AUSTRALIA IN PALESTINE
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
GENERAL SIR EDMUND H. ALLENBY, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
]
AUSTRALIA
IN PALESTINE
[Illustration]
SYDNEY
ANGUS & ROBERTSON LTD.
89 CASTLEREAGH STREET
1919
_Nineteenth Thousand_
Printed by
W. C. Penfold & Co. Ltd., 183 Pitt Street, Sydney
London Agents: The Oxford University Press
TO THE MEMORY
OF
FALLEN COMRADES
[Illustration]
Editors’ Note
This book owes its publication to the warm interest taken in its
initiation by a Committee comprised of the G.O.C., A.I.F., in Egypt; the
G.O’s.C. Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions and Brigades, and a
number of other senior A.I.F. officers; and, later, to the generosity of
the many contributors of paintings, sketches, photographs, verse and
prose.
“Australia in Palestine” is in no sense intended as a complete picture
of the Australians’ part in the Great Campaign. It is merely a Soldiers’
Book, produced almost entirely by soldiers in the field under active
service conditions to send to their friends in Australia and abroad. An
edition has also been published for sale to the general public, and any
profits derived from it will go to one of the A.I.F. funds.
Thanks are due to our many contributors, and in particular to Mr. James
McBey, the Official British Artist in Palestine, for his fine portrait
of General Allenby (specially drawn for this book) and other sketches;
to Captain Hodgkinson, British Press Officer, for permission to use many
British official photographs; to Mr. Jeapes, British Official Cinema
Photographer, for the loan of many snapshots; and to Sergeant E. A.
Hodda, A.I.F., who took charge of the business arrangements, and to
whose keen interest and ability our obligation is substantial.
We have also to thank Major N. D. Barton, 7th A.L.H. Regiment, and
Messrs. H. M. Somer and Sydney Ure Smith for the valuable assistance
they have given as Committee of Publication in Australia.
H. S. GULLETT } Editors.
CHAS. BARRETT }
DAVID BARKER, Art Editor.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
Page
Preface (Lieut.-Gen. Sir H. G. Chauvel) xiii.
Fighting for Palestine (H. S. Gullett) 1
Anthem Bells (“Gerardy”) 60
Palestine Poppies (Charles Barrett) 61
Farming in Arcady (H. S. G.) 64
Standing To (Brentomman) 69
A Waler’s Story (E. L. D. Husband) 71
The Horses Stay Behind (“Trooper Bluegum”) 78
One Too Many (“Anon”) 79
The Light That Failed (“Sarg”) 83
A Night March (“Aram”) 87
A Gloomy Outlook (“Aram”) 90
Reconciliation (“Gerardy”) 91
Mail Day (“Wil Cox”) 92
A Day Over The Lines (H. Bowden Fletcher) 94
Mounts and Remounts (“Acrabah”) 99
Concerning Medical Blokes (“Larrie”) 102
The Signal Service (“Ack-Vic-Ack”) 109
Battle Song (“Gerardy”) 114
The Little Bint of Wady Hanein (“Camp Follower”) 115
Algy, Misfit (“Billzac”) 121
Palestine (“Trooper Bluegum”) 123
The Camel Brigade (“Trooper Bluegum”) 125
Resting (“Tralas”) 132
The Mukhtar’s Goats (“2469”) 137
The Batman (W. M. W.) 139
Damascus (H. W. D.) 140
Malaria (“Koolawarra”) 144
Fall Out The 1914 Men (“Bataggi”) 145
Old Horse o’ Mine (T. V. B.) 149
Concerning Machine Guns (“Sarg”) 150
Delivered! (“Gerardy”) 153
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOUR PLATES
Page
General Sir Edmund H. H. Allenby, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. iii.
Jerusalem, from below the Mount of Olives 4
Romani. Mount Royston in the distance 14
Magdhaba, showing the Wady Bed about one mile from Turkish
buildings 26
The Road to Jericho 38
The Dead Sea (Sunrise) 42
Australians on the Road to Jerusalem 30
An Australian Flying Squadron in Palestine 50
Jaffa 54
Australians prior to the fight for Nalin 54
Anzac Ridge, Gaza 56
National Types 70
Evening amongst the Judean Hills 78
A Camp in the Desert 78
Got Him Cold 94
The End of the Scrap 96
Convalescent 106
A Signal Office in the Field 110
Some Souvenir 124
Buying Oranges, Jaffa 138
PHOTOGRAPHS, Etc.
Lieut.-General Sir H. G. Chauvel, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. xv.
