CRUSHING THE TURKISH LEFT
Now we return to the operations of XXth Corps and Desert Mounted Corps
on our right. After the capture of Beersheba this force was preparing
to attack the left of the Turkish main line about Hareira and Sheria,
the capture of which would enable the fine force of cavalry to get
to Nejile and gain an excellent water supply, to advance to the
neighbourhood of Huj and so reach the plain and threaten the enemy's
line in rear, and to fall on his line of retreat. It was proposed
to make the attack on the Kauwukah and Rushdi systems at Hareira on
November 4, but the water available at Beersheba had not been equal
to the demands made upon it and was petering out, and mounted troops
protecting the right flank of XXth Corps had to be relieved every
twenty-four hours. The men also suffered a good deal from thirst. The
weather was unusually hot for this period of the year, and the dust
churned up by traffic was as irritating as when the khamseen wind
blew. The two days' delay meant much in favour of the enemy, who was
enabled to move his troops as he desired, but it also permitted our
infantry to get some rest after their long marches, and supplies were
brought nearer the front. 'Rest' was only a comparative term. Brigades
were on the move each day in country which was one continual rise and
fall, with stony beds of wadis to check progress, without a tree to
lend a few moments' grateful relief from a burning sun, and nothing
but the rare sight of a squalid native hut to relieve the monotony of
a sun-dried desolate land.
The troops were remarkably cheerful. They were on their toes, as the
cavalry told them. They had drawn first blood profusely from the Turk
after many weary months of waiting and getting fit, and they knew that
those gaunt mountain ridges away on their right front held behind them
Bethlehem and Jerusalem, goals they desired to reach more than any
other prizes of war. They had seen the Turk, and had soundly thrashed
him out of trenches which the British could have held against a much
stronger force. Their confidence was based on the proof that they were
better men, and they were convinced that once they got the enemy into
the open their superiority would be still more marked. The events of
the next six weeks showed their estimate of the Turkish soldier was
justified.
The 53rd Division with the Imperial Camel Corps on its right moved to
Towal Abu Jerwal on November 1 to protect the flank guard of the XXth
Corps during the pending attack on the Kauwukah system. The infantry
had some fighting on that day, but it was mild compared with the
strenuous days before them. The 10th Division attacked Irgeig railway
station north-west of Beersheba and secured it, and waited there with
the 74th Division on its right while the Welsh Division went forward
to fight for Khuweilfeh on November 3. The Welshmen could not obtain
the whole of the position on that day, and it was not until the 6th
that it became theirs. Khuweilfeh is about ten miles due east of
Sheria, the same distance north of Beersheba, and some five miles west
of the Hebron road. It is in the hill country, difficult to approach,
with nothing in the nature of a road or track leading to it, and there
was no element in the position to suggest the prospect of an easy
capture. When General Mott advanced to these forbidding heights the
strength of the enemy in these parts was not realised. Prisoners
taken during the day proved that there were portions of three or four
Turkish divisions in the neighbourhood, and the strong efforts made to
prevent the Welsh troops gaining the position and the furious attempts
to drive them out of it suggested that most of the Turkish reserves
had been brought over to their left flank to guard against a wide
movement intended to envelop it. It afterwards turned out that von
Kressenstein believed General Allenby intended to march on Jerusalem
up the Hebron road, and he threw over to his left all his reserves to
stop us. That was a supreme mistake, for when we had broken through at
Hareira and Sheria the two wings of his Army were never in contact,
and their only means of communication was by aeroplane.
The magnificent fight the 53rd Division put up at Khuweilfeh against
vastly superior forces and in the face of heavy casualties played a
very important part in the overwhelming defeat of the Turks. For four
days and nights the Welsh Division fought without respite and with the
knowledge that they could not be substantially reinforced, since the
plan for the attack on Hareira and Sheria entailed the employment of
all the available infantry of XXth Corps. Attack after attack was
launched against them with extreme violence and great gallantry, their
positions were raked by gunfire, whilst water and supplies were not
over plentiful. But the staunch Division held on grimly to what it had
gained, and its tenacity was well rewarded by what was won on other
portions of the field.
