THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
On November the 27th the enemy renewed his activity in the hills.
The Yeomanry Division was, at the time, reduced to about 800 rifles
in the line, and was holding a position nearly four miles long with
this imposing force. To add to the sense of security, there was a gap
of about five miles between the left flank of the division and the
nearest post of the 54th Division at Shilta. Moreover, the only line of
communications was still by the Beit Sira-Berfilya-Ludd road, up which
the division had marched on its first advance. This road, along which
all ammunition and supplies had to come, ran parallel to, and only just
behind, this gap in the line, and there seemed to be no particular
reason why the enemy should not walk through the gap whenever he felt
so inclined, and sit down on the road. The 'line' consisted of a few
posts, held by as many men as could be spared, and a number of small,
roving patrols. One of these posts, consisting of three officers
and sixty men, was in a small stone building on the top of a ridge
near Zeitûn. It was attacked early in the afternoon of the 27th by a
battalion of Turks with machine guns and artillery. The fight went on
till dark, when the Turks drew off to nurse their wounds and get their
breath for another attack. The commander of the garrison, now reduced
to twenty-eight all ranks, sent an apologetic signal message to the 6th
Brigade headquarters to ask if a few men could be spared to reinforce
him. The house which his men had been holding had been destroyed by
shell fire, and every part of the top of the hill was reeking with
the fumes of high explosive shell. Two weak troops were sent to the
assistance of the garrison, though it was realised that the provision
of this reinforcement dangerously weakened the rest of the front!
Thus strengthened and encouraged, the garrison of the Zeitûn post
successfully held out all night against repeated attacks. The Turks
were again reinforced during the night, however, and next morning, as
it was clear that the little garrison could not hope to hold out any
longer, it was withdrawn. The enemy immediately occupied the Zeitûn
ridge, the possession of which gave him command over our positions,
and necessitated a withdrawal of our line. On the left flank the 22nd
Brigade was thrown back, covering Beit Ur el Tahta, and the line then
ran from that village, through Beit Ur el Foka, to about El Tire. The
right flank of the division was in exiguous and intermittent touch with
the 52nd Division. The left was entirely 'in the air.'
Throughout the day Turkish troops were moving to the north, and making
their way westwards towards the gap in our line west of Beit Ur el
Tahta. Large parties continually attacked the Yeomanry at different
points, thus preventing the division from making any effective change
of dispositions to meet the threatened envelopment.
The 7th Mounted Brigade, which was in Corps Reserve at Zernuka, and the
Australian Mounted Division, resting at El Mejdel, were ordered up.
Both made forced marches during the night of the 27th, and the former
arrived at Beit Ur el Tahta at five in the morning of the 28th, just in
time to help the 22nd Mounted Brigade to repulse a heavy attack from
the north.
A brigade of the 52nd Division was sent to reinforce the exposed
left flank of the Yeomanry Division, but, before it arrived there, a
small party of Turks with some machine guns walked quietly through
the gap between the Yeomanry Division and the 54th, and took up a
position overlooking the Berfilya track. Later in the morning, a
section of the Yeomanry Divisional Ammunition Column, coming up the
road from Ramleh with sorely needed ammunition for the division, was
ambushed by the Turks and utterly destroyed. A motor cyclist going
down to Ramleh reached the scene immediately afterwards, and, seeing
the wrecked wagons and the dead men and horses on the road, swung
round his machine, and raced back again as fast as the track would
allow. The Turks opened fire with their machine guns, but failed to
hit him, and he carried the news back to the division that the road
was cut. A detachment from the brigade of the 52nd, which had been
sent up to cover this flank, pushed ahead, and drove off this party
of Turks. The brigade then attacked the village of Suffa, which was
full of enemy troops, in order to try and relieve the pressure on the
left of the Yeomanry Division, but the Turks were found in too great
strength to be dislodged. Fortunately, however, they made no further
attempt to penetrate through the gap, probably because they were really
unaware of its existence. Positions on both sides were exceedingly
ill-defined, owing to the impossibility of digging trenches in the
solid rock, of which most of the hill and ridge tops were composed.