Jaffa 4
Map of Ottoman Empire 6–7
A Brief Halt Richly Earned 9
Jerusalem from the Air 9
Damascus from the Air 10
3rd L.H. Camp at Belah 10
In a Village Street 14
Map of Northern Sinai 18–19
Turks marching out of Jerusalem (1914) 23
Gaza 23
The Mount of Temptation 24
All the World Over 24
Turkish Prisoners at Beersheba 29
Street Market, Jerusalem 29
Jericho, showing garden oasis 29
Light Horse crossing Jordan 29
In the Jordan Valley 30
Spring Water, Clear and Cold 30
Map of Palestine 34–35
Ismailia 38
In the Jordan Valley 41
Shopping in Jericho 41
“Baksheesh” 42
A Meal outside the Bivvies 42
Scotties on a Route March 42
Major-Gen. Chaytor receives Arab Chiefs 46
Jerusalem 46
Map of Syria 48–49
Orange Seller, Jaffa 53
In the Shade 53
The Village Well 54
Native Plough and Team 54
Harvest Time 65
Ploughing as of Old 65
Native Stock 65
The Franciscan Monastery 66
Lake of Tiberias 66
Outposts 70
Jordan Valley Dust 70
5th L.H. Brigade entering Nablus 73
Watering Horses, Es Salt 73
Horses Thirsty 74
Light Horsemen in Judean Hills 74
Wady Nimrin 81
Arab Agents 81
German Prisoners in Jericho 81
Meal Time 82
“She’s Boiling” 82
Defences in the Ghoraniyeh Bridgehead 85
The Brickmaker 85
A Typical Arab Village 86
4th L.H. Brigade Watering Horses 86
Roman Fort, Jericho 88
Horses under cover 89
A.L. Horse in Camp 89
2nd L.H. marching through Khan Yunis 89
Turkish Prisoners at Es Salt 97
Jericho 97
Nazareth from the Air 98
“A Light Horse Type” 101
Mounting First Guard in Jericho 107
Halt and Rest 107
Church and Tomb of the Virgin 108
Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem 108
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem 108
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem 108
Brig.-General Ryrie inspects the “Bully” 119
Brig.-General Cox on River Jordan 119
A Wallad of Palestine 120
“Tower of the Forty” 123
Mosque of Omar 124
The Midday Halt 126
Brig.-General C. L. Smith, V.C., M.C. 127
Our Water Supply 127
Watering Time, Camel Brigade 129
“Prepare to Mount” 129
Camels bearing Supplies on the Philistine Plain 131
Bedouins Captured at Hassaniya 133
Street Market, Jerusalem 133
Bedouin Village 134
Turkish Prisoners, Nablus 134
Mrs. Chisholm’s Canteen at Kantara 146
Bethlehem 147
Troopers entering Jericho 148
Damascus 148
Finish 154
Preface
“Australia in Palestine” should prove of great interest to the people of
Australia, and especially to those whose lives have been spent outside
the great cities, for it includes a record of the achievements of their
“very own”—the horsemen of Australia, and of the Flying Corps and the
Anzac Section of the Imperial Camel Corps, which were recruited from
them, and co-operated with them in the greatest war yet known to
history.
The Australian Light Horseman—and under this name I include the Field
and Signal Engineers and Medical Services connected with him, who come
from the same stock—is of a type peculiarly his own and has no
counterpart that I know of except in his New Zealand brother. His
fearlessness, initiative and endurance, and his adaptability to almost
any task, are due to the adventurous life he leads in his own country,
where he has been accustomed to long hours in the saddle, day and night,
and to facing danger of all sorts from his earliest youth. Perhaps these
qualities are inherited from his pioneer parents. His invariable good
humour under the most adverse conditions comes from the good-fellowship
and camaraderie which exists in the free and open life of the Australian
Bush. His chivalry comes from the same source, and it is one of his
strongest points. In other words, the life he has been accustomed to
lead has fitted him to become, with training and discipline, second to
no cavalry soldier in the world.
As far as Australia is concerned, the Palestine Campaign may be said to
have commenced with the crossing of the Suez Canal by the Anzac Mounted
Division at Kantara on the 23rd April, 1916, to re-occupy Romani and the
western end of the Katia Oasis Area. The mounted troops of Australia and
New Zealand had already proved their extraordinary adaptability to
circumstances as infantrymen in the hard school of Gallipoli, but it yet
remained for them to show their value as cavalry. The occupation of
Romani was followed by long and trying marches in the Desert of Sinai,
during the hottest summer known in Egypt for many years, after an
elusive enemy who did not appear in any force until July, 1916, when he
advanced on Romani preparatory to his second attack on the Suez Canal.
The disastrous defeat inflicted on the Turkish arms at Romani, and the
pursuit which followed, not only demonstrated the inestimable value of
the horsemen of Australasia as cavalrymen, but opened the way for the
advance to the Eastern Frontier of Egypt which ended the enemy’s menace
to Egypt. The systematic advance of the British Force from Romani to the
Egyptian Border was covered by Australian and New Zealand horsemen,
British Yeomanry and the Imperial Camel Corps, ably assisted by the
reconnaissance of the R.F.C. and Australian Flying Corps. The victories
of Magdhaba and Rafa completely cleared the enemy from Egyptian
territory and opened the way for our advance into Palestine. The
operations which began with the capture of Beersheba and concluded with
the capture of Damascus and Aleppo, and eventually led to the complete
surrender of the Turkish Forces, are dealt with in this volume, and I
will say no more of them than that the brilliant part in those
operations played by the Australian and New Zealand mounted troops has
more than upheld the reputation they established on the battlefield of
Romani.
The splendid record of the 1st Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps
speaks for itself. It was formed in Egypt and has grown with the
campaign to a state of efficiency which places it second to none of the
same arm.
The casualties in action in this campaign have been light compared with
the results achieved. In a very large measure this was due to the dash
of the troops, which saved heavy losses on many occasions; but many
brave fellows have given their lives through diseases contracted in
areas which the exigencies of the service required to be occupied and
fought in.
Before concluding, I would like to say a word for the Medical Services,
which have endured the same hardships as the combatant arms, and always
performed their duties cheerfully and efficiently under the most adverse
conditions.
[Illustration: H.G. Chauvel.]
[Illustration:
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR H. G. CHAUVEL, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.
