CHAPTER XVI ARMAGEDDON

By the evening of the 18th of September all troops were in readiness for the attack. The 4th, 5th, and Australian Cavalry Divisions were hidden in the orange and olive groves at Sarona, Selmeh, and Ludd respectively. Their Horse Artillery batteries had moved up into the line on the night of the 17th, to take part in the preliminary bombardment.

Before daylight on the 19th the three divisions commenced their march up to the front, the 5th Division riding along the sea shore, at the foot of the high cliffs that fringe the coast in this part, the 4th via Jelil and El Haram, and the Australians on Tabsor. The two first-named divisions sent dismounted pioneer parties from each brigade forward with the infantry, to cut gaps in the wire, and to flag passages through it for their brigades. Their horses were led as close behind them as possible, and liaison with their brigades was maintained by gallopers.

At 4.30 A.M. the 400 guns concentrated on the front of attack opened an intense fire on the Turkish positions, and the five infantry divisions dashed forward to the attack.

The enemy was taken completely by surprise, and our infantry broke through the Turkish lines with hardly a pause, the guns maintaining a creeping barrage in front of them till they were through the first position. About 50,000 shells were put over[Pg 203] during the short time that the bombardment and barrage lasted. At eight minutes past five the whole of the front line was reported taken, and by eighteen minutes to six the whole of the first position was in our hands, and our line began to wheel to the right.

The 5th Cavalry Division, being sheltered from view by the high cliffs of the sea shore, was able to ride right on the heels of the infantry, and the 13th Brigade, acting as advance guard, was across the Nahr el Falik by half-past eight, and riding hard up the plain towards Mukhalid. A strong patrol from this brigade was sent forward to reconnoitre Liktera.

The 4th Division, being in the open, had to wait till the El Tire-Nahr el Falik line had been cleared, so as not to interfere with our infantry, and thus did not cross the Falik till about ten o'clock. The 12th Brigade led through the enemy positions, but, as soon as they were clear of the wire, the 10th and 11th Brigades came up on the left, and the division advanced in line of brigade columns, each finding its own advance guard. The Australian Division was then about five miles farther back, passing through the enemy defences at Tabsor. Each division had picked up its artillery on the way.

The advance of the infantry had been so rapid that there had been very little time to collect prisoners, and as the cavalry advanced they came across numerous small parties of Turks, wandering about disconsolate and bewildered. They were quite disorganised, and did not attempt to interfere with our troops, and later on were all gathered in by 'mopping up' parties, and taken to the collecting cages in rear. Farther east, disorganised parties of the enemy were streaming across the plain towards Tul Keram, pursued by the 5th A.L.H. Brigade, but these were[Pg 204] out of sight of the rest of the cavalry as they crossed the line. Looking at the strong defences as we passed through them, deserted and quiet, it was hard to believe that, only a few hours before, these positions had been held by a numerous and well-organised enemy.

While the 5th Division was crossing the Nahr el Falik, the patrol which had been sent on towards Liktera reported a small force of enemy cavalry some two miles in front. This force at once made off in a north-easterly direction, and was not seen again. About the same time, a contact aeroplane reported some enemy infantry holding a position near Birket Ata. The 9th Hodson's Horse, which was vanguard to the 13th Brigade, reached this position about half-past ten, and at once charged and dispersed the enemy, taking about 250 prisoners and four guns. Pressing on at once, the regiment reached Liktera, half an hour later, where the Turkish Commandant surrendered at discretion, with his small garrison. The first objective having thus been secured without difficulty, the division closed up and halted on the line of the Nahr Mefjir, to water and feed. A squadron, supported by two armoured cars, was sent ahead to reconnoitre the Sindiane-Abu Shusheh track.

The 4th Division, which had been somewhat delayed finding a way through the enemy's wire, crossed the Nahr Iskanderuneh about 11.30, and, shortly afterwards, the leading regiment of the 11th Brigade, the 36th Jacob's Horse, came under fire from some Turks holding a portion of the enemy's entrenched position, just south of Zelefe. The regiment charged immediately, and the Turks broke and fled, leaving 200 prisoners in our hands. About the same time the 6th Cavalry, leading the 12th Brigade on the right, encountered a small enemy rearguard[Pg 205] near Jett. This force was likewise promptly charged and dispersed. A marked map, found on a prisoner captured here, indicated that the enemy intended to hold a line from Arara, through Kefr Kara and Kannir to Mamas, covering both routes over the mountains. The 10th Brigade was, therefore, sent on at once with an armoured car battery to seize the Musmus Pass, the rest of the division remaining at El Mejdel and Tel el Dhrur to water and feed.

