great spirit. Bombers sible. The mounted troops, Australian Light sprang into the trenches through gaps in the Horse, New Zealand Mount.ed Rifles and wire, and where the wire had not been broken Yeomanry, started on the night of October 27 the men tore it down with their hands. Within from their bases at Sha'uth and Shellal and an hour the fight was over and all the enemy rode south and east to Khalasa and Asluj, oases positions south of the Wadi os Saba captured. where the water supplies had been developed. Later in the day (7.30 p.m.) the enemy works H ere they had fIo brief pause before the last stage north of the wadi were also seized. During of the desert ride. this last stage a Lewis gun detachment charged The infantry marched during the night in and captured a Turkish field battery. accordance with the arranged programme, Meanwhile the mounted troops had played

ENGINEERS BORING FOR WATER. every unit reaching its appointed place by their .part. They left Khalasa and A,.sluj the assigned hour. The action began at in the evening of October 30 on their great daybreak, and after a brief bombardment ride, and by 5 a.m. on the 31st had reached their London Territorials stormed Hill 1070, on positions east of Beersheba, some high hills which were the enemy's advanced. works. immediately east of the Wadi Khasim Zanna. Among the 90 prisoners t ~ken was a German The troops from Khalasa had covered 25 and machine-gun ·crew. Field guns then methodi­ those from Asluj 35 miles. "The cohunn," cally bOIpbarded the enemy's main works, said an officer with the Khalasa force, "was partially destroying the wire entanglements. 15 miles long. Our wallets were full of corn Clouds of dust raised by the Khamseen (the for the horses. We rode through endless wind from the desert) from time to time com­ dust-a full moon, but the dust so thick pelled the British ~unners to pause, and to you could not see five yards." No en emy was this cause may be attributed the survival encountered, the wide sweep into the void of part of the enemy's wire. At 12.15 p.m. served its purpose, and when the horsemen the assault was ordered. In moving to their appeared on the hills overlooking Beersheba positions the troops, London Territorials and t.he surprise of the Turks was complete. The dismounted Yeomanry, suffered a good deal Yeomanry t.ook up positions around Khasim from the hostile artillery, the firing of the Zanna, acting as the reserve force, while the Turkish guns being very accurate and the Australians and New Zealanders went 'into THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 153

h.ction. Between Khasim Zanna and Beer- anxiety began to be felt, and at 7.30 p.m. the 'sheba was an almost flat plain commanded. Yeomanry in r eserve at Khasim Zanna received by rising ground to the north and flanked by orders to attack the place. They moved out, Tel es Saba, a hill some 1,000 feet high, beneath but the work assign'3d them was already done. which lay a village of the same name. Saba Half an hour earlier the 4th Australian Light hill and village, and the hills to the north, Horse had settled the matter. They had through which runs the road to H ebron, were cleared some houses held by the enemy. Then garrisoned by the enemy, who also had trenches mounting their horses they charged straight immediately east of Beersheba. General Chay­ for the t,own. They galloped over two trenches, tor, in command of the Anzac Division, sent a each 8 feet deep and 4 feet wide, using their force of Australian Light Horse north to fixed bayonets as lances against the Turks who secure positions on the H ebron road. This filled them, and rode, cheering, into Beersheba, force was engaged by Turkish cavalry through­ where the enemy soldiers still in the place out the day, but achieved its object and kept promptly surrendered. A very strong position the enemy well ih check. Another force, of was thus taken with slight loss, and the Turkish 'Australians and N ew Zealanders, attacked, detachrUent at Beersheba almost completely dismounted, Tel es Saba. The hill had b een put out of action. Some 500 dead Turks were strongly fortified, and was held in considerable found on the battlefield and about 2,000- strength; moreover, it could only be approached among them some Germans-were taken from the south by crossing the steep banks of prisoners. The total British casualties were ·the Wadi es Saba. Here there was stiff fighting fewer than the number of prisoners. The for several hours, but late in the afternoon the Turks had, at the last moment, endeavoured 'hill was captured. to destroy their military stores, but they Various attempts had been made by smal! had not time to complete their task. The parties of Australians and New Zealanders to British captured 13 guns and a large quan­ . cross the open plain and reach Beersheba. tity of corn, clothing, and equipment of ' Hitherto they had not succeeded, but in a all kinds. A direct hit from a heavy gun dismounted attack the village of Saba was on the railway bridge over the wadi had pre­ t.aken, soon after the faU of the redoubt on the vented the removal of the rolling stock; a. train . hilt Evening had fa.llen, the moon was again ",-as found standing in the station loaded with 11p and Beersheba wa~ not yet taken. Some goods.

EARLY 'ARRIVALS AT BEERSHEBA STATION, NOVEMBER 1, 1917. 154 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

Beersheba was more famous than beautiful, * on the eastern side of Sarnson's Ridgo known as had more mud huts than substantial b 1..ulding::;, Umbrella Hill (2,000 yards south-west of Gaza) but it was in Palestine. The British troops for to Sheikh Hasan, on the Mediterranean (2,500 nine months ha::l been g3.zing at the Prom ised yards north-west of t,he town). The front of Land; now they har! set foot in i. But if the attaek was about 6,000 yards, Sheikh H asan, Beel"3heba was in ganeral a poor place there the most distant objective, being over 3,000 was plenty of evidence that the troops had yards from the ad vanced British line. The b een well cared for; the Germans ha::l seen to intervening gro1..Uld consist ed of sand dunes, in that. There were excellent dug-out quarters places 150 feet h igh ; the sand very deep and for man and beaGt, shell-proof except from heavy going. Owing to the considerable dis­ direct overhead bombing. Though the Turks tance between the British trenches and the left in a hurry they found time to set many Turkish positions the attack was made before booby-traps--0ngin e.c; and trucks mined so daylight, and as Umbrella Hill flanked the that they blew up when moved, bridles hung enemy trenches farther west it was chosen as on the walls attached to bombs, and so on. the first objective. In the evening of Novem­ The famous wells "which our father Abraham ber 1 very heavy concentrated fire was poured digged " were there, and many others. They for a short time upon Umbrella Hill. Then at had all been mined, but the ever resourceful 11 p.m. the hill was stormed by a part of the Engineers coped with that difficulty, and a 52nd (Lowland) Division. Directly the Turks at pipe supply of water was found uninjured. Gaza learned that Umbrella Hill was lost they Nevertheless, the water available was not so bombarded it and the British front line. Ap­ abundant as had been anticipated, while the parently they thought they had to deal with a transport arrang0m ents proved unexpectedly lo::!al affair only, for after two hO'.lrs the b om­ difficult. bardment ceased, "in time," said Sir E. Allenby, Complete success had attended the opening " to allow the main attack, which was timed for move of the campa;gn, but a brief pause had to 3 a.m. (on Nov. 2) to form up without inter­ be made before General Chetwode could lmlllch ference." The attack was made by Scottish his attack on the Sheria-Hareira position. In and East Anglian troops, and a composite force the interval, both to prevent Kress von Kressen­ consisting of West Indian and Indian troops and stein sending reinforcements to Sheria and to detachments from the French and Italian con­ draw the hostile reserves to the Gaza sector, it tingents. * They were helped by a number of had been determined to make an assault on a Tanks, which, though they found some difficulty section of the defences of that city in the early in getting over the heavy sand, proved of value. morning of November 2. The bombardment of The Turk fought well but was defeated, the Gaza had been going on continuously, and not British gaining nearly all th~ ir objectives, only of Gaza but of the railway north of the incl uding Sheikh Hasan. The enemy had suf­ town, and all military establishments which fered severely from the prelim ~ nary bombard­ could be reached by the guns of warships. ment and his losses in the action were heavy. The work of the Allied squadron attracted Some of his trenches were almost full of dead. little attention at home, but it wa.c; extremely Amo~g the 4~0 prisoners were over 50 officers­ valuable, and was not p erformed without 108s. the prisoners stated that one of their divisions On November 1 the enemy gunners obtained lost 33 per cent. of its effectives and had to be several hits on the French warship Requin,killing replaced by a division from the general reserve. 9 and wounding 29 of her crew. The damage Th~ British losses were also consi de~abl e but to the vessel was comparatively slight and the " not in any way disproportionate to the results Requin continued in action. Two British ships obtained" (General Allenby). The Italian were less fortunate. A destroyer and a small ,troops of the composite battalion had some warm monitor were torpedoed and sunk by a German fighting, and showed great gallantry. U-boat, 33 lives being lost. The demonstration against Gaza had attained The part of the Gaza defences which it had * These contingents were themselves composite, and been decided to attack extended from a height included Regulars, T erritorials, and Africans. Some of the French troops had been at Verdun, and had * The phra 'le from" D a:J. to Beersh eba " -reRpectively enjoyed a six months' rest at Beni Sela, a vill age near the northern and southern limits of Palestine- is as Khan Yunus. The district had. a particular interest old as the times of Samson (who was of t he tribe of for the French, for here Napoleon in his Syrian cam­ Dan). paign narrowly escaped capture. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 155 its 'object. Neverth01ess Kress von Kressen­ SheriR. and occupied Abu Irgeig, while the 53rd stein, fully alive to the dangor which threatened (Welsh) D ;vLsion and the Imperial Camel Corpa his lines by the capture of Beersheba, at once moved due north of B eersheba-12 or 13 miles employed all his immediately available reserves in excessive heat-and mounted troops, Yeo­ in a counter-stroke, seeking to draw a consider­ manry, Australians and New Zealanders, were able body of British troops north of Beersheba ; sent along the H ebron road. The object of the that is, into the exceedingly rough and hilly movement north of B eersheba was to secure the country, with very scanty water suppliea, right flank of the British during the Sheria leading to H ebron. Had this scheme succeeded offensive, but it fitted in with the enemy's Genera.l Chetwo::l.e would have been left with pl eJn. There was a good deal of fighting in the

A "TANK" AT THE GATES OF GAZA. forces too weak to break the enemy's centre at hills on November 2 and 3; by the evening of Sheria-Hareira-" in which case Beersheba the 3rd it was ascertained that the Turks were would only have been an incubus of a most entrenched along the line Am Kohleh-Tel el inconvenient kind." At first circumstances Khuweilfeh (i.e., between Sheria and the seemed to favour the Turks. As already stated, Hebron road). The enemy forces in tillS sector the water and transport difficulties at Beersheba were being increased, and on November 4 and 5 proved greater'than had been anticipated, and several d etermined attacks were made on the the attack on the Sheria works, first planned for mounted t.roops.There were. then on this front the November 3 or 4, had to be put off for a dR.y or 19th Turkish Division, the remains of the 27th two. Flank positions, necessary for this Division (which had held Beersheba), part of the attack, were, however, seized. On November 1 16th Division, the majority of his cavalry and Irish troops moved direct along the road to infantry (" depot" troops) drawn from Hebron. 187-;{ 156 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

AN INDIAN RIFLE BATTALION ON THE PALESTINE FRONT. A Company in reserve.

