THE ADVANCE ON DAMASCUS
As the Turkish VIIth and VIIIth Armies and the 2nd Corps had now
been entirely destroyed, and the IVth Army was in full retreat, the
Commander-in-Chief determined to push on with his cavalry and seize
Damascus.
Apart from the moral effect likely to be produced on the Turks by the
capture of this city, its occupation by our troops was a necessary
corollary to the co-operation of King Hussein with our army. Damascus
is an Arab, and particularly a Bedouin, city. From the time of
Mohammed, it has been the focus and centre of Arab political life,
constantly both reinforced and kept at the same level of civilisation
by intercourse with the tribes of the desert, till to-day they form
four-fifths of the total population.
It is an open secret that General Allenby had been urged by the amateur
strategists of Downing Street to make a cavalry raid on the city,
supported by the forces of the Emir, but he had steadily refused to
commit his cavalry to this hazardous enterprise until he had dealt with
the Turkish Army. Now, however, the way was clear, and he determined to
push on with all speed.
The advance was to be made in two columns. The Australian Mounted
Division and the 5th Cavalry Division were ordered to march _via_
Nazareth and Tiberias, crossing the upper Jordan just south of Lake
Huleh, and march up the Tiberias-Damascus road, across the Hauran. The
4th Cavalry Division was to cross the Jordan at Jisr Mejamie, north of
Beisan, and proceed _via_ Irbid and Deraa Junction, and thence up the
Hedjaz Railway, joining hands with the Arab Army about Deraa.
In order to increase to the utmost the mobility of the troops, all
transport, even to the regimental water-carts, was left behind. Only
the guns and ammunition wagons and a few light motor ambulances per
division accompanied the force. The arrangements as to food and forage
carried on the man and horse were the same as in the 1917 campaign.
When this two days' supply was exhausted, the cavalry were to live on
the country. Later on, after the capture of Damascus, and when our
line of communications had been organised, tea, milk, and sugar were
sent up by lorry to Damascus, or by sea to Beirût and Tripoli, but,
except for this, the Corps subsisted entirety on the local resources
of the country from the 25th September till the administration of the
conquered territory was finally handed over to the French more than a
year later.
The orders for the advance were received on the 25th of September, but
certain preliminary movements had taken place on the previous day. Thus
the 7th Infantry Division arrived at Jenin on the 24th, preparatory
to taking over Afule, Nazareth, and Haifa from the cavalry. The 4th
A.L.H. Brigade, with one regiment of the 5th Brigade, left Afule on
the evening of the same day to march _via_ Beisan to the village of
Semakh, at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. The enemy had a
small force here, engaged in evacuating the considerable quantities of
stores at Deraa. These were sent by rail to Semakh, and thence by boat
to Tiberias, where lorry columns awaited them, and shipped them on to
Damascus along the Hauran road. The Central India Horse (10th Brigade),
who had relieved the 19th Lancers at Jisr Mejamie on the 23rd, had
reconnoitred the village on the following day, and found it strongly
held. The 4th A.L.H. Brigade was ordered to capture the place, and then
rejoin the Australian Division at Tiberias.
On the 25th of September the 4th Cavalry Division concentrated at
Beisan, with the 10th Brigade at Jisr Mejamie. The Australian Mounted
Division, less the 4th Brigade, left Afule early in the afternoon, and
had concentrated at Kefr Kenna, some five miles east of Nazareth, about
ten o'clock that night. A regiment of the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade, supported
by two armoured cars, was sent ahead along the Tiberias road to
reconnoitre the town. The 5th Cavalry Division, which was not relieved
at Haifa by the infantry till early the next morning, left that place
at once, and reached Kefr Kenna about five in the evening.
The 4th A.L.H. Brigade, having bivouacked at Jisr Mejamie on the night
of the 24th, approached Semakh just at daylight on the following day.
