POLICE WORK
The cavalry had reached their final goal, and their fighting work was
over. But there was still much to be done. The Desert Mounted Corps
took over the administration of the conquered country from Damascus in
the south to Marash, in Cilicia, 120 miles north of Aleppo; and from
the sea coast to Ras el Ain, 120 miles east of the Euphrates, an area
of about 35,000 square miles. Corps headquarters was established at
Homs. The 5th Cavalry Division, at Aleppo, had a brigade at Aintab,
eighty miles farther north, and detachments at Alexandretta, Islahie,
Marash, Arab Punar and Jerablus on the Euphrates. Later on, infantry,
attached to the Corps, occupied Alexandretta, Adana, Tarsus, Smyrna,
and other towns on or near the coast. The 4th Cavalry Division remained
at Beirût and in the neighbourhood, and the Australian Division at
Tripoli, with a brigade at Baalbek, and detachments at Shtora, Lebwe,
and Rayak. At the end of February 1919, when the Australians returned
to Egypt, the 4th Division handed over Beirût to the French, and was
quartered at Homs, Baalbek, Rayak, and Deraa.
As was only to be expected after the events of the past four years,
the country was in a most unsettled state. The crops and live stock
had been mercilessly requisitioned by the Turks over large areas, and
many of the peasants, left callously to starve, had taken to a life
of brigandage. The whole country was infested with robber bands. Even
large parties dared not travel at night, and indeed few ventured to
travel at all. Those whose business or duty took them about the country
crept from village to village by unfrequented bye-paths, avoiding the
roads. Merchants and shopkeepers buried most of their wares, displaying
in their places of business only a few miserable samples.
The direct road from Damascus to Homs was so overrun with robbers that
even considerable bodies of Turkish soldiers marching along it had
been attacked and massacred; so that it had been, at last, altogether
abandoned as a line of communications in favour of the longer, and far
worse, road through Baalbek.
Within three weeks of the signing of the Armistice, unarmed pedestrians
travelled alone and unafraid through all the land. On every road were
to be seen throngs of refugees returning to their ravished homes,
accompanied by carts piled high with household goods. When night came
on, these people pulled off the road, and slept in peace and safety
till morning. Merchants brought out their wares from secret places, and
buyers crowded into the cities in thousands.
During the whole time the British forces were in occupation of the
country, from the end of October 1918 till November 1919, there were
only two attempts to disturb the peace, and both of these were nipped
in the bud at once. The first occurred on the night of November the
30th, 1918, when a notorious robber chief, who lived in an almost
inaccessible village up in the Anti-Lebanon, attempted to raid one of
our ammunition and store depots at Rayak. The robbers were driven off,
with the loss of six men killed and twenty prisoners, and we had no
more trouble of that sort.
[Illustration: Within the jurisdiction of the Desert Mounted Corps.
The River Euphrates at Rakka.]
[Illustration: Aintab.]
The second attempt took place at Aleppo on the 23rd February 1919. A
plot was engineered by Turkish ex-officers and local Arabs, to bring
about a massacre of the hated Armenians in the city. The disturbance
was quickly put down, but not before a few persons on both sides had
been killed. Several prominent natives were arrested in connection with
the plot, and tried by a mixed court of British and Arab officers.
Those of the conspirators who were proved actually to have taken
life were executed, and others were sentenced to various terms of
imprisonment. These sentences had a most salutary effect, and there was
no further effort to disturb the peace.
There was a detachment of the Arab Army, about 200 strong, at Aleppo,
and one or two soldiers were quartered in all outlying villages of
any importance. It is pleasant to be able to record that the Arab
Government made a genuine, and successful, effort to assist in
maintaining law and order in the country, and the Arab Governor of
Aleppo was always on the best of terms with our officials. The Governor
at this time was Gafar Pasha, who had been a general in the Turkish
Army, and had fought against us in the Senussi Campaign, where he was
taken prisoner, and sent to Cairo to be interned. He was liberated, at
his own request, in order to join the Arab Army, in which he commanded
a division with distinction from the latter part of 1917 till the end
of the war.