]
Fighting for Palestine
Three Years’ Campaigning
If the Turks had not aspired to the capture of the Suez Canal, and the
reconquest of Egypt, they might still have been in quiet possession of
the whole of Palestine. This campaign, so rich in brilliant exploits and
so appealing to the imagination of the people of the world’s three
greatest religions, was the direct result of Turkish aggression.
Prompted by Germany, the Turk had, early in 1915, penetrated Central
Sinai and, moving down the ancient route of the Wady Muksheib, attempted
with a very inadequate force to cross and hold the Canal. He was easily
driven off by a British force, which included a few Australian units.
That was before our attack upon Gallipoli. It was not until the
following year, when the heroic failure on the Peninsula had removed the
menace to the heart of his Empire at Constantinople, that the enemy was
able to attack Egypt with an army that gave him any promise of success.
AROUND ROMANI
Soon after the return of the Australians from Gallipoli, in 1916, at a
time when the future of the Light Horse, which had fought as infantry at
Anzac, was in considerable doubt, the Turk appeared in strength in
northern Sinai. Thirty or forty miles across the desert from Port Said,
there is a widely-scattered area marked here and there by hods, or
little palm groves, which tell of the presence of water at shallow
depth. The Romani area, as it is generally called, has always been of
prime importance to the armies which, since the dawn of history, have
marched east and west across the Sinai Desert between Egypt and Syria
and Persia, and lands even further afield. Napoleon rested there before
that precarious leap at El Arish which nearly cost him his army. Ancient
invaders of Egypt always refreshed their thirsty and desert-worn troops
around Romani before sweeping down upon the rich prize of the Nile
Delta.
In 1916 the Turks began their forward operations by a raid in great
strength, which beat down the resistance of Yeomanry posts at Katia and
Oghratina. At that time, the organization and training of the Anzac
Mounted Division was being completed at Salhia, west of the Canal. The
2nd Brigade, under Brigadier-General Ryrie, was immediately rushed out
to Romani, where it was found that the enemy had temporarily withdrawn
further east.
THE TURKISH ADVANCE
Steps were taken at once by the British Command to make the Romani area
secure. The remainder of the Anzac Mounted Division, commanded by
Major-General Chauvel, went out in support of the 2nd Brigade; British
infantry followed. The railway was pushed vigorously forward. The 1st
and 2nd Light Horse Brigades, with their camp at Romani, were engaged in
ceaseless reconnaissance in force. Taking the task alternately in
24–hour shifts, they kept substantial touch with the enemy, who was all
the while adding to his numbers, bringing up guns over the desert from
El Arish, and pressing steadily onward. By the beginning of August a
line of infantry strong posts extended at a right angle towards the
north from the sea, covering Romani to the east. There we were
invincible; so the Turk, moving swiftly and in strength, to the number
of about 18,000, on the night of 3rd August attempted a great flanking
movement past the south-western flank of the infantry line. His scheme
was to drive in behind the infantry and Romani, cut our railway and
other communications with the Canal, and envelop our entire forward
force. Anticipating this move, however, General Chauvel had that night
placed the 1st Light Horse Brigade, under the temporary command of
Brigadier-General Meredith (General Cox being absent on sick leave in
England), on a line of outposts joining up with the desert end of the
infantry line, and thence swinging towards the Canal at a right angle.
This disposition completely frustrated the enemy, and won us the battle
of Romani.
FIGHTING IN THE DARK
The Turkish vanguard reached the Light Horse posts soon after midnight
and attacked immediately. For hours an extraordinary hand-to-hand fight
was waged in the dark among the sand dunes. The Light Horse line, ten
times outnumbered, was pressed steadily back, but maintained an unbroken
front to the enemy host. Soon after dawn the 2nd Light Horse Brigade,
temporarily commanded by Brigadier-General Royston, a South African
veteran (General Ryrie being absent on leave in England), was galloped
forward in support and, dismounting, carried on the fight while the
Regiments of the 1st Brigade passed through them to the rear for a brief
breathing-space. All that day, the 4th August, the Turks gained ground
on this flank, and at the same time kept our infantry in their posts by
heavy shelling and a demonstration in strength from the east. A small
number of infantry available was put in to support the Light Horse line,
which, by nightfall, had been pushed back so close to the camp that some
units were served with tea by the regimental cooks as they fought. But
the end was now in sight. The New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade, and a
Brigade of Yeomanry, both under Brigadier-General Chaytor, supported by
a British infantry force, came swiftly down on the Turkish left flank,
which was high in the air. By nightfall we knew that the battle of
Romani was ours. At dawn next morning there was a slashing general
attack with the bayonet. The enemy’s line broke, his retreat became a
rout, and only the physical impossibility of getting speed out of our
horses, many of which had been without water for nearly fifty hours,
saved the whole Turkish army from destruction. The horses, burdened with
an average load of 240 to 250 lbs., and often up to 280 lbs., laboured
gallantly, but slowly, over the deep, hot sand.