At half-past four the advance guard, consisting of the 11th Regiment
and the brigade machine-gun squadron, came under heavy machine-gun and
rifle fire from the railway station. Patrols from the regiment located
the enemy holding an entrenched position south of the village (which
lies on a bare, flat plain), with posts extending across this plain to
the hills on either side.
General Grant decided to attack at once, and ordered the remainder
of his brigade to close up. The machine guns and one squadron of the
11th Regiment at once came into action south of the town, and opened a
hot fire on the enemy positions, particularly on a sort of fort that
had been built by the Germans out of railway material. The other two
squadrons of the 11th charged from the east, one on each side of the
railway. The charge was driven home, over the enemy positions and into
the village, where the Australians dismounted, and went in with the
bayonet.
On the arrival of the rest of the brigade, the 4th Regiment was sent in
mounted on the west. After charging into the town, these troops also
dismounted, and continued the fight on foot.
The enemy, stiffened by the large number of German troops, resisted
desperately, and some of the fiercest hand-to-hand fighting of the
campaign took place in this village. We learnt afterwards that Liman
von Sanders had paid a hurried visit to the place in a car, after
flying from Nazareth, and had given orders that it was to be held to
the last man, so as to clear the ammunition and stores from Deraa for
the defence of Damascus.
Gradually the defenders were driven back through the narrow streets
of the village, till only the railway 'fort' still held out. This
was garrisoned chiefly by Germans, who had a number of machine guns
covering all approaches. One of these guns was located in a railway
culvert, and, as a troop of the 12th Regiment was working towards it,
the crew suddenly stood up and held up their hands, shouting out: 'We
surrender!' Being unaccustomed to the ways of the Hun, our men got up
and walked towards the gun in the open. When they were about fifty
yards away, the crew dropped to their knees, at a given signal, and
opened a murderous fire on our men, killing or wounding nearly all
of them. The few who escaped worked round to the other side of the
railway, and, crawling through the culvert, fell upon the treacherous
crew from behind, and killed them all.
About the same time, another troop of the same regiment encountered
a German machine gun in charge of an officer. As our men approached,
the officer stood up and waved a white handkerchief, whereupon the
subaltern in command of the troop went up to him unsuspectingly. When
he was about two paces away, the German pulled out his automatic and
deliberately shot the unfortunate officer dead.
These two pieces of treachery met with a just retribution. The enraged
Australians stormed into the fort, deaf now to all offers of surrender,
and bayoneted the defenders almost to a man. About 150 Germans and
several hundred Turkish prisoners were taken in the action, and some
200 corpses, mostly those of Germans, were left on the position to be
looted by the natives. None of our men would put spade to the ground to
bury them.
Two motor boats were lying at the pier when our troops attacked. One of
these succeeded in escaping to Tiberias, where it was abandoned by the
crew, and burnt. The other was set on fire by Hotchkiss rifle fire, and
blew up.
As soon as the action was over, a squadron from the brigade was sent
forward along the lake road towards Tiberias. This squadron gained
touch with the regiment of the Australian Division advancing from
Nazareth, and the two detachments captured Tiberias, which was lightly
held, before dark, with about 120 prisoners.
The operations now resolved themselves into a race for Damascus between
our cavalry and the Turkish IVth Army. The country about ten miles
south of Damascus is favourable for defence against a force advancing
from that direction, and the enemy command hoped, if the IVth Army
could reach this position first, to be able to delay our troops long
enough for help to arrive from Aleppo, and thus save Damascus.
The survivors of the German G.H.Q. troops and garrison of Nazareth had
retired, _via_ Tiberias, to the Jordan at Jisr Benat Yakub, just south
of Lake Huleh. Crossing the river here, they blew up the bridge behind
them, and took up a strong position on the east bank, overlooking
the only known fords. They were joined, on the morning of the 26th,
by a few hundred Turkish troops who had been hurriedly collected in
Damascus, and sent down in motor lorries across the Hauran. If this
force could hold the crossing for twenty-four hours, there was a chance
of the Turks winning the race to Damascus.
