THE VALLEY OF CHAOS
During the summer of 1918 great changes took place in the personnel of the
army in Palestine. The early success of the great German offensive in
France had caused the "S.O.S." to be sent out for other and more men to
stem the tide of advance, and all the other British fronts were denuded of
white troops, in whose place, so far as Palestine was concerned, came
Indians, many of whom had only a few months' service to their credit. The
infantry of the 52nd Lowland Division, who apparently had not done
sufficient fighting for one War, left to give a hand to their comrades in
France, as did the 74th, still acting as infantry, and all the remaining
divisions sent at least one brigade; large numbers of cavalry and artillery
also went overseas. Practically all the summer, therefore, was devoted to
re-organising the forces and training the levies from India. The principle
adopted in the infantry was to brigade one British battalion to every three
Indian battalions right through the divisions; and this acted very well
indeed, for the white troops provided just that leaven of steadiness
lacking in the young Indians. In the cavalry much the same principle was
adopted, but the artillery first tried the experiment of employing
Egyptians as drivers in the ammunition-waggon teams, retaining the British
drivers for the guns.
For a time all went well with the training of these Egyptians, until, as a
test of their efficiency, night operations were ordered, which included a
dash into a wadi and out the other side. This effort produced what can only
be described as a "shemozzle": horses, waggons, and men piled themselves up
in a hopeless tangle at the bottom of the wadi, and the night operations
came to an abrupt end. In the searching inquiry which followed it was
discovered by the medical authorities that less than twenty-five per cent.
of these Egyptians could see clearly at night, a further twenty-five per
cent. were stone-blind after sunset, and of the remainder, the most that
could be said was that they could just see in the dark and that was all!
When the weeding-out process was completed the British personnel returned
as lead-drivers; Indians were added to make up the numbers, and this
curious mixture acted satisfactorily.
A remarkable feature of the spring and summer was the gradual rise to power
of the Royal Air Force, culminating in complete supremacy over the Turks
immediately before and during the autumn campaign. Presumably a ship had at
last arrived with adequate machines, for all through the summer
long-distance bombing raids were undertaken with conspicuous success; and
for the first time our planes "had the wings" of the Turks. One great raid
was carried out after a report had been received that three German
divisions were on their way south from Constantinople to reinforce the
Turk. The trains containing two of the divisions were almost completely
destroyed before they reached Damascus; the third division arrived more or
less intact, and went into action in the Jordan Valley, where they were so
badly mauled by the Australians that the fragments that remained bolted
incontinently, and for the future stayed behind the line. In August the
R.A.F., in conjunction with the forces of the King of the Hedjaz, who were
working their way northwards across the desert east of Amman, made an
attack on the Hedjaz railway at Der'aa, at which place the line was
completely demolished and all communication severed with the north.
In single combats, too, our airmen now more than held their own, for the
Turkish planes either fled at first sight or, if they stayed to argue the
point, were generally brought down. From the Camel Camp on the hill
overlooking General Allenby's Headquarters at Bir Salem we saw several
battles in the air, for G.H.Q. was a favourite mark of the Turks, and these
almost invariably went in favour of the British.
By the end of August the intensive training of the new troops and the work
of re-organisation were complete; and it is interesting to note, as an
indication of the way in which the army had been for the most part, made
"on the premises," as it were, that it comprised British, French, Italian,
Jewish, West Indian, Arab, Indian, Algerian, Armenian, and Egyptian troops,
to say nothing of the tribes of mixed race but Mahommedan faith who
assisted the King of the Hedjaz in the final struggle.
At this stage a word as to the disposition of the Turkish forces is
necessary: their main position was at Nablus, (the ancient Shechem), which
was well protected naturally by Mt. Gerizim in the south and Mt. Ebal in
the north, and had been fortified with German thoroughness and ingenuity
during the summer months. From here the line extended in a south-westerly
direction towards the sea, including _en route_ another immensely strong
position at Jiljulieh, immediately to the north of which was the village of
Kalkilieh, also well fortified; another Turkish force operated west and
east of the Jordan.
A frontal attack on Nablus was out of the question; an army of goats might
have successfully scaled the mountains of Samaria, but it was no place for
troops; nor was the Jordan Valley any more inviting. The best chance of
success lay in the coastal sector, where the conformation of the ground was
not so much in favour of the Turks, and it was decided that our main attack
should be made here. The plan was for the infantry to make a wide breach in
the Turkish line by storming the defences between Jiljulieh and the sea,
whereupon the cavalry were to sweep forward on to the Esdraelon Plain and
close all possible lines of retreat to the Turks, while at the same time an
outflanking movement was to be carried out by the troops in the eastern
sector.