Very heavy fighting continued throughout the day, but the enemy, though
continually reinforced, was unable to break our line.
The Australian Mounted Division arrived at Khurbet Deiran early in the
morning, having marched the twenty-one miles from Mejdel in one night.
The 4th A.L.H. Brigade at once pushed on into the hills, and came into
the line in the centre, in support of the 6th Brigade, about five in
the evening. The hard-worked 52nd Division contrived to spare another
battalion, which reinforced the 7th Brigade on the left.
The attack on this brigade was resumed at dark, but was driven off,
after prolonged and bitter fighting. As an indication of the close
nature of the struggle, it may be mentioned that the headquarters of
two of the Yeomanry brigades used up all their revolver ammunition
during the day.
Next day the Yeomanry Division and the 7th Brigade were relieved in the
line by two more brigades of infantry from the 52nd and 74th Divisions,
the latter of which had just arrived from the south. These reliefs were
carried out in the intervals between repeated fierce attacks by the
enemy, who flung his troops against our line all day with the greatest
determination. Had it not been possible to relieve the Yeomanry about
this time, there is no doubt that they would have been overwhelmed.
So depleted were their ranks that the substitution of two brigades of
infantry for the four cavalry brigades meant six rifles in the line for
every one that had been there before. This increase in strength, with
the addition of the Australian Mounted Division, sufficed to hold all
the enemy attacks.
On the following morning the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade relieved the brigade of
the 52nd Division on the left of the Yeomanry line, near El Burj, and
the headquarters and artillery of the division moved up in the evening.
On the same day, the weary troops of the Yeomanry Division withdrew
to Annabeh, whence they marched to the neighbourhood of El Mughar to
rest and refit, within sight of the hill which they had captured so
brilliantly a fortnight earlier.
During their twelve days in the hills they had been fighting
continually, day and night, not only against a vigorous and determined
enemy, but against the difficulties of a roadless mountain country.
Exposed to constant rain and cold, without tents, blankets or
greatcoats, often short of food, and opposed at all times by greatly
superior forces of the enemy, they had set an example of dogged courage
and tenacity and of unquenchable cheerfulness that has never been
surpassed.
These were the last operations in the East in which they were destined
to take part. In the following spring, in response to the urgent call
from France for more troops to stem the great German attack, the
division was disbanded, and reorganised into a number of dismounted
machine gun companies. After a short course of training, these
companies embarked for France, there to earn fresh laurels for their
old division in the last great act of the war.
Units of the division had fought in nearly every action since the
beginning of the war with Turkey, and all had distinguished themselves.
At Suvla Bay in the Peninsula; at Sollum and Mersa Matruh in the
western desert; at Romani, Maghdaba and Rafa during the advance across
Sinai; in the two first battles of Gaza; and lastly in the great ride
over the Plains of Philistia, and the stubborn drive into the Judæan
Mountains. Everywhere the Turks had learned to dread the long swords
and the steady rifles of the Yeomen. Their comrades of the Desert
Mounted Corps bade farewell to the gallant division with real sorrow.
The enemy made one more attempt to break our line at its weakest part
on the night of the 30th. About two o'clock in the morning a battalion
of picked assault troops from his 19th Division was launched against
the position held by the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade. The Turks were well
supplied with hand grenades, which were not carried by our cavalry at
that time, and pushed their attack in the most resolute manner. Our
line was forced back a few hundred yards, and a small, but important,
hill was lost for a time. A squadron of the Gloucester Yeomanry (5th
Mounted Brigade) and a company of infantry from the 52nd Division
reinforced the 3rd Brigade, and the Turks' attempt to break through was
finally defeated, but only after the complete destruction of the enemy
battalion. Three times during the night, between 2 A.M. and 6 A.M.,
this gallant regiment flung itself against our positions, pressing on
each time with the most reckless courage. Each attack was repelled with
heavy losses to the enemy, and in the end the battalion was wiped out:
172 Turks, many of them wounded, remained in our hands as prisoners;
the rest were killed.
