CAPTURE OF THE UMM ESH SHERT FORD.
As the date fixed for the great advance of the Army in Palestine drew
near, certain parts of the Jordan Valley began to look very comical.
Here and there would be seen a battery of artillery parked, or a cavalry
regiment, with its horses tethered in neat and orderly array, in the
most approved army style, but on closer inspection both horses and guns
were found to be merely dummies! Great camps were pitched, but there was
not a soldier in them; fires were lighted all over the place at dusk, as
if a mighty army were bivouacked round about, and every conceivable kind
of bluff was put up in order to deceive the Turks and make them think
that the long expected attack was to be made through Gilead, to effect a
junction with the Arab Army of the Hedjaz. The Jewish Battalion was even
ordered to march and counter march from Jericho to the Dead Sea by some
wight at G.H.Q. who still remembered us, but General Chaytor scotched
this stunt, for of course he knew it was quite impossible for us to
guard our front throughout the night and march some forty miles by day
as well in that terrific heat.
There were really very few troops in the Valley, if one considers the
enemy force that could have been concentrated against us. According to
General Allenby's despatch, there were some 6,000 rifles, 2,000 sabres,
and 74 guns facing us in the Jordan Valley.
General Allenby in his despatch of the 31st October, 1918, writes:--
"By reducing the strength of the troops in the Jordan Valley to
a minimum," etc., and "To prevent the decrease in strength in
the Jordan Valley being discovered by the enemy I ordered Major
General Sir Edward Chaytor, K.C.M.G., C.B., A.D.C., to carry out
with the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division, the 20th
Indian (Imperial Service) Infantry Brigade, the 38th and 39th
Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, and the 1st and 2nd
Battalions British West Indies Regiment a series of
demonstrations with the object of inducing the enemy to believe
that an attack East of the Jordan was intended, either in the
direction of Madeba or Amman.
"The enemy was thought to be anticipating an attack in these
directions and every possible step was taken to strengthen his
suspicions."
On the 15th September the 39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, under the
command of Colonel Margolin, D.S.O., arrived in the Jordan Valley, and
took up its position on the Auja in support of the 38th Battalion in the
line.
A couple of days before the big offensive which began on the 18th
September, General Allenby visited my Headquarters, where I presented to
him all the officers not on duty. He took me a little apart and asked me
if I was sure I could trust the men to fight, and I assured him that he
need have no anxiety on that score, for the men were all right and would
respond to any call when it was made.
He then asked me if there was any other point I should like to bring to
his notice: I told him that malaria was daily becoming more prevalent
and I was losing 200 men a week from this cause alone: I also pointed
out that I did not think that the medical arrangements for the
evacuation and care of the men were all that they should be. The General
made a note of this in his book.
The only result was that I got an irate letter from the Deputy
Adjutant-General asking me for a full report as to why I had misinformed
the Commander-in-Chief about my sick, and about medical matters
generally, so that on the morning of the 23rd September, the day we were
ordered to pursue the enemy, when I should have been solely devoted to
the leading of my men and all the problems pertaining thereto, I had to
sit down and smooth the ruffled feathers of the Deputy Adjutant-General.
I not only proved my case to the hilt, but emphasized it by giving
further evidence which I had not troubled the Commander-in-Chief by
recounting.
General Chaytor specially warned us that, during the offensive on our
left, we were to increase our patrols and harry the enemy as much as
possible, to keep him in his lines and to prevent, if possible, any
large force of Turks crossing from the East of the Jordan to reinforce
their armies holding the line from the Jordan to the sea.
This is how the official report runs:--"Chaytor's force in the Jordan
Valley had so far confined itself to vigorous patrolling to insure that
the enemy could make no move without their knowledge. The rôle of this
composite force was to secure the right flank of the army and the Jordan
crossings, to keep in close touch with the enemy and take advantage of
any withdrawal on their part, but to run no risk of being involved with
a more powerful foe too early in the battle. This difficult task was
admirably carried out."
During the nights of the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st September we made
demonstrations against the Turkish positions along our front. Parties
would crawl out into favourable positions, such as a fold in the ground,
and open fire all down the line. This always made the Turks nervy, and
their trenches would be manned and every individual would blaze away for
all he was worth.
On the 19th and 20th they got so "windy" that they called on their
artillery to put down a barrage to prevent us from making an assault.
Each time the barrage was put down our men were well clear, and lay snug
and safe until the enemy had uselessly expended hundreds of rounds, when
they quietly returned to camp, not a whit the worse for all the
cannonading. There was very little sleep on these nights for anyone, and
the Jewish Battalion certainly did all that in it lay to further the
intentions of the Commander-in-Chief by holding every Turk in the
neighbourhood of the Jordan closely to his lines.
On the 20th we pushed well up against the Turkish trenches, found them
all manned, and again drew heavy rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire.
We had a few men wounded in this affair. Why we had not a heavy casualty
list on these occasions is a mystery to me, for the men had to advance
in the open over a stretch of ground as level as a billiard table.
Number 6 Trench Mortar Battery R.A. was under my command in the
Mellahah, and I ordered this battery to open fire on the Turkish
position round Umm esh Shert, if we should find difficulty in ousting
the enemy from this important place.
I had arranged to attack this position on the 22nd September, but at
midnight on the 21st my Intelligence Officer sent me news that the
enemy's resistance in the trenches opposite Umm esh Shert Ford was
weakening.
I immediately ordered out my reserve, and sent them under Lieutenant
Cross to reinforce Major Neill, whose duty it was to push in the Turks
and take the Ford at the earliest possible moment. I got favourable news
by telephone of the steady advance of the men; trench after trench was
occupied, and when I left my Headquarters at 4 a.m. for the scene of the
fight, I was able to report to General Chaytor's Staff Officer that we
were almost in possession of the crossing.
I galloped off as dawn was breaking, scrambled up the cliffs and across
the ground from which the Turks had fled, and arrived in time to go down
with Major Neill, Captain Julian, and Lieutenants Jabotinsky and Cross,
to take possession of this coveted passage over the Jordan. I may
mention here that Jabotinsky had been attached to G.H.Q. for special
work, but, as soon as the battalion went into the line, he requested to
be returned to duty in order to share in all our dangers and hardships.
The moment we had secured the Umm esh Shert Ford I signalled the news to
General Chaytor, who immediately took advantage of our capture by
pushing mounted troops across the Jordan, thus outflanking the Turks who
held the foothills of Shunat Nimrin, which barred the way to Es Salt.
The 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade crossed while we covered the Ford
with our rifles and machine-guns, and they never drew rein until Es Salt
was reached that evening, where a large force of the enemy with guns,
etc., was captured by the Anzac Mounted Division.
That same afternoon, two companies of the 39th Battalion Royal Fusiliers
moved up to our support and took up position in the posts which we had
vacated in the Mellahah.
It is a curious fact that the whole movement of the British Army in
Palestine, which swept the Turks out of the country, was actually
pivoted on the sons of Israel, who were once again fighting the enemy,
not far from the spot where their forefathers had crossed the Jordan
under Joshua.