GAZA AT LAST
During the days immediately following the capture of Beersheba the mounted
troops were kept exceedingly busy, for our position was yet by no means
secure. Every day the Turks in the hills made an attempt to drive us
eastwards into the desert and every day we strove to push them back on to
their defences at Sheria. It was a series of battles for the wells, in
effect, for here the eternal problems of transport and water were acute.
The former was more or less solved in time for the big operations; the
latter was the difficulty it had always been for the past two years, but in
a different way. In the desert, whilst the wells were few and far between
they were seldom more than fifty or sixty feet deep; in the district around
Beersheba there were, to exaggerate a little, almost as many wells as in
the whole of the Sinai Desert, but you could not get at the water! Scarcely
a well was less than a hundred feet deep and most of them were anything
over that up to a hundred and eighty; of course there were no pumps. The
old shadouf of the desert, unwieldy though it was, would have been a
veritable godsend to the troops here.
A cavalryman could not pack a two-hundred foot coil of the lightest rope on
to his saddle; it was as much as he could do to climb into it over the
conglomeration of picketing-pegs and ropes, rifle-bucket, and sword which
constituted his full marching order, and it was more or less the same in
the artillery.
Those patriarchs of old who built the wells would doubtless have been
vastly diverted to see a trooper sit down and solemnly remove his putties
with which to lengthen a "rope" already consisting of reins, belts, and any
odds and ends of rope he had acquired, and when even these additions proved
insufficient--! It was a joke which matured but slowly.
Imagine half a brigade of cavalry clustered round a well frantically
devising means to reach the cavernous depths, while the other half were
fighting like tigers to keep off the Turks a few miles away! It was nothing
out of the ordinary for a squadron or battery to take five hours to water
their horses; and it added a piquancy to the situation that you were never
quite sure when a marauding party of Turks would appear over the top of a
neighbouring hill. Ultimately the extraordinary exertions of the engineers
saved the situation; with incredible labour and ingenuity they fixed
pumping-appliances to the wells.
They must have used most of the kinds known to science, and assuredly a
great many not in the textbooks. In the course of their work they performed
the functions of a hundred trades--including divers: in fact a large part
of their time was of necessity spent in the water, and a singularly
unpleasant business it must have been, dangling for hours at the end of a
rope in the dank atmosphere of a well. Practically everything had to be
done in the first two days after the capture of Beersheba in order to
secure our precarious hold on that place; and with the lack of quick
transport--for the country was too rough for motors, and camels are very
slow--the shortage of rope and appliances, with, in fine, everything
against them, the engineers in successfully accomplishing the feat added
one more to their already imposing list of miracles.
Let there be no mistake about it; it _was_ a miracle and one performed only
by the most complete abnegation of self. Men who doubtless would have
groused at home had they been asked to work for a couple of hours overtime
at bank or office or works, here slaved for twenty-four hours at a stretch
without bite or sup, and then after a short rest went on for another
twenty-four. It is astonishing what the human frame can be made to do, when
it is driven by that indescribable thing variously called _morale_ or
_esprit de corps_ or duty.
The same feeling of superb confidence in the outcome animated the whole
army, from the men clinging tenaciously to Beersheba to those straining
impatiently at the leash in front of Gaza. The turn of the latter came on
November 1st, and the account of their exploits must be taken from official
sources, since by some inexplicable oversight on the part of Nature, a man
cannot be in two places at once.
According to General Allenby's dispatches, it was decided to make a strong
attack on some of the ridges defending Gaza, for the purpose chiefly of
preventing the enemy from sending reinforcements or reserves across to the
other flank. Also, any gains would be of material assistance when the time
came for striking the big blow in the centre. The first part of the attack
was made by the Scotch division on Umbrella Hill, previously mentioned in
this narrative as being the scene of a raid by the same troops in the
middle of June. Just before sunset the artillery put up a tremendous
bombardment which lasted until dusk, and shortly before midnight the
Scotsmen attacked the hill. To many of them it must have been reminiscent
of their desperate assault on Wellington Ridge, during one phase of the
battle of Romani, for Umbrella Hill was somewhat similarly shaped and the
approach to it was over a wide expanse of heavy, yielding sand. But here
the Turks were partially taken by surprise, and the Jocks were amongst them
and had bundled them out of their trenches almost before they knew, though
as usual they fought desperately hard once they were alive to the
situation.