KATIA
[Illustration]
Many thousands of prisoners, several guns, great quantities of munitions
and other material were captured; but it was not until the retreating
Turk had reached the large palm area around Katia, six miles away, and
had been able to re-form his firing line in a reserve position there,
that we were able to collect our scattered Brigades and give him fresh
battle. The fight at Katia was drawn. On our side it was marked by a
stirring charge of the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades and the New
Zealand Mounted Brigade, in an unbroken line across the sands. In the
preceding weeks the horses had frequently been watered in the hod at
Katia, and this, doubtless, contributed to the spirit they displayed in
the charge. The three Brigades, however, which had the support of a
Brigade of Yeomanry, were compelled by heavy fire from the enemy
batteries to dismount and fight on foot. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade,
under Brigadier-General Antill, which had undertaken a wide flanking
movement on the south, was held up by the enemy in Hamisah, where, in a
brilliant little engagement, they smashed the Turk and took 440
prisoners, with a trifling loss on our side. The delay, unfortunately,
kept the 3rd Brigade off the Turkish left flank at Katia, and enabled
him stoutly to resist the frontal assault of the Australians and New
Zealanders. Towards nightfall the engagement was reluctantly broken off.
BIR EL ABD
Touch was maintained with the retreating Turks, and, a few days later,
the same Brigades again engaged them at Bir el Abd, some fifteen miles
further east. Once more a gallant dismounted frontal attack was made by
our forces, but again the 3rd Brigade on the flank was obstructed, and
its enveloping mission frustrated. In the main fight, which was much
hotter than that at Katia, our men pressed in close with the rifle. The
Turk was strongly supported by guns and machine guns in a very
advantageous defensive position, and the Australians and New Zealanders
were unable to reach him with the bayonet. The engagement was marked by
many splendid acts of heroism and self-sacrifice, but it was doomed to
be indecisive. The Turks evacuated the position the following day and
were pursued to the edge of the oasis area, withdrawing with the remnant
of their shattered Romani army to the neighbourhood of El Arish, fifty
miles away.
After the fight at Bir el Abd there was ceaseless heavy reconnaissance
and patrol work for the Light Horse, as the railroad, and with it the
full strength of what was now an established British army of invasion,
moved slowly, though inexorably, across the desert. On 21st December the
Light Horse and Imperial Camel Corps entered El Arish and received a
demonstrative greeting from the Arabs of that old village.
ON THE FLANK
During these Romani operations, fraught with so much significance for
Palestine and Egypt, the extreme right of the British line was entrusted
to Colonel C. L. Smith, V.C., M.C., afterwards Commander of the Camel
Brigade, who had under him a composite force made up of the 11th Light
Horse Regiment, from Queensland, a London Regiment of Yeomanry and four
companies of “Camels,” drawn from Australia, Scotland and Wales—a truly
Imperial lot. A Turkish force, reported to be three thousand strong, was
moving down from Magara in a south-westerly direction, with the
intention of cutting in between Romani and the Canal. This estimate of
enemy strength proved to be exaggerated, but our column had some sharp
little fights against superior odds, and its work was warmly commended
by the Commander-in-Chief. At Awedia the Camel companies went into
action for the first time since their hurried formation; but as most of
the Australians were old Light Horse and infantry veterans from
Gallipoli, they were not strange to fire, and, like the remainder of the
Australians fighting at Romani, they rejoiced in open warfare after the
confined trench work of the Peninsula. A day or two later, the column
fought sharply at Hilu and Baud, each time mauling the enemy severely
and contributing substantially to the general disaster in store for the
Turks.
[Illustration:
JERUSALEM, FROM BELOW THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
_By Lieut. G. W. Lambert_
]
[Illustration: Jaffa]
MAGDHABA
On the night of the 22nd December, the Anzac Mounted Division, made up
of the 1st and 3rd Light Horse Brigades, commanded by Generals Cox and
Royston, the New Zealand Brigade (General Chaytor), and the Imperial
Camel Brigade (General Smith, V.C.) which included a majority of
Australians, moved upon the Turkish post at Magdhaba, twenty-three miles
away up the Wady El Arish. Again marching all night, they came at dawn
within striking distance of the garrison settlement. Deploying swiftly,
they soon had Magdhaba surrounded, and, galloping in as close as the
Turkish fire, which came in strength from a number of well-concealed
entrenched positions, permitted, dismounted and pressed forward in troop
rushes with the bayonet.
The chief trouble for the Anzac Mounted Division at Magdhaba was the
supply of water for the horses. If the Turks could not be smothered by
nightfall, a withdrawal was imperative, for it was impossible to
contemplate another day’s fighting with the horses still thirsty. In a
country like this, where all the chargers are brought from far overseas,
horseflesh must not be lightly thrown away. The struggle for Magdhaba
was, therefore, as at Rafa a fortnight later, a struggle against time, a
gamble against daylight. The Division, with the Imperial Camel Corps,
fighting still under the able command of Major-General Chauvel, scored
just on the call of time. As the day was closing vital Turkish strong
posts fell almost simultaneously to our assaulting units on three sides
of the settlement. In a wild rush the encircling troops overwhelmed the
Turks, and met—with an extraordinary mingling of units coming in from
every point—in the centre of the ring of battle. The survivors of the
Turkish garrison, some 1250 officers and men, were made prisoners. Our
total casualties were fewer than 150. Darkness fell swiftly, and, in the
early hours of the night, there was an amazing scene as the prisoners
were collected, and officers and men sought their units and searched for
their led horses. Before midnight the Division was re-formed and, with
the exception of a few squadrons left to clear the battle-ground and
escort the wounded, our victorious little force was riding—for the
second night in succession—back to water and rest at El Arish. As they
tracked along in the darkness there were whole squadrons with not a man
awake—a strange Christmas Eve!
