From Gaza to Jerusalem

by Stuart Hadaway

  With only a small amount of explosives and some dubious detonators and cable left, Lawrence next tried to mine the railway and blow up a train. By now it was raining hard, soaking the equipment, but Lawrence persevered and placed a mine under a small bridge on the line between Amman and Dara on 10 November. However, the deficiencies in cable meant that the operator had to sit virtually totally exposed, behind a very small bush, just 55m (60yds) from the rails. Lawrence himself took the job, and watching with growing excitement as a double-engined and ‘enormously long’ train packed with troops pulled into view.419 However, either the cable or the detonators failed, and no amount of effort on Lawrence’s part could get the mine to blow. Instead he was forced to sit, helpless, in full view of the slowly passing troops. After a nerve-wracking few minutes, the train passed and Lawrence was able to scramble back to his waiting men. The following day a second attempt was made, after effecting repairs on the mine. This time it worked and a train was derailed, although, being so close to the explosion, Lawrence was himself stunned and injured by the blast. With some success salvaged from the previous failures, Lawrence and his party returned to Azraq.

  Then followed one of the more controversial episodes in Lawrence’s life: his reconnaissance to Dara. According to his later accounts he approached the town with a few Arab guides, and on 20 November entered with just one companion. He then claims to have been picked up by an Ottoman patrol and taken before the governor of the town. That night, he was badly beaten and sexually abused before managing to escape the following morning. This event has been hotly debated, based as it is only on Lawrence’s own testimony, which exist in differing forms, all of which were written several years after the event. Either way, he arrived back at Aqaba on 26 November, an arduous journey to have made so quickly with the injuries he had suffered. On 11 December he was in Jerusalem for the grand entry by Allenby, standing in the crowd behind the general outside the Citadel looking scruffy in a borrowed uniform and grinning broadly.420

  The Arabs took no more part in the 1917 campaign, but in January 1918 they advanced into the Dead Sea region. After defeating an Ottoman force in open battle at El Tafila, they swept down to the port of El Mezra where they captured part of the grain fleet that ran Ottoman supplies across the Dead Sea. Over the spring and summer the Arabs aggressively attacked the Ottoman rail network in the Trans-Jordan, drawing off troops and resources from the forces facing the British. During the final offensive of September and October 1918, they swept up the right flank of the British forces, rolling the shattered Ottoman forces out of northern Palestine and then Syria.

  This final offensive began on 19 September 1918. The plan was superficially similar to that for the 3rd Battle of Gaza, albeit with the flanks reversed. This time, the cavalry smashed through the western end of the Ottoman line before turning north-east, and there were no water issues to hamper their subsequent advance. The cavalry divisions were let loose across the northern Palestine plains. Along with the aeroplanes of the Royal Air Force, who had been gaining and cementing their superiority in the air through the year, they rapidly destroyed the Ottoman command-and-control network and much of their logistics system too. Within days the 7th and 8th (OT) Armies were in full flight, and the columns of retreating men were mercilessly harried by cavalry and aircraft; tens of thousands surrendered as their forces disintegrated. On 21 September, the headquarters of the 8th (OT) Army was absorbed into von Sander’s Yildirim headquarters, and that army effectively ceased to exist as an organised fighting formation. Damascus fell on 1 October. True to his 1917 actions, Allenby then called a pause, despite political pressure from London, to allow his men to rest and his infantry and logistics to catch up. On 8 October Beirut was also captured, giving the British an important port close to their front lines. The offensive was renewed only when he was ready, and by mid October Homs and Tripoli had fallen and the advance on Aleppo, was underway. After the long ride of 355km (220 miles), Aleppo fell on 19 October, and von Sanders pulled his remaining forces back to Adana, across the border from Syria into Anatolia. Here his greatly depleted force was joined by the remains of the 7th (OT) Army under Mustapha Kemal, and they prepared to defend the Turkish homeland.

  It never came to that. In the Balkans, Major General George Milne’s British Salonika Force had broken out and had a clear path to advance on Constantinople, and now the southern armies were also defeated. Although, to the east, the Ottoman forces in the Caucasus were undefeated and had even been successful in their 1918 campaign, the empire was drained of reserves. The gathering and destruction of the Yildirim had left it an empty shell, and it was now unable to effectively defend itself. On 5 October the Ottoman government had decided to explore the possibility of an armistice, approaching the Spanish to ask the Americans (who had never declared war on the Ottoman Empire) to broker a deal. The effort failed, and instead Major General Charles Townsend, who had been captured with most of his army at Kut in Mesopotamia in 1916, was sent to speak directly to the British. After some negotiation, an armistice was signed on the deck of HMS Agamemmon on 30 October 1918.

  The war was over, although considerable fighting remained, both actual and political. A revolt erupted in Egypt in 1919, diverting British troops who were preparing to go home for demobilisation, and the military was also still required for ‘policing’ across Syria, Palestine and the Trans-Jordan while civil authorities could be established. This took time as the European powers fought for their own claims and sought ways to avoid their commitments to each other and the Arabs. For the next few years the map of the Middle East was redrawn, inadvertently setting the stage for a further century of conflict across the region.