All the Turkish attacks were broken; but the once or twice, but never like that. We had had a Khamseen blowing all day, and had h ad a hard day and fighting was of a severe and appare:p.'£ly con­ night. fused character. The country itself, though it had open and cultivated patches, was, . as In one instance Turkish infantry, with bayonets fixed, advanced to attack a hill held one officer aptly put it, more fitted for Bersaglieri than cavalry. For every hill top, almost, there by New Zealand M01mtecl Rifles, but were was a struggle. caught by machine-glUl fire and dispersed after suffering some 300 casualties. The work of W~ had another scrap' the other day (wrote a yeo­ manry officer); we took a hill and h eld it for two days the men behind the front was equally strenuous , under rather trying conditions. It was very hot, there and if the water 'Supply was scanty it was not being a south wind a ll the tim.e, and we had no water for man the second day, or beast either day; also we had for lack of effort on the p art of t he engineers. Turks on t hree sides, and were shot at and shelled from The difficulty was not so much the abdence of front and both flanks. On the evening of the second day we were attacked by about 1,800 cavalry and water as its inaccessibility . The wells were infantry, supported by their guns, but beat them of£. fairly munerous but generally deep, and gear My squadron did n ot come in for this-a squadron of was lacking. Worcesters relieving us. A squadron of the Warwicks had to beat them [the Turks] off one place with the . You cannot imagine what it is (said an offiCEr writing bayonet. home ) when you start to try and water perhaps 5,000 Another picture of this campaigning in the h orses (at one well 150 feet deep) that have had no water for 24 or 48 hours and the only gear you have is a hills was given by a brother officer. canvas bucket at the end Of a rope ! The wells are We had (he wrote) to gallop across a couple of miles good enough to supply the villages, but a Cavalry of country under their machine guns, but with a wide Division soon dries them up. extension you get very few men hit, and we got across with only one or two casualties. That afternoon we Mr. W. T. Massey, one of the two Press held an outpost line, and m y squadron [of Gloucester­ correspondents with the British force, writing ;shire Hussars] was sent on to take up a night line-it on November 4 told. how General. Allenby, was a rather difficult, anxious job as I hadn't seen t h e country by daylight. Awful cOlmtry, all rocks, and I visiting the front line, saw Australian Engineers soon got rid of my horse as I got "on the floor" twice, preparing a water supply. "Some men were and finished the night on foot. Next morning we hoped we sh'ould be relieved, but h ad to h old the line working stripped to the waist, others were all day. It was very difficult to keep touch with the quite naked. The General was told that these units on my flank as mounted patrols could only move soldiers had worked for 24 hours on end in ~t a walk in the bad ground, and dreadful country to keep direction in.~ At 3.30 we were relieved [but ] just order to get a good flow. He thanked them as we were going off to Beersh eba we were rushed back personally. " as t,he Turks had count~ r-atta cked . It fizzled out after an hour, but we had two officers hit and a good many men. The spirit of these Australian Engineers .was At 9 I was d efinitely relieved by New Zealanders . .• . typical of t he whole force, and in the fighting After a 12-mile march we got to water; neither m en nor horses had h..... d a drop for 42 hour;, and the horses had in the hills north of Beersheba the Welsh . had loads on the whole time. I've been pretty thirsty infantry and the Imperial Camel Corps . ha9. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ' .157 borne a full share. The net result of the four Tel el KhuweiIfeh, 11 miles north-east of days' contest waf; that the British had held Beersheba, and, the enemy's resistance being what they had gained, but were threatened broken, the mOlmted troops were to sweep by a superior and highly mobile enemy. westward behind 8heria. The battle proved Kress von Kressenstein's manCBuvre to entangle to be the clecisive action of the campaign. the British in the hill country between Beersheba Before nightfall the enemy was beaten, Gaza and H ebron appeared to have succeeded. had been rendered untenable and the whole General Allenby, however, had not swerved Turkish line had to give way. from his original intention. If the troops in By dawn the dismounted yeomanry had the hills had not been able to make the progres3 taken up positions opp()s i~e the eastern end of at first hoped for, they formed a s"Llfficient pro­ Kauwukah and as soon as it was light they tection for the right flank to justify the attack advanced to the attack. The enemy works, on 8heri8., and the Irishmen and London two deep trenches 3,000 yards apart, connected Territorials now at Abu Irgeig were ready on by a series of str,ong points, were stubbornly the left flank. The moment for striking the defended, but the yeomen stormed the first n1.ain blow had come. trenches with great dash and by one o'clock It was decided to give battle on November 6. had possession of the second line also. Most The prineipal enemy works were on a two-mile ­ of the British casualties, slight in c.omparison long ridge known as Kauwukah. some 10 miles with those of the enemy, were sustained by west of Beersheba, and immediately east of the the yeomanry in the early hours of the day. railway to 8heria. Abu Irgeig was five miles During the afternoon the same troops captured south-east of Kauwukah. The plan of battle several detached works along the line of . the was for dismounted yeomanry to attack the railway and reached the Wadi es 8heria. extreme east of the Kauwukah works, and the While they were thus "making good" t.he London and Irish troops the so~th-east. On London and Irish regiments brought forward the right flank the 53rd Division was to attack their guns to wire-cutting range and bomba.rded

LPalestine offiCIal photcgraph. r ¥. . ..! SPRING AT SOLOMON'S POOL.

The photograph .sh

the south-eastern face of Kauwukah. Mr. written by Father Kavanagh, and published in M~ssey, who witnessed the battle, wrote :- The Tablet. The padre, who was a few weeks From a high hill I saw Kauwukah being torn by a later mortally wounded, was invited by the tornado of high.explosiva shells. The lower slopes showed colonel" to see the scrap, it's the chance of a tra.:)es of early grass, and this slight grateful colouring lifetime." The troops then h eld a hill opposite was unharmed by the gunfire, but the high er yellow . 'lopes, which hid the Turks in the trench-scarred surface, Khuweilfeh. were bruised and battered every few seconds. Behind I pushed to the top of our hill (wrote Father Kavanagh) our line miles deep were columns of transport and and lay down in the firing line; then we crawled on our ammunition, raising dust in clouds of grea't h eight. bellies to the sky-line, over which bullets were spat­ The swift eddies of the wind lifted woolly puffs of sand tering at long range. "Now, lads," said the officer in and sent them whirling across ridge and fiat, resembling command, "prepare for a move." And a moment waterspouts in tropical seas, an illusion which th'" after we all pelted over the top togethel", then down and m.irage accentuated. down a steep and stony descent, and ten minutes later Soon after midday the Londoners and Irish found ourselves lying panting and bewildered in a g ully a t the foot. The sergean t-major stood up and shouted, went forward to the assault, which was com­ "I want six men to go forward; then another six." I pletely successful. They followed this up by ran with the third lot, and we rushed down that gully, then up another, and began to climb a most precipitous the capture of the Rushdi system, between hill, banded every few yards with courses of alluvial Sheria and Hareira, and by 5 o'clock had rock, and just behind which the enemy were waiting. occupied Sheria rtJ,ilway station. Troops sent Presently an aeroplane swooped down on u s, discharging a machine-gun, which knocked out several of our farther to the left reached as far as H areira fellows. I got to the top and Jay own amongst them redoubt, where the Turks, though isolated, behind the sky-line, over which bullets were pouring. Just before we got there the colonel was wounded, still held out. Australian and New Zealand through the chest. mOlmted troops held in reserve a.t Beerslieba The Turks, who were in much superior had meantime been sent west of the railway to strength, counter-attacked and drove the pursue the large masses of the enemy retreating infantry from one hill, but the Welshmen, towards Huj. determined to avenge the heavy losses they had Away in the mlld north-west of Beersheba the suffered in the second battle of Gaza, reattacked 53rd Division had captured Tel el Khuweilfeh, and again carried the hill. They next seized but the sweeping movement behind Sheria another height, which improved their position which was to have followed could not be carried a good deal. Tms was the beginning of a con­ out. A vivid impression of what "capturing test which lasted an day. Khuweilfeh " meant was conveyed in a lettor The infantry, said a. War Office report, in conjunction

BRITISH TRENCHES AND SAND-BAG DEFENCES BEFORE GAZA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF ,THE WAR. 159

AMMUNITION CAMELS SHELTERING IN A WADI NEAR GAZA. with mounted troops were heavily engaged in beating day the moullted troops, who now included off repeated counter-attacks made by at least two hostile Yeomanry, in moving on Huj and Jemmameh divisions* with the object of cutting us off from our water supply at B ee r .~ h eba, and thereby stopping our also met with strong opposition from rear­ turning movement. Our troops, which includ~d Welsh guards. The cause of this stubborn resistance and Engli"h cOlmty regiments, behaved splendidly, and t he Turkish casualties were enormous. was the decision taken by Kress von Kressen­ stein on the news of the fall of the Sheria works. In this manner General Chetwode's right vving The centre of his line was gone, irretrievably as frustrated the strongest effort made by the he knew, and Gaza was in danger. H e there­ Turks on November 6 and enabled the main fore resolved to draw back his whole army. The attack to develop without interference. Its movements of the main force had to be masked work on November 2-6 "paved the way," as as far as possible by rearguards. General AJlenby said, "for the success of the Gaza was evacuated on the night of Novem­ attack 01; Sheria." The troops concerned had ber 6, arid so skilfully that" though a certain "drawn in and exhausted" the Turkish r e­ amolUlt of movement on the roads nmth of Gaza serves. As an example of the severity of the was observed by our airmen and fired on by our eneluy losses, and of the valour with which heavy artillery [there was] nothing indicating a they fought, General Chetwode reported that general retirement." By this prompt retreat in front of one position alone the vVelshmen von Kress avoided a battle, for another attack buried 500 Turks. on Gaza was the natural sequel to the Sheria The Hareira redoubt ~r as taken very ead y on battle, and an attack hacl b een ordered for the November 7, and Sheria itself was captured by night of November 6-7. The attack was to b e London Territorials by a bayonet charge at from Outpost and Middlesex hills on the sout,h 4 a.m. The Turks there had four field guns in and east to the sea on the west. Small garrisons action. A battalion commander at the head had been left at, Outpost and MiclcUesex hills by of a party of volunteers charged the foe, the Turks. They offered but slight opposition bayoneted the gunners and captured all the to the attacking force, West Country regiments guns. A bridgehead was then formed over the and Indians, while by the coast E ast Anglian Wadi Sheria. The Till'ks made several unsuc­ troops on the morning of November 7 found cessful counter-attacks on the Londoners, who none to bar their way. Patrols pushed forward in the evening pushed forward their line to high reported the enemy gone. Ali Muntar and the ground a mile nort,h of the town. During the other defences were occupied, and the old capital of the Philistines, before which the British had * These were known as the Lightning and Tempest Divisions_ been held up for nine months, was now won. 160 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

