On November the 27th the enemy renewed his activity in the hills. The Yeomanry Division was, at the time, reduced to about 800 rifles in the line, and was holding a position nearly four miles long with this imposing force. To add to the sense of security, there was a gap of about five miles between the left flank of the division and the nearest post of the 54th Division at Shilta. Moreover, the only line of communications was still by the Beit Sira-Berfilya-Ludd road, up which the division had marched on its first advance. This road, along which all ammunition and supplies had to come, ran parallel to, and only just behind, this gap in the line, and there seemed to be no particular reason why the enemy should not walk through the gap whenever he felt so inclined, and sit down on the road. The 'line' consisted of a few posts, held by as many men as could be spared, and a number of small, roving patrols. One of these posts, consisting of three officers and sixty men, was in a small stone building on the top of a ridge near Zeit?n. It was attacked early in the afternoon of the 27th by a battalion of Turks with machine guns and artillery. The fight went on till dark, when the Turks drew off to nurse their wounds and get their breath for another attack. The commander of the garrison, now reduced to twenty-eight all ranks, sent an apologetic signal message to the 6th Brigade head[Pg 113]quarters to ask if a few men could be spared to reinforce him. The house which his men had been holding had been destroyed by shell fire, and every part of the top of the hill was reeking with the fumes of high explosive shell. Two weak troops were sent to the assistance of the garrison, though it was realised that the provision of this reinforcement dangerously weakened the rest of the front!
Thus strengthened and encouraged, the garrison of the Zeit?n post successfully held out all night against repeated attacks. The Turks were again reinforced during the night, however, and next morning, as it was clear that the little garrison could not hope to hold out any longer, it was withdrawn. The enemy immediately occupied the Zeit?n ridge, the possession of which gave him command over our positions, and necessitated a withdrawal of our line. On the left flank the 22nd Brigade was thrown back, covering Beit Ur el Tahta, and the line then ran from that village, through Beit Ur el Foka, to about El Tire. The right flank of the division was in exiguous and intermittent touch with the 52nd Division. The left was entirely 'in the air.'
Throughout the day Turkish troops were moving to the north, and making their way westwards towards the gap in our line west of Beit Ur el Tahta. Large parties continually attacked the Yeomanry at different points, thus preventing the division from making any effective change of dispositions to meet the threatened envelopment.
The 7th Mounted Brigade, which was in Corps Reserve at Zernuka, and the Australian Mounted Division, resting at El Mejdel, were ordered up. Both made forced marches during the night of the 27th, and the former arrived at Beit Ur el Tahta at five in the morning of the 28th, just in time to[Pg 114] help the 22nd Mounted Brigade to repulse a heavy attack from the north.
A brigade of the 52nd Division was sent to reinforce the exposed left flank of the Yeomanry Division, but, before it arrived there, a small party of Turks with some machine guns walked quietly through the gap between the Yeomanry Division and the 54th, and took up a position overlooking the Berfilya track. Later in the morning, a section of the Yeomanry Divisional Ammunition Column, coming up the road from Ramleh with sorely needed ammunition for the division, was ambushed by the Turks and utterly destroyed. A motor cyclist going down to Ramleh reached the scene immediately afterwards, and, seeing the wrecked wagons and the dead men and horses on the road, swung round his machine, and raced back again as fast as the track would allow. The Turks opened fire with their machine guns, but failed to hit him, and he carried the news back to the division that the road was cut. A detachment from the brigade of the 52nd, which had been sent up to cover this flank, pushed ahead, and drove off this party of Turks. The brigade then attacked the village of Suffa, which was full of enemy troops, in order to try and relieve the pressure on the left of the Yeomanry Division, but the Turks were found in too great strength to be dislodged. Fortunately, however, they made no further attempt to penetrate through the gap, probably because they were really unaware of its existence. Positions on both sides were exceedingly ill-defined, owing to the impossibility of digging trenches in the solid rock, of which most of the hill and ridge tops were composed. Very heavy fighting continued throughout the day, but the enemy, though continually reinforced, was unable to break our line.