The Australian Mounted Division left Kefr Kenna at midnight on
the 25th, and, marching all night, reached the hill of Tel Madh,
overlooking Tiberias, at dawn. Continuing the march, after a short halt
to water and feed, the division arrived at El Mejdel, on the lake shore
four miles north of Tiberias, in the early afternoon. In order to give
time for the 5th Division to close up, and for the 4th A.L.H. Brigade
to rejoin from Semakh, the Australians bivouacked here for the night.
Patrols were sent forward as far as Jisr Benat Yakub, and the rest of
the men spent the afternoon bathing in the lake.
Meanwhile, the 4th Cavalry Division, having crossed the Jordan at
Jisr Mejamie, on the morning of the 26th, sent the 10th Brigade ahead
as advance guard, with orders to push on towards Deraa as fast as
the difficult nature of the ground would allow. The remainder of the
division followed at a considerable distance.
[Illustration: Nazareth, from the north.
Note the Red Crescents on the roofs of the houses.]
[Illustration: Horse Artillery entering Tiberias, on the race for
Damascus.]
After the fall of Amman, the enemy IVth Army had hurried northwards
along the Hedjaz Railway, and, by the morning of the 26th, was passing
through El Remte, with a strong flank guard thrown out to the west.
Late in the afternoon the 10th Brigade located this flank guard holding
a position astride the Beisan-Deraa road, along a ridge from Beit Ras,
through Irbid, to Zebda. The country was very difficult and broken, and
intersected with wadis.
A reconnaissance carried out by the 2nd Lancers, the vanguard regiment,
indicated that Irbid was held in strength, while Beit Ras and Zebda
were occupied to protect the central portion of the enemy position, and
were not so strongly held. The Brigadier decided to encircle Irbid from
both flanks. He directed the 2nd Lancers to work round to the north of
the town, between it and Beit Ras, which latter place was apparently
very lightly held, and the Central India Horse to seize Zebda, and then
endeavour to get astride the Deraa road behind the enemy position. The
Berks Battery R.H.A. came into action just off the road, some two miles
west of Irbid, with the Dorset Yeomanry in reserve behind it.
The regiments moved off at once, and commenced to work round the
enemy's flanks. Half an hour later, a squadron of the 2nd Lancers
attempted to charge the Irbid position from the north-west. Night was
approaching, and the officer in command doubtless considered himself
justified in taking the risk of a charge, in the hope of breaking the
Turks' resistance before the coming of darkness enabled them to retire.
But the horses were very tired, the country was broken and stony, and
no previous reconnaissance of the ground was possible. The charge was
met by the enemy with very heavy machine-gun fire, and was brought to
a stop. The squadron suffered severely, two troops being practically
wiped out before it reached cover again.
The Turks at Irbid had been retreating rapidly for three days, harassed
by the Arabs, and their _morale_ was not high. But they had not, as
yet, suffered any severe defeat, and they were in considerably better
case than the miserable remnants of the VIIth and VIIIth Armies, with
which our cavalry had been engaged since the 20th of September. This
fact would seem to have been overlooked by the 2nd Lancers. Moreover
the enemy was in considerable strength. Natives reported on the
following day that there had been not less than 5000 Turks at Irbid.
This was manifestly an exaggeration, but the mere mention of such a
number indicated that there had been, at any rate, a large body of
them there. The failure of the charge taught a lesson that is liable
to be forgotten by cavalry when pursuing a broken and demoralised foe;
namely, that, for a small body of horse to charge an enemy force of
unknown strength, without previous reconnaissance of the ground, and
without any fire support, is to court disaster.
The rest of the regiment continued to work gradually round the enemy's
right flank. Nightfall found them some distance to the north-east of
the village, where they put out pickets and remained during the night.
Meanwhile the Central India Horse, advancing more warily, occupied
Zebda, after some sharp fighting, and then attempted to penetrate
Irbid dismounted from the south-west. The attack was driven back by
the enemy with some loss, and the regiment took up a position south of
the village, and engaged the Turks with machine-gun and rifle fire.
