CHAPTER XI DOWN TO THE JORDAN

The advance across the Nahr el Auja at the end of December 1917, and the infantry operations north of Jerusalem about the same time, established our line sufficiently far north of Jaffa and Jerusalem to secure these two places from all but long-range gun fire from the enemy. The line was then consolidated, and a period of trench warfare set in, which, with the exception of several minor operations, was to last till the autumn of the following year.

For the first part of this period, the Desert Mounted Corps remained in the neighbourhood of Gaza to rest and train.

The horses were in a sorry state, and the remount depots were empty, save for a few animals which had been returned from veterinary hospitals, after treatment for wounds or other injuries. Owing to the shortage of shipping, there was no prospect of any fresh remounts arriving in the country for an indefinite time. Consequently all the horses of the Corps had to be nursed back to condition before the cavalry could take part in any further serious work.

The divisions were all camped on deep sand, among the coastal dunes—the Yeomanry and the Australian Mounted Divisions round Gaza, the Anzac Division farther north. The heaviest rain drained through this sand immediately, and half an hour of sunshine was enough to dry the surface. For the[Pg 124] first time in many weeks the horses had clean, dry standings, and the effect of this was soon evident in the improved condition of their legs and coats. At the end of the first fortnight, which was a period of rest for men as well as horses, there was an all round improvement. Forage was plentiful again, and of fair quality, though every one would have given a great deal for a few tons of good oats, in place of the eternal barley.

After the first fortnight, training recommenced, gradually at first, so as not to check the recovery of the horses. By the end of the month, however, brigade and divisional schemes were in full swing.

The training was varied by salvage work on the old trenches at Gaza, from which a great quantity of ammunition and stores of every description was collected. Most of the men had an opportunity of visiting Gaza, and many were the 'curios' collected among the ruins, to be taken home to sweethearts and wives on that glorious 'leave,' that was always coming, but never quite came.

At a little distance the city appeared to be intact, except for two minarets, accidentally broken by shell fire, the jagged stumps of which stood up conspicuously. This curious, undamaged appearance was due to the great quantity of trees which grew all over the town, and which had now put on their spring coat of green. The kindly leaves hid the scarred and broken skeletons of the trees, and veiled the shapeless ruins of the houses.

Inside, however, was a scene of utter desolation. Not a living thing was to be seen in this city, which once held 40,000 souls, save an occasional, hungry pariah dog, engaged in his horrible work among the graves of the dead.

mosque

Ruins of the Great Mosque at Gaza, showing one of the arches of the old Crusader Church.

The great mosque, which had once been a noble,[Pg 125] Christian church, was almost entirely destroyed, but not by our guns. The Turks had used it as an ammunition depot, with that callous disregard for the Holy Places of their own religion which was always so characteristic of them, and, when the city was abandoned, they blew up the great store of shells there, and laid the mosque in ruins. Some of the lower arches remained, and one beautiful Norman gateway, but all the rest was a heap of tumbled masonry.

The German headquarters was in the north-west corner of the town, close to the remains of a graceful little Greek church. The house in which the officers lived was screened from view on all sides, and, as it was far removed from any of the enemy defences, it had escaped serious damage. But it was satisfactory to note that both the tennis courts, which had been made with such evident pains, had been visited by eight-inch shells.

The rest of the city was a mass of ruins, stark and silent. And so it is likely to remain for all time, an awful witness to the devastation of war. Its inhabitants have neither the energy of the people of Europe, nor the incentive of a bitter climate, and they are never likely to rebuild it.

By the end of January our front had been thoroughly consolidated, and the infantry had recovered from the hard fighting and cruel weather of December. The Commander-in-Chief now determined to extend his line to the Jordan, in order to secure his right flank.