The Australian Mounted Division was ordered to halt for a time near Jelil, till word was received that the infantry, advancing to the line Hableh-Tul Keram, were progressing satisfactorily. This information came in about mid-day, and the division was then directed by the Corps Commander to push on at once towards the Nahr Iskanderuneh. The advanced guard reached the river at ten o'clock at night, without encountering any opposition, and the rest of the division, with the advanced Headquarters of the Corps, got in about an hour later. Horses were watered and fed, and the march was resumed at one o'clock in the morning.

The two leading divisions had marched again about six in the evening. The patrol from the 5th Division, which had gone ahead to reconnoitre the Sindiane track, reported that it was unfit for wheels. The divisional transport was, therefore, directed to cross by the Musmus Pass, in rear of the Australian Mounted Division, the 15th Brigade to remain at Liktera for the night, and cross by the Sindiane track, with the artillery of the division, the following day. The rest of the division, led by the 13th Brigade, reached Sindiane long after dark, and was soon involved in a tangle of hills, with no defined track visible, but innumerable, shadowy paths leading in all directions. Our maps showed a fairly direct track, which had[Pg 206] been reported by natives as feasible for cavalry and light guns. Their information was, however, merely hearsay, as we had not been able, before starting, to find any natives who actually knew the track.

Fortunately the 13th Brigade had in its commander[24] an officer who had had ten years' service in the Egyptian cavalry, and spoke Arabic fluently. From time to time, during the night, he came across a few Arabs from whom he was able to get some information. His long experience of marching in uncharted country, and a natural aptitude for finding his way, stood him in good stead, and he successfully led the two brigades over the range in the dark, marching in single file most of the time. Two squadrons were dropped at Jarak, as left flank guard for the remainder of the Corps, while passing the Musmus defile.

The two brigades reached Abu Shusheh about half-past two in the morning, and continued the march across the plain in the darkness, crossing and cutting the Afule-Haifa Railway near Warakani, about half an hour later. The moon was nearly full, and the light good. On arriving at the foothills, the 14th Brigade halted till daylight, and the 13th pushed on up the track via Jebata and El Mujeidil, towards Nazareth.

On nearing El Mujeidil, a native guide, who had been picked up on Mount Carmel, stated that the place was Nazareth. Though feeling sure that he was either mistaken or funked going any farther, the Brigadier decided to seize the place. He directed the 18th Lancers to surround it, which they did, and, having blocked all exits, sent a couple of troops into the village. By now it was clear that it was much too small a place to be Nazareth, but it was thought[Pg 207] worth while to search it hurriedly, as a result of which 200 sleepy Turks were dug out of a large house. The brigade then passed on up the main road, the Gloucester Yeomanry taking the lead.

Shortly afterwards the houses of Nazareth appeared in front, gleaming white and silent in the moonlight. The advanced guard now halted, and the troop leaders were given their instructions. The town lies in a cup-shaped hollow, and straggles up the steep and rocky hills surrounding it. The principal houses, in one of which the enemy G.H.Q. would probably be located, are situated in the centre of the town at the bottom of the hollow, and on the northern slopes. The only information we had as to the exact location of G.H.Q. was that it was near a big motor-lorry park. Two troops were directed to make for the centre of the town, find the lorry park, and rush any big houses near by. Others were directed to gallop on, and seize tactical points on the northern slope, and block the roads leading north-east to Tiberias and north-west to Haifa.

Just as day was breaking the regiment drew swords and galloped into the town, causing the most indescribable confusion amongst the enemy troops, mostly German, there. Liman von Sanders himself only just made his escape in time. His housekeeper, whom we questioned later, declared that, at the first alarm, he dashed down the stairs of his house and out into the street in his pyjamas, and made off in a car along the Tiberias road.

The brigade had some hard street fighting, after the enemy had recovered from his first consternation, but the Germans and Turks were driven out of the town to the north-east. Here, however, a number of them got into some houses on the Tiberias road, and put up a good fight.