The troops as they marched over the battle­ whom seemed to make a point of climbing Ali Muntar (" the watch tower "), to which, according to tradition, fields of March and April found many evi­ Samson carried the gates of the city. dences of those combats-wreckage of all kinds, Major (temporary Lieut.-Colonel) W. D. and many unburied bodies_ In some instances, Kenny, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers; was ap­ however, decent burial had been given by the Turks to fallen foes_ The fate of many men pointed military governor of Gaza, and the who had been posted as " ,wounded and miss­ clearing of the wells and the sanitation of the ing" was now made clear; among those who town was taken iIl hand. The extension of the it was ascertained had been killed in the second main railway from Egypt, which then ended battle of Gaza was Lieutenant C. J_ Law, ' at Deir el Belah, some 10 miles south of Gaza, K.O.S.B., the second son of Mr. Bonar Law, the was also begun at once-one of the most lJrgent Cha,ncellor of the Exchequer. problems confronting the Expeditionary Force, as the, area of operations extended north, Gaza h~d fallen, but from Beit Ha1'lul1, five miles north, and from the Atawina works to the ~as that of transport. The weather had east, Turkish artillery fired sullenly on the lost broken in the J udean Hills and the roads were city, making a special mark of Ali Muntar, already much worn by the Turks in their aga.inst which 12 hours earlier the British' guns retreat. had been firing heavily: That the Turks would Whatever the difficulties, immediate ad­ try to hold Atawina long enough to give time vantage was taken of the enemy retreat. for their army to retreat wa3 clear, and an effort Hardly had Gaza been entered than Indian was made to cut off the rearguards holding it . cavalry pressed towards Beit Hanun, which and neighbouring trenches known as the Tank* place, as the terminus of the Gaza railway, system. The effort failed, for once again the had been the headquarters of von Kres8. enemy slipped away-during the night of . The Turks held Beit Hanun all day on Novem­ November 7. Many scattered parties of Turks ber 7, but at nightfall their rearguard withdrew. and mueh booty were, however, captured, and Already the enemy line of retreat was threatened, by the morning of November 8 the whole of the for Scottish troops were north of Beit Hanun. original Turkish front was in possession of the General Bulfin, to whose "determination in British. attack, and dash and drive in pursuit" wa.'3 due, Unlike Beersheba, Gaza was an objective said General Allenby, "the swift advance to worth gaining in itself, or rather as the key of Jerusalem," had sent these Scots, Highlanders Syria, giving an open way into the Plain of and Glasgow men, north as soon as Gaza was Philistia. in his hands. After an exhausting march through the sand dunes lining the coast they Of the five chief cities of the Philistines (wrote a correspon,dent) Gaza alone, through all the ages, had crossed the Wadi Hesi by 5 p.m.-towards retained its importance. This had been recognized by dusk. A bayonet charge by the Glasgows the Germans, who had established schools there, schools which they regarded as the most distant outpost of secured some high ground north of the wadi ; Teutonic Kultur. These schools had been closed, and life the enemy made several attempts to retake in the town was not pleasant. The townsfolk, mainly Arabs, were in no favour with the Turks. Early in the position but could not dislodge the Scots. March the mufti, a member of the venerated Husseini The enemy rearguards on the extreme right family, had been arrested, taken to Jerusalem, and of the Turkish Army were thus doing their hanged outside the Jaffa gate for alleged treason. Later most of the civilians were deported. Houses were ruth­ best to delay the British advance, and mor~ lessly plundered for the furnishing of dug-outs and the to the centre the defenders of the Atawina and lining of trenches. Our troops found sandbags made of rich silks. And on evacuating Gaza the Turks did what Tank' positions were able, as already stated, further damage they could-in particular choking all to get away during the night of Nove~ber 7. the wells. When the British entered the town through the orchards, palm treeo; and cactu s, which formed a But the rout of the enemy was soon com­ deep fringe of green arOlmd it, there was disappointment plete. November 8 was a great day for the that such a famous place presented so poor an appear­ British. Both from the Gaza and Sheria sectors ance. But there was evidence. of former greatness in the marble used to beautify modern buildings-columns they struck hard at the Turks. A smart action and slabs taken from ancient temples and churches. was fought near Beit Hanun, where Indian Relics, too, of the Crusades were found. The west end of the town, an intricate maze of narrow, dirty st'reets, Imperial Service C,waLry captured many was promptly dubbed Belgravia by the ·soldiers, all of prisoners and a h (;~ . vy howitz0r, and thE Scottish infantry at the Wadi l:J,esi greatly * From one of the British tanks burnt out in the April battle. Its wreck stood on a sand dune right on distinguished themselves. Field and heavy the skyline .. artillery had been drawn tl-ll' ough the ankle- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 161 '

deep sand from Gaza, and a ridge overlooking whelming odds at Katia and were not. loath to Deir Sineid was seized. Deir Sineid was the have the chance of getting their revenge on starting point of the short branch line to Huj, the Turk. The charge; made by the a;dvance along it the Turks were bringing back guns and party, ten troops of W orcesters El.nd War­ stores, and they made great efforts to stave off wicks, was, said General Allenby, "at once its capture. Four times the Turks drove the carried out in face of heavy gun and machine­ Scots off the ridge, and four times the Scots gun and rifle fire with a gallantry and dash retook it. A fifth attack by the Turks failed worthy of the best traditions of British cavalry." and the Scots were left in possession of a At the first sign of the approach of horsemen position which commanded the railway. th~ enemy gun.ners, who were covering the 011 the Sheria sector November 8 was marked retreat of their infantry, turned their fITe on by equal, jf not greater, success. On this the yeomanry. These gunners were Austrian.s

CAPTURE OF A TURKISH HOWITZER BY YEOMANRY.

sector the chief honours fell te> London Terri- and they stuck to their glllS to the last. The , tori9ls and a yeomanry brigade. The Lon­ yeomen, in open ranks, swept forward, raced doners, whose marching was wonderful, thrice down a slope, crossed a flat, took the final drove back the enemy, and prisoners, guns, rise at a great pace and then made straight ammunition and stores fell into their hands. for the guns. There were twelve pieces, three Meanwhile the yeomanry on their right had 5'9 howitzers and nine field guns. The crew;:; come up and the last position held by the fired as fast as they could load, and, as, the foe Turk rearguards covering Huj wa3 reached. drew near, set their fuzes at zero so that the The' Turks, who had not had time to remove shells should burst at the mQuth of the gun. half their storeFl from Hu}, were blowing up or But nothing stopped the yedmen and every setting on fire what they had to leave behind. one of the Austrians was sabred at his gUll. The officer commanding the Londoners, recon­ Then riding on again the Warwich:s and noitring the position, saw a considerable body \iV orcesters captured three machine glllS which of the enemy on the march about 2,500 yards had been firing upon them. These machine away. He ordered the yeomanry to charge guns wereat onee turned on the retreating Turkish the retiring enemy. The yeomanry, consist­ ill fan try, who were now too far off for pursuit. iag of \iVorcesters, Warwicks and Gloucesters, In this charge the yeomanry casualties were wished for nothing better. They remembered about 40, including two squadron leaders. their gallant, but hopeless, stand against over- Lieut.-Colonel Wiggin, D.S.O., who led the 162 THE TllY1ES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

charge, was wounded. Two squadrons of had not been serious, but to guard against G10ucesters, which galloped up in support, surprises the Imperial Camel Corps was sent arrived just as the engagement ended. to a position (Tel e1 N ejile) where it would be The battlefield, wrote one of the officers, was exactly on the flank of any further counter-stroke like what one has always pictured it would look like­ from the hills. The British business was for men and horses lying all around; one horse was lying across the trail of a gLm. I shall always regret my bad the time ~ th the plain. luck not being in it; it was a most splendid and gallant November 9, 10 and 11 were days of very show. Their casualties are heavy. I put the squadron on to pick up wounded, and dug two big graves with great activity, much hardship, many minor my m en and Turk prisoners, a horrible job. enterprises, but no big actions. The enemy, Huj and J emmameh were captured and the meantime, had come to a halt., and had strung mounted troops established contact ~th the out his forces, or, as General Allenby said, forces advancing from Gaza. The evidence " all the remainder of the Turkish Army which