During the night of November 5-6 and the day of the 6th, the 74th,
60th, and 10th Divisions concentrated for the attack on the Kauwukah
system. The enemy's positions ran from his Jerusalem-Beersheba railway
about five miles south-east of Hareira, across the Gaza-Beersheba road
to the wadi Sheria, on the northern bank of which was an exceedingly
strong redoubt covering Hareira. The eastern portion of this line
was known as the Kauwukah system, and between it and Hareira was
the Rushdi system, all being connected up by long communication and
support trenches, while a light railway ran from the Rushdi line to
dumps south of Sheria. At the moment of assembly for attack our line
from right to left was made up as follows: the 158th Infantry Brigade
was on the right, south of Tel Khuweilfeh. Then came the 160th Brigade
and 159th Brigade. The Yeomanry Mounted Division held a long line
of country and was the connecting link between the 53rd and 74th
Divisions. The latter division disposed from right to left the 231st
Brigade, the 229th Brigade, and 230th Brigade, who were to march from
the south-east to the north-west to attack the right of the Kauwukah
system of entrenchments on the railway. The 181st Brigade, 180th
Brigade, and 179th Brigade of the 60th Division were to march in the
same direction to attack the next portion of the system on the left of
the 74th Division's objectives, then swinging to the north to march
on Sheria. The 31st Brigade, 30th Brigade, and 29th Brigade were to
operate on the 60th Division's left, with the Australian Mounted
Division watching the left flank of XXth Corps. The Turkish VIIth
Army and 3rd Cavalry Division were opposing the XXth Corps, another
Division was opposite the 53rd Division and the Imperial Camel Corps
with the 12th Depôt Regiment at Dharahiyeh on the Hebron road, the
16th Division opposite our 74th, the 24th and 26th Divisions opposite
our 69th, and the 54th against the 10th Division. The 3rd, 53rd, and
7th Turkish Divisions were in the Gaza area.
At daybreak the troops advanced to the attack. The first part of the
line in front of the 231st Brigade was a serious obstacle. Two or
three small outlying rifle pits had to be taken before the Division
could proceed with its effort to drive the enemy out of Sheria and
protect the flank of the 60th Division, which had to cross the railway
where a double line of trenches was to be tackled, the rear line above
the other with the flank well thrown back and protected by small
advanced pits to hold a few men and machine guns. The Turks held on
very obstinately to their ground east of the railway, and kept the
74th Division at bay till one o'clock in the afternoon, but the
artillery of that Division had for some time been assisting in the
wire-cutting in front of the trenches to be assaulted by the 60th
Division, and the latter went ahead soon after noon, and with the
assistance of one brigade of the 10th Division, had won about 4000
yards of the complicated trench system and most of the Rushdi system
by half-past two. The Londoners then swung to the north and occupied
the station at Sheria, while the dismounted yeomanry worked round
farther east, taking a series of isolated trenches on the way, the
Irish troops relieving the 60th in the captured trenches at Kauwukah.
The 60th Division, having possession of the larger part of Sheria,
intended to attack the hill there at nightfall, and the attack was in
preparation when an enemy dump exploded and a huge fire lighted up the
whole district, so that all troops would have been exposed to the
fire of the garrison on the hill. General Shea therefore stopped the
attack, but the hill was stormed at 4.30 next morning and carried at
the point of the bayonet. A bridgehead was then formed at Sheria, and
the Londoners fought all day and stopped one counter-attack when it
was within 200 yards of our line. On that same morning the Irish
troops had extended their gains westwards from the Rushdi system till
they got to Hareira Tepe Redoubt, a high mound 500 yards across the
top, which had been criss-crossed with trenches with wire hanging
about some broken ground at the bottom. Here there was a hot tussle,
but the Irishmen valiantly pushed through and not only gave XXth Corps
the whole of its objectives and completed the turn of the enemy's left
flank, but joined up with the XXIst Corps. The working of XXth Corps'
scheme had again been admirable, and once more the staff work had
enabled the movements to be timed perfectly.
The Desert Mounted Corps was thus able to draw up to Sheria in
readiness to take up the pursuit and to get the water supply at
Nejile. This ended the XXth Corps' task for a few days, though the
60th Division became temporarily attached to Desert Mounted Corps.
