^^0^ ^(y a' ^0^ o^, *. ^V ^q,/*Tr.-* ^<^/o ^-^^ .o^\i^:.'/%''"'-^'''' 1--•^^ c\. "^0'^ o. %-!-:.-.- *« 'i;' vV <^ ''o ^^-n^A. ,0 * " A*^ '^<,.''*'o,T** .0^ \^ *^^^'* '^<^"*-o.?*' .0^ ^• ^^M^^ o\ />*^<^ •; '^^ 5>^ •!nL% Ik A? * > .0^ '"^-. ^^ ^^ * \<,^' ' > 4.*' ''*^_ <p^ .1-4-*' ..• -• ..I'^L', .'.^ia' % " ' *-./ - "'^.c.^^ WITH THE JUDEANS IN THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN THE MACMILLAN COMPANY KBWYORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DAIXAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO.. Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA. Ltd. TORONTO PHYSICAL MAP OF PALESTINE Scale of miles 6 10 20 40 60 80 100 Scale of kilometres 6 10 20 40 GO 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 WITH THE JUDEANS IN THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN BY LIEUT.-COLONEL J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.C. AUTHOR OF "the MAN-EATERS OF TSAVo/' "iN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKa/' "wITH THE ZIONISTS IN GALLIPOH" THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 1\^'. ^'^.y' Copyright, 1922, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published, November, 1922. FERRIS PRINTING COMPANY NEW YORK CITY -6 DEC '22 C1A692250 PREFACE THE formation of a Battalion of Jews for service in the British Army is an event with: out precedent in our annals, and the part played by such a unique unit is assured of a niche in history, owing to the fact that it fought in Palestine, not only for the British cause, but also for the Restoration of the Jewish people to the Promised Land. In writing the following- narrative, my object has been to give a faithful account of the doings of this Jewish Battalion while it was under my command. I am much indebted to Nursing Sister Cook, Captain Haldin Davis, the Rev. L. A. Falk, and Mr. Bendov, of Jerusalem, for permission to reproduce the photographs illustrating this book. J. H. Pattekson. London, 1922. INTEODUCTION the darkest days of the great World War, INthe British Cabinet decided that it would be good policy to create a Jewish Eegiment, and accordingly, in August, 1917, the first Jewish Bat- talion was formed. From that day forth, as a mat- ter of duty and loyalty to King and Country, it was clearly incumbent on all those in authority to treat this new unit with justice, and do everything in their power to make it a success. It is to be deplored that this Jewish Battalion —this ewe lamb of Israel—did not receive, while on active service in the Holy Land, that measure of justice and fair play that was its due. In common with the vast majority of my countrymen, I have the ^^fair play'' sense strongly developed. I am always prone to be on the side of the under dog—^more especially when I see that the poor devil is getting more kicks than in all fairness are his due. In Palestine, unfortunately, I was con- stantly called upon to ward off unfair kicks, aimed at the Jewish Battalion under my command, by certain members of the local Staff of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. I have passed over many of our sufferings in silence, and no record of them vii — viii Introduction will be found in tliis book, but I am afraid tbey have left an indelible mark in the mind and heart of every man who served in the Jewish Battalion under my command, and I fear that the evil effects of the local Military Administration will rever- berate throughout Palestine for many a long year. But before I proceed further, let me first of all make it clearly understood that I am not a Jew indeed, at the outbreak of the Great War I knew nothing of this ancient people, always excepting what I had read about them in the Bible and other Jewish books. My first contact with Jews was in the Gallipoli Campaign, where I was sent in com- mand of a Corps, composed of Zionists who had escaped from Palestine at the outbreak of war and taken service with the British Forces. Pre- sumably because I had had this experience, I was appointed to the command of the first Jewish Infantry Unit raised for service with the British Army. The career of this unique Battalion is bound to be closely followed by all Jews, while it would not surprise me if the historian of the fu- ture seized upon this dramatic appearance of the Jewish warrior, fighting for the redemption of Israel under the banner of England, as one of the most interesting episodes of the great World War. UnfoTtunately for us, with a few honourable exceptions, the local Staff of the E. E. F. were '^troublers of Israel.'' Instead