[Pg 115]
The Australian Mounted Division arrived at Khurbet Deiran early in the morning, having marched the twenty-one miles from Mejdel in one night. The 4th A.L.H. Brigade at once pushed on into the hills, and came into the line in the centre, in support of the 6th Brigade, about five in the evening. The hard-worked 52nd Division contrived to spare another battalion, which reinforced the 7th Brigade on the left.
The attack on this brigade was resumed at dark, but was driven off, after prolonged and bitter fighting. As an indication of the close nature of the struggle, it may be mentioned that the headquarters of two of the Yeomanry brigades used up all their revolver ammunition during the day.
Next day the Yeomanry Division and the 7th Brigade were relieved in the line by two more brigades of infantry from the 52nd and 74th Divisions, the latter of which had just arrived from the south. These reliefs were carried out in the intervals between repeated fierce attacks by the enemy, who flung his troops against our line all day with the greatest determination. Had it not been possible to relieve the Yeomanry about this time, there is no doubt that they would have been overwhelmed. So depleted were their ranks that the substitution of two brigades of infantry for the four cavalry brigades meant six rifles in the line for every one that had been there before. This increase in strength, with the addition of the Australian Mounted Division, sufficed to hold all the enemy attacks.
On the following morning the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade relieved the brigade of the 52nd Division on the left of the Yeomanry line, near El Burj, and the headquarters and artillery of the division moved up in the evening.
On the same day, the weary troops of the Yeo[Pg 116]manry Division withdrew to Annabeh, whence they marched to the neighbourhood of El Mughar to rest and refit, within sight of the hill which they had captured so brilliantly a fortnight earlier.
During their twelve days in the hills they had been fighting continually, day and night, not only against a vigorous and determined enemy, but against the difficulties of a roadless mountain country. Exposed to constant rain and cold, without tents, blankets or greatcoats, often short of food, and opposed at all times by greatly superior forces of the enemy, they had set an example of dogged courage and tenacity and of unquenchable cheerfulness that has never been surpassed.
These were the last operations in the East in which they were destined to take part. In the following spring, in response to the urgent call from France for more troops to stem the great German attack, the division was disbanded, and reorganised into a number of dismounted machine gun companies. After a short course of training, these companies embarked for France, there to earn fresh laurels for their old division in the last great act of the war.
Units of the division had fought in nearly every action since the beginning of the war with Turkey, and all had distinguished themselves. At Suvla Bay in the Peninsula; at Sollum and Mersa Matruh in the western desert; at Romani, Maghdaba and Rafa during the advance across Sinai; in the two first battles of Gaza; and lastly in the great ride over the Plains of Philistia, and the stubborn drive into the Jud?an Mountains. Everywhere the Turks had learned to dread the long swords and the steady rifles of the Yeomen. Their comrades of the Desert Mounted Corps bade farewell to the gallant division with real sorrow.
[Pg 117]
The enemy made one more attempt to break our line at its weakest part on the night of the 30th. About two o'clock in the morning a battalion of picked assault troops from his 19th Division was launched against the position held by the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade. The Turks were well supplied with hand grenades, which were not carried by our cavalry at that time, and pushed their attack in the most resolute manner. Our line was forced back a few hundred yards, and a small, but important, hill was lost for a time. A squadron of the Gloucester Yeomanry (5th Mounted Brigade) and a company of infantry from the 52nd Division reinforced the 3rd Brigade, and the Turks' attempt to break through was finally defeated, but only after the complete destruction of the enemy battalion. Three times during the night, between 2 A.M. and 6 A.M., this gallant regiment flung itself against our positions, pressing on each time with the most reckless courage. Each attack was repelled with heavy losses to the enemy, and in the end the battalion was wiped out: 172 Turks, many of them wounded, remained in our hands as prisoners; the rest were killed.