Thus the first part of the enterprise was safely accomplished with
comparatively little loss; the second and more difficult attempt began
before daylight the next morning. The main objective was Sheikh Hassan, a
ridge sloping gently down to the Mediterranean north-west of Gaza. This was
nearly two miles from the nearest British trenches, and the ground to be
covered by the attacking infantry was of the rough and difficult nature
characteristic of this part of the coast. The artillery, including the
heavy guns of the battleships off the coast, kept up an intense barrage
while the troops were in the open, and, in addition to knocking the
trenches on Sheikh Hassan out of shape, completely destroyed some works
nearer Gaza. With these as a foothold the infantry stormed the main
position with the bayonet, though the Turkish machine-gun fire was deadly
and their resistance stubborn in the extreme. But this was the opportunity
of "getting a little of their own back" for which our men, especially the
52nd and 54th Divisions, had been waiting for six months, and it was more
than the Turks could do to keep them out.
Besides, Sheikh Hassan was no more than the _hors d'oeuvre_ to the feast,
so to speak, and it was swallowed with gusto. In this action, for the first
time, I believe, the French and Italians assisted the British on land as
well as from the sea. It was also the last occasion on which the Baby Tanks
were used, for in the subsequent fighting amongst the Judæan hills the
country was too rough even for the larger specimens successfully to have
negotiated.
Of the important defences in the immediate neighbourhood of Gaza, only grim
old Ali Muntar now remained unconquered, and still reared a defiant head
above his humbler satellites. As was fitting, and indeed very necessary,
its capture was left till the last. Meanwhile, the preliminaries being
completed more or less successfully, the main blow at the centre had to be
struck. During the night of November 5th the great move toward Sheria was
begun, and by the morning all the troops were in the positions assigned to
them. The principal Turkish position was on Kauwukah Ridge, as usual very
difficult to approach and positively crawling with machine-guns and wire.
As was a customary feature with the Turkish defences, if one position was
captured it could immediately be enfiladed from another portion; and very
little was left to chance to make the place secure.
The 74th Division attacked the eastern and more vulnerable end first, and
with such amazing élan did they fight--and it was all the more remarkable
in that these troops were dismounted Yeomanry--that by the early afternoon
they had swept the Turks out of their trenches in this part of Kauwukah,
and were firmly established in what remained of the position. At the other
end of the ridge two more divisions were fighting towards a maze of wire,
which was rapidly being uprooted by the accurate and devastating fire of
our artillery. This was the heaviest bombardment of the battle; some of the
Turkish trenches were simply swept out of existence, and the defenders
irretrievably buried in the débris. One of the attacking divisions was
Irish, who as a pleasing change from road-making in that malarial hole,
Salonica, gave of their best with the bayonet, in which bright pastime they
were capably aided and abetted by the 60th Division. It is the fashion to
speak of successful military operations as being carried out "like
clockwork." If extreme dash and gallantry in the face of every obstacle
that brain of man could devise constitute the "clockwork," then the attack
that led to the capture of Kauwukah Ridge merits the above description.
I cannot write of the attack as an eye-witness but, months afterwards, I
saw the Turkish system of defences, and little imagination was needed to
picture the terrible struggle it must have been to take them by storm.
Late in the afternoon the two divisions had captured all their objectives
as far as, and including, Sheria railway-station. On the right flank, too,
where success was no less important, the troops had done their share; and
here in the hills north of Beersheba the fighting was terribly severe. It
is one thing to attack with numbers at least equal, if not superior, to
those of the enemy; it is quite another when the advantage of numbers lies
heavily with the enemy, and the attack has still to be made. This was the
predicament in which the Welshmen found themselves; they had not only to
prevent themselves from being cut off, but had to drive a vastly superior
force out of commanding positions they had taken, and not all the hammering
of the Turks could oust them permanently. It was attack and counter-attack
from one hill to another all day long, but the advantage at the end of the
day lay with the Welshmen, who simply refused to be beaten and fought the
Turks to a standstill. Like the Scotsmen they had to wipe off a few old
scores, in addition to which there was the accumulated interest of six
months of waiting.