The 5th Mounted Brigade rejoined the Australian Division from the
21st Corps on the 1st of December, being replaced by the 10th A.L.H.
Regiment, which remained on the right flank of the 60th Division, and
gained touch with the 53rd Division on the 7th December.
The Australian Mounted Division remained in the mountains till the end
of December, when it was withdrawn to Deir el Belah to rest and refit.
It had little fighting during the period spent in the hills, but the
awful weather fully made up for any lack of activity on the part of
the enemy. During the whole time rain fell almost incessantly, and the
cold winds that swept up and down the narrow valleys were exceedingly
trying to men who were nearly always in wet clothes.
But, if the conditions in the hills were execrable, those in the
coastal plain, where all the horses of the division were kept, were
nearly as bad. The rains broke late this year, and, when they did
come, fell with unusual violence. The plain was soon transformed into
a deep sea of mud. Large areas were completely under water, and the
flood carried immense quantities of soil into the innumerable small
wadis that intersect the plain, filling them bank full with mud.
When the waters subsided a little, from time to time, these wadis
were indistinguishable from the surrounding country, and became very
dangerous traps. There was more than one instance of men and horses
being engulfed and drowned in their horrible black depths.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1917 are never likely to be forgotten
by any of the troops who were in Palestine at the time. A raging storm
of rain fell without intermission for thirty-six hours. The railway was
washed away in several places, wagons and lorries were unable to move,
and hundreds of camels in the ration convoys lay down in the water that
covered the land, and died. No food or other supplies could be brought
up to the troops.
A small party of Yeomanry, making its way northwards from Esdud,
reached the bridge over the Nahr Sukereir about mid-day. The men halted
to feed their horses on the bridge, which consisted of a single high
stone arch, and was comparatively dry. After half an hour's halt, they
attempted to continue their march, but found the country to the north
of the river so deep in water and mud that they could not get on. They
then tried to go back again, but, in the meantime, the waters had
risen behind them, and they found themselves cut off on the bridge,
which was now a small island in an apparently limitless sea of muddy
water. Marooned on their tiny island, lashed by the rain and the bitter
wind, they spent the night and the next day (Christmas Day) huddled
miserably together, without food, fire, or shelter! On the 26th the
waters subsided a little, and they were able to struggle back to their
camp.
The horses, already thin and tired after the heavy work and short
rations of the past month, went back rapidly in condition. They were
standing always up to their hocks in mud, wet through nearly the whole
time, and, in this treeless country, there was little or no shelter
from the biting winds. Forage, too, was often woefully short, owing to
partial breakdowns of the supply columns. It is small wonder that, by
the end of December, when the division was relieved, they resembled
ragged scarecrows rather than horses.
Much trouble was caused in the mountains owing to the impossibility
of preventing information reaching the enemy from the natives. A
regulation, prohibiting the inhabitants of the villages behind our
lines from leaving their houses during the hours of darkness, was
rigidly enforced, and any natives found at large during the night
were liable to be shot at sight. Nevertheless, with a line so lightly
held as was ours, and with no regular system of trenches, it was a
comparatively easy matter for the villagers to pass between the lines,
even in daylight, and much information undoubtedly reached the enemy in
this way.
One day a small patrol of five men of the Australian Mounted Division
was making its way cautiously forward towards the enemy position in
the village of Deir el Kuddis. Crossing the bottom of a deep valley,
the patrol came upon a solitary Arab squatting among the rocks in the
bottom of the ravine. He said he had come from Deir el Kuddis, and
that it had been evacuated by the enemy. Our men, one of whom spoke
a little Arabic, questioned him closely, but he stuck to his story,
and also showed them a path which led to the village. They left him
in the ravine, and, taking the path indicated, moved warily forward
towards the village. Shortly afterwards, they heard a jackal cry in
the valley behind them, but, as the hills were full of these beasts,
whose mournful wailing was to be heard all night long, the men paid no
attention to it at the time. Almost immediately afterwards a concealed
enemy machine gun opened fire on them unexpectedly, killing one man
and wounding another. They withdrew, carrying their dead comrade with
them, and were making their way back towards the ravine where they had
left the native, when one of them was suddenly struck by the thought
that he had never before heard a jackal call in the daytime. After a
discussion, they came to the conclusion that the jackal cry must have
been made by the Arab they had seen, as a signal to the enemy. One of
them accordingly went to look for the man, and found him in the same
place. As soon as he saw the soldier, the native jumped up with a cry,
and attempted to run away, but was promptly shot dead by the Australian.