of holding out a helping hand to this new Unit, on the contrary, every obstacle was placed in its way. In our times of tribulation in the Holy Land, my thoughts Introduction ix often went back to the Dardanelles, and I was heartened and cheered by the remembrance of the vastly different treatment meted out to the Jewish soldiers by the Staff in Gallipoli. Sir Ian Hamil- ton had vision enough to foresee what a tremen- dous force would be won over to the cause of Eng- land by dealing justly with Israel. In the Medi- terranean Expeditionary Force the attitude was essentially British. I regret I cannot say the same of the Staff of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in 1918 and 1919. I am happy to be able to put on record that the Battalion was treated fairly and justly all the time it was stationed in England. The Staff at Plymouth always held out a helping hand when needed, and we embarked for Egypt with the blessing of the War Office and of the Adjutant General, Sir Nevil Macready, who told me before we sailed that it was his aim to form a Jewish Brigade, and that he was writing to the Comman der-in-Chief of the E. E. F. to recommend that this should be done as soon as our numbers justi- fied such a step. I felt that the Adjutant General had confided a great trust to me when I was selected for the com- mand of this Jewish Unit. It was a complete change from the command of an Irish Battalion, but the Irishman and the Jew have much in com- mon—temperament, generosity, love of children, devotion to parents, readiness to help those down on their luck, and, be it noted, great personal bravery. These qualities will probably not ap- X Introduction pear out of place to my readers so far as the Irishman is concerned, but I imagine many will be surprised when they hear that they also apply to the Jew. The soul-stirring deeds on the battle- field of such heroes as Judas Maccabaeus, Bar Kochba, and many others, can never be forgotten. I had one fear when I took over command of the Judeans, and that was that I might not be able to do them justice. I felt that, if a suitable Jew- ish officer could be found, it would be more appro- priate that he should have the honour of leading these soldiers of Israel in the struggle for the re- demption of Palestine; but, although I publicly stated that I should be glad to see a Jewish officer appointed to the command, no one came forward, and I was left with the whole weight of this great responsibility to the Jewish people on my shoul- ders. I, therefore, made up my mind, from the moment I took command, that, so far as was humanly possible, the Jewish Battalion should be brought through its fiery ordeal with honour. It was unfortunate for the new Eegiment, and doubly unfortunate for the Jewish people in Pal- estine, as this narrative will show, that the atti- tude of the local Staff was diametrically opposed to the declared policy of the Home Government, which had announced to the world, in the famous Balfour Declaration, that Palestine should once again become a national home for the Jewish peo- ple. In the face of this British announcement, certain officials in the Holy Land acted as if this epoch-making declaration were nothing but a mere Introduction xi *^ scrap of paper.'' When I observed the vain strivings of these men, and remembered the Prom- ise to Israel, I called to mind the saying of Gamal- iel, the great Rabbi, *^If this work be of men it will come to naught, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it/' This local anti-Jewish policy eventually cul- minated in the Jerusalem pogrom, described in the closing chapter of this book, when, under Brit- ish rule, murderous native mobs ran riot, prac- tically unchecked, for nearly three days within the walls of the Holy City. This deplorable outrage at last opened the eyes of the Home Authorities to what was going on in Palestine, with the result that the Military Administration was abolished. A competent civil Governor replaced the Military Administrator, and Sir Herbert Samuel was sent out to pour oil and wine into the wounds which the unfortunate Jewish inhabitants had received, and to carry out the declared policy of England as announced in the Balfour Declaration. CONTENTS PAGE Preface v Introduction vii CHAPTER I. The Balfour Declaration 1 II. The Sanballats 6 III. The Formation of the Jewish Regi- ment 11 IV. Training at Plymouth 19 V. The Kosher Problem 28 VI. We Set Out for Palestine 32 VII. Back in the Land of Bondage 40 VIII. The Feast of the Passover 51 IX. We Set Out for the Front 57 X.