One of the most difficult tasks carried out by the Corps was that of
restoring to the Armenians their houses and property. A Reparation
Committee was formed in Aleppo, with representatives at Aintab and
Marash, and much useful work was done. All houses that formerly
belonged to Armenians were evacuated by their Moslem occupiers, and,
as far as possible, restored to their rightful owners. Very many of
these had, however, been killed or had disappeared. Others, attracted
by tales of the fabulous sums to be made in Aleppo by trading with the
British, flocked into the city, and refused to return to their own
homes. Many Armenian women had entered the harems of Turks or Arabs,
and a number of these did not now wish to leave. They were well treated
there, and protected, and they preferred the comfort of the harem to
the prospect of starting again in the cold world outside.
The difficulties of the Reparations Committee were much increased
by the intrigues and lies of the members of local branches of the
Turkish Committee of Union and Progress. These people had been the
chief offenders in the persecution of the unhappy Armenians, and they,
more than any others, had grown fat on the plundered property. Now
that their power was broken, they feared not only the confiscation
of their ill-gotten goods, but drastic punishment, possibly even
death, for the many murders they had committed. It was not to be
wondered at, therefore, that they should seize every opportunity to
hamper and embarrass our officials in their investigations. More than
one prominent local member of the C.U.P. had to be removed from his
position as headman of a village, in consequence of his obstructive
tactics.
Notwithstanding all these difficulties, very large numbers of Armenians
were restored to their houses, furniture and effects were recovered or
made good, and families were re-united. Some 3000, who were awaiting
repatriation, were housed in the barracks at Aleppo, fed by the
British, and given work at high wages.
It must be confessed that the Armenians are, as a nation, a very
unpleasant people. That this is largely due to the treatment they have
received in the past does not alter the fact. Deprived of their land
many centuries ago, and debarred, to a great extent, from engaging in
industry, they have become moneylenders, as have the Jews in similar
circumstances. Usurers in all countries are a detested class, and the
Armenians are no exception to the rule. They are the usurers of Turkey,
grasping and avaricious, the holders of mortgages on the peasants'
land, the speculators in food, hated and despised by all classes. Small
wonder that the Turk, blood-thirsty as he is by nature, needs little
encouragement to start a massacre of them, whenever he has the chance.
Another important task undertaken by the Corps was the stabilising of
the exchange. At the time when we first occupied Aintab, shortly after
the Armistice, Turkish 100 piastre notes were worth about 4s. 6d. in
Aleppo. The ten piastre notes had practically no value, and most of
the merchants refused to accept them. All the Egyptian notes were
accepted at about their face value. In Aintab, on the other hand, which
was only eighty miles away, traders were suspicious of the Turkish
100 piastre notes, but those of ten piastres were readily accepted,
and were worth nearly twice as much as the equivalent Egyptian note.
Similar apparently unreasonable anomalies were to be observed in
other places. A good example occurred at the beginning of February.
One day a merchant of Aleppo came to General MacAndrew, and stated
that he had just heard that his business in Baghdad, which was his
principal source of livelihood, had been nearly ruined by an enemy.
If, said he, he could get there at once, he could save it, but it was
a matter of days, almost of hours. Under the circumstances, would his
Excellency permit him to ride to Baghdad and back in one of the British
aeroplanes, for which he would pay any sum that was demanded. He was
turned over to the Intelligence Branch, who, after making inquiries,
reported that he was a man of substance, much respected in Aleppo,
and with considerable local influence, which might be useful to us.