[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ADJOINING COUNTRIES]
RAFA
Next came Rafa. On the evening of 8th January the Anzac Mounted
Division, made up of the Brigades which had fought a few days before at
Magdhaba, strengthened by the Camel Brigade and a Brigade of Yeomanry,
cleared camp near El Arish and, riding all night, appeared before Rafa
at dawn. The Turks held a strongly entrenched position consisting of
three main systems of redoubts with many outlying rifle-pits on high
ground, culminating in a knoll. On this knoll was a solitary tree,
visible for many miles; and this, roughly speaking, was our objective.
As at Magdhaba, the enemy was rapidly surrounded by Brigades moving at
the trot and the gallop. Then the horses were raced back to places of
safety, and the circle closed in on foot. The ground was more open than
at Magdhaba, and our advance lay up long, bare slopes, swept by enemy
fire. All day the cordon drew closer. Again, until the last moment,
there was uncertainty as to whether the Turk could be smashed before
nightfall. Again our horses were without water. And again victory came
at sundown; this time after a series of long, sustained charges with
fixed bayonets in the face of expert Turkish riflemen and German machine
gunners, shooting at their best over specially prepared zones of fire.
Rafa was a grim, deadly fight, waged up to the moment when our
exhausted, but still excited, troopers jumped down on the Turks in their
trenches.
That spirit of mercy which has distinguished so many Australian fights
was shown here at its best. The Turks, who had shot at our men
mercilessly and effectively until they charged home into the very
trenches, then dropped their rifles and held out their hands—to have
them warmly shaken by Australians! Such incidents, occurring frequently
as they have in this campaign, may not be according to the rules of war,
and the psychology disclosed may be difficult to follow; but the
recollection of them, while it always moves our men who were concerned
to shamefaced laughter, must clearly be a source of lasting
gratification. At Rafa, practically every Turk who survived was made a
prisoner, and we also secured many guns and much war material. Even in
more marked degree than Magdhaba was Rafa placed to our credit at the
eleventh hour, for not only was our force threatened by the lack of
water and the approach of darkness, but heavy enemy reinforcements were
rapidly approaching.
[Illustration:
A BRIEF HALT RICHLY EARNED
]
[Illustration:
JERUSALEM FROM THE AIR
]
[Illustration:
DAMASCUS FROM THE AIR
]
[Illustration:
3rd L.H. CAMP AT BELAH, A FAVOURITE RESTING GROUND BY THE SEA SOUTH OF
GAZA
]
This marked the passing of the desert. On the evening of the night march
which brought us close to Rafa, our troops were still in the waste in
which they had spent nearly a year without a glimpse of civilization or
verdure. Travelling all night through the heavy sand, they came, just
before dawn, on sounder going for their horses, and daylight showed them
a wide, rolling landscape, gay with brilliant winter flowers—the fringe
of Palestine.
DESERT ADVENTURES
No survey, however incomplete, of this fine campaign should fail to
mention the countless little desert expeditions in Western and Central
Sinai, in the early days of the fighting. These had various purposes.
Sometimes they were political, but more than once they led to sharp
fighting. The first time Australians were actually engaged east of the
Canal was when the 9th Light Horse Regiment (chiefly South Australians,
with a few Victorians), by a long night march and clever manœuvre,
swooped down and bagged the Turkish outpost garrison at Jifjafa. Then
there was a fine dash by the 11th Light Horse Regiment to Nekhl, the
British pre-war administrative centre in Sinai. Later, two interesting
expeditions were made up the Wady Muksheib, the ancient and central
route across Sinai by which the Turks came in their feeble attack on the
Canal, early in 1915. The drawback of that route was the shortage of
water, and along the Wady bed some ancient power had excavated huge
cisterns which filled during the rains. These cisterns are still intact.
Once, the Light Horsemen pumped them out, and so closed the route for
that season to the Turks; going out again, they sealed and covered them
so as to make their rediscovery by the enemy very difficult.
Australian units from the Camel Brigade more than once rode across the
desert to Akaba, at the head of the Persian Gulf. In October, 1916, a
force marched thirty-five miles across the sandhills from Bayud to
Maghara, and engaged in a vigorous reconnaissance in the foothills below
the almost inaccessible, high-built Turkish garrison position. As an
instance of the man-power and transport necessary to maintain a force in
action on the desert for even a few days, the details of this little
enterprise are remarkable. The column contained only 1100 rifles, and
the operations covered but a few days; but no fewer than 7000 camels,
2300 horses and (including natives) 5000 men were employed to provide
supplies of food and water for the force.
All these little side-shows necessitated long night marches across
countless desert hillocks. To the untrained eye, one square mile of
country in Sinai is indistinguishable from any other square mile, even
by daylight. At night all movement was by compass and the stars, and the
task of our guides was complicated a hundredfold by the constant change
of route imposed by the steepness of many of the sand dunes. Very early
the Light Horseman displayed that apparently inborn sense of direction
which, almost alone, would have made him famous in this campaign. After
a brief trial, the native guides provided by the Imperial authorities
were found to be too slow and uncertain, while, if the enemy was close,
fear usually reduced them to a state of imbecility. As soon as this was
recognized, the whole of the guiding was done by our own officers, many
of whom developed a certainty of location, whatever the circumstances,
which amounted almost to inspiration.