By these operations Gaza was isolated except from the north but, as the
Turks had no more reserves immediately available, little danger was to be
feared from that direction. During the night the Turkish commander, seeing
that the game was up, skilfully evacuated all the defences of Gaza, with
the exception of those at Atawina Ridge, from which, as will be seen by a
glance at the map, the defenders could best protect his rear from the
onslaught of the victorious troops advancing from the east. There was no
necessity, therefore, for an assault on Ali Muntar; its deserted slopes
were occupied without opposition the next day. It thus remained unconquered
to the end, and no one begrudged the barren victory, for many thousands of
British lives were saved in consequence.
By the time Gaza was occupied by our troops, the remaining Turkish defences
except Atawina had fallen into our hands. This, too, was evacuated when the
garrison had done their work of delaying our advance and protecting the
main retreating body. It was due to their dogged defence that a larger
number of prisoners were not taken by the British, and the two almost
bloodless retirements were admittedly very ably carried out.
Thus, in six days the patient labours of six months had on the one hand
been brought to nought, and on the other had been crowned by complete
success. The fall of Gaza gave us the key to the whole of the Maritime
plain of Palestine. It was one of the five great cities of the Philistines,
and the only one that had retained even a degree of its former greatness;
with the others the cry is "Ichabod!"
Of the town itself it is unnecessary to say more than that while there are
several fine modern buildings, amongst them a German school, and a mosque
which had suffered from our shells on account of the Turkish persistence in
using it as an observation post, the greater part of the town is like every
other Eastern town in its utter disregard of the elementary laws of
sanitation. The white roofs in a ring of cactus and amid the scarlet
blossoms of the pomegranate make a delightful picture seen from the top of
a neighbouring hill, but there is the usual complete disillusionment when
you have passed the outskirts of the town. Not all the dirt and squalor,
however, could minimise the intense feeling of satisfaction amongst the
troops at having at last conquered the bogy that had for so long prevented
the advance into the Holy Land.
As usual the Turks did as much damage as they could before leaving. The
more pretentious houses had scarcely anything of value left in them; their
owners and, in fact, all the chiefs of the native population of Gaza had
long since been deported. Most of these were grossly ill-treated, and some
had been hanged, for what crime other than a desire to live at peace with
their neighbours only the criminals who executed them knew.
It took many weeks of labour before the engineers could repair the damage
done to the water-supply, which, in and around Gaza, was fairly ample. But
now, the Turks having been driven out of their strongholds, it was
necessary to keep them on the move northwards, to fight them whenever they
could be brought to the sticking-point and to harass them night and day.
After six months of comparative stagnation the troops were ready, and more
than willing for operations of this nature. They wanted a little moving
warfare for a change, and General Allenby supplied the need.
When the capture of the Turkish Lines was complete, the whole Army was
ordered to advance, and for the next fortnight the pursuit never slackened.
The story would fill a volume could you collect but half of the incidents
of those stirring days. It was an epic of endurance and utter indifference
to hardship. Few men, however, could tell a connected tale of what
happened, for, obedient to the command, the enemy was attacked whenever he
was encountered, which was every day.
The Turks were beaten, but they were by no means demoralised. On all parts
of the front our advance was stubbornly resisted. On our left flank they
fought with most bitter determination to save their railhead for long
enough to get their guns and stores away, and having succeeded in doing
this retired farther up the coast and prepared to fight again. On our right
flank the mounted divisions, who had started from Beersheba on the night
Gaza was evacuated to perform their usual function of cutting off the
enemy's retreat, were assaulted vigorously by a strong rearguard of Turks
who fought in anything but a beaten manner. It was here that the Yeomanry
made a charge reminiscent of the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.
There was no blunder about this charge, however, which was made in face of
point-blank fire from "5.9's" and other guns, all of which were captured.
It is no more than bare justice to say that the Austrian gunners gallantly
stuck to their guns till the Yeomanry swept through them and cut them down
where they stood.
Later, the Yeomanry had further opportunities of which they availed
themselves to the full; they, too, had a few painful memories to wipe out.
After the occupation of Huj, where the Turks had an enormous depôt, the
pursuit quickened, as could be seen by the increasing litter of stores the
enemy left behind. Some idea of the amount of material used in a modern
battle may be gathered from the fact that one of our cable-sections salved
forty thousand pounds' worth of copper wire alone, all of which had been
employed on the battlefield.