The body of this man lay unburied in the bottom of the ravine all the
time we were there, as none of the villagers would touch it. They had
taken and buried the bodies of several other natives who had been shot
when found away from their villages after dark, and, as they would not
give the same treatment to this man, it is possible that he was a Turk
in disguise.
[Illustration: One of our Horse Artillery batteries in action in the
mountains west of Jerusalem. Note the bivouac shelters pitched among
the guns as camouflage.]
[Illustration: Reading the British Proclamation in Jerusalem, 11th
November, 1917. General Allenby with Allied Representatives in the
centre.]
In the latter half of November the four infantry divisions that had
remained about Gaza and Karm during the pursuit of the enemy commenced
to move up to the front, and, by the end of the month, were all in the
line from the sea to Nebi Samwil. At the beginning of December the
53rd Division began its advance up the Hebron road, and, on the early
morning of the 9th, was in touch with the 60th Division, and had one
brigade fighting its way up the Mount of Olives. The latter division,
pivoting on the hill of Nebi Samwil, had made a wonderful fighting
wheel to the left during the past three days, and had now closed in on
Jerusalem on the west and south.
At eight o'clock in the morning the keys of the Holy City, borne by
the Mayor under a flag of truce, were handed to an officer of the 60th
Division.
After six hundred years the Christian had returned.
* * * * *
General Allenby made his official entry into Jerusalem on the 11th,
accompanied by representatives of the Allied Nations. This event, and
the magnificent infantry fighting that led up to it, have been too well
chronicled elsewhere to need recapitulation in this narrative, which is
concerned only with the doings of the cavalry.
One may be permitted, however, to emphasise once more the impressive
contrast between the entry of the Conqueror of Jerusalem and that of
the crazy mountebank who had visited it twenty years before. The German
Emperor entered on horseback, surrounded by an immense retinue, in
uniforms blazing with medals and decorations. General Allenby entered
on foot and almost alone, dressed in worn, service khaki, and carrying
a cane. _But_ he went through the Jaffa Gate, which, in accordance with
ancient tradition, is opened only to a conqueror of the Holy City; the
Kaiser entered through a breach in the wall.
The Australian Mounted Division was relieved by the 10th Infantry
Division on the 1st of January, and the 3rd and 5th Brigades withdrew
from the hills that day, and marched south for Deir el Belah, followed
a week later by the 4th Brigade. The three days' march was carried out
in continual, heavy rain, changing to hail and sleet every now and
then, and through a country that was nearly all under water. Once among
the clean, dry sandhills of Deir el Belah, however, all troubles were
over, and soon afterwards the weather improved, and clothes could be
dried for the first time for seven weeks. The Yeomanry Division had
moved into the same area shortly before the Australian Division arrived.
The Anzac Division remained on the Auja till the 7th of December, when
it withdrew to rest at Richon-le-Zion. Cavalry operations were much
hampered by the continual rain and deep mud, but the division carried
out a series of daring and successful raids on the enemy, which kept
him constantly on the jump, and paved the way for the final crossing of
the Auja on the 21st and 22nd of December. Two brigades took part in
this operation, in support of the 52nd and 54th Divisions, and, as soon
as our line was consolidated on the north bank, the whole division was
withdrawn, and went into camp near the coast to rest.
Between the 31st of October and the end of December the Desert
Mounted Corps had advanced some eighty miles,[15] fought nine general
engagements, and captured about 9500 prisoners and 80 guns.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 15: The actual distances covered by the three divisions in
the period were:--Anzac Mounted Division, one hundred and seventy
miles; Yeomanry Division, one hundred and ninety miles; Australian
Mounted Division, two hundred and thirty miles.]