FIRST GAZA
[Illustration]
Ten weeks after Rafa, on 26th March, came the first battle of Gaza. The
scheme for the capture of this old gateway of Palestine proper was
similar to that which succeeded so decisively at Rafa and Magdhaba. We
were to move by night and envelop and isolate the town, with a view to
its capture before the Turk could bring up reinforcements. But it was a
far bigger enterprise than the two earlier raids. Modern Gaza is a
fairly compact old town, which, before the war, contained 30,000
inhabitants. Most of the houses are of mud and straw, but there are also
many substantial modern residences. The little city is graced by many
mosques and minarets. Standing on a low hill on the inland edge of the
wide belt of sand dunes, which, on this coast, everywhere fringe the
Mediterranean, it is bounded on the north, east and south by an
occasional fine orange grove, wide areas of olives and an intricate
network of huge, sprawling cactus hedges surrounding hundreds of tiny
fields. The Turks were soundly dug in, and well supported by many guns
in commanding positions, while the irregular system of cactus hedges
made an ideal barrier between them and the naked plain over which the
attacking troops had to advance.
Since Rafa a notable change had taken place in our force. The mounted
troops had been reinforced by the arrival of large numbers of Yeomanry
and, for the first time in the campaign, a substantial force of infantry
was available for frontal attack. Marching in the darkness, part of our
army surrounded Gaza, while a strong mounted force took up positions to
the east and north to prevent the intervention of heavy Turkish
reinforcements, which were within easy striking distance. British
infantry attacked from the south and east. On their right flank was a
Brigade of Yeomanry. Next came the New Zealanders, and on the extreme
right, pushing in from the north, with their flank on the sea, was the
2nd Light Horse Brigade, with Brigadier-General Ryrie back in his old
command. Unfortunately, a heavy morning fog prevented the infantry from
getting into grips with the Turk in the earlier part of the day.
AMONG THE CACTUS
The mounted troops, moving faster, galloped first through the scattered
groves of olives and then pressed forward, still on their horses, amidst
the maze of cactus hedges. For our men it was a wonderful day of
detached, individual fighting. Exact conformity was impossible.
Regiments and squadrons, and even troops, fought wild little
hole-and-corner combats of their own. There was much excited
steeplechasing over the cactus. At times, our men and the Turks fought
each other from either side of a hedge a few paces in width, the enemy
on foot and our troops firing from their horses. Then the Light Horse,
dismounting, hacked their way through the cactus with their bayonets,
and did effective work with the steel. Our machine gunners, advancing in
rushes in front and to a flank of the 2nd Brigade, maintained a clever
and deadly covering barrage.
The fighting was marked by countless fine incidents. One Light Horse
squadron gallantly rushed an important Turkish observation post. The New
Zealanders, assisted by a Light Horse troop, took a number of enemy
guns. Swinging one of these round, and sighting through the open barrel
at point blank range, they demolished with a single shot a stone house
containing a number of troublesome Turkish riflemen. By nightfall, both
the infantry and mounted troops had won into the outskirts of the town,
and captured large numbers of prisoners. But the garrison was still
strong, and heavy Turkish reinforcements were closing in rapidly from
three directions. We had missed by a hairsbreadth. The fight was broken
off and our men, suffering a sense of disappointment scarcely less than
that felt at the evacuation of Gallipoli, were withdrawn.
SECOND GAZA
Three weeks later, on 19th April, the second battle of Gaza was fought
on a long line extending from the sea eastward towards Beersheba. The
Australians fought dismounted out on the right flank, and the day was
the bloodiest our men have known in their Palestine fighting. For many
hours they pressed forward in thin lines, up long, bare slopes, in the
face of heavy and well-directed high explosive, shrapnel, machine gun
and rifle fire. In places they made substantial headway and bent the
Turks back. At one point, since known to fame as “Tank Redoubt,” two
Australian companies of the Camel Brigade, co-operating with the British
infantry on their flank, won temporary possession of a main key in the
enemy line. Many splendid deeds distinguished this day’s hard fighting;
they will rank with the best performances of Australian infantry in the
war, and the exploit of the “Camels” at the Tank Redoubt with the
greatest achievements of British arms in any age. But the Turk, though
badly shaken, stood firm. The simple fact was that, in this
Gaza-Beersheba line, which lent itself admirably to stout defence, we
had encountered enemy forces so superior in number and equipment, that
further advance was, for the time, physically impossible.
BEERSHEBA
Between then and the end of the following October, when the Turkish
position was shattered, significant additions were made to our strength.
We were reinforced by some Divisions of infantry, and many guns of
different calibre, while the Desert Mounted Corps was formed from the
old Desert Column, consisting of the Anzac and Australian Mounted
Divisions, and a Yeomanry Division. During this period, too, General
Allenby arrived from France as Commander-in-Chief. In the great attack
which demolished the enemy’s strong defensive system on this line, the
Turk was out-witted and outfought. By a wide detour, covering several
days and notable for its long, exhausting marches, and the remarkable
performances of the Engineers in the development of water in desert
areas, the Anzac Mounted Division appeared as a bolt from the blue to
the south-east of Beersheba, on the morning of 31st October. Beersheba
marked the end of the Turkish line of defence. Seen from the surrounding
hills, the scattered modern town, with its wide, dusty streets planted
with straggling eucalyptus and pepper trees, is not unlike some western
townships in Australia. It lies in a basin below the southern end of the
Judean Range, and had been strongly fortified by the enemy. The attack
from the south-east, however, was a complete surprise to the Turk.
[Illustration:
ROMANI. MOUNT ROYSTON IN THE DISTANCE
_By Lieut. G. W. Lambert_
]
[Illustration:
IN A VILLAGE STREET
]
GALLOPING THE TRENCHES
In the early morning the New Zealanders moved swiftly to the assault of
Tel es Saba, a formidable mound, bristling with machine guns and rifles.