Infantry and mounted troops marched and fought to their utmost capacity,
ignoring their hardships. Rations arrived--when they arrived, and some days
they came not at all. If there were but four men to share in one tin of
bully-beef or one pound of biscuits they counted themselves fortunate.
Almost every man carried a "billy" slung on to the hook at the back of his
tunic, a habit learnt from the Australians. This was generally made out of
an empty fruit tin, with a piece of wire for a handle. Perhaps the drivers
of one team would have one billy-can, the genuine article, between them,
and this is large enough to hold about four mugs of tea.
The scarcity of wood was a great difficulty. Every man in the team was
strictly enjoined to "scrounge" any scrap of wood he could find en route,
and it was a common sight to see a driver suddenly hop off his horse, dart
across the road triumphantly to seize a stick he had spotted, after which
he rushed after his team and scrambled into the saddle again, the horses
meanwhile plodding patiently along. Then, the moment word of a halt for a
quarter of an hour came down the long line, every man in the team quickly
dismounted and a toll of sticks was collected from each by the "cook." Then
the billy was placed precariously on the heap and in a few minutes you
would see the tiny fires all along the column.
What wonderful tea that was! In hot countries there is no drink to equal
it, either taken scalding hot to prevent heat apoplexy or as cold as you
can get it, without milk or sugar, to be carried in your water-bottle. Many
a man was saved from collapse by a timely mug of hot tea, and if there was
a rum ration to go with it, so much the better.
But, alas, one of the essentials for making tea was often lacking; the
farther we advanced the scarcer did water become, and now there were no
pumps to draw it from the wells. Horses went three days and more without
drinking, and hundreds died from thirst and exhaustion. Infantry, starting
with empty water-bottles, marched thirty miles across country, with a
bayonet-charge thrown in, and found perhaps a pint of water per man at the
end of the day.
Then the rain came. Roads, at best no more than a travesty of the name and
already battered by Turkish transport, became quagmires of mud through
which artillery-horses, weakened by thirst and meagre rations, could
scarcely draw the guns. The transport, toiling along in the rear, had the
utmost difficulty in bringing up supplies, and as for the men, they were
unwashed, unshaven, and covered with mud from head to foot.
Through all the strongholds of the Philistines, through villages with
historic names the army passed as the line of pursuit swung north-westwards
across the plain of Philistia. Past ruined Ascalon on the coast; Mejdel,
farther inland, one of the largest native towns on the plain, with many
ancient industries established there; Esdud, the ancient Ashdod, where
later a station on the military railway was built; Gath, where the Turks
made a most desperate attempt to delay our advance; Akron, the once great
frontier fortress of the Philistines; these were among the chief. In
addition there were modern Jewish colonies, depleted of their male
inhabitants but otherwise untouched, where a kind of coarse red wine was
obtained which helped greatly to ward off ill-effects from cold and wet.
At last, after five days of hot pursuit, the Turks made a last great stand
in defence of the junction between the Jerusalem railway and the main line,
and also of Et Tineh, which connected the Gaza and Beersheba railway. The
Yeomanry, acting with the Scotch infantry, distinguished themselves in the
action for possession of the former, taking the main Turkish position after
a wild gallop for a couple of miles under heavy fire all the way.
The Light Horse captured Et Tineh and a host of prisoners besides.
Everywhere the Turks were forced back. Their army was cut in two, one half
retiring on Jerusalem, the other going north towards Jaffa. In their
efforts to speed the heels of the former the Yeomanry again made a
wonderful charge against a high hill, a few miles from Latron on the
Jerusalem Road, strongly defended by the Turks. It is an unusual feat for
cavalry even to attack a hill of considerable dimensions, but the Yeomanry
not only did this but galloped to the top of it and killed or captured all
the defenders. Yet at the beginning of the War there were people who said
that the day of cavalry was over! The campaign in Egypt and Palestine was
one long and continued refutation of this view.
On November 15th British troops occupied Lydda, or Ludd, as it was
afterwards called, which town, according to legend, contains the tomb of
our patron-saint St. George. With the capture of Jaffa the next day, the
advance for the moment ended.