[Pg 208]

Several machine guns, mounted in a big convent which overlooked the centre of the town from the northern slope, made things very unpleasant, and it soon became evident that a deliberate dismounted attack would be necessary to dislodge them. Meanwhile the troops detailed for the duty had found and entered the enemy G.H.Q. They made a hurried search of the premises, covered by the rest of the regiment on the north and north-east, and by Hodson's Horse standing by, and seized all the more important documents. As soon as this work was finished, the advanced troops fell back fighting, and the brigade withdrew down the Afule road, taking with it 1200 prisoners. Before leaving, our troops put out of action all the motor cars of the enemy G.H.Q., and the lorries of the German lorry park. These were all afterwards repaired and used by us. On reaching the plain again, the brigade occupied Junjar, Tel Shadud and Jebata, holding the southern exits from Nazareth.

The 14th Brigade was occupied after daylight clearing the north-western portion of the plain of small parties of enemy troops, and entered Afule later on in the morning.

The 15th Brigade, with the guns and transport of the division, left the Nahr Iskanderuneh soon after dawn on the 20th, and marched by the same route to Afule. The gunners had a very rough passage over the mountains, and had to spend many hours making a roadway for the guns, so that they did not reach the station till about eleven at night.

The 4th Division left the Nahr Mefjir about the same time as the 5th, the 10th Brigade having gone on in advance to secure the Musmus Pass. The 2nd Lancers and an armoured car battery, acting as vanguard, entered the Pass, and reached Khurbet Arah[Pg 209] without encountering any opposition. They placed outposts covering the cross roads here, and sent back a report to the 10th Brigade. Unfortunately this brigade had lost its way in the darkness, before moon-rise, and was now somewhere north of Kerkur. On learning the state of affairs, General Barrow ordered the 12th Brigade up to the support of the 2nd Lancers, and himself motored up to Khurbet Arah, and directed the regiment to push on at once through the defile to Lejjun. This place was reached without opposition about eleven at night, the 12th Brigade arriving some hours later. The 11th Brigade, followed by the 10th, which had regained the road, came in at five o'clock in the morning.

As soon as it was light enough to see, the troops commenced to move out into the Plain of Esdraelon. They were none too soon. As the 12th Brigade, forming the advanced guard of the division, debouched from the defile, a Turkish battalion, with several machine guns, was deploying in the plain below.

The 2nd Lancers were leading, accompanied by the armoured cars. Taking in the situation at a glance, Captain Davison, commanding the regiment, ordered the cars to engage the enemy in front with their machine guns, supported by one squadron of his regiment. Taking the other two squadrons with him, he galloped along a slight depression to the right, and charged the Turks on their left flank. The two squadrons went right through the enemy from left to right, killing forty-six with the lance. The survivors of the battalion, about 500 in all, were taken prisoners. The Turks fought well, firing steadily till they were ridden down, but the rapid work of the cavalry gave them no chance. The whole action did not take more than five minutes, and furnished a[Pg 210] perfect little example of sound shock tactics—movement and fire at right angles to one another.

Had our cavalry been a few hours later, this battalion would have been at the defile at the top of the pass, and might have caused a delay that would have been fatal to the success of the operations. The battalion came from Afule, and had been ordered to cross the mountains and move down the coast to the support of the enemy right wing. The Turks knew that their line had been broken on the coast, but they had absolutely no idea that our cavalry were through the gap.

Without a pause the 12th Brigade poured out of the pass and cantered across the plain towards Afule. The leading troops charged into the station at eight o'clock, capturing the place with little opposition. A squadron from the 14th Brigade (4th Division) rode in from the north about the same time. The garrison of the place having just been disposed of at Lejjun, few enemy troops were found here, but the Germans had an aerodrome close to the station, and this was captured intact, with three aeroplanes and their pilots and all the mechanical staff. A fourth aeroplane succeeded in getting away in the general confusion. So unconscious was the enemy of the fact that our cavalry were on the plain, that, shortly after this, an enemy aeroplane, returning from a reconnaissance, actually landed on this aerodrome, and was promptly captured intact with its pilot and observer!

Afule proved a valuable prize. In addition to ten locomotives and fifty railway trucks, which were found standing in the station, there was a fully equipped hospital, with a quantity of excellent drugs. One of the most valuable finds was a great store of petrol, which was discovered in an underground cave.