The main difficulties were to concentrate unseen a large force of infantry
in the plain of Sharon, and to bring the remainder of the cavalry from the
Jordan Valley without observation by the enemy. The vast olive-groves round
about Ludd and Jaffa comfortably concealed the infantry, whose movements
were carried out at night and with the utmost caution, but the transport of
the cavalry was a tougher problem, for the Turks were very much on the
alert in the Jordan Valley, and did in fact expect the attack to be made in
this direction.
Considerable guile was therefore necessary, into which entered a little
innocent fun. It was a general and strictly enforced rule that no lights
should be shown after dusk, on account of bombing raids, yet during the
last weeks of August long lines of bivouac fires twinkled nightly in the
Jordan Valley; and the authorities seemed to be singularly blind to this
flagrant disobedience of orders. During the day at stated hours groups of
men riding aged and infirm horses were strung out at 50-yard intervals,
engaged in the gentle pastime of dragging sacks and branches along the
roads; they made so much dust that it might easily have been caused by,
say, a cavalry division going to water. Also, thousands of tiny tents
sprang up round the bivouac areas, in front of which were equally
diminutive soldiers in squads and companies, whose function it was to stand
rigidly to attention all day long, and who treated the frequent bombing
raids with utter contempt. A careful observer would have noticed a certain
woodenness about them, but enemy airmen were profoundly impressed by this
large concentration of troops.
Meanwhile every night brigade after brigade of British cavalry left the
Jordan Valley on their fifty-mile ride across country to the friendly
shelter of the orange-groves of Jaffa and Sarona, and the men left behind
complained bitterly of the increase of work in having to light so many
extra bivouac fires! The whole concentration was carried out without the
Turks being any the wiser, and by the middle of September thirty-five
thousand infantry were ready to pour forth from their hiding-places, with
four divisions of mounted troops to follow hard upon their heels; it was
scarcely possible to move in the coast sector without falling over a
battery of artillery, and tucked away round Richon and Duran were thousands
of transport camels of every shade and breed.
At dusk on the night of September 18th the orange-groves began to erupt,
and for eight hours horse and foot in orderly columns marched silently
forward, the infantry to their battle positions and the cavalry to the
beach between Arsuf and Jaffa, there to wait till the breach had been
made. At half-past four the next morning the shattering roar of artillery
proclaimed that the offensive had begun, and at dawn the infantry attacked
the Turkish positions, swept over those nearest the coast at the first
onslaught, and then swung eastwards. One after another from Et Tireh to
Jiljulieh, strongholds upon which months of labour had been expended fell
before the irresistible élan of our men, though the Turks fought
magnificently to hold their line. By noon the whole of the coastal sector
was in our hands, and the plain of Sharon lay open to the cavalry, who had
started on their historic ride north soon after our first attack.
In the meantime the infantry, driving before them the demoralised remnants
of the Turkish 8th Army, captured Tul Keram, Turkish G.H.Q., together with
a host of prisoners, and then continued east to help the Welsh and Irish
divisions in their assault on Nablus. The Turks here had no information of
the débâcle on their right, for the R.A.F. had started out at dawn and had
destroyed every means of communication, except the roads, between the two
armies. They therefore fought with the utmost determination, and aided by
their well-chosen and well-fortified positions, held off our attacks all
that day and the next, though the Irishmen by extraordinary exertions
crumpled up one flank. Then the last message ever sent from the north
informed them that the British cavalry had overrun the whole country in
their rear, so far as they knew the only line of retreat left open to them
was eastward across the Jordan, and this loophole, too, was soon to be
closed. Panic reigned; the roads leading east were black with long columns
of guns and transport and men mingled in hopeless confusion, fleeing with
no thought of anything but their own safety; a routed, utterly demoralised
rabble.
Nablus was occupied without difficulty on the 21st, but the infantry, who
had been scrambling about the hills of Samaria for three days, could not
run fast enough to catch the Turks, who were making their way through the
Wadi Farah towards the Jisr ed Damieh ford. Half-way through the wadi the
road has on one side a deep, gloomy gorge, while on the other stretch gaunt
hills terrible in their desolation and stony barrenness. The whole aspect
of the place is sinister and forbidding in the extreme, and one can imagine
the panic-stricken Turks hurrying through yet a little faster, eager to
sight the yellow waters of the Jordan. But they never reached the goal, for
the Royal Air Force found the column half-way through the gorge. Relays of
machines joined in the attack, first dropping bombs and then flying low and
spraying the column with bullets. In five minutes the road eastwards was
blocked, and driven by the slow but remorseless advance of our infantry far
in the rear, with impassable hills on the one hand, and a precipice on the
other, the column was caught in a trap.
