A GREAT FEAT OF WAR
From the story of how Jerusalem was made secure (for we may hope the
clamour of war has echoed for the last time about her Holy Shrines and
venerable walls) we may turn back to the coastal sector and see how
the XXIst Corps improved a rather dangerous situation and laid the
foundations for the biggest break-through of the world struggle. For
it was the preparations in this area which made possible General
Allenby's tremendous gallop through Northern Palestine and Syria,
and gave the Allies Haifa, Beyrout, and Tripoli on the seaboard, and
Nazareth, Damascus, and Aleppo in the interior. The foundations were
soundly laid when the XXIst Corps crossed the Auja before Christmas
1917, and the superstructure of the victory which put Turkey as
well as Bulgaria and Austria out of the war was built up with many
difficulties from the sure base provided by the XXIst Corps line. The
crossing of the Auja was a great feat of war, and this is the first
time I am able to mention the names of those to whom the credit of the
operation is due. It was one of the strange regulations of the Army
Council in connection with the censorship that no names of the
commanders of army corps, divisions, brigades, or battalions should be
mentioned by correspondents. Nor indeed was I permitted to identify
in my despatches any particular division, yet the divisions
concerned--the 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 60th, and so on--had often been
mentioned in official despatches; the enemy not only knew they were in
Palestine but were fully aware of their positions in the line; their
commanders and brigadiers were known by name to the Turks. On the
other hand, in describing a certain battle I was allowed to speak of
divisions of Lowland troops, Welshmen and Londoners, allusions which
would convey (if there were anything to give away) precisely as much
information to the dull old Turk and his sharper Hun companion in
arms as though the 52nd, 53rd, and 60th Divisions had been explicitly
designated. This practice seemed in effect to be designed more with
the object of keeping our people at home in the dark, of forbidding
them glory in the deeds of their children and brothers, than of
preventing information reaching the enemy. Some gentleman enthroned in
the authority of an official armchair said 'No,' and there was an
end of it. You could not get beyond him. His decision was final,
complete--and silly--and the correspondent was bound hand and foot by
it. Doubtless he would have liked one to plead on the knee for some
little relaxation of his decision. Then he would have answered 'No'
in a louder tone. Let me give one example from a number entered in
my notebooks of how officers at home exercised their authority.
In January 1917 the military railway from the Suez Canal had been
constructed across the Sinai Desert and the first train was run into
El Arish, about ninety miles from the Canal. I was asked by General
Headquarters to send a cablegram to London announcing the fact that
railhead was at El Arish, the town having been captured a fortnight
previously after a fine night march. That message was never published,
and I knew it was a waste of time to ask the reason. I happened to be
in London for a few days in the following August and my duties took me
to the War Office. A Colonel in the Intelligence Branch heard I was
there and sent for me to tell me I had sent home information of value
to the enemy. I reminded him there was a G.H.Q. censorship in Egypt
which dealt with my cablegrams, and asked the nature of the valuable
information which should have been concealed. 'You sent a telegram
that the railway had reached El Arish when the Turks did not know it
was beyond Bir el Abd.' Abd is fifty miles nearer the Suez Canal than
El Arish. What did this officer care about a request made by G.H.Q. to
transmit information to the British public? He knew better than G.H.Q.
what the British public should know, and he was certain the enemy
thought we were hauling supplies through those fifty miles of sand
to our troops at El Arish, an absolutely physical impossibility, for
there were not enough camels in the East to do it. But he did not
know, and he should have known, being an Intelligence officer, that
the Turks were so far aware of where our railhead was that they were
frequently bombing it from the air. I had been in these bombing raids
and knew how accurately the German airmen dropped their eggs, and had
this Intelligence officer taken the trouble to inquire he would have
found that between thirty and forty casualties were inflicted by one
bomb at El Arish itself when railhead was being constructed. This
critic imagined that the Turk knew only what the English papers told
him. If the Turks' knowledge had been confined to what the War Office
Intelligence Branch gave him credit for he would have been in a
parlous state. While this ruling of the authorities at home prevailed
it was impossible for me to give the names of officers or to mention
divisions or units which were doing exceptionally meritorious work.
Unfortunately the bureaucratic interdict continued till within a
few days of the end of the campaign, when I was told that, 'having
frequently referred to the work of the Australians, which was
deserved,' the mention of British and Indian units would be welcomed.
We had to wait until within a month of the end of the world war before
the War Office would unbend and realise the value of the best kind
of propaganda. No wonder our American friends consider us the worst
national advertisers in the world.