At the same time, the 1st Light Horse Brigade went in to the south on
the New Zealanders’ left, while the 2nd Light Horse Brigade dashed away
on a long gallop under heavy shell-fire, and took up a position to the
north, to cut off the retreat of the Beersheba garrison along the road
leading over the Central Range, through Hebron and Bethlehem, to
Jerusalem. After very heavy fighting on foot, over broken ground, the
New Zealanders, supported by the 1st Light Horse Brigade, scaled and
captured Tel es Saba. The day was well advanced. Beersheba had not
fallen, and it was patent that, if we relied upon a dismounted attack,
the town would certainly resist until nightfall; which would have given
the enemy an opportunity to adjust his forces and perhaps upset our
whole offensive. Four miles away to the south-east, the Australian
Mounted Division was in reserve, and, shortly before sunset,
Brigadier-General Grant received orders to attack the town with the 4th
Light Horse Brigade. Between him and Beersheba lay a definite system of
strongly-held Turkish trenches. As it was recognized that time did not
permit of a dismounted advance, the decision was made to go in mounted,
at a gallop. This hazardous enterprise of galloping infantry into an
entrenched position was entrusted to the 4th Regiment, from Victoria,
and the 12th Regiment, from New South Wales.
A FAMOUS CHARGE
Moving off at a trot, and soon quickening the pace to a gallop, the
regiments swept in a bee-line towards Beersheba. They were soon under
heavy shell and machine gun fire, but this only served to speed the
horsemen. Charging wildly down on the Turks, despite heavy rifle fire,
leading troops of Light Horsemen jumped the advanced trenches at a
gallop, going clean over the Turkish bayonets. Once within the enemy
trench system, part of the force dismounted, and, jumping down with
their bayonets among the startled enemy, soon cleared the position.
Meanwhile the mad gallop of the other squadrons was continued through
enemy resistance into the very heart of the town. The Turks were thrown
into hopeless disorder, and, believing that the handful of Australians
formed but the advance guard of a great cavalry force, put up an
indifferent fight. Upwards of 1100 were captured, but the darkness,
which fell immediately after our horse clattered into the town, enabled
many more to escape. Nine field guns and a large quantity of material
fell into our hands. The Light Horsemen had charged with fixed bayonets,
not that they could make any use of them on horseback, but for the moral
effect upon the enemy. This magnificent enterprise, establishing as it
did that Turkish nerves were not proof against a resolute body of
galloping horse, led to highly important results in the Great Drive
which followed. The Yeomanry, who were equipped with cavalry swords, a
privilege not then enjoyed by any of the Australian Light Horse, routed
greatly superior numbers of Turks in a series of charges which rank with
the greatest performances of British regular cavalry.
UP THE PHILISTINE PLAIN
A few days after Beersheba the Turkish line was broken by the infantry
at Sheria, and again between Gaza and the sea. The mounted men were
turned loose on the heels of the retreating enemy, and the wild stern
chase was continued for nearly fifty miles. The speed of the horsemen
was regulated chiefly by difficulties of transport and water supply; but
all the way the Turk fought clever rear-guard actions, making therein
especially effective use of his strong equipment of machine guns. The
Australians’ work was fast and bold throughout. There were scores of
fights by night and day, which brought credit to the staff work and
Brigade and Regimental fighting. Up till then it was the grandest
cavalry drive in the war, and perhaps it has no equal in any campaign of
the past. When the British forces came to a halt on a line running
roughly from the coast a few miles north of Jaffa eastward to the
mountains, the cessation of the pursuit was due not to enemy resistance,
but to the impossibility, at that time, of extending our lines of
communication any further. During this great cavalry drive, the Desert
Mounted Corps, which embraced all the mounted troops, was under the
command of Lieut.-General Sir H. G. Chauvel, who enjoys the distinction
of being the first Australian to rise to the leadership of a Corps. And,
with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade under General Wilson and the 4th under
General Grant, the four Australian Mounted Brigades were, for the first
time, all under Australian commands.
JERUSALEM AND JERICHO
In the wars of the ancients, cavalry and chariots were always used down
on the Philistine Plain, while the Judean Hills were regarded as
practicable only for infantry. It is the same to-day. The Great Drive on
the Plain finished, the British infantry, with Yeomanry dismounted,
moved eastward through the narrow passes and up the harsh, rocky
hillsides of Judea towards Jerusalem. The Turks stubbornly resisted our
capture of the Holy City, and the fighting, at times, was bitter and
bloody in the extreme. But the gallant little Londoners, to whom fell
the honour of most of this significant advance, won their way steadily
forward. Only one Light Horse Regiment, the Western Australians, played
any immediate part in the operations which, on 9th December, culminated
in the surrender of Jerusalem.
A few weeks later, the 1st Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealanders
marched secretly, at night, from Bethlehem by steep mountain tracks,
and, co-operating with the 60th (London) Infantry Division, after a
sharp fight at Nebi Musa captured Jericho. This exploit was
distinguished, as the Anzacs’ work in the campaign has always been, by
the remarkable work of our guides. A squadron of the 1st Brigade had the
honour of being the first to enter the village; but the winning of the
Jordan Valley, like the capture of Jerusalem, was, in the main, due to
the solid fighting qualities of the men of London. To-day, all through
the Judean Hills, you come upon little wooden crosses which tell of the
spirit and self-sacrifice of our good ally, the fighting Cockney.