A part of it tried to escape, before being driven into the gorge, by a road
leading to the north, but were bombed back again into the shambles. Mad
with terror, some of the Turks tried to scramble up the steep hills, others
made an attempt to descend into the deep gorge; anywhere to escape from the
awful hail of bombs and bullets. For four hours the slaughter continued,
and when "Cease fire" was ordered, the road for nine miles was literally a
vast charnel-house. Guns, limbers, commissariat-waggons, field-kitchens,
every conceivable form of vehicle, including a private barouche, lay heaped
together in monstrous confusion; and when night fell ragged, half-starved
Bedouins descended upon the stricken valley, stealing from pile to pile of
débris in search of loot, nor could the rifles of the guards deter them
from the ghoulish task. It took an entire division three weeks to clear the
roads and bury the dead.
Isolated columns from the Turkish 7th Army did succeed in reaching the
Jordan, but were all killed or captured by the mounted troops left in the
valley. Daily the toll of prisoners increased, as hundreds of Turks who had
been in hiding in the hills round Samaria and Nablus were driven by hunger
to give themselves up to the searching parties. Ras el Ain, which had been
a part of our front line, presented an extraordinary spectacle, for most
of the prisoners passed through here on their way south to Wilhelma and
beyond. For thirty-six hours there was hardly a break in the procession
shambling towards the great hill on which stand the ruins of Herod's
Castle, where Salome danced for the head of John the Baptist, and where now
the prisoners were caged. There was a marked difference between the
condition of the Turkish prisoners and that of the Germans: the former were
ragged, half-starved, and yellow with privation and fatigue, but all the
Germans I saw were sleek, well-clad, and bearing every sign of good living.
It was impossible to cage them together, for they fought like cats with
each other on every possible occasion, and caused endless trouble to the
guards, who had to go amongst them with the bayonet in order to separate
them.
[Illustration: A WATER CONVOY.]
[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF CHAOS--BEFORE THE TURKISH RETREAT. [_To
face p. 256._]
Meanwhile, what of the cavalry whose business it had been to cut the
Turkish lines of communication with Damascus and the north? Their chief
objectives were El Afule, which might briefly be described as a place where
all roads meet, Nazareth, a few miles farther north, the headquarters of
the German General, Liman von Sanders, the Commander-in-Chief of the Turks,
and Jenin, the headquarters of the enemy Air Force. They met with
practically no opposition until they reached the entrance to the Esdraelon
Plain, which is approached through a narrow pass, where a weak garrison was
easily overwhelmed and captured. Had the Turks had time to fortify this
pass it is possible that the whole course of events might have been
changed, for it commanded the way to the main arteries in the Turkish
communications, upon the capture of which everything depended. But the
surprise was complete; the fine work of the British airmen had prevented
news of the destruction of the front line from reaching enemy headquarters,
and their first intimation of our success was the sight of the cavalry
streaming over the Esdraelon Plain towards Afule.
Most of the small garrisons on the way were literally taken in their beds,
and when the few stragglers who escaped brought the tidings to Afule it was
too late to make any great show of resistance. Thousands of Turks
surrendered here, without attempting to fight, and when the Germans also
had been roped in, the number of prisoners far exceeded that of the
attacking cavalry. The loot was prodigious, for Afule was one of the main
depôts of the enemy, and every house occupied by Germans showed signs of
the extreme solicitude they had for their personal comfort; that of the
Turks did not matter. In the hill upon which the town stands were numerous
caves filled to overflowing with choice wines, cognac, tobacco and
delicacies which made the mouths of the beholders, who had had neither bite
nor sup for thirty-six hours, water in anticipation. An Australian trooper
told me afterwards that there was sufficient wine in Afule and Nazareth
for every man in the Expeditionary Force, at a bottle per head, and added
naïvely that he had had his bottle just at the time it was most needed!
The column advancing on Nazareth had met with equal though not quite
bloodless success. Arriving at dawn they, too, found the town asleep, and
clattered through the streets in search of Liman von Sanders. He was warned
in the very nick of time, however, and the cavalry had an interesting back
view of a swiftly disappearing car in which sat Liman von Sanders in his
pyjamas, followed at a respectful distance by some of his staff not so
discreetly clad. Undisturbed by the defection of their Chief, the Germans
resisted stoutly for a time, both in the streets of Nazareth and in the
hills north of the town, but ultimately all were gathered in and sent
across the ancient battlefield of Armageddon to join the rest at Afule.
The aerodromes at Jenin were captured, or, to be more exact, rendered
useless by our aircraft, who had hovered over them ever since the beginning
of the battle, dropping an "egg" whenever enemy machines attempted to come
out. When the cavalry arrived, practically all they had to do was to tie up
the hordes of men who were only too anxious to surrender.
In five days the combined forces had smashed up two Turkish armies and had
taken forty thousand prisoners.
I cannot do better than end this chapter by giving in full General
Allenby's letter to the troops thanking them for this remarkable
achievement: "I desire to convey to all ranks and all arms of the Force
under my command, my admiration and thanks for the great deeds of the past
week, and my appreciation of their gallantry and determination, which have
resulted in the total destruction of the 7th and 8th Turkish Armies opposed
to us. Such a complete victory has seldom been known in all the history of
war."