The officer who was mainly responsible for the success of the Auja
crossing was Major-General J. Hill, D.S.O., A.D.C., commanding the
52nd Division. His plan was agreed to by General Bulfin, although the
Corps Commander had doubts about the possibility of its success, and
had his own scheme ready to be put into instant operation if General
Hill's failed. In the state of the weather General Hill's own
brigadiers were not sanguine, and they were the most loyal and devoted
officers a divisional commander ever had. But despite the most
unfavourable conditions, calling for heroic measures on the part of
officers and men alike to gain their objectives through mud and water
and over ground that was as bad as it could be, the movements of the
troops worked to the clock. One brigade's movements synchronised with
those of another, and the river was crossed, commanding positions were
seized, and bridges were built with an astoundingly small loss to
ourselves. The Lowland Scots worked as if at sport, and they could not
have worked longer or stronger if the whole honour of Scotland had
depended upon their efforts. At a later date, when digging at Arsuf,
these Scots came across some marble columns which had graced a hall
when Apollonia was in its heyday. The glory of Apollonia has long
vanished, but if in that age of warriors there had been a belief
that those marble columns would some day be raised as monuments to
commemorate a great operation of war the ancients would have had a
special veneration for them. Three of the columns marked the spots
where the Scots spanned the river, and it is a pity they cannot tell
the full story to succeeding generations.
The river Auja is a perennial stream emptying itself into the blue
Mediterranean waters four miles north of Jaffa. Its average width is
forty yards and its depth ten feet, with a current running at about
three miles an hour. Till we crossed it the river was the boundary
between the British and Turkish armies in this sector, and all the
advantage of observation was on the northern bank. From it the town of
Jaffa and its port were in danger, and the main road between Jaffa and
Ramleh was observed and under fire. The village of Sheikh Muannis,
about two miles inland, stood on a high mound commanding the ground
south of the river, and from Hadrah you could keep the river in sight
in its whole winding course to the sea. All this high ground concealed
an entrenched enemy; on the southern side of the river the Turks were
on Bald Hill, and held a line of trenches covering the Jewish colony
of Mulebbis and Fejja. A bridge and a mill dam having been destroyed
during winter the only means of crossing was by a ford three feet deep
at the mouth, an uncertain passage because the sand bar over which one
could walk shifted after heavy rain when the stream was swollen with
flood water. Reconnaissances at the river mouth were carried out with
great daring. As I said, all the southern approaches to the river were
commanded by the Turks on the northern bank, who were always alert,
and the movement of one man in the Auja valley was generally the
signal for artillery activity. So often did the Turkish gunners salute
the appearance of a single British soldier that the Scots talked of
the enemy 'sniping' with guns. To reconnoitre the enemy's positions
by daylight was hazardous work, and the Scots had to obtain their
first-hand knowledge of the river and the approaches to it in the dark
hours.
An officers' patrol swam the river one night, saw what the enemy was
doing, and returned unobserved. A few nights afterwards two officers
swam out to sea across the river mouth and crept up the right bank of
the stream within the enemy's lines to ascertain the locality of the
ford and its exact width and depth. They also learnt that there were
no obstacles placed across the ford, which was three feet deep in
normal times and five feet under water after rains. It was obvious
that bridges would be required, and it was decided to force the
passage of the river in the dark hours by putting covering troops
across to the northern bank, and by capturing the enemy's positions to
form a bridgehead while pontoon bridges were being constructed for the
use of guns and the remainder of the Division.
Time was all-important. December and January are the wettest months
of the season at Jaffa, and after heavy rains the Auja valley becomes
little better than a marsh, so that a small amount of traffic will cut
up the boggy land into an almost impassable condition.
The XXIst Corps' plan was as follows: At dawn on December 21 a heavy
bombardment was to open on all the enemy's trenches covering the
crossings, the fire of heavy guns to be concentrated on enemy
batteries and strong positions in the rear, while ships of the Royal
Navy bombarded two strong artillery positions at Tel el Rekket and El
Jelil, near the coast. When darkness fell covering troops were to be
ferried across the river, and then light bridges would be constructed
for the passage of larger units charged with the task of getting the
Turks out of their line from Hadrah, through El Mukras to Tel el
Rekket. After these positions had been gained the engineers were to
build pontoon bridges to carry the remainder of the Division and guns
on the night of the 22nd-23rd December, in time to advance at daylight
on the 23rd to secure a defensive line from Tel el Mukhmar through
Sheikh el Ballatar to Jelil. On the right of the 52nd Division the
54th Division was to attack Bald Hill on the night of 21st-22nd
December, and on the following morning assault the trench system
covering Mulebbis and Fejja; then later in the day to advance to
Rantieh, while the 75th Division farther east was to attack Bireh and
Beida. This plan was given to divisional commanders at a conference in
Jaffa on December 12. Two days later General Hill submitted another
scheme which provided for a surprise attack by night with no naval
or land artillery bombardment, such a demonstration being likely to
attract attention. General Hill submitted his proposals in detail.