[Pg 211]

While the 12th Brigade was 'mopping up,' the armoured cars were having the time of their lives chasing twelve German motor lorries down the track leading to Beisan. They captured them all, and brought the drivers back to the station. Unfortunately no men could be spared to guard these lorries, and, when the 5th Division arrived shortly afterwards, and tried to drive them back to the station, it was found that the natives had been there in the meantime, and cut open every petrol tank to get the spirit. They were afterwards repaired, however, and did good service for us later on.

Having sent the prisoners back to Lejjun under a small escort, the 4th Division pressed on towards Beisan, after cutting the railway east, west, and south of Afule.

Riding fast all day down the Valley of Jezreel, the division reached Beisan about half-past four in the afternoon, having rounded up another 800 prisoners on the way. The Lancers made short work of the small garrison they met with here, galloping over the Turks, and taking 100 prisoners and three 5·9-inch howitzers. These guns were in position to defend the town against an attack from the east, an eloquent testimony to the manner in which the enemy had been deceived. Our troops then occupied the bridge over the Jordan at Jisr el Sheikh Hussein, and placed outposts south and east of Beisan.

The division had now marched eighty-five miles in thirty-four hours, fought two skirmishes, and captured 1400 prisoners, but its day's work was not yet quite finished. At six in the evening, after having watered and fed, the 19th Lancers (12th Brigade) set out in the dark, along a difficult mountain track west of the railway, to Jisr Mejamie, the railway bridge over the Jordan, twelve miles north of Beisan.[Pg 212] This they reached and seized at dawn next morning, having covered ninety-seven miles since the commencement of their march.

The Australians, who had left the Nahr Iskanderuneh at one o'clock in the morning, reached Kerkur and Beidus just after dawn, and thus made the crossing of the Carmel Range in daylight. They were rewarded by the magnificent view from the top of the pass, across the Plain of Esdraelon to Mount Tabor and Nazareth, and over the Nazarene hills to the great mass of Mount Hermon, poised against the sky sixty miles to the north-east. Scattered along the track were a number of derelict Turkish transport wagons, which had been abandoned as they were being driven over the pass, when the 4th Division came upon them in the dark. Many of the Turks who had accompanied these wagons, came back to the track after daylight, preferring capture by the British to facing the tender mercies of their inveterate enemies, the local Arabs. In this way the division had collected about 100 stragglers by the time it reached Lejjun. Near the top of the pass a large gang of natives was discovered at work on an excellently graded road, which was being built to the village of Umm el Fahm. It appeared that the Germans had intended to build a sanatorium there, in connection with their hospitals at Afule and Jenin. The natives employed making the road had gone to work as usual that morning, all unaware that the Germans and Turks were no longer masters in the land. When they learned the true state of affairs, their first thought was for their wages, which had not been paid, and they were not at all grateful to us for having driven their paymasters out of the country!

before

Before: German motor lorries at Nazareth.
(From an enemy photograph.)

after

After: The same lorries near Afule, after our armoured cars had finished with them.

The division reached Lejjun at eleven o'clock, and[Pg 213] got water for man and horse in the beautiful little Wadi el Sitt, the 'Lady's Brook,' a tributary of the river Kishon, hard by the ruins of an old Roman fort and aqueduct.

Shortly after mid-day the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade, with 'A' Battery H.A.C., resumed the march to Jenin, to intercept the enemy troops that were expected to retire down the Dothan Pass from Nablus and its neighbourhood. The brigade reached the town in the early afternoon, and the leading regiment, the 10th, at once charged straight into it, galloping over an entrenched position, and through the streets of the town. The enemy was completely demoralised by this unexpected attack from the rear, and made little resistance. Such opposition as was encountered was speedily crushed, and nearly 2000 prisoners fell into our hands. None of the troops in the place had the faintest idea that our cavalry had even broken through their line, much less that we were actually in the plain. The German officers, of whom there was a number in the place, absolutely refused to believe that our troops had ridden the whole way, and declared that we must have been landed at Haifa, covered by our 'Wonderful Navy,' as they called it.

As soon as the prisoners had been got away, and lodged in a little valley out of sight of the town, the hills to the south were picketed, to prevent information getting to the enemy at Nablus, and the remainder of the brigade was disposed by squadrons in hollows and folds in the ground on each side of the Jenin-Afule road. The battery came into action north-east of the town, covering the Nablus road.