XXth Corps had nobly done its part. The consummate ability, energy,
and foresight of the corps commander had been supported throughout by
the skill of divisional and brigade commanders. For the men no praise
could be too high. The attention given to their training was well
repaid. They bore the strain of long marches on hard food and a small
allowance of water in a way that proved their physique to be only
matched by their courage, and that was of a high order. Their
discipline was admirable, their determination alike in attack and
defence strong and well sustained. To say they were equal to the
finest troops in the world might lay one open to a charge of
exaggeration when it was impossible to get a fair ground of
comparison, seeing the conditions of fighting on different fronts
was so varied, but the trials through which the troops of XXth
Corps passed up to the end of the first week of November, and their
magnificent accomplishments by the end of the year, make me doubt
whether any other corps possessed finer soldierly qualities. The men
were indeed splendid. The casualties sustained by the XXth Corps from
October 31 to November 16 were: killed, officers 63, other ranks 869;
wounded, officers 198, other ranks 4246; missing, no officers, 108
other ranks--a total of 261 officers and 5223 other ranks.
During the period after Beersheba when the XXth Corps troops were
concentrating to break up the Turks' defensive position on the left,
the Desert Mounted Corps was busily engaged holding a line eight or
ten miles north and north-east of Beersheba, and watching for any
movement of troops down the Hebron road. The 2nd Australian Light
Horse Brigade and 7th Mounted Brigade tried to occupy a line from
Khuweilfeh to Dharahiyeh, but it was not possible to reach it--a fact
by no means surprising, as in the light of subsequent knowledge it was
clear that the Turks had put much of their strength there. A patrol
of Light Horsemen managed to work round to the north of Dharahiyeh,
a curious group of mud houses on a hill-top inhabited by natives who
have yet to appreciate the evils of grossly overcrowded quarters as
well as some of the elementary principles of sanitation, and they saw
a number of motor lorries come up the admirably constructed hill road
designed by German engineers. The lorries were hurrying from the
Jerusalem area with reinforcements. Prisoners--several hundreds of
them in all--were brought in daily, but no attempt was made to force
the enemy back until November 6, when the 53rd Division, which for the
time being was attached to the Desert Mounted Corps, drove the Turks
off the whole of Khuweilfeh, behaving as I have already said with
fine gallantry and inflicting severe losses. There were also
counter-attacks launched against the 5th Mounted Brigade, the New
Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade,
but these were likewise beaten off with considerable casualties to
the enemy. When the XXth Corps had captured the Khauwukah system, a
detachment for the defence of the right flank of the Army was formed
under the command of Major-General G. de S. Barrow, the G.O.C.
Yeomanry Mounted Division, consisting of the Imperial Camel Corps
Brigade, 53rd Division, Yeomanry Mounted Division, New Zealand Mounted
Rifles Brigade, and two squadrons and eight machine guns of the 2nd
Australian Light Horse Brigade. The Australian Mounted Division
marched from Karm, whither it had been sent on account of water
difficulties, to rejoin Desert Mounted Corps to whom the 60th Division
was temporarily attached. The Desert Corps had orders on November 7 to
push through as rapidly as possible to the line wadi Jemmameh-Huj, and
from that day the Corps commenced its long march to Jaffa, a march
which, though strongly opposed by considerable bodies of troops, was
more often interfered with by lack of water than by difficulty in
defeating the enemy.
The scarcity of water was a sore trouble. There was an occasional pool
here and there, but generally the only water procurable was in deep
wells giving a poor yield. The cavalry will not forget that long
trek. No brigade could march straight ahead. Those operating in the
foothills on our right had to fight all the way, and they were often
called upon to resist counter-attacks by strong rearguards issuing
from the hills to threaten the flank and so delay the advance in
order to permit the Turks to carry off some of their material. It was
necessary almost every day to withdraw certain formations from the
front and send them back a considerable distance to water, replacing
them by other troops coming from a well centre. In this way brigades
were not infrequently attached to divisions other than their own, and
the administrative services were heavily handicapped. Several times
whole brigades were without water for forty-eight hours, and though
supplies reached them on all but one or two occasions they were often
late, and an exceedingly severe strain was put on the transport.
During that diagonal march across the Maritime Plain I heard infantry
officers remark that the Australians always seemed to have their
supplies up with them. I do not think the supplies were always there,
but they generally were not far behind, and if resource and energy
could work miracles the Australian supply officers deserve the credit
for them. The divisional trains worked hard in those strenuous days,
and the 'Q' staff of the Desert Mounted Corps had many a sleepless
night devising plans to get that last ounce out of their transport men
and to get that little extra amount of supplies to the front which
meant the difference between want and a sufficiency for man and horse.