General Bulfin gave the plan most careful consideration, but decided
that to base so important an operation on the success of a surprise
attack was too hazardous, and he adhered to his scheme of a deliberate
operation to be carried through systematically. He, however, gave
General Hill permission to carry out his surprise attack on the
night of December 20, but insisted that the bombardment should begin
according to programme at daylight on the 21st unless the surprise
scheme was successful.
A brigade of the 54th Division and the 1st Australian Light Horse
Brigade relieved the Scots in the trenches for three nights before the
attempt. Every man in the Lowland Division entered upon the work of
preparation with whole-hearted enthusiasm. There was much to be done
and materials were none too plentiful. Pontoons were wired for and
reached Jaffa on the 16th. There was little wood available, and some
old houses in Jaffa were pulled down to supply the Army's needs. The
material was collected in the orange groves around the German colony
at Sarona, a northern suburb of Jaffa, and every man who could use a
tool was set to work to build a framework of rectangular boats to a
standard design, and on this framework of wood tarpaulins and canvas
were stretched. These boats were light in structure, and were so
designed that working parties would be capable of transferring them
from their place of manufacture to the river bank. Each boat was to
carry twenty men fully armed and equipped over the river. They became
so heavy with rain that they in fact only carried sixteen men. The
boat builders worked where enemy airmen could not see them, and
when the craft were completed the troops were practised at night in
embarking and ferrying across a waterway--for this purpose the craft
were put on a big pond--and in cutting a path through thick cactus
hedges in the dark. During these preparations the artillery was also
active. They took their guns up to forward positions during the night,
and before the date of the attack there was a bombardment group of
eight 6-inch howitzers and a counter battery group of ten 60-pounders
and one 6-inch Mark VII. gun in concealed positions, and the artillery
dumps had been filled with 400 rounds for each heavy gun and 700
rounds for each field piece. The weather on the 18th, 19th, and 20th
December was most unfavourable. Rain was continuous and the valley of
the Auja became a morass. The luck of the weather was almost always
against General Allenby's Army, and the troops had become accustomed
to fighting the elements as well as the Turks, but here was a
situation where rain might have made all the difference between
success and failure. General Bulfin saw General Hill and his
brigadiers on the afternoon of the 20th. The brigadiers were depressed
owing to the floods and the state of the ground, because it was then
clear that causeways would have to be made through the mud to the
river banks. General Hill remained enthusiastic and hopeful and, the
Corps Commander supporting him, it was decided to proceed with the
operation. For several nights, with the object of giving the enemy
the impression of a nightly strafe, there had been artillery and
machine-gun demonstrations occurring about the same time and lasting
as long as those planned for the night of the crossing. After dusk on
December 20 there was a big movement behind our lines. The ferrying
and bridging parties got on the move, each by their particular road,
and though the wind was searchingly cold and every officer and man
became thoroughly drenched, there was not a sick heart in the force.
The 157th Brigade proceeded to the ford at the mouth of the Auja, the
156th Brigade advanced towards the river just below Muannis, and the
155th Brigade moved up to the mill and dam at Jerisheh, where it was
to secure the crossing and then swing to the right to capture Hadrah.
The advance was slow, but that the Scots were able to move at all is
the highest tribute to their determination. The rain-soaked canvas
of the boats had so greatly added to their weight that the parties
detailed to carry them from the Sarona orange orchards found the task
almost beyond their powers. The bridge rafts for one of the crossings
could not be got up to the river bank because the men were continually
slipping in the mud under the heavy load, and the attacking battalion
at this spot was ferried over in coracles. On another route a section
carrying a raft lost one of its number, who was afterwards found sunk
in mud up to his outstretched arms. The tracks were almost impassable,
and a Lancashire pioneer battalion was called up to assist in
improving them. The men became caked with mud from steel helmet to
boots, and the field guns which had to be hauled by double teams
were so bespattered that there was no need for camouflage. In those
strenuous hours of darkness the weather continued vile, and the storm
wind flung the frequent heavy showers with cutting force against the
struggling men. The covering party which was to cross at the ford
found the bar had shifted under the pressure of flood water and that
the marks put down to direct the column had been washed away. The
commanding officer reconnoitred, getting up to his neck in water, and
found the ford considerably out of position and deeper than he had
hoped, but he brought his men together in fours and, ordering each
section to link arms to prevent the swirling waters carrying them out
to sea, led them across without a casualty. In the other places
the covering parties of brigades began to be ferried over at eight
o'clock. The first raft-loads were paddled across with muffled oars.