GAZA. showed that the Turkish Army had been could be induced to fight "----Bstimated at not thrown into considerable disorganization, and more than 20,000 rifles-in an effort to stop orders were therefore issued to the cavalry the British before they could reach the junction on N ovembel' 9 directing them "to press the station of the Beersheba-Jerusalem railways, enemy relentlessly." The objective given was to which came his main supplies from the north. the point where the railway fron1 Beersheba The new Turkish front extended, some 20 miles, going north to Damascus crossed the railway in a semi-circle from the village of El Kubeibeh to Jerusalem. vVith this junction seized the -south-west of RarnIeh-on the north, by El Turks' Jerusalem Army would be cut off from Mughar, some five miles west of the railway that under von Kress. The one direction junction, and then south-east to about Beit whence there might be a threat to the British J ebrin. From Beit J ebrin the line was loosely was from the hill COllUtry north of Beersheba, continued to Hebron. This line, as far as Beit where the 53rd Division still held Khuweilfeh. .T ebrin, General Allenby arranged to attack on On November 8 the enemy force there-4,000 November 13. tc· 5,000 strong-had withdrawn towards In bringing the British forces up to the Hebron, but it returned on the 9th~ and on the new Turkish line the problem had become one lOth made a demonstration, not against of supply rather than mn.nreuvre, the provision Beersheba, but towards Arak el Menshiye, a of water and forage being particularly difficult. place north-east of Huj. The demonstration Some of the horses were without water for proved futile and the Hebron Turks again 84- hours; the troops also suffered much from retired. This threat to the British right flank thirst, but they were men" whom no danger THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE TV AR. 163

RUINS OF ASCALON.

or hardship could daunt," and they pressed Sukerier on November 10, near Beit Duras, and toward the mark, overrunning in their course found Australian Light Horse ahead. The the Land of the Philiatines. Sukerier, one of the rivers tram:verse to the The advance was made by the 52nd Division, BritiRh line of advance, has steep banks, and Indian, and other troops along the coast, the Turks were showing some disposition to '<3avalry screens going ahead; by the Londoners make a stand by it. A charge by Glasgow men and Yeomanry more to the centre, and by cleared the high ground north of Beit Duras Australian and other mounted troops on the and the Turks gave way. The mounted troops right. The Welshmen (53rd Division) remained then pushed on to Ashdod (Esdud), where in at Khuweilfeh on guard along the Hebron the time of the .J udges the Ark of the Covenant road. The Scottish troops, who, always ahead had been brought into the temple of Dagon. of the railway, had marched the whole weary The crossing of the Sukerier at Jisr Esdud was way across the desert from the Suez Canal, forced on the 11 th, and by the morning of performed marvels. In four days and nights November 12 the 52nd Division and the other they made three bayonet charges and advanced troops of the British left wing were in touch 25 miles. The day after their capture of the with the new line which the enemy was hastily railway by D eir Sineid (on November 8) in their strengthening. march north they passed parallel to ASGalon, The Londoners by November 12 had also which once famous city of the Philistines and come within striking distance of the enemy. later the chief port of Palestine is now desolate Some infantry, moving in support, covered -though its magnificent ruins testify to its 29 miles in one day on one bottle of water. former greatness. But it is inhabited and was On the edge of the mountains of Judea, on held by a small body of Turks. As the Scots the right of the infantry, Yeomanry pushed '<3ould not tarry, eight or nine mounted men, forward to Gath-they seem to have made no an officer and some grooms, dashed off, made difficulty in ident.ifying the city of Goliath a brave show, and received the submission of wit.h the ruins at Tel es Safi-where the the enemy. Later in the day infantl'Y and Gloucesters were unexpectedly attacked by guns moved into Ascalon, examining wit·h 2,000 to 3,000 Turks who had been brought by interest the ruin wrought by Saladin a.nd rail from the Ramleh junction station to hold Bibars and remembering, perhaps, that here up the enemy as long as possible. ,i\Tith odds Richard the Lion Hearted made his last of 10 to 1 against them the Gloucesters '<3onquest. Meantime a small party of horsemen held out until the infantry were able to take had galloped on to Mejdel, on the railway some over the line. The advance was delayed but miles inland, secured it and prevented the a few hours. A little farther ea~t the Australian Turks there from blowing up a big ammunition Light Horse did very go<;>d work and took up dump. The Scots came up to the Wadi a wide front. Their advanced troops were also 164 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR,

MILES. 072345 10 Hald I

THE APPROACHES TO JERUSALEM. counter attacked on November 12, and driven the vital railway junction, the chief attack was back a short distance, but the enemy' did not to be in the plain south-west of Ramleh. At press farther forward. dawn on the 12th cavalry pushed considerably For five days the British, in an area covering north of the Sukereir; Burkah was also seized 60.0 square miles, had been p'ursuing the Turks. and the right flank of the Turks was almost From Beersheba and from Gaza the enemy turned. The enemy's effort to guard this flank had removed nearly all the civilians, but in led to stiff fighting. On the British side the their flight they left behind m<:tny of the troops engaged included the Lowlanders (the inhabitants of the other towns and villages : as 52nd Division), West of England Regiments, many able-bodied men as they could they Indians (horse and foot) and a brigade of B erks, pressed into their service. The natives eve Bucks and Dorset Yeomanry, where welcomed the British troops, and that Two Edin burgh and two Rifle B att alions (wrote M1'. the great majority were glad to be rid of Massey) attacked Burkah, an extremely difficult position prepared beforehand, consisting of two lines of p erfectly Ottoman rule there was no doubt. sited trenches. The first had to be attacked up a glacis, It is an extraordinary sight (wrot.e an officer) foll owing then 1,000 yards of absolutely flat ground to another up a defeated army. The amount of stuff the Turks glacis. The Riflemen made a stirring advance, swept left behind was marvellous--:-many thousands of rOlmds the Turks out of t he first line, and then, supported by of ammunit ion, gum', cart.s, railway m aterial, cvery­ most accurate artillery fire, carried the second', The thing. Near Gath alone we got £3,000 worth of engi­ :Edinhurgh troops were counter-attacked on "Brown Hill." They were driven off, but came back, supported n eers' stores, besides any quantity of gun ammunition. .by Gurkhas, and retook the hill. The Turks left a The men love collecting t.he loot and wearing Turkish la:rge number of dead. clotheR, etc. Dead bullocks and horses were every­ where. It was only lack of water for our tired horses The attempt to prevent the British taking that stopped us. Many

The country over which the attack took place (wrote was General Allenby's verdict on the Yeomen's General Allenby) is open and rolling, dotted with small exploit, and the whole operation was, he said, villages surrounded by mud walls, with plantations " a fine feat of arms." The Turks had fought of t rees out-side the walls. The most prominent feature is the line of h eigh ts on which are the villages hard; they left 400 dead at Katrah alone, while of Katrah [199 feet.] and El Mughar [236 feet], standing b etween them the Lowlanders and Yeomanry ont above the low fiat ground which separates them from the rising ground to t.he west, on which stands the took 1,100 prisoners, 3 field and 16 machine village of Besh shit, about 2,000 yards distant. This guns. Katrah-El Mughar line forms a very strong position, Farther south there had been a fierce struggle and it was h ere that the en emy m ade his most deter­ mined resistance against the turning movement directed near the village of Y asur.

CAMEL TEAM DRAWING A CABLE·LAYING CHARIOT.

against his right flank [which rested on the Medit.er­ The Turks here had dug t renches and gun pit,s on ranean]. , a small eminence. Territorials, part of a Scottish El Mughar and Katrah were attacked by the battalion (which had gained distinction in the fight of November 2 at Gaza), rushed the mound in the face of 52nd Division and Yeomanry. The Lowlanders murderous machine-gun fire. The Turks in a strong got on to the ridge upon which, divided by the counter-charge drove back their opponents. The Scots reformed, and again attacked. "VVith bayonet and Wadi Surar, the villages lie. The Turks, clubbed rifle they won the position. Sixty of the enemy entrenched behind thick hedges of cactus and lay dead on the ground, several with their skulls among clumps of cypress trees, were dislodged, smashed. but twice regained the ridge. A third attack On the right--eastern-flank of the British was made and the Scots got close to the enemy the fighting had not been so severe, and after trenches. W1wn the fight was at its hottest the loss of El Mughar the enemy resistance vVest of England infantry made an opportune weakened on the whole line. By the evening the .thrust at the Turks' left, and a charge by t.he Turks were in gerieral retreat, part of the beaten Berks, Bucks and Dorset Yeomam'Y Brigade force going north and part east towards settled the issue. For two miles, the whole time tT erusalem. The British line extended from under heavy fire, they galloped across the open Et Tineh on the east by Katrah and Mughar to plain, then breasted a rIdge, dism01.mted and Yebnah and the sea. Yebnah, the J abneel of attacked the enemy trenches on the northern .r 03hua, had been taken by the Yeomanry * Nevertheless some help was derived from this line. before their attack on Mughar. Et Tineh had "We caught three of the Turkish railway engines," been captured by Australians. Situated at the said a mernber of the force, "and it was rath er amusing getting them going and turning th em to our own usa." junction of the Gaza and Beersheba railways, 166 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