There were several other advantages to be gained by securing possession of one or two crossings over the river. The enemy was at this time obtaining large supplies of grain from the districts round Kerak, in the land of Moab, on the eastern and south-[Pg 126]eastern shores of the Dead Sea. This grain was carried across the sea, in barges towed by motor boats, to the north end, whence it was transported to the Turkish front by the good metalled road from Jericho to Jerusalem. With Jericho and the crossings of the Jordan immediately north of the Dead Sea in our hands, we should have control of the sea, and all this traffic would be stopped. The grain would then have to be brought up to Amman, thirty miles east of the Jordan, by the Hedjaz Railway, and transported from there over some fifty miles of bad mountain track. In the extremely disorganised state of the Turkish transport, this would be likely to cause the enemy much inconvenience and delay. The control of the river crossings at Jericho would also facilitate raiding operations across the Jordan, directed against the enemy's line of communications with the Hedjaz.

The operations necessary to secure these objects were limited to the establishment of one or more bridgeheads on the east bank of the Jordan, and to an advance of our line northwards as far as the Wadi el Auja, a small, perennial stream that flows into the Jordan some nine miles north of the point where the latter enters the Dead Sea.

The watershed between the Mediterranean and the deep cleft of the Jordan Valley runs roughly north and south, through the Mount of Olives. Some description of the difficulties of the country on the west of the watershed has already been given. On the east side they are very much greater. The streams that run down from the mountains to the plain have cut gorges through the rock, often many hundreds of feet deep, which divide the eastern portion of the range into a series of parallel ridges running east and west. Innumerable tributaries of the main[Pg 127] watercourses run in all directions, and split these ridges again into isolated masses of rocks. It is only possible to cross the main wadis in a few places, so that movement north and south on the part of any considerable body of troops is out of the question.

Going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the general fall of the ground is gradual to Talaat el Dumm, the Hill of Blood, above the Good Samaritan Inn. From here the road pitches down, in a series of zigzags and hairpin turns, to the valley floor nearly 3000 feet below. Farther north, at Jebel Kuruntul, the traditional Mount of Temptation, the mountains end abruptly in a single stupendous cliff, over 1000 feet high.

Over this country the 60th Division and the Anzac Mounted Division, which had concentrated at Bethlehem on the 18th of February, were directed to move on Jericho.

The advance began on the 19th of February, in heavy rain. All day the infantry struggled forward, against strong opposition from the enemy, and by nightfall had advanced nearly three miles, to a position about a mile west of Talaat el Dumm.

Meanwhile the cavalry, moving to the south of the 60th Division, through the Wilderness of Jeshimon, had reached El Muntar, about seven miles from the Dead Sea, and some four miles south of the Jericho road.

Next day the infantry stormed Talaat el Dumm shortly after dawn, and advanced against the high ridge of Jebel Ekteif, about one mile farther south, while the cavalry moved on Jebel Kalimun and Tubk el Kuneitra. Both these places were strongly held, and the only possible lines of approach were under accurate shell and machine-gun fire from the hill of Nebi Musa, a little to the north. The cavalry had[Pg 128] to advance in single file along a few goat paths, and they suffered considerably from the enemy fire, without being able to make any adequate reply. Shortly after mid-day, however, two regiments of the New Zealand Mounted brigade, having left their horses under cover in a ravine, made an assault on foot against the two hills, and captured both of them after a sharp struggle.

Meanwhile the 1st A.L.H. Brigade found a way down, along the gorge of the Wadi Kumran, and debouched on to the plain, on the shores of the Dead Sea, at dusk.

At dawn on the 21st, the New Zealand Brigade, with a battalion from the 60th Division, occupied Nebi Musa without opposition, the enemy having retired along his whole line during the night. The 1st A.L.H. Brigade pushed rapidly over the plain, and entered Jericho, which was found deserted, soon after eight in the morning. From here patrols were sent out to the east and north, and located the enemy holding a bridgehead on the west bank of the Jordan at Ghoraniyeh, east of Jericho, and in position along the Wadi el Auja to the north.