A line was towed behind the boats, and this being made fast on either
side of the river the rafts crossed and recrossed by haulage on the
rope, in order that no disturbance on the surface by oars on even such
a wild night should cause an alarm. As soon as the covering parties
were over, light bridges to carry infantry in file were constructed by
lashing the rafts together and placing planks on them. One of these
bridges was burst by the strength of the current, but the delay thus
caused mattered little as the surprise was complete. When the bridges
of rafts had been swung and anchored, blankets and carpets were laid
upon them to deaden the fall of marching feet, and during that silent
tramp across the rolling bridges many a keen-witted Scot found it
difficult to restrain a laugh as he trod on carpets richer by far than
any that had lain in his best parlour at home. He could not see the
patterns, but rightly guessed that they were picked out in the bright
colours of the East, and the muddy marks of war-travelled men were
left on them without regret, for the carpets had come from
German houses in Sarona. How perfectly the operation was
conducted--noiselessly, swiftly, absolutely according to
time-table--may be gathered from the fact that two officers and
sixteen Turks were awakened in their trench dug-outs at the ford
by the river mouth two hours after we had taken the trenches. The
officers resisted and had to be killed. Two miles behind the river the
Lowlanders captured the whole garrison of a post near the sea, none
of whom had the slightest idea that the river had been crossed. An
officer commanding a battalion at Muannis was taken in his bed, whilst
another commanding officer had the surprise of his life on being
invited to put his hands up in his own house. He looked as if he had
just awakened from a nightmare. In one place some Turks on being
attacked with the bayonet shouted an alarm and one of the crossings
was shelled, but its position was immediately changed and the passage
of the river continued without interruption. The whole of the Turkish
system covering the river, trenches well concealed in the river
banks and in patches of cultivated land, were rushed in silence and
captured. Muannis was taken at the point of the bayonet, the strong
position at Hadrah was also carried in absolute silence, and at
daylight the whole line the Scots had set out to gain was won and the
assailants were digging themselves in. And the price of their victory?
The Scots had 8 officers and 93 other ranks casualties. They buried
over 100 Turkish dead and took 11 officers and 296 other ranks
prisoners, besides capturing ten machine guns.
The forcing of the passage of the Auja was a magnificent achievement,
planned with great ability by General Hill and carried out with that
skill and energy which the brigadiers, staff, and all ranks of the
Division showed throughout the campaign. One significant fact serves
to illustrate the Scots' discipline. Orders were that not a shot was
to be fired except by the guns and machine guns making their nightly
strafe. Death was to be dealt out with the bayonet, and though the
Lowlanders were engaged in a life and death struggle with the Turks,
not a single round of rifle ammunition was used by them till daylight
came, when, as a keen marksman said, they had some grand running-man
practice. During the day some batteries got to the north bank by way
of the ford, and two heavy pontoon bridges were constructed and a
barrel bridge, which had been put together in a wadi flowing into the
Auja, was floated down and placed in position. There was a good deal
of shelling by the Turks, but they fired at our new positions and
interfered but little with the bridge construction.
On the night of the 21st-22nd December the 54th Division assaulted
Bald Hill, a prominent mound south of the Auja from which a
magnificent view of the country was gained. Stiff fighting resulted,
but the enemy was driven off with a loss of 4 officers and 48 other
ranks killed, and 3 officers and 41 men taken prisoners. At dawn the
Division reported that the enemy was retiring from Mulebbis and Fejja,
and those places were soon in our hands. H.M.S. _Grafton_, with
Admiral T. Jackson, the monitors M29, M31, and M32, and the destroyers
_Lapwing_ and _Lizard_, arrived off the coast and shelled Jelil and
Arsuf, and the 52nd Division, advancing on a broad front, occupied the
whole of their objectives by five o'clock in the afternoon. The 157th
Brigade got all the high ground about Arsuf, and thus prevented the
enemy from obtaining a long-range view of Jaffa. A few rounds of shell
fired by a naval gun at a range of nearly twenty miles fell in Jaffa
some months afterwards, but with this exception Jaffa was quite free
from the enemy's attentions. The brilliant operation on the Auja had
saved the town and its people many anxious days. By the end of the
year there were three strong bridges across the river, and three
others substantial enough to bear the weight of tractors and their
loads were under construction. The troops received their winter
clothing; bivouac shelters and tents were beginning to arrive. Baths
and laundries were in operation, and the rigours of the campaign began
to be eased. But the XXIst Corps could congratulate itself that,
notwithstanding two months of open warfare, often fifty to sixty miles
from railhead, men's rations had never been reduced. Horses and mules
had had short allowances, but they could pick up a little in the
country. The men were in good health, despite the hardships in the
hills and rapid change from summer to winter, and their spirit could
not be surpassed.