As was expected, after dark the enemy began to retire from his positions at Nablus and Samaria, and all night long his battalions marched down the road,[Pg 214] through Jenin, and out on to the plain. These were not fugitives, but formed bodies of troops, retiring to the Nazarene hills, where they had a partially prepared defence line extending from the sea to Lake Tiberias. It was rather an eerie experience to watch these troops, trudging wearily along the road in the bright moonlight, all unconscious of the keen eyes of their enemies on every side of them. As each detachment got well out into the plain, at a given signal, the waiting squadrons sprang from their hiding places, and charged down upon it. One can imagine the terror of the Turks, nodding with half-closed eyes as they trudged along, when their senses were suddenly assailed by the thunder of hoofs all round them, and by the sight of wild horsemen, exaggerated in size by the moonlight, charging down upon them from every side. Small wonder that there was little resistance. Many flung themselves on the ground, shutting eyes and ears to the horrid nightmare, and calling on Allah to deliver them. Others threw down their rifles and held up their hands.

Each lot was quickly hustled out of sight, and the squadrons returned to their lairs, to await the coming of the next. Only one battalion, a German one, tried to put up any fight, and succeeded in getting a machine gun into action, but it was ridden down at once. None of the other German troops did any better than the Turks.

Some time during the night, information of the state of affairs at Jenin evidently got back to the enemy in the hills about Nablus, for the supply of prisoners suddenly ran dry. By this time the brigade had got over 8000, and needed help in handling them. In response to a message sent back to the divisional headquarters at Lejjun, the 4th A.L.H.[Pg 215] Brigade, with a section of the Notts Battery R.H.A., left that place at half-past four on the morning of September the 21st, and marched to Jenin. An extraordinary sight met the brigade on its arrival. The whole plain seemed to be covered with prisoners, motor cars, lorries, wagons, animals, and stores, in an inextricable confusion. In and out of this mass the sorely tried Australian troopers pushed their way, sweating and swearing, every now and then riding savagely at the hordes of natives hovering on the outskirts of the crowd like a flock of vultures, and looting the stores that strewed the ground; anon pressing into the throng again, to round up a group of straying prisoners. Over all presided the stocky figure of the brigadier,[25] like the leader of a gigantic school picnic, unhurried and efficient.

Jenin was the enemy's main supply and ordnance depot for his VIIth and VIIIth Armies, and very large quantities of valuable stores of all sorts were captured here, together with several well-equipped workshops and three hospitals. There were twenty-four burnt aeroplanes, and one intact, on the aerodrome, and a number of engines and a quantity of rolling stock in the station. In some caves near by were found large stores of German beer and wine, and a lot of excellent tinned food, and, in a wagon abandoned on the road, there were nearly ￡20,000 in gold. The two troopers who were detailed to guard this money sat on the boxes of bullion all day, without knowing what was in them, and have been kicking themselves ever since! This gold was of the greatest use to the Corps later on, when we were living on the country, and had to buy all our food and forage. Among the minor captures was a quantity of photographic negatives belonging to the[Pg 216] official photographer with the German forces, one of which depicted some of our guns which were lost in the second Amman raid. Also a British motor cycle, captured from us at the first battle of Gaza, eighteen months before.

The chief medical officer of the German hospital in the town volunteered the information that all ranks there, German as well as Turkish, were secretly glad to be captured. For the past ten days, he said, British aeroplanes had hovered over the place almost continually, and a rain of bombs had fallen all the time on the station, aerodrome, and workshops. Most of the troops left the town every day before dawn, and spent the hours of daylight in caves in the hills. All work was practically at a standstill, and none of the German aeroplanes had ever ventured to leave the ground. He was very puzzled by the fact that we had never bombed the town itself, and, when one of our officers replied that it was not the British custom to bomb undefended native villages, he shrugged his shoulders and remarked that such ideas were inadmissible in war. The Germans never brought themselves to believe that we were serious in our determination to observe the rules of civilised warfare in this respect. They realised, however, that we never bombed hospitals, a fact of which they were not slow to take advantage. Later on, when Nazareth was reoccupied, it was found that every house that harboured German troops, which is to say nearly every house of substance in the town, had a red cross, or its Turkish equivalent a red crescent, painted on the roof.
FOOTNOTES:

[24] Brigadier-General P.J.V. Kelly, C.M.G., D.S.O., 3rd Hussars. He commanded the Egyptian troops in the brilliantly successful little Darfur Campaign of 1916.

[25] Brigadier-General L. Wilson, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.I.F.