and only a few miles south of the junction of about 80 guns, more than 100 machine guns, and very large quantities of ammunition fLnd other stol'es had the Beersheba and J erusalem railways, it been captured. * contained large depots of ammunition and other From this point Allenby's chief concern was stores. These at the Jast moment ,the Turks J erusalem. First, howe¥er, it was n ecessary to themselves began to rifle. The looters were clear up the situation on his left flank, the flank disturbed by an armoured motor car which resting upon the Mediterranean, and to this dashed up with its machine guns busy; over end the occupation of the country up to J oppa 200 Turks were killed or wounded and many (Jaffa) was essential. The Turkish ,forces prisoners made. which had gone north soon showed that they were not negligible. They had r etr eated but five miles and enemy guns were shelling their lost Junction Station. During November 14, however, the mounted troops, followed hard by the infantry, prossed towards Ramleh and Lydda. Ekron (Akir) the last of the five chief cities of the Philistinos was gathered in and the J ewish colony at N ew Akir found uninjured. Most progress was made by the New Zealanders, who advanced west of the Ramleh line to Ayun Kara, only six miles south of Joppa. Upon them t.he Turks made a strong counter-attack. " Running very quickly b ehind a somewhat strong gun fire, the Turks got to within 15 yards of our line, attacking with bombs and rifles, ,,,,-h en the whole line of Auckland troops, with CAPTAIN NEIL PRIMROSE, M.C., M.P., some Wellington Mounted Rifles, rushed for­ He had held the appointments of Under-Secretary ward with the b ayonet. The Tmks broke and to Foreign Office (1915), Military Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions (1916), and Chief Whip fled, leaving over 400 dead as a r esult of the (1916-17). bayonet charge alone." (Mr. Massey.) The Turkish army was b eing split up, but On the next day, November 15, there was one more effort was made by von Kress to keep another-the fourth-of those brilliant charges control of the railway connecting Jerusalem by m01.mted troops which marked the campaign. with the north. Infantry sent forward to Covering the main roa,d from Ramleh to J eru­ " Junction Station," as the British c!'tlled it, met salem, and flanking the advance of the British with some opposition and weee held up for the to Ramleh, a ridge, 756 ft. high, stands up night. Early on November 14, however, it was prOluinently out of the low foot hills. This is found that the Turks had vanished. The station the site of the ancient Gezer, once a royal city was occupied * a nd a solid wedge of troops of the Canaanites and given to the King of thrown in cut in two the enemy army. The Egypt as a dowry to his daughter on her eastern or Jerusalem part was isolated from the marriage to Solomon. N ear the ruins, in the portion in the coast sector. Only on a line con­ v illage of Abu Shusheh, a Turkish rearguard sirl.erably farther north could the two fragments had established itself. Infantry attacked the unite, and to effect that l.mion would , involve, ridge from the west, while the Berks, Bucks so it. seemed, the abandonment. of J erusalem. and Dorset Yeomanry moved to the south. A definite stage in the advance had been At. first the Turks fought stoutly, but seeing reached and General Allen by thus summarized the movement of the yeomanry endeavoured the re3ults attained :- to retire. It was too late. Sweeping over t·h e I !1 15 days our, force had advanced 60 miles on its level ground at a great pace the yeomen right and about 40 on its lE-ft. It h ad driven a Turkif'h galloped up the ridge and got among the Turks Army of nine infantry Divil:'ions and one Cavalry Division out of a pOf'ition in which it had been en­ with the sabre. The rout of the en emy was trenched for six mont.hs, and h ad pursued it, giving battle whenever it attempted to stand, and inflicting * By D ecember 9 the guns captured, apart from on it losses amounting probably to nearly two-thirds of machine guns, had increased to over 100, and mora than the enemy's original effectives. Over 9,000 prisoners, 20,000,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and 250,000 rounds of gun ammunition had been seized . Over 20 aeroplanes * The Flying Corp ,~ in bombing raids on this junct ion h ad been destroyed by British a irmen or burnt by the had obtained some 60 direct hits. enemy to avoid capture. THE 'TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 167 complete. Four hundred and thirty-one dead The capture of Abu Shusheh marked the end, Turks were counted on the ground, and 360 for a few days, of the Turkish resistance in the prisoners and one gun were taken. Thus coast region. Rarnleh, which had been the twice in two days the Berks, Buck s and main enemy headquarters, was occupied on Dorset Yeomanry had charged mounted and the afternoon of November 15" and Lydda, on each occasion h ad won their objec­ the reputed birthplace and burial place 'Of tives. They s1.Ufered losses, among the killed St. George, the Patron 'Saint of England,

IN PALESTINE: BRINGING IN A CAPTURED GERMAN AEROPLANE. being Captain Neil Primrose, M.C., M.P_ before the night fell. At Lydda 300 Turks (Royal Bucks Hussars ), yowiger son of Lord surrendered and at both towns were large Rosebery. Mr. Primrose was one of the most quantities of abandoned material. The remains hrilliant of the younger generation of politicians, of five aeroplanes were discovered. N p-ither and thrice during the war had held important town had suffered ,greatly and the inhabitants offices in the Ministry. But preferring his showed much hospitality to the victors. The military duties he had, after service in France, advance from Lydda to J oppa met with no gone to Egypt early in 1917. He was buried resistance_ Australians and New Zealanders rode in the garden of the French convent at Ramleh. * quietly into the seaport of Jerusalem on the * Major E. A_ de Rothschild, a brother officer in the Bucks Yeomanry and a cousin of Mr. NeiI Primrose, was evening of November 16_ Of the genuineness mortally wounded and died on November 17. of the we] come , ,given the British by the 168 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. towllsfolk there was no doubt. Within a Jerusalem, it gave a new shock to the Turkish fF)W days. several of the Jewish inhabita,nts High Command. who had been forcibly deported the pre­ Until it happened, the Turkish Headquarters vious MaToh and had hidden in the neigh­ staff, and their German advisers, had not hourhodc1 Ir eturned to the town. N one of helieved that the British could break through the buildings of J oppa had been injured, the Gaza-Beersheba defences and the rout of but the magnificent orchards around it had their army created the utmost alarm. Im­ heen thinned, and sonl.e entirely destroyed, mediately it happen ed councils of war were held by the cutting down of the famous orange in Jerusalem to devise, if possible, means for trees for fuel. its defence. Both Turks and Germans kn /?w General Allenby pushed a few miles north the loss of prestige which would follow its of J oppa across the Plain of Sharon to get a abandomnent. Enver P asha, hastening from

JOPPA, WITH AN ITALIAN CRUISER IN THE ROADSTEAD. defensible front for his left flap-k on the southern the Imperial H eadquarters at Constantinople, bank of the Auja river and was then free to reached Jerusalem on November 12 and went concentrate his efforts against Jerusalem, and 'on to Hebron, but he departed" as suddenly socure his centre from possible incursions and silently as he had come."* The from the hills of J udea and Samaria. For the ty~ann~c~l Djemal, ~he organizer of, massacres, advance on J ersualem it was necessary to who two months before had been the Kaiser's pause till railway communications were more guest at,· Berlin, started from Damascus, by forward; meantime at Ascalon, J oppa and the Hedjaz railway. ~he train in which - he other placEs .along the coas~when weather travelled was blown up (November 11) by the permitted-stores were landed, warships guard­ Arabs and Djemal had a na.rrow escape, mem­ illg against submarine ~ttacks. To make secure bers of his staff b eing killed. Djemal returned the position in the centre it was, however, north, whence he issued orders for the forcible ' necessary to act at once, and accordingly on deportation, which meant death, of 300 the day after.the occupation of J OPIla yeomanry Armenian families from J erusalem. were sent from Ramleh into the Judean hills. Though thiR was in reality a defensive measure * This account of ' events in Jerusalem during the last days of Turkish rule is based in part on an article and did !not indicate an immediate attack on in The Times of F ebruary 4, 1918. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 169

