Chapter I: Part 1

AUSTRALIA IN PALESTINE

GENERAL SIR EDMUND H. ALLENBY, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
]

AUSTRALIA
IN PALESTINE

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

JERUSALEM, FROM BELOW THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

_By Lieut. G. W. Lambert_
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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!

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.

A BRIEF HALT RICHLY EARNED
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JERUSALEM FROM THE AIR
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DAMASCUS FROM THE AIR
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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

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.

ROMANI. MOUNT ROYSTON IN THE DISTANCE

_By Lieut. G. W. Lambert_
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IN A VILLAGE STREET
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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.

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!

Every trooper in Palestine knew that a great campaign would be launched in the early autumn. General Allenby would, according to the camp-fire strategists, “hop in” during the brief season between the extreme heat and the beginning of the heavy rains in November. Further, the C. in C. would, in all probability, assail the enemy line at the full of the moon, so that we should have light for the great cavalry night marches that were anticipated. But it is doubtful whether any soldier in Palestine, who was not in the official secret, forecasted a scheme so bold as that General Allenby had resolved upon. Certainly, none dared to hope for a triumph so dazzlingly swift and complete.

THE WONDERFUL FORTNIGHT

The great campaign opened at dawn on the morning of 19th September, 1918. A fortnight after General Allenby flung his artillery bombardment at the enemy line, the great Turkish and German force in Western and Eastern Palestine had been destroyed, and our prisoners numbered 75,000. Of the 4th, 7th, and 8th Turkish Armies south of Damascus only a few thousand foot-sore, hunted men escaped. Practically every gun, the great bulk of the machine guns, nearly all the small-arms, and transport, every aerodrome and its mechanical equipment and nearly every aeroplane, an intricate and widespread telephone and telegraph system, large dumps of munitions and every kind of supplies—all had, in fourteen swift and dramatic days, been stripped from an enemy who for four years had resisted our efforts to smash him. It was a military overthrow so sudden and so absolute that it is perhaps without parallel in the history of war. And it is still more remarkable because it was achieved at a cost so trifling.

TURKS MARCHING OUT OF OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM AT BEGINNING OF WAR, 1914

(_Captured German Photograph_)
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GAZA
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THE MOUNT OF TEMPTATION
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ALL THE WORLD OVER
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It was a stupendous result, gained by a simple scheme. The strategy was strikingly bold, but perhaps the most impressive thing about General Allenby’s triumph was the superb manner in which his plan was carried through. The campaign went with a bang from the moment the line was broken until Damascus, more than 150 miles distant, was taken. It galloped all the way. There was never a moment’s indecision, never a semblance of fumbling. Here was a British Army at its best, every man efficient, every man enthusiastic.

The scheme was obviously the conception of a confident leader of horse. General Allenby is a cavalryman, and he had under his command the most powerful cavalry force in the war. And he knew the quality of his mounted men. All of the Australians and New Zealanders and Yeomanry had been in the sixty-mile drive from Gaza, of the previous year, and most of them had been in the saddle in Egypt and Palestine for two and a half years. The dashing Indian cavalry had been with him for many months and had given many examples of their speed and love of battle. Again and again in the summer their advanced patrols had galloped down bodies of Turks, and their terrible use of the lance in those little actions had a highly useful effect on Turkish nerves. The cavalry was General Allenby’s special weapon for the campaign, but in addition, he had a substantial and fit force of veteran infantry. He had, too, a particularly brilliant lot of airmen, and in his supply services he possessed a vast organization of railway, motor, camel, horse, mule and donkey transport, which was efficient and resourceful in the highest degree, and had already performed miracles.

Altogether the British Army of Palestine was, when the final campaign opened, as near to perfection as any force ever was. All ranks were veterans and all were animated by that spirit which every army feels when confident of victory and happy in its leaders.

A BOLD SCHEME

This was the scheme. We faced the Turks on a fifty-mile line running from a point on the Mediterranean coast about twelve miles north of Jaffa south-eastward across the Plain of Sharon, thence eastward over the Mountains of Samaria at a height of 1500 to 2000 feet, falling to 1000 feet below sea-level where it crossed the Jordan Valley, and terminating in the foothills of the Mountains of Gilead. The Sharon Plain sector was some fifteen miles in length, across Samaria fifteen miles, and the stretch in the Jordan Valley about eighteen. The Turkish position was a strong one. On Samaria, or the Central Palestine Range, south of Nablus, the enemy had ideal defensive country, rugged and broken, yet well served by rail—on the north-west to Haifa, and on the north-east across the Jordan at Beisan and by way of Damascus to Turkey; he had also good roads to Haifa and to Damascus by way of Nazareth.