A squadron of the New Zealand Brigade, patrolling east from Nebi Musa, reached Rujm el Bahr, at the north-west corner of the Dead Sea, which was the northern base for the fleet of German motor boats engaged in towing grain barges across the sea. Shortly afterwards some of our troops found one of these boats alongside the jetty, and succeeded in capturing it intact. Mounting a machine gun in the bows, they at once set out across the sea, and, soon afterwards, encountered another German boat. After an exciting chase they forced the enemy to strike his colours, and, putting a 'prize crew' aboard, continued their voyage. In the course of their[Pg 129] cruise they sank another boat, and drove a fourth aground! Later on, these captured boats were taken over by a detachment of the Royal Navy, and did good service patrolling the sea, and keeping open the communications between our forces and the Sherifian troops. They achieved the distinction of being the first British war vessels to be navigated 1300 feet below the level of the ocean.

As the enemy bridgehead at Ghoraniyeh was found to be strongly held, and its capture would have entailed heavy losses, it was decided not to attempt an attack. Our infantry withdrew to a position running north and south astride the Jericho road, at Talaat el Dumm, and the Anzac Mounted Division returned to Bethlehem, leaving one regiment to patrol the valley.

Some idea of the difficulties of the country during these operations may be gathered by the fact that a battery of field artillery, unhampered by enemy action, took thirty-six hours to advance eight miles.

During the first half of March the 60th Division again descended into the valley, and, after some very stiff fighting, succeeded in establishing our line north of the Wadi el Auja, from the Jordan to the mountains. Thereupon the Turks withdrew their bridgehead at Ghoraniyeh, and retired to the east bank of the river.

This operation cleared the lower Jordan Valley of the enemy, and established a base broad enough to enable a raid to be undertaken against the Hedjaz Railway, the Turkish line of communications for the force operating against the Arabs round Maan.

The Arab forces, which were under the control of General Allenby, were based on Akaba, at the north end of the Red Sea. They were supplied by us with arms, ammunition and light guns, and largely led[Pg 130] by British officers, chief among whom were Lieutenant-Colonels Lawrence and Joyce.

Though intolerant of anything in the nature of discipline, and constantly at war among themselves, many of the Arab tribes of the Hedjaz had joined the standard of the old Sherif Hussein, moved thereto by their hatred of the Turks. Under Hussein's energetic son Feisal, they had carried on a successful guerilla warfare against the scattered Turkish garrisons since June 1916. Their operations were directed especially against the Hedjaz Railway. Under the leadership of the daring and beloved Lawrence, train wrecking was elevated among the Arabs to the status of a national sport. Many of the wrecked trains yielded rich booty to the Sherif, and on one occasion the haul included ￡20,000 in Turkish gold. Eighteen months of this warfare had given the Arabs valuable experience, and numerous minor successes had induced many tribes who were wavering to throw in their lot with the Sherif.

By the end of 1917 the Emir Feisal's forces were strong enough to undertake more serious operations. In January 1918 he seized the high ground a few miles south of Maan, while another force, under a local leader, destroyed a large part of the Turkish light railway which had been built from Kalaat Aneiza on the Hedjaz line to the Hish Forest, and was used to transport wood as fuel for locomotives. Shortly afterwards another force raided a station on the Hedjaz line, some thirty miles north of Maan, destroying the station buildings and some engines and rolling stock. In this raid the Arabs took over 200 prisoners, and killed a large number of Turks. Farther north, Arabs of the Huweitat tribe captured Tafile, which is only fifteen miles south-east of the south end of the Dead Sea. A considerable Turkish force, with[Pg 131] guns and machine guns, which was sent, towards the end of January, to recapture this place, was decisively beaten by the Arabs, with a loss of 500 killed and 250 prisoners. In March a larger body of Turkish troops, reinforced by a German battalion, reoccupied Tafile, the Arabs withdrawing to the south.[16]
FOOTNOTES:

[16] See Appendix II. for note on the Arab Movement.