A greater figure arrived. General von mountains was intended primarily to protect Falkenhayn came from Aleppo to see if he the British forces in the plain from precisely could r eorganize the Turkish Army. He was sU(3h a danger as developed-the bringing up of :in the city during the battle at El Mughar enemy reinforcements and a flank attack from and stayed till November 16, when he departed the east. At the same time the advance brought by road for Shechem. The Turks were left to the British close to Jerusalem. Palestine is a their own devices-with the assurance, ho,w­ ,ever, that reinforcements would be sent. Ali Faud Pasha, the conlluander of the force in the Jerusalem district, and Izzet Bey, the governor of the city, determined that they would not abandon the town without a struggle, and the defence they put up shamed the Germans. 'They (the Germans) had been the first to give the signal to evacuate Jerusalem. When the news reached Jerusalem on Novem­ ber 9 tnat the British were at Huj they began to leave. The Germans and Austrians were even now (said t.he ~orrespondent of The Times ) prepa-ring to evacu atb the Holy City. During the next few d s,ys lame or exhausted Turks, wounded and stragglers, whom thE' GB rman motor.lorry drivers refused to pick up, and Turkish officers shaken into truthfulness by the extent of their defeat, brought news of the victory. Turkish officials at once began to leave the city wit.h their families. The German depots were hurriedly empt.ied of unessential supplies, such as sugar, which were sold {or a song. MUllitions and essential stores were then sent north to Shechem, or east to J ericho. From the high towers of the city and from the Mount of Olives one could see a 'great double wall of dust along every 'road each d ay, and pn a clear day one could see lorries, carts, and pack animals streaming up and down. GENERAL VON FALKENHAYN, 'Owners of the few horse carriages left asked for and obtained £10 a seat from fugitives who were making fo r German Military Adviser of the Turks. :Shechem. Ali Faud, relieved of the presence of Falken­ small country, and from Ramleh, at the foot of hayn, further purged the city. The Latin, the hills, to Jerusalem is but 24 miles in a direct Greek, Armenian and Coptic patriarchs and line. To get to Jerusalem only two main roads .Jewish notables suspected of Zionism were sent were available to the British-that from the off to Shechem (November 19). The inhabitants south from Beersheba through Hebron and that ,of Jerusalem were warned that street fighting from the west from J oppa via Ramleh. Strategic was to be expected and that in it they would reasons compelled General Allenby to attack have to aid the soldiery. The city was to be Jerusalem from the west; an advance by defended to the last. Moreover, Ali Faud Hebron being intended in the later stages of strung out a thin line of troops through the hills the campaign. The Turks had the use of other to regain touch with the dismembered part of roads, one east to Jericho and the Hedjaz the army north of J oppa. By the railway Railway, a second going north to Shechem ,through Central Palestine and by the Shechem (Nablus). Since they had lost command of the ['oad reinforcements, including field guns and Jerusalem 'railway it was by the Shechem roa'd ,many machine guns, were poured down from that they kept up communication with Northern the north by Falkenhayn and Djemal, and the Syria. Hence the first objective of the British n ew troops were some of the finest in the advance into the m01mtains was to get a hold Turkish Army. Thus the beaten host was on that road. reinvigorated, and on November 21 the To penetrate the mountains was no ea8Y Y eomanry which had advanced into the hills of task. Some of the difficulties are indicated in Judea received a distinct check. Hope of saving the following passage of General Allenby ) ~ Jerusalem revived, dispatch :- As already stated this first advance into the The west side of the Judroan range consists of a series 170 THE TIMES HIS TORY OF THE W AR. of spurs running east and west, and separated from t roops entered the narrow defile by the Bab et one anoth er by narrow valleys. These spurs are stoep, bare, and stony for the most part, and i n p laces preci­ vVad, the picturesqu e p ass well known to pitou s. B etween t h e foot of the spur of t h e main range t ravellers by road t o J erusalem. The st eep and t he coastal plain is t he low r ange known as the sides of the p ass are crowned b y rocky h eigh ts. Shephelah. On our intended line o f advance only one good r oad, clad with wild olive and other t rees. H ere the' t h e m ain J affa-J erusalem r oad, t raversed the hills from Turks ha d strong, well organized r earguards, east to we<;;t. F or nearly four miles, betweon Bab el Vvad [ th e Gate of th e P ass] and Saris, this road passes but t he gallantry of t he Somerset , VViltshire and t hrough a n arrow d efile, and i t h ad been d amaged by Gurkha r egiments-to wh om was given the· t he Turks in severa l p laces. The oth er r oads were m ere h on om' of t he attack- prevailed, and by t h e t rack s on th e side of t h e hill or up the s tony beds of the wadis. . .. Through out t h ese hills t h e water su pply was evening t h ey had cleared t h e defile and the· scanty without d evelop ment. British were at Saris. H aving thus got through. Up the side tracks north of the m ain r oad t h e most dangerous p art of the roa d the m ar ch mounted Yeomanry b egan t o move on N ovem­ was continued on the 20th to Kuryet el Enab­ b el' 17, the given objective b eing B eeroth (in (only six miles from J erusalem), which was Arabic El Bireh=the wells ), a town on the cleared of the enemy by a b ayonet charge. Shechem road nine miles north of Jerusalem. From tIllS point a modificat,ion in what was· The advance wa;::; begun so soon after the defeat t he obvious line of advance- straight forward­ of the Turks at Mughar that the disorganized was made. It was the desire of the British t o­ enemy bands first met did not offer great avoid any dam age to t he sacred sites of P alestine· opposition. The hills themselves were greater and "in order to avoid any fighting in the obstacles. After a short distance it was found close vicinity of the Holy City " the m ain that the tracks were impossible for any vehicle body of the infantry were turned north towards. on wheels, and a little later the horses had to be . Bireh. Som erset and other W est Country sent back-it was a desolate region, fitted r egiments, climbing a p ath so steep that n o­ perhaps for goats, but not for cavalry. " I wheeled traffic was possible, came under shell cannot see," said one man, "why the people fire, but secured (November 21) a footing on in the Bible made such a rattle about the the ridge, n early 3,000 ft. high, on which country." stands N ebi Samwil, a tomb mosque, supposed By the evening of the 18th one party Qf to mark the burial place of the proph~t Samuel, Yeomanry had reached Beth Haron t.he Lowe!. and held in sp eeial v eneration by Moslem s. * (in Arabic, Beit ur el Tahta). They were The mosque itself, a transformed Crusader s" traversing country which had b een a battle­ church, fell to the B ritish. The British hacl ground for thirty centuries; it was at B eth carefully avoided injuring the mosque, but the· Boron that Joshua in the fight with the five Turks, with their indifference to I slam, sh elled kings of the -Amorites uttered the famous it as soon as it passed from their hands. From invocation: "SlID, stand thou still upon N ebi Samwil J erusalem , five miles away to the­ Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of south-east, was clearly visible. While the Ajalon." St.riking north from this spot ~ on the m ain force secured this commanding position. 20th the Y eomanry were only four miles from t.he troops left at Kuryet el Enab capt.ured the Shechem road when, near Beitunia, they 'Kustil ridge , two and a h alf miles farther east. met with strong opposition. Next day, however, The position on the evening of November 21 they succeeded in pushing forward another two ~ as thus apparently v ery favourable to the· miles. After heavy rain the weather had become British. Infantry h eld N ebi Samwil and bright and cold. Kustil and Y eomanry were but two miles west On November 19, two days after the of the Shechem road at Bireh. The next two­ y eomanry ha~ entered the mountains, General days showed, howev er, that this was the limit Bulfi.n sent the 52nd Division, London Terri­ of their advance for the time. On the 22nd torials, West Country R egiments, and other the Y eomanry were h eavily a ttacked by the infantry from Ramleh, along the main J oppa­ Turks (whose r einforcem ents had arrived) and Jerusalem road, Australian mounted troops w e.re compelled, after bitter fighting, to fall moving on their right flank. Latron and Amnas ba ck three miles, to B eth Horon Upper (Beit ur (Emmau~*) were taken without difficulty, the * A W a r Office communique d escribed Nebi Samwi lt critit'al part of the advance came when the a s "the ancient Mizpah," but it is not the Mizpah of t h e cov enant" t h e Lord watch b etween m e and thee." • Nt.. tht' Emmaus where Chris t "talked with t h e­ Mizpah is a common n am e in P alestine, d enoting a. diSClplt\l< 00 the way." watch t ower or observ ation post. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 171

e1 Foka). On the same day the Turks made two and new roads, along which heavy and field strong assaults on the Briti.sh positions on N ebi artillery were hauled, built. Ammunition and Samwil. They were repulsed, and on Novem-' supplies were brought up and the w~ter supply ber 23 and 24 determined and gallant attacks greatly developed. Naturally Ali Faud Pasha were made on the Turkish positions west of the did not let the British complete their prepara­ Shechem road. But both attacks failed. The tions without interruption. The whole period enemy was able to support his infantry by was one of severe local fighting in which the artillery fire from guns mounted on the hills, Turks were constantly on the offensive-and

while, said Genoral Allonby, "our artillery, dm'ing this fortnight the citizens of J erusalemf -from lack of roa.ds, could not be brought up who had thought their deliverance at hand, .to g~ve adequate support to our infantry." gave themselves up to despair.

CAMEL AMBULANCES.

In these circumstances orders were given to From November 27 to November 30 the consolidate the positions gained ar0 prepare Turks delivered a series of attacks - directed for relief. against the left flank: of the British position Summing up the results of this first advance from Beth Horon Upper to the N ebi Samwil into the mountains General Allenby wrote :- ridge and El Burj, a position south-west of Though these troops had failed to reach their final N ebi Samwil. 'There was particularly heavy ,objectives, they had achieved invaluable result.s. The fighting between El Burj and Beth Horon narrow passes from the plain to the plateau of the Jud&an range have seldom been forced, and have heen Upper, but the Yeomanry (Shropshire, Cheshire fatal to many invarling armies. Had the attempt not and Welsh Regiments) and Scottish Lowland been made at once, or had it been pressf'd ",ith less detflr­ mination, the enemy would have had time to reorganize troops successfully resisted all attacks and his defences in the passes lower do",n, and the conquest inflicted severe losses on the enemy. At Beth of the plateau would then have been slow, costly, and Horon Upper one company took 300 prisoners. precarions. As it wa,3, pO!"itions had been won from which the final attack could he prepared and delivered At El Burj on November 30 a battalion ~ith good prospects of success. attacked the British position and was repulsed. It was 10 days before all reliefs were com­ Then in a counter-charge Australian Light pleted and another four days before the advance Horse virtually destroyed the batt,alion, taking could be resumed. In that fortnight the 200 prisoners, and killinglf much larger number. Engineers performed miracles. Existmg roads All the efforts of the enemy to recapture the and tracks were improved out of knowledge, N ebi S-amwil ridge failed before the unshakable 172 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. resistance of London Territorials, who had push his troops on the Nebi Samwil-Beth Horon relieved the v\Test Country troops. Their line north-ea.st astride the Jerusalem-Shechem attacks cost the Turk~ very dearly. " We took road, while other troops coming from the south 750 prisoners between November 27 and 30, were to strike east between J erusalem and and the enemy's losses in killed and wounded Jericho. If this plan succeeded the Holy 'were undoubtedly h eavy."* City would be cut off from help. The plan One incident of this fortnight's defensive did succeed, but the Turkish forces with­ fightihg was specially noteworthy. At Beth drew before the net round Jerusalem was 'Horon Upper the opposing lines were very complete. close, the Turks holding the village, which is The Jerusalem operations proper began on perched on a steep conical hill. A dismounted December 4. Since their famous fight at company of Welsh Horse was ordered to take Khuweilfeh on November 11 the 53rd (Welsh} the village. Working their way behind they Division had not budged from their position got, in the dusk of evening, to the top of the hill some 11 miles north of B eersh eba. Now from the Turkish side:- they were employed for the turning movement against Jerusalem from the south. vVith some In the village (wrot.e Mr. Massey) they found 500 Turks with a German officer. The enemy laid down their Home County troops and a cavalry regiment aerIlS, and when the Yeomen got into t he tiny village they moved from their camp on D ecember 4 square they saw them standing to. The German officer hegan running about, shouting" Start fighting." Some northward. The region into which they moved of the . enemy picked up their rifles and bE'gan fighting was eminently suitable for defence, but the and others followed. They w.)re too late. The Y eomen, Welsh troops found that the Turks had with­ seeing the Turks had not surrendered, fired into the mass, and for five minutes there was a desperate battle in drawn, and on December 6, without opposition, the small enclosure and the narrow streats leading they entered Hebron, the city of Abraham, and therefrom, the range seldom exceeding 10 yards. The German officer was bayoneted and killed, as were m any David's capital before he conquered J erusalem. Turks. The remainder then gave in. They outnumber-3d By the evening of the 6th the h ead of the our force by four to one. column was 10 miles north of H ebron. It was The Yeomanry officer decided not to hold the village, but to escort the prisoners to the British lines. The scheduled to reach Bethlehem on the 7th and enemy in the failing light. took this large party to be the the southern outskirts of ' Jerusalem by dawn British attacking the hill, and sh elled them. In t.he confusion soma Turks got away, but the Yeomen on the 8th, and SQ careful was General Allenby brought in eight, officer;:; and 99 men, more than twie6 that nothing should be done to injure any the number of our. force. . sacred site that the colmp.n was instructed that Ali Faud Pasha, aided .by his. reinforcements no troops were to enter the city. On Decem­ from Northern Syria, had d~ne his best to keep ber 7, however, the weather broke, and fo]!, the British from Jerusalem, and, as Sir Philip three days rain was almost continuous. The Chetwode said, "certain Turkish divisions, as hills were covered with mist, the roads rendered always, fought like tigers." The enemy offen­ almost impassable. In these circumstances the sive in no way, however, affected the positions progress of the column was delayed, and on tl~e taken up by the British on November 22, nor morning j>f the 8th it was still some distance did it impede the progress of General Allenby's south of Jerusalem. The delay was not altq­ preparations. ,These completed, the Commander­ gether due to the weather, but to the deter­ in -Chief fixed December 8 for the attack on mination not to injure the place where Chri!")t Jerusalem. There was to be, if possible, no was born. Bethlehem had been chosen by the fighting close to the city and no injury to any of Turks as their advanced southern line and they its buildings. General Allenby's plan was to had posted their guns in such a position that counter-battery work would have endangered * As became good strategists the Turks did not. confine the village; consequently the British were their offensive to the hill country, but demonstra.ted against the British left by Joppa . On November 25 shelled without being allowed to r eply. But the British advanced post s north of th3 Auja were driven in the end they drove back the enemy, and across the river, and in the succeeding days the Turks found the village, sacred by 80 many asso­ as.,ailed the front protect.ing J oppa. In an attack on the night of November 29 an enemy p arty 150 strong ciations, lminjured. penetrated the outpost line north-e8.lSt of the port, Despite rain, mud, mist and intense cold" and hut next morning the whole hostile detachment was surrounded and captured by Australian Light Horse. . the delay to the southern column (which now This was not the only ret.aliat,ory move of the British; constituted Allenby's right flank) the attack on . 40 men from an East County R egiment attacked a post the enemy positions guarding the Sheehem on the Auja h21d by over 100 Turks, killed 50, and . brought back prisoners. (Nablus) road was delivered on the 8th as THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 173