On the 7th November the 60th Division after its spirited attack on
Tel el Sheria crossed the wadi and advanced north about two miles,
fighting obstinate rearguards all the way. The 1st Australian Light
Horse took 300 prisoners and a considerable quantity of ammunition
and stores at Ameidat, and with the remainder of the Anzac Division
reached Tel Abu Dilakh by the evening, and the Australian Mounted
Division filled the gap between the Anzacs and the Londoners, but
having been unable to water could not advance further. The 8th
November was a busy and brilliantly successful day. The Corps' effort
was to make a wide sweeping movement in order first to obtain the
valuable and urgently required water at Nejile, and then to push
across the hills and rolling downs to the country behind Gaza to
harass the enemy retreating from that town. The Turks had a big
rearguard south-west of Nejile and made a strong effort to delay the
capture of that place, the importance of which to us they realised
to the full, and they were prepared to sacrifice the whole of the
rearguard if they could hold us off the water for another twenty-four
hours. The pressure of the Anzac Division and the 7th Mounted Brigade
assisting it was too much for the enemy, who though holding on to the
hills very stoutly till the last moment had to give way and leave the
water in our undisputed possession. The Sherwood Rangers and South
Notts Hussars were vigorously counter-attacked at Mudweiweh, but they
severely handled the enemy, who retired a much weakened body.
By the evening the Anzacs held the country from Nejile to the north
bank of the wadi Jemmameh, having captured 300 prisoners and two guns.
The Australian Mounted Division made an excellent advance round
the north side of Huj, which had been the Turkish VIIIth Army
Headquarters, and the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade was in touch
with the corps cavalry of XXIst Corps at Beit Hanun, while the 3rd
Australian Light Horse Brigade had taken prisoners and two of the
troublesome Austrian 5.9 howitzers.
It was the work of the 60th Division in the centre, however, which
was the outstanding feature of the day, though the Londoners readily
admitted that without the glorious charge of the Worcester and
Warwickshire Yeomanry in the afternoon they would not have been in the
neighbourhood of Huj when darkness fell. The 60th were in the centre,
sandwiched between the Anzacs and Australian Mounted Division, and
their allotted task was to clear the country between Sheria and Huj, a
distance of ten miles. The country was a series of billowy downs with
valleys seldom more than 1000 yards wide, and every yard of the way
was opposed by infantry and artillery. Considering the opposition the
progress was good. The Londoners drove in the Turks' strong flank
three times, first from the hill of Zuheilika, then from the
cultivated area behind it, and thirdly from the wadi-torn district
of Muntaret el Baghl, from which the infantry proceeded to the high
ground to the north. It was then between two and three o'clock in the
afternoon, and maps showed that between the Division and Huj there was
nearly four miles of most difficult country, a mass of wadi beds and
hills giving an enterprising enemy the best possible means for holding
up an advance. General Shea went ahead in a light armoured car to
reconnoitre, and saw a strong body of Turks with guns marching across
his front. It was impossible for his infantry to catch them and,
seeing ten troops of Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry on his right about
a mile away, he went over to them and ordered Lieut.-Colonel H. Cheape
to charge the enemy. It was a case for instant action. The enemy were
a mile and a half from our cavalry. The gunners had come into action
and were shelling the London Territorials, but they soon had to
switch off and fire at a more terrifying target. Led by their gallant
Colonel, a Master of Foxhounds who was afterwards drowned in the
Mediterranean, the yeomen swept over a ridge in successive lines and
raced down the northern slope on to the flat, at first making direct
for the guns, then swerving to the left under the direction of Colonel
Cheape, whose eye for country led him to take advantage of a mound on
the opposite side of the valley. Over this rise the Midland yeomen
spurred their chargers and, giving full-throated cheers, dashed
through the Turks' left flank guard and went straight for the guns.