AMMAN
A brief pause, and then, the Desert Mounted Corps Bridging Train (B
Troop, Australian Engineers) having thrown the first bridge across the
Jordan, the Anzac Mounted Division, together with the Imperial Camel
Brigade and, once again, the Londoners, made their famous rush for the
Hedjaz Railway, far out across Jordan to the east, where the Plateau of
Moab begins to merge into the sand of the wide Arabian Desert. This
expedition, which, so far as the Colonials were concerned, fell chiefly
upon the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, the New Zealanders and the Camels, was
perhaps the severest we had had since crossing the Canal. Rain fell
almost unceasingly for many days. The mountain tracks were so narrow and
broken that the Brigades, travelling only by night, moved in single
file, leading their horses and camels. The weather was piercingly cold.
Men were wet through for several days and nights in which they knew no
sleep, and were almost ceaselessly engaged in heavy fighting. In these
circumstances, the destruction of some miles of the railway, and the
safe withdrawal of the force, was an especially good performance.
[Illustration: OUTLINE MAP OF NORTHERN SINAI]
ES SALT
A few weeks later practically all the Australian mounted troops, with
the exception of the Camels, again crossed the Jordan, and, cutting in
behind the Turks after some rare mountaineering feats in the darkness,
took possession of Es Salt, a considerable Turkish base. In this
enterprise, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade particularly distinguished
itself, the 8th Regiment of Victorians alone taking prisoners equal to
at least twice their fighting strength. The same Regiment also captured
thirty machine guns and large quantities of other war material.
JORDAN VALLEY
During the spring and summer, which were spent in Jordan Valley, there
were many highly successful little defensive fights. One of these, in
which the Turkish attack fell mainly upon the 2nd Light Horse Regiment
of Queenslanders, left nearly two hundred enemy dead within a few chains
of our barbed wire. At about the same time, the foe assaulted the
Musallabeh knoll, on the other side of the river, held by the 1st
Battalion (Australians) of the Camel Brigade, and got to close quarters,
in which bombs and bayonets, and even stones and hands were freely used
on both sides. The Turks were beaten off with some hundreds of
casualties.
On 12th July, a day on which the shade temperature stood for hours at
120 degrees, a stout attempt was made by a considerable force of German
infantry against the 1st Light Horse Brigade under Brigadier-General
Cox, on this same Musallabeh sector. Our line there was a series of
small strong posts over a long and broken front. The Germans, advancing
in the dark, penetrated between two of the posts, and actually reached
the centre of our advanced position. A feature of this fight was that
every little post, except one which was overwhelmed, successfully
resisted the German attack, although all were surrounded and isolated
for hours. In some, practically every officer and man became a casualty.
The Germans were routed by a brilliant counter-attack of the 1st Light
Horse Regiment (New South Wales), which was in reserve, and the affair
cost the Germans 360 prisoners and about 1,200 casualties. Our losses
were slight. Troops from four States, Tasmania, South Australia,
Queensland and New South Wales, shared in the victory. On the same day,
also in Jordan Valley, a troop of Queenslanders, men from the 5th Light
Horse Regiment, twice left their lines with bombs, and, surprising enemy
forces many times their number, brought in forty-five prisoners, and
they had killed and wounded as many more in the fight. The casualties
suffered by the troop were one officer and two men slightly wounded. Two
cars of No. 1 Australian Light Car Patrol also took part with the
Imperial Service (Indian) Cavalry in a brilliant counter-attack east of
the Jordan.
PREPARING FOR DAMASCUS
The long, distressing summer in Jordan Valley died hard. In September,
when the Anzac Mounted Division was there, the hottest days of the whole
year were endured. The various mounted troops had held the Jordan sector
in turn, those in reserve enjoying brief periods of rest on the bracing
uplands about Solomon’s Pools, a little to the south of Jerusalem. There
the sunny days were cool, and at night men who had known little sleep
down on the Jordan rejoiced in the mountain mists and the unwonted
comfort of their blankets.
In the course of the year there had been another interesting change in
the composition of General Allenby’s army. Many of the Yeomanry and
British infantry had gone to other battle fronts, and in their place
came one hundred thousand Indian horse and foot. Many of our Light
Horsemen had fought beside the Gurkhas and other Indians on the
Peninsula; some of us had seen the Indian cavalry in France in the early
days of the war; but to most of the Australians the Indians were
strangers. To-day, after a few months and a stirring campaign together,
the bond between the two races is a remarkably strong one.
AUSTRALIA’S NEW FRIENDS
The Australian soldier has, for a man of insular breeding, shown an
extraordinary capacity for making friends. He has an easy way with
peoples of all races and colours. In France he is completely at his ease
among the French peasantry; and he saunters through the Arab villages in
Palestine as familiarly and as confidently as he used to walk the
streets of his townships and cities at home. His old enemy the Turkish
ranker is his admired personal friend. But the strong bond which sprang
up so quickly between the Light Horseman and the Indians was perhaps the
strangest of all his new war friendships. They were divided by colour,
the language barrier was absolute, and, most unpromising of all, there
was the barrier of caste, which prevented the devout Indian from sharing
his rations, and so made little acts of camp hospitality impossible. But
the barriers, although they seemed impassable, were miraculously
surmounted. The Indians made no secret of their admiration of the Light
Horseman as a past-master at the game of combined mounted and dismounted
fighting, while the Australian was genuinely appreciative of the
splendid soldierly qualities of the highly-trained regular Indian
cavalry. Moreover, nearly all the Indians rode Australian horses!