The 5th Mounted Brigade rejoined the Australian Division from the 21st Corps on the 1st of December, being replaced by the 10th A.L.H. Regiment, which remained on the right flank of the 60th Division, and gained touch with the 53rd Division on the 7th December.
The Australian Mounted Division remained in the mountains till the end of December, when it was withdrawn to Deir el Belah to rest and refit. It had little fighting during the period spent in the hills, but the awful weather fully made up for any lack of activity on the part of the enemy. During the whole time rain fell almost incessantly, and the cold[Pg 118] winds that swept up and down the narrow valleys were exceedingly trying to men who were nearly always in wet clothes.
But, if the conditions in the hills were execrable, those in the coastal plain, where all the horses of the division were kept, were nearly as bad. The rains broke late this year, and, when they did come, fell with unusual violence. The plain was soon transformed into a deep sea of mud. Large areas were completely under water, and the flood carried immense quantities of soil into the innumerable small wadis that intersect the plain, filling them bank full with mud. When the waters subsided a little, from time to time, these wadis were indistinguishable from the surrounding country, and became very dangerous traps. There was more than one instance of men and horses being engulfed and drowned in their horrible black depths.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1917 are never likely to be forgotten by any of the troops who were in Palestine at the time. A raging storm of rain fell without intermission for thirty-six hours. The railway was washed away in several places, wagons and lorries were unable to move, and hundreds of camels in the ration convoys lay down in the water that covered the land, and died. No food or other supplies could be brought up to the troops.
A small party of Yeomanry, making its way northwards from Esdud, reached the bridge over the Nahr Sukereir about mid-day. The men halted to feed their horses on the bridge, which consisted of a single high stone arch, and was comparatively dry. After half an hour's halt, they attempted to continue their march, but found the country to the north of the river so deep in water and mud that they could not get on. They then tried to go back again, but, in[Pg 119] the meantime, the waters had risen behind them, and they found themselves cut off on the bridge, which was now a small island in an apparently limitless sea of muddy water. Marooned on their tiny island, lashed by the rain and the bitter wind, they spent the night and the next day (Christmas Day) huddled miserably together, without food, fire, or shelter! On the 26th the waters subsided a little, and they were able to struggle back to their camp.
The horses, already thin and tired after the heavy work and short rations of the past month, went back rapidly in condition. They were standing always up to their hocks in mud, wet through nearly the whole time, and, in this treeless country, there was little or no shelter from the biting winds. Forage, too, was often woefully short, owing to partial breakdowns of the supply columns. It is small wonder that, by the end of December, when the division was relieved, they resembled ragged scarecrows rather than horses.
Much trouble was caused in the mountains owing to the impossibility of preventing information reaching the enemy from the natives. A regulation, prohibiting the inhabitants of the villages behind our lines from leaving their houses during the hours of darkness, was rigidly enforced, and any natives found at large during the night were liable to be shot at sight. Nevertheless, with a line so lightly held as was ours, and with no regular system of trenches, it was a comparatively easy matter for the villagers to pass between the lines, even in daylight, and much information undoubtedly reached the enemy in this way.
One day a small patrol of five men of the Australian Mounted Division was making its way cautiously forward towards the enemy position in the village of Deir el Kuddis. Crossing the bottom of a deep[Pg 120] valley, the patrol came upon a solitary Arab squatting among the rocks in the bottom of the ravine. He said he had come from Deir el Kuddis, and that it had been evacuated by the enemy. Our men, one of whom spoke a little Arabic, questioned him closely, but he stuck to his story, and also showed them a path which led to the village. They left him in the ravine, and, taking the path indicated, moved warily forward towards the village. Shortly afterwards, they heard a jackal cry in the valley behind them, but, as the hills were full of these beasts, whose mournful wailing was to be heard all night long, the men paid no attention to it at the time. Almost immediately afterwards a concealed enemy machine gun opened fire on them unexpectedly, killing one man and wounding another. They withdrew, carrying their dead comrade with them, and were making their way back towards the ravine where they had left the native, when one of them was suddenly struck by the thought that he had never before heard a jackal call in the daytime. After a discussion, they came to the conclusion that the jackal cry must have been made by the Arab they had seen, as a signal to the enemy. One of them accordingly went to look for the man, and found him in the same place. As soon as he saw the soldier, the native jumped up with a cry, and attempted to run away, but was promptly shot dead by the Australian.
