LIFE AT LUDD.
On the 9th October the battered remnant of the battalion moved from
Jerusalem to Ludd by rail, where it was taken on the strength of Lines
of Communication troops for garrison duties.
When we heard that we were to be severed from the Anzacs our feeling was
one of regret, for every individual in the battalion had the greatest
admiration, respect, and affection for General Chaytor and his Staff,
and, in fact, a feeling of real comradeship for every officer and man in
the Anzac Mounted Division.
My sick and ailing could not even yet be taken into Hospital owing to
lack of accommodation, so I left them attached to the 39th Battalion,
under the care of Captain Salaman, R.A.M.C.
Our transport had been ordered to proceed from Jerusalem to Ludd by road
on the 5th October, but as the animals were worn to mere skin and bone
by hard work, and nearly all the drivers were down with malaria, I
represented to the authorities that it would be impossible for them to
move for at least a week, so they remained in Jerusalem for some days
after Battalion Headquarters had left the City.
When eventually the transport marched in to Ludd I found both animals
and men in a most pitiable condition. One of my best N.C.O.s, Corporal
Lloyd, was delirious with fever, and several other men who should have
gone into Hospital at Jerusalem but were unable to gain admission were
brought down on the wagons. All these I sent into the local Hospital;
Corporal Lloyd unfortunately did not recover, and died soon after he was
admitted. Of the half-dozen officers who had so far escaped the malaria,
one after another went down and were carried off to Hospital, until, out
of the whole battalion, only Captain Leadley, Lieutenant Bullock, and
myself were left in Camp!
Major Neill was one of the last to succumb, and his attack was so severe
that his life was despaired of. He was on the "dangerously ill" list for
some time, but fortunately recovered.
Day after day the few remaining men we had left went to hospital until,
in the end, I was put to such straits that I had to appeal once more to
the Australians, who had a reinforcement camp near us under the command
of Major Ferguson. I rode over and told him the difficulty I had in
finding men even to feed my animals, and asked him to spare me a score
of troopers to help with the exercising, watering, and grooming, etc.,
of the transport animals.
As usual, the Australians were all out to help, and readily gave me all
the assistance I asked for.
Soon after the 38th Battalion left Jerusalem, Colonel Margolin also
received orders to proceed to Ludd, although it was well known that
hundreds of sick were in the camp. What would have happened to these
unfortunate sufferers if he had obeyed orders and marched away leaving
them to their fate, sick and helpless as they were, I shall leave the
reader to imagine. Luckily for these poor fellows Colonel Margolin
refused to leave until such time as they could be accommodated in
Hospital.
Eventually he succeeded in getting his men into medical wards, and then
he and what was left of his battalion came and camped within a mile of
us at Surafend, a village between Ludd and Jaffa.
On the evening of the 22nd October Colonel Margolin and Captain Salaman
rode into my camp and complained to me of the discrimination and unfair
treatment to which the Jewish soldiers were being subjected in the
Hospitals--giving me various instances to illustrate certain of their
statements.
As the Senior Officer of the Jewish Battalions, not being myself a Jew,
I was deeply hurt at the un-English methods adopted towards men who had
done so well in the field in England's cause, and felt that I would not
be doing my duty to those under my command, and to Jewry generally,
unless I protested against this unfair discrimination.
I considered that the best way of bringing matters to a head was by
requesting to be relieved of my command as a protest against the
anti-Jewish policy which prevailed. I accordingly sent forward my
resignation. This found its way to G.H.Q., but as certain individuals
there had no desire to see me land unmuzzled in England, my resignation
was not accepted. Some of the Staff knew only too well that if I were
free to return to England I would at once let the authorities there know
that their representatives in Palestine were not carrying out the
declared policy of the Imperial Government, but, on the contrary, were
doing their best to make of the Balfour Declaration a mere "scrap of
paper."
As G.H.Q. was then only some two miles from my Camp I thought it might
help matters if I could see Major-General Louis Jean Bols, the
Chief-of-Staff, and get him to put a stop to the persecution that was
going on, and see that his underlings "played the game." I therefore
called on this gentleman, but he, for reasons best known to himself,
refused to see me.
I told his A.D.C. that I was camped close by and would be glad to see
the General any time that was convenient to him, but I left his office
feeling there never would be a convenient time, and so, in fact, it
turned out.
When my resignation was refused and my request for an interview treated
in the same manner, I made a vigorous protest against the anti-Jewish
policy which prevailed, and stated that if it was not altered I would
have the matter placed before the Secretary of State for War in
Parliament.
As a result of this I got a letter from G.H.Q. requesting me to furnish
a list of the complaints I wished to make, and also asking me to forward
recommendations for the improvement and comfort of the Jewish Battalion.
In my reply I pointed out how the battalion had suffered owing to the
discrimination to which it had been subjected, and gave specific
instances of unfair and unjust treatment during our service with the
E.E.F.
I also forwarded a separate memorandum recommending various changes for
the improvement and comfort of the men. I made five specific
suggestions; not a single one of these was carried out.
One of my suggestions was that a special Jewish name and badge should be
given to the battalion. This had been promised by the War Office, but
the fact that it was granted was _purposely withheld from our knowledge_
by the Staff, and it was only by accident, a whole year later, that I
discovered this deliberate shelving of Army Council Orders by G.H.Q. in
Egypt.
This could not have been an oversight because I had written more than
once to enquire whether this distinction had yet been conferred on the
battalion.
Having seen the majority of my officers and men all carried off to
Hospital, and feeling ill and depressed in my lonely camp, I sat down
late one night and wrote a letter of condolence to Mrs. Cross. I told
her that although we had wired to every Turkish Hospital, from Es Salt
to Damascus, we could obtain no information about her husband; I wound
up my letter by stating that although there might still be some very
faint hope, she must steel herself to face the facts, for I feared she
would never see her husband again.
It must have been close on midnight when I lay down, and, as I was
unable to sleep, I was reading by the dim light of a candle when
suddenly I saw a white ghostly face appear in the tent door, and only
that I knew Cross was dead I would have thought it was the face of
Cross. Then a sepulchral voice said, "Are you awake, Sir?" and I began
to wonder if it were all a dream. When the figure approached the light,
I saw that it really _was_ Cross, so I bounded up to give him a
welcome--such a welcome as one would give to a friend who had risen from
the dead.
It appeared that when the patrol had been ambushed, Cross got wounded
and lay under a sandbank where he was discovered by the Turks; they
carried him off, and, as they were then retiring as fast as they could,
took him with them, pushed him on to Amman, and from there by rail to
Damascus. He was about to be sent further north when the British entered
the city. In the confusion Cross made good his escape and eventually
worked his way back to me. Thus it was that nobody knew anything of his
whereabouts, for he had never reported to any of the Hospitals en route.
Mrs. Cross had already been informed by the War Office that he was
missing and reported killed. I told Cross that I had just posted a
letter to his wife to say that I feared that he must have been killed:
he, of course, at once sent a private cable to tell her that he was
alive and well, while I sent an official one to the War Office giving
the same account. At all events, my letter of condolence to Mrs. Cross
will always be a good souvenir of the part her husband took in the Great
War.