Their ranks were somewhat thinned, for they had been exposed to a
heavy machine-gun fire as well as to the fire of eight field guns and
three 5.9 howitzers worked at the highest pressure. The gunners were
nearly all Germans and Austrians and they fought well. They splashed
the valley with shrapnel, and during the few moments' lull when the
yeomanry were lost to view behind the mound they set their shell fuses
at zero to make them burst at the mouth of the guns and act as case
shot. They tore some gaps in the yeomen's ranks, but nothing could
stop that charge. The Midlanders rode straight at the guns and sabred
every artilleryman at his piece. The Londoners say they heard all the
guns stop dead at the same moment and they knew they had been silenced
in true Balaclava style. Having wiped out the batteries the yeomen
again answered the call of their leader and swept up a ridge to deal
effectively with three machine guns, and having used the white arm
against their crews the guns were turned on to the retreating Turks
and decimated their ranks. This charge was witnessed by General Shea,
and I know it is his opinion that it was executed with the greatest
gallantry and élan, and was worthy of the best traditions of British
cavalry. The yeomanry lost about twenty-five per cent. of their
number in casualties, but their action was worth the price, for they
completely broke up the enemy resistance and enabled the London
Division to push straight through to Huj. The Warwick and
Worcester Yeomanry received the personal congratulations of the
Commander-in-Chief, and General Shea was also thanked by General
Allenby.
During this day General Shea accomplished what probably no other
Divisional Commander did in this war. When out scouting in a light
armoured car he was within 500 yards of a big ammunition dump which
was blown up. He saw the three men who had destroyed it running away,
and he chased them into a wadi and machine-gunned them. They held up
their hands and were astonished to find they had surrendered to a
General. These men were captured in the nick of time. But for the
appearance of General Shea they would have destroyed another dump,
which we captured intact.
I was with the Division the night after they had taken Huj. It was
their first day of rest for some time, but the men showed few signs
of fatigue. No one could move among them without being proud of the
Londoners. They were strong, self-reliant, well-disciplined, brave
fellows. I well remember what Colonel Temperley, the G.S.O. of the
Division, told me when sitting out on a hill in the twilight that
night. Colonel Temperley had been brigade major of the first New
Zealand Infantry Brigade which came to Egypt and took a full share in
the work on Gallipoli on its way to France. He had over two years of
active service on the Western Front before coming out to Palestine for
duty with the 60th Division, and his views on men in action were based
on the sound experience of the professional soldier. Of the London
County Territorials he said: 'I cannot speak of these warriors without
a lump rising in my throat. These Cockneys are the best men in the
world. Their spirits are simply wonderful, and I do not think any
division ever went into a big show with higher moral. After three
years of war it is refreshing to hear the men's earnestly expressed
desire to go into action again. These grand fellows went forward
with the full bloom on them, there never was any hesitation, their
discipline was absolutely perfect, their physique and courage were
alike magnificent, and their valour beyond words. The Cockney makes
the perfect soldier.' I wrote at the time that 'whether the men came
from Bermondsey, Camberwell or Kennington, or belonged to what were
known as class corps, such as the Civil Service or Kensingtons, before
the war, all battalions were equally good. They were trained for
months for the big battle till their bodies were brought to such a
state of fitness that Spartan fare during the ten days of ceaseless
action caused neither grumble nor fatigue. The men may well be
rewarded with the title "London's Pride," and London is honoured by
having such stalwarts to represent the heart of the British Empire. In
eight days the Londoners marched sixty-six miles and fought a number
of hot actions. The march may not seem long, but Palestine is not
Salisbury Plain. A leg-weary man was asked by an officer if his feet
were blistered, and replied: "They're rotten sore, but my heart's
gay." That is typical of the spirit of these unconquerable Cockneys. I
have just left them. They still have the bloom of freshness and I do
not think it will ever fade. Scorching winds which parched the throat
and made everything one wore hot to the touch were enough to oppress
the staunchest soldier, but these sterling Territorials, costers
and labourers, artisans and tradesmen, professional men and men of
independent means, true brothers in arms and good Britons, left their
bivouacs and trudged across heavy country, fearless, strong, proud,
and with the cheerfulness of good men who fight for right.' What I
said in those early days of the great advance was more than borne out
later, and in the capture of Jerusalem, in taking Jericho, and in
forcing the passage of the Jordan this glorious Division of Londoners
was always the same, a pride to its commander, a bulwark of the XXth
Corps, and a great asset of the Empire.