His request was accordingly granted, and he was taken to Baghdad in
one of our aeroplanes. He only remained there twenty-four hours, and
then flew back to Aleppo. He paid £160 for the trip, and seemed to
think his journey cheap. A few days later the General's headquarters
were besieged by a crowd of applicants, each of whom had a business in
Baghdad which was on the point of being ruined by an enemy! Further
inquiries by the Intelligence Branch elicited the facts of the case. It
appeared that the Russian one-rouble note was worth about half its face
value in Aleppo. In Baghdad, where there was a large number of them,
they were not worth the paper on which they were printed. The astute
merchant, hearing of this, and realising that such a state of affairs
could not last an hour, once telegraphic communication was established
between the two places, determined to bring as many of the notes as
he could to Aleppo at once. There was no time to be lost, as the
telegraph line was nearly through, so he hit upon the plan of hiring
an aeroplane, and cleared, according to repute, nearly £40,000 as the
reward of his initiative!
This was the last and greatest of the many gambles in exchange that
enlivened the days of the merchants of Aleppo during the early period
of our occupation of the place. Gradually, by means of a vigorous
publicity campaign, and by selling surplus enemy stores for Egyptian
money only, the monetary position was stabilised, and, by the end of
May, Egyptian paper was generally accepted all over the country.
It must not be supposed that the life of the Corps was all work and no
play. At Beirût and Tripoli racecourses were laid out very soon after
the cavalry occupied those places, and several capital little meetings
were held. Later on an excellent course was made at Aleppo, with
two grand stands, paddock, judge's box, parade ring, and everything
complete, even to a fully equipped totalisator (run by the Corps
cashier). Races were held every fortnight, and the social amenities
were provided for by a tastefully laid out 'lawn,' and first-rate
catering arrangements! Aleppo also boasted a really good polo ground
and several football and cricket grounds. Both the racing and the polo
were considerably better than were to be had in Cairo or Alexandretta.
There was also a pack of 'fox hounds' at Aleppo and another at Tripoli.
The 'Lebanon Hounds,' at the latter place, showed some quite good sport
over the comparatively flat country near the coast, but the 'Aleppo
Hunt' was handicapped by the rocky nature of the country, and by the
fact that most of the 'earths' were holes in solid rock, out of which
it was impossible to dig a fox that had got to ground. Moreover, as
they met at five o'clock on Sunday mornings only, the fields were never
very large!
The 13th Brigade, at Aintab, held a series of point-to-point meetings
in the vale of the Kuwaik Su, and the regiment at Marash organised
a pig-sticking club, which met once or twice near the Ak Su lakes.
There was not much sport, as the pigs came from the hills, which were
unridable, and to which they speedily retired, as soon as they were
disturbed.
Expeditions to the ruins of the Hittite City of Carchemish, near
Jerablus, to the summer palace of Haroun al Rashid at Rakka on the
Euphrates, 150 miles east of Aleppo, to Palmyra, the city of Zenobia,
in the desert eighty miles east of Homs, and to various other
historical remains, added interest to life, and, at the same time,
served to give officers and men a knowledge of the country that they
could have obtained in no other way.
The Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions left for Egypt in the spring
of 1919, and on the 7th June the Desert Mounted Corps was broken up.
The administration of the conquered territory was taken over by the
newly-created 'Northforce,' which consisted of the 4th and 5th Cavalry
Divisions and two divisions of Infantry, the whole under the command
of Major-General Barrow. This force found garrisons for places up the
coast as far as Smyrna, and also took over the administration of the
Baghdad Railway from Constantinople to the railhead east of Nisibin in
Mesopotamia.
In November of the same year the administration of northern Syria was
finally handed over to our French Allies, and the last of the British
and Indian Cavalry marched out of the country they had conquered and
held for over a year.
[Illustration:
The British Desert Mounted Corps
aided by
The Arab Forces of King Hussein
captured
Damascus Homs and Aleppo.
October 1918.
Inscription cut on the rock cliffs of the Dog River, near Beirût,
amongst those of Rameses II, Nebuchadnezar, Senacherib and other early
conquerors of Syria.]