The body of this man lay unburied in the bottom of the ravine all the time we were there, as none of the villagers would touch it. They had taken and buried the bodies of several other natives who had been shot when found away from their villages after dark, and, as they would not give the same treatment to this man, it is possible that he was a Turk in disguise.
batteries
One of our Horse Artillery batteries in action in the mountains west of Jerusalem. Note the bivouac shelters pitched among the guns as camouflage.
proclamation
Reading the British Proclamation in Jerusalem, 11th November, 1917. General Allenby with Allied Representatives in the centre.
[Pg 121]
In the latter half of November the four infantry divisions that had remained about Gaza and Karm during the pursuit of the enemy commenced to move up to the front, and, by the end of the month, were all in the line from the sea to Nebi Samwil. At the beginning of December the 53rd Division began its advance up the Hebron road, and, on the early morning of the 9th, was in touch with the 60th Division, and had one brigade fighting its way up the Mount of Olives. The latter division, pivoting on the hill of Nebi Samwil, had made a wonderful fighting wheel to the left during the past three days, and had now closed in on Jerusalem on the west and south.
At eight o'clock in the morning the keys of the Holy City, borne by the Mayor under a flag of truce, were handed to an officer of the 60th Division.
After six hundred years the Christian had returned.
General Allenby made his official entry into Jerusalem on the 11th, accompanied by representatives of the Allied Nations. This event, and the magnificent infantry fighting that led up to it, have been too well chronicled elsewhere to need recapitulation in this narrative, which is concerned only with the doings of the cavalry.
One may be permitted, however, to emphasise once more the impressive contrast between the entry of the Conqueror of Jerusalem and that of the crazy mountebank who had visited it twenty years before. The German Emperor entered on horseback, surrounded by an immense retinue, in uniforms blazing with medals and decorations. General Allenby entered on foot and almost alone, dressed in worn, service khaki, and carrying a cane. But he went through the Jaffa Gate, which, in accordance with ancient tradition, is opened only to a conqueror of[Pg 122] the Holy City; the Kaiser entered through a breach in the wall.
The Australian Mounted Division was relieved by the 10th Infantry Division on the 1st of January, and the 3rd and 5th Brigades withdrew from the hills that day, and marched south for Deir el Belah, followed a week later by the 4th Brigade. The three days' march was carried out in continual, heavy rain, changing to hail and sleet every now and then, and through a country that was nearly all under water. Once among the clean, dry sandhills of Deir el Belah, however, all troubles were over, and soon afterwards the weather improved, and clothes could be dried for the first time for seven weeks. The Yeomanry Division had moved into the same area shortly before the Australian Division arrived.
The Anzac Division remained on the Auja till the 7th of December, when it withdrew to rest at Richon-le-Zion. Cavalry operations were much hampered by the continual rain and deep mud, but the division carried out a series of daring and successful raids on the enemy, which kept him constantly on the jump, and paved the way for the final crossing of the Auja on the 21st and 22nd of December. Two brigades took part in this operation, in support of the 52nd and 54th Divisions, and, as soon as our line was consolidated on the north bank, the whole division was withdrawn, and went into camp near the coast to rest.
Between the 31st of October and the end of December the Desert Mounted Corps had advanced some eighty miles,[15] fought nine general engagements, and captured about 9500 prisoners and 80 guns.
map
FOOTNOTES:
[15] The actual distances covered by the three divisions in the period were:—Anzac Mounted Division, one hundred and seventy miles; Yeomanry Division, one hundred and ninety miles; Australian Mounted Division, two hundred and thirty miles.