One squadron continued to work eastwards, and, by the time darkness
descended, had nearly reached the Deraa road. This squadron formed a
defensive post near the road, and stood to till daylight.
The 12th Brigade spent the night at El Shuni, on the Wadi el Arab, six
miles east of the Jordan, and the rest of the division at Jisr Mejamie.
From the summit of the ridge near Beit Ras, just before sunset, our
troops had seen the Arab Army, twenty miles away, on the far side of
Deraa. After their raids on the railway at this place, between the
16th and 18th of September, the Arabs had moved east into the wild
fastnesses of the Hauran. From here they had made several raids on
the IVth Army, harassing the Turks' right flank, and forcing them to
abandon much of their transport and artillery. On the day and night of
the 26th, the Arab camelry, led by Lawrence, pushed rapidly northwards,
cutting the railway at Ghazale and Ezra, ten and twenty miles north
of Deraa, and reached Sheikh Saad, fifteen miles west of Ezra, on
the morning of the 27th. Here they engaged and defeated an advanced
detachment of the IVth Army, capturing 500 Turks and a number of German
officers, and then entrenched themselves astride the Damascus road to
await the coming of the remainder of the army.
At daylight on the 27th, Irbid was found to have been evacuated during
the night. The 10th Brigade at once pushed on towards El Remte, with
the Dorset Yeomanry as advance guard. At half-past ten, patrols from
this regiment encountered the enemy in position astride the road, just
west of El Remte. The position was not so strong as that at Irbid, and
the country was more open.
A quarter of an hour later, the Dorsets reported the enemy to be
retiring from the position to the south-east. The Brigadier directed
the regiment to occupy the ridges on the left bank of the Wadi
Ratam, overlooking the village from the south-west, and to make a
demonstration against the enemy, in order to cover the assembly of the
remainder of the brigade, which was to advance under cover of the high
ground immediately north of El Remte, and cut off the enemy's retreat
to Deraa. The Berks Battery came into action west of the village, to
support this move, and to take advantage of such targets as offered.
While these movements were taking place, the Yeomanry were heavily
counter-attacked by the enemy troops that they had supposed to be
retiring. The attack was pressed vigorously, and the Dorsets were
forced back some distance. A signal message was sent to brigade
headquarters asking for assistance, but, before the message could be
acted upon, Lieutenant Mason, skilfully withdrawing his squadron in the
advanced firing line, mounted it, and charged the counter-attack. The
Turks were utterly surprised by this sudden charge. A number of them
were killed with the sword, and the rest driven back in confusion into
the village. The Dorsets then continued to work round to the south,
but were held up shortly afterwards by heavy machine-gun fire from a
fortified stone house.
Just at this moment, a body of enemy cavalry was observed galloping
away from the village to the east. The Yeomanry were unable to pursue
them, but they were effectively shelled by the Berks Battery, and
dispersed.
The Central India Horse had by now reached a point north-east of the
village, from where they espied the Turkish infantry retiring in some
disorder. Charging instantly, they went through the Turks, killing many
with the lance, and rounding up 200 prisoners. This charge completed
the rout of the enemy force, the survivors of which scattered in all
directions.
The 10th Brigade now received orders to await the arrival of the rest
of the division at El Remte. The 12th Brigade came up about half-past
five in the evening, and the 11th some two hours later. Patrols from
the 2nd Lancers, on outpost duty, gained touch with the Arab Army
during the night.
At dawn on the 28th, the brigade moved out to the hills east of El
Remte to cover the assembly of the division, which then marched to
Deraa. The advanced troops reached the town at seven in the morning,
and were met by Lawrence and Sherif Nasir. The Arab troops had arrived
there about midnight, and found the place evacuated and in flames. They
at once sent mounted scouts to the north, who located the main body
of the enemy forces retiring towards Mezerib, ten miles north-west of
Deraa. The road from Mezerib to Damascus runs through Sheikh Saad,
where Lawrence's camel corps was lying in wait for them.