JERUSALEM FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. arranged. It was a da.y calculated to try the The day's fighting is thus de3crihed by General stoutest troops. Observation from the air was Allenby:- quite impossible, and some of the roads had The troops moved into positions of assembly by become such quagmires that the guns could not night, and, assaulting at dawn on the 8th, soon carried be brought up. The Turks, too, had placed their first obj :lCtives. They then pressed steadily forward. The mere physical difficulty of climbing tho their best. troops in the field, organized storming steep and rocky hillsides and crossing the deap valleys companies, equipped with the best German would have sufficed t.o render progress slow, and thp opposition encount.ered was considerable. Artillery skill. And these Turks put up so stout a support was soon difficult, o~ ing to the length of the resistance that all the troops and officials left in advance and the difficulty of moving guns forward. But by about noon troops had a lready advanced J erusalem were able to get a{'Vay-not north­ L ~ndon over two miles, and were swinging north-east to gain ward to Shechem, but eastward to Jericho. the Nablus-Jerusalem road; wh.ile the Yeomanry had 174 THE T I JYIES HIS TORY OF THE WAR.

captured the Beit I ksa spur, and were preparing for About midnight the governor, I zzet Bey, went a furth er advan ce. p ersonally to the t elegraph office, discharged t he staff, As the right column [ th at from H ebron J ha d been and himself sm ashed the instruments with a hammer. delayed ... i t was necessary for the L ondon t roops At 2 a .m. on Sund ay (December 9) t ired T urks began t.o throw back t h eir right and form a defen t5 ive fl ank to t roop t hrough the J a fl' a gate from t he west and tiou t h­ fa ciIlg east towards Jcrusnlem, from t he western out ­ west, a nd anxious watchers, p eering out t hrough the s kirts of which eonsiderab le rifle and artillery fire was win dows of th e grand new h otel to learn t he meaning being experienced. of the t ramping, were cheered by the sullen rem ark of a n officer, "Git m aya m ejbooruz " C\Ve've 'got to go), a nd from t wo· till seven th at morning t he Turks streamed through and out of t h e city, which echoed for t he last time t heir shuffling t ramp. Thus when early on D ecember 9 the British advance was resumed the London troops and Yeomanry, driving back weak rearguards, had no difficulty in securing the Shech em road. They occupied strong ground astride the road four m iles north of the city. Meantime W eh:;h and Cheshire troops swinging north-east from the Bethlehem direction got across the Jericho road. a little while after the m ain Tw'kish force had passed in its flight eastward. Some companies had b een left on t he Mount of Olives to cover the en em y retreat and these shelled the British. But their guns MAJOR-GENERAL SIR L. J. BOLS, K.C.M.G., were silenced and they were driven from the Chief of Staff to General Sir Edmund Allenby. Mount by W elsh troops. That was the end of This delayed the advance, and early in t h a afternoon the fighting. it was deciderl t,o consolida t e the line gained and resume Izzet B ey, the last civil official t o ,leave ~h e advance next d ay, when the right column wonld be Jerusalem, had left behind a letter of surrender, III a pOilition to exert its pressure. By nightfall our line ran from Nebi Samwil to the east of Beit Iksa, " which the mayor, as the sun rose, set forth to t hrough Lifta to a p oint about l ~ miles west of J eru· deliver to the British commander, accompanied salem, when ce it was thrown ba ck facmg east. All the enemy's prep ared d efen ces west a nd north-west of by a few frightened policem en holding two J erw:;alem h ad been captured; and our troops were tremulous white flags. H e walked towards the within a f'l hort clistance of tha Nablus-Jerusalem roarl. Lifta Hill, and m et the first armed deliver ers The London troops and Yeomanry had displayed great endurance in difficult ~ondition s . The Lonnon on a ~p o t which m ay b e marked in the future troops especially. aft,er a night march in heavy rain with a white stone as the site of an historic to reach their positions of deployment, had m ade a n advance of three to four miles in difficult hills in the episode." It was the 2072nd anniversary of the face of stubborn opposition. day on which Judas Maccabeus had r ecaptured During the day about 300 prisoners were taken and the Tflmple from the Selusids. m any Turks killed. Our own casualt,ies were light. In Jerusalem it was a day of great tension­ The King rightly interpret ed the general the inhabitants and the Turks fill-ed with feeling when , on r eceiving news that Jerusalem alternate and contrary hopes and fears. had been captured, without injury to any of the Towards dusk (says the correspondent of The Time,y Holy Places, he declared that" he joined with already quoted) the British troops were reported to his people throughout the British Empire in have passed Lifta, and to be within sight of the city. On this news being received a sudden panic fell on the welcoming the joy ous tidings of this m emorable Turks west and south-west of the town, and at five in feat of British Arms." For his service General the afternoon civilians were surprised to see a Turkish Allenby was awarded the G.C.M.G.-a specially tra nsport, column g".\loping furiously citywards along the Jaffa road. In passing they a larmed a ll units within appropriate honour fo r the soldier who had sight or hearing, and the wea ri ed infantry arose and ho:sted the Union Jack over the tomb of St. fled, bootless, and without rifles, never p a u., ing to t hink or to fi6ht. Som e ware fl og~e rl from behind by officers George-and rewards were b estowed 0_1 his chief and were comp,)Ued to pick up their arms ; others lieutenants. * P articular care was t aken, how­ stag;sered on through the mud, allci menting the confusion ever, to demonstrate that the campa ~ gn was not of the re treat. After fonr centuries of conquest thB Turk was ridding directed against I slam, but for the liberation of the land of his presence in the hi t terness of d0feat. all the p eoples of P alestine-Christians, J ews and a great enthn3iasm a rose among th·? J ew,3. " The Turk", are running," t hey called ; " thp. day of deli verance and M031em s alike-fron the tynmny of" the is come." The nig htmare was fast p a ,>sing a way, but the Tnrk still li ngered. In the evening h e fired his * Generals BulAn and Chetwode received the K .C.B .• guns continuously. Gen eral B ols the K ,C.M.G. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 175

Osmanlis, and that France and Italy fully asso­ (which he had not conquered) 19 years pre­ ciated themse.lves in this policy. Borton Pasha, viously. The procession was wholly on foot. a. high British official in the Egyptian service, A little before noon a guard of 100 men was was at once appointed military governor, Order drawn up on either side of the J affa gate, whose restored in the city and the safety of the sacred iron doors are rarely opened. Every man of sites secured. this guard h ad been carefully chosen-they General Allenby made his official entry into Jerusalem on Tuesday, becember 11. TIllS historic ceremony was marked by studied simplicity; in violent contrast to the theatrical entry of the Emperor William into the city

[Patestinl ":ft('~at p :t'Jto~;aph. THE ENTRY OF GENERAL ALLENHY INTO JERLSALRM BY 'IH.h JA¥¥A GA'IE. '-' -1 0:>

[Palestine 0 fjicial photograph. JERUSALEM: THE READING OF THE PROCLAMATION BY AN INTERPRETER ON THE STEPS OF THE GIT ADEL . AT THE FOOT OF THE TOWER OF DA VID. THE TIMES HIS TORY OF THE WAR. 177 represented England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, heightened by the measures enforced for the Australia, N ew Zealand, India, France, and protection of the Holy Sites. While other Italy. At midday came General Allenby, accom­ Christian and Jewish sacred sites were placed panied by a few members of his staff and by under guards belonging to those faiths, the Col. Picot, head of the French Political Mission, hereditary Moslem custodians of the Church of the commanders of the French and Italian the Holy Sepulchre were asked to take up their detachments and by the military attaches of accustomed duties "in remerubrance of the France, Italy, and the United 'States: The magnanimous act of the Caliph Omar, who small company was met by Borton Pasha, and protected that Church." passing under the Jafla gate turned to the right into the Armenian quarter-the ancient Zion­ Thus Jerusalem passed from under the and halted at the Citadel, built on the site of military domination of, the Germans and the David's palace. On the steps of the Citadel, Turks. And having lost the Holy City by by the base of the Tower of David, the pro­ ~rms, they immediately set on foot a campaign <:ession halted and a proclamation addressed of words, to deprive the liberators, if possible, ~, To the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Blessed of the moral results of their achievement. and the people dwelling in the vicinity" was " Jerusalem has been evacuated," the German read in Arabic, Hebrew, English, French, Italian, wireless announced on Decemlter 12. " The Greek, and Russian. It announced the estab­ most important reason for the decision to lishment of martial law, but" lest any of you evacuate it voluntarily was the fact that no should be 8.larmed by reason of your experience nation in the world which believes in God could at the hands of the enemy . . . every person wish its sacred soil to be the scene of bloody should pursue his lawful business without fear battles. The keeping of a town which is of interruption." The proclamation pro­ worthless from a military point of view was of ceeded: no importance in comparison with this con­ sideration." Furthermore, since your City is regarded with aff ection by the adherents of three of the great religions of man­ Notwithstanding their protestation, the kind, and its soil h as been consecrated by the prayers and enemy, as has been shown, had done their best pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions for m any centuries, therefore do I m ake known to "dismantle" Jerusalem from the religious to you that every sacred building, monument, Holy spot, point of view by deporti ng the Patriarchs of s hrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or the several ChrIstian confessions, as well as customary place of prayer, of whatsoever form of the three reli~ons, will be maintained and protected accord­ selected notables from the Christian and · ing to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose Jewish communities. Without incurring t.he faiths they are sacred. odium of destroying the sacred edifices, they This charter of freedom for all Faiths having believed that they could in this way paralyse been read, the company walked up Zion Street the religious life that centred in them and to the barrack square, where General Allenby interrupt the maintenance of the ,several received the heads of the civil communities rites. and other notables and deputies of t,he deported This action on the part of thJ3 Turco-German leaders of the various Christian confessions. The military authorities was supplemented by mayor and the mufti, the sheikhs in ~h~rge of propaganda in the German Press. A" Catholic the mosques of Omar and Aska, representatives Theologian" in the Cologne Gazette developed of t,he J ewish committees and of the Anglican, the thesis that the earthly Jerusalem had no Latin, Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Armenian, "religious value" for Christians, and implied Syrian and Coptic Churches, and the Abyssinian that the heavenly Jerusalem-" which no vile Bishop were all presented, and finally the Englishman could conquer"-was still within Spanish Consul, who, as almost the only neutral Germany's Ma chtsp h are. Herr Naumann, the diplomatic personage in Jerusalem, had charge gifted auth~r of "Mitteleuropa," took a senti­ of the interests of most of the belligerents. The mental line. " The real Jerusalem," he argued, presentations over, General Allenby returned to " the place where Jesus died, the place whence the J affa gate. Not until he was outside the proceeded the Holy Spirit," had been preserved walls did he mount his horse. The simplicity in the sympathetic atmosphere of Turkish ~nd sincerity which had marked the whole rule. But now Jerusalem was to be included ceremony created a deep impression oh the in the modern, technical, commercial, capitalist, inhabitants of J erusalem, an impression English-intern~tional system, and "under 178 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

English guidance would b e improved in the Palestine, Djem.al singled out his victims Western sense." among the Arab leaders, and it is easy to The instinctive perception that the Turco­ understand their r elief at the removal of .the German reg1:me was not destined to return Turkish menace. was an interesting symptom in the case of a The Moslem custodians of the Holy Places historian of H err Naumann's intuitive power; likewise expreosed their satisfaction w~th but from the beginning of the British occupation General Allenby's dispositions, and the safety his characterization of the change that had of the 'Mosque of Omar was a t once assured by occurred was belied by the course of events the detailment of a guaq::l of Indian Moslems in Jerusalem itself. Ottoman rule in Jerusalem from the 123rd Outram's Hifles. The departure was just four centuries old; Germany did not of the self-styled" Turanian " Turks thus made begin to cast her shadow there till the Kaiser's no interruption in the Moslem tradition of visit in 1898; both were passing incidents in 13 centuries, and the gratitude of the Arab the city's political history, and in her religious nation was promptly expressed on December 15 history they had not counted at all. by a joint Moslem-Christian delegation from The Turks ruled Jerusalem politically by the the Syrian and Palestinian colonies in Great right of the sword. They had no religious Britain to the War Cabinet. This delegation footing there except through their adherence expressed, in its address, "the hope and to I slam, which they shared with the majority assurance that His Majesty's armies and the of the native Arabic-speaking population. But French and Italian contingents would continue under the reign of the Committee of Union and their victorious march for the deliverance of Progress, and especially during the military the populations they were freeing from the dictatorship of Djemal Pasha since the begin­ despotism of Turkish rule" ; and the King of ning of the war, they had repudiated the the Hedjaz, the acknowledged representative religious bor~d in favour of a violent-handed of the Arab n'sorgimento, declared his appre­ nationalism, and employed their political power ciation of "the care and solicitude shown to to assail their Arab co-religionists with a racial the Holy Places," and ascribed the victory to war. As at Damascus and Beirut, so in the justice of the British cause .

. ~ . : es t i ", e officia.l photograph. THE' SCENE ON THE STEPS OF THE CIT ADEL AT THE FOOT OF THE TOWER OF DAVID. The officer holding a paper in his hands is reading the Proclamation in English. THE TIME8 HI8TORY OF THE WAR. 179

[Official photograph

GENERAL ALLENBY RECEIVES THE CITY NOTABLES IN THE BARRACK SQUARE.

The liberation of Jerusalem meant still salem in the year 70 A.D. For the first time \ more to the Jews, for while it is only the third since that catastrophe, conditions in Palestine in sanctity of the Moslem Holy Places, it is h:td become favourable for the rebuilding of the peculiar shrine of J udaism in the sense Jewish society there. rn which Mecca and Medina are of Islam. The The Germans r ealized how this beneficent British advance freed not only the most sacred effect of the British success would influence places of ancient Jewry, but the site marked Jewish sympathies all over the world, and were out for the future Jewish university, and also anxious to make some cO"lmter-move-little about 20 out ?f the 40 and more agricultural prospect though they had of reversing facts by colonies founded by Jewish immigrants in propaganda. But the susceptibilities of their Palestine during the last generation. Turkish allies were grievously in the way. The This Jewish colonizing rnoveInent has be~n avowed war aims of the Committee of Union described in Chapter CCXVII. The British and Ptogress were the integrity, centralization, advance over the territory in which the more and " Turcification" of the Ottoman Empire. southerly colonies are situated was so rapid They could not forgive the Germans for having that the Turks had no time to lay them waste left them militarily in the lurch, and their anger B "uildings, plantations and public works were grew as they watched the Gennan Government fOlmd practically intact; only the live -stock appropriating for itself vast territories in and, unhappily, a large proportion of the abJe­ Europe at the expense of Russia. Talaat was bodied male pop"luation had been commandeered. demanding German military aid, and until that These colonies offered an invaluable nucleus for was forthcmning he did not see why he should the process of reconstruction, and b efore Inany disavow his party's war aims in order to enhance weeks had passed a Zionist Commission, headed Germany's popularity with the Jews. It was, by the President of the English Zionist Federa­ therefore, not s1.U'prising that when Talaat was tion, Doctor Weizmann, was dispatched to induced to grant an interview on the subject of Palestine with the authorization of the British Zionism to the correspondent of the V088ische Government. Their task was to reconstruct Zeitung at Constantinople, his statements sho"lud the ruins, not of tlu'ee years, but of eighteen not prove felicitous from the German point of and a half centuries, for Jewry had lain in view. In this interview Talaat disInissed Mr. ruins in Palestine since Titus destroyed Jeru- Balfour's letter as "an in~po shu'e ," enlarged 180 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

(somewhat tactlessry, considering the recent exclusively Moslem rule to a regime in which Djemal regime) on past favours shown to Jew~ none of the religions to which Jerusalem was by Turks, talked of the limited capacity of holy was to have political precedence OVeL" Palestine for colonization, insisted that all another, was naturally a cause of satisfaction Jewish colonists must become naturalized to His Holiness as the religious head of the Ottoman subjeots, and repeated several times Roman Catholic Church, and on December 13 that Jews could be given no special privi­ the Cardinal Vicar accordingly published a leges over and ' above those enj oyed by other proclamation announcing a thanksgiving service Ottoman citizens-an ominous charter of in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme rights, since it exposed Jews under Turkish for the Sunday following. The official organ of dominion to the same fate as Arabs, Greeks and the Vatican, the Osservatore Romano, com­ . Armenians. mented that " the entry of the British troops Talaat's statement was criticized severely by into Jerusalem had been received with satisfac­ the Jewish Press, which pointed out that the tion by all, and especially by Catholics," and good faith of the British Government was added that "the conceptions of liberty and guaranteed by the offers of territory for Jewish fair-mindedness which inspire the acts of colonization at El Arish and in East Africa long England" created confidence that the rights before the war, as well as by the prompt assent, and interests of the Catholic Church would be after the deliverance of Jerusalem, to the respected in Palestine under the change of dispatch of a Zionist Commission. Turco­ regime. German propaganda was equally unsuccessful The M iinchne1" N eueste N achrichten chose to in trying to create trouble between England and represent the Vatican's attitude as inconsistent France. · The French interests in Syria were with political neutrality, and the German adrnitted by the whole world (except, of course, "Catholic Theologian," whose \ article in the by the Turks and Germans themselves), and it Colog,ne Gazette has been 'referred to above, was no secret that France had at one time roundly declared that" for us German Cat.holics regarded Palestine as falling within the Syriap the possession and fate of Jerusalem are a sphere. But it was a naive supposition t.hat the purely political question... and in this Allies had 'embarked on the Palestinian cam­ political question-let it be said aloud-we paign without having ~rrived at a common German Catholics, as a matter of course, stand political programme. On February 9 a Zionist absolutely on the side of our country. We representative, M. Sokoloff, was officially represent German interests." This theologian. informed at Paris by M. Pichon. that "the at Cologne, like his "Turanian" allies at Con­ understanding between the French and Br-itish stantinople, was ready, in his intemperate Governments was complete concerning the nationalism, to sacrifice the unity of the question of the establishment of the Jews in religious society to which he belonged. His Palestine." The simple announcement of an point of view, however, was not shared by the obvious fact was sufficient to bring enemy majority of Catholics in Central Europe, and propaganda in this direction to an end. especially in Austria-Hungary. It was rumoured The significance of the liberation of Jerusalem that the Pope was definitely opposed to any for Turks and Germans, Arabs and Jews, has attempt to recover Jerusalem for the Turks on now been described, but the survey would not the part of the Central Powers, and that be complete without some account of its pressure was brought to b ear" on the Govern­ reception by the Roman Catholic Church. ments by Catholic influence to obey his wishes. Throughout the war the Vatican preserved Such rumours are by their nature incapable of scrupulous neutrality as a political power, but verification, but whether or not this one was only the Pope's enemies accused him of being correct, there is lit.tle doubt that it found a indifferent towards the moral issues which the ready reception in the irritated minds of the War raised, or towards events in which his Corrimittee of Union and Progress. It was, Church was affected as a religious and an indeed., not improbable that the liberation of international society. The transference of the J erlisalem had led to the first serious rift Christian sanctuaries at Jerusalem from an . between Berlin, Vienna and Constantinople.