  Notes

  419 Lawrence Seven Pillars Chapter 77

  420 Lawrence Seven Pillars Chapters 73–81; Barr Desert pp. 183–200; Asher pp. 273–98

  GLOSSARY

  AFC: Australian Flying Corps

  AIF: Australian Imperial Forces

  ALH: Australian Light Horse

  ANZAC: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, also nickname for a soldier from those countries

  A&NZ: Australian and New Zealand. Title of a mounted division in Egypt

  AOC: Army Ordnance Corps

  ASC: Army Service Corps

  Bimbashi: Egyptian Army Major

  CCS: Casualty Clearing Station

  CTC: Camel Transport Corps (part of Egyptian Labour Corps)

  Corvée: Egyptian system for providing forced labour for government projects

  DMC: Desert Mounted Corps

  EEF: Egyptian Expeditionary Force

  ELC: Egyptian Labour Corps

  Emir: Arab Governor

  ESR: Egyptian State Railway

  FA: Flieger Abteilung. German Air Force squadron

  General Service: Usually referred to items of equipment that were of the standard Army pattern (i.e. GS wagons)

  HAC: Honourable Artillery Company (a Territorial artillery unit)

  HLI: Highland Light Infantry

  ICC: Imperial Camel Corps

  Khamsin/khamaseen: The hot wind from central Africa that blows up through Egypt between March and May

  Khedive: Viceroy of Egypt

  KOSB: King’s Own Scottish Borderers

  Mehmetçik: Literally ‘Mehmet’, nickname by Ottoman troops for themselves, equivalent of the British ‘Tommy’ or Australian ‘Digger’

  Monitor: Shallow draft ship used as a floating gun platform

  Nahr: River

  NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer

  NZMR: New Zealand Mounted Rifles

  OT: Ottoman Turkish

  Pasha: Senior Ottoman military or government official

  QOWH: Queen’s Own Worcestershire Hussars (Yeomanry)

  RA: Royal Artillery

  RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corps

  RE: Royal Engineers

  RFA: Royal Field Artillery

  RFC: Royal Flying Corps

  RGH: Royal Gloucestershire Hussars

  RHA: Royal
Horse Artillery

  RN: Royal Navy

  RNAS: Royal Naval Air Service

  RNVR: Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve

  RSF: Royal Scots Fusiliers

  RWF: Royal Welch Fusiliers

  Tarboosh: A fez-like hat

  WFF: Western Frontier Force

  Yildirim: Thunderbolt

  APPENDIX A:

  ORDERS OF BATTLE,

  1ST BATTLE OF GAZA

  British and Imperial Forces

  Eastern Force

  General Officer Commanding:

  Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) Sir Charles Dobell KCB CMG DSO

  Force Troops

  Imperial Camel Corps Brigade

  Major (temp. Brigadier General) C.L. Smith VC MC

  1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions

  Hong Kong and Singapore Camel Battery

  Brigade Signal Section

  Brigade Field Troop RE

  Brigade Machine Gun Company

  1/1st Scottish Horse Field Ambulance

  229th Infantry Brigade (from 74th Division)

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) R. Hoare

  16th Devonshire Regiment, 12th Somerset Light Infantry, 14th Royal Highlanders, 12th Royal Scots Fusiliers

  4th Machine Gun Company

  11th and 12th Light Armoured Car Batteries

  4th Light Car Patrol

  10th Heavy Battery RGA

  91st Heavy Battery RGA

  52nd (Lowland) Division

  General Officer Commanding:

  Colonel (temp. Major General) W.E.B. Smith CB CMG

  155th Infantry Brigade

  Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) J.B. Pollok-M’Call CMG

  1/4th and 1/5th Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1/4th and 1/5th King’s Own Scottish Borderers

  155th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  156th Infantry Brigade

  Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) A.H. Leggett DSO

  1/4th and 1/7th Royal Scots, 1/7th and 1/8th Scottish Rifles

  156th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  157th Infantry Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) C.D.H. Moore DSO

  1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Highland Light Infantry, 1/5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

  157th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  Divisional Troops

  Mounted Troops: HQ and ‘C’ Squadron, Royal Glasgow Yeomanry

  Artillery: 261st, 262nd and 263rd Brigades, RFA

  52nd Divisional Ammunition Column

  Engineers: 2/1st, 2/2nd and 1/2nd Lowland Field Companies, RE

  Signal Service: 52nd Divisional Signal Company

  ASC: 52nd Divisional Train

  Medical Units: 1/1st, 1/2nd, 1/3rd Lowland Field Ambulances

  54th (East Anglian) Division

  General Officer Commanding: Colonel (temp. Major General) S.W. Hare CB

  161st Infantry Brigade

  Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) W. Marriott-Dodington

  1/4th, 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Essex Regiment

  161st Brigade Machine Gun Company

  162nd Infantry Brigade

  Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) A. Mudge

  1/5th Bedford Regiment,1/4th Northampton Regiment, 1/10th and 1/11th London Regiment

  162nd Brigade Machine Gun Company

  163rd Infantry Brigade

  Major (Hon. Colonel, Temp. Brigadier General) T. Ward

  1/4th and 1/5th Norfolk Regiment, 1/5th Suffolk Regiment, 1/8th Hampshire Regiment

  163rd Brigade Machine Gun Company

  Divisional Troops

  Mounted Troops: 1 Sqn 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry (with HQ and Machine-Gun Section)

  Artillery: 270th, 271st and 272nd Brigades, RFA

  54th Divisional Ammunition Column

  Engineers: 2/1st E. Anglian Field Company, RE

  1/2nd E. Anglian Field Company, RE

  1/1st Kent Field Company, RE

  Signal Service: 54th Divisional Signal Company

  ASC: 54th Divisional Train

  Medical: 2/1st, 1/2nd and1/3rd E. Anglian Field Ambulances

  Desert Column

  General Officer Commanding:

  Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) Sir P.W. Chetwode Bt CB DSO

  Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division

  General Officer Commanding:

  Major General Sir H.G. Chauvel KCMG CB

  1st Australian Light Horse Brigade detached

  2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) G. de L Ryrie CMG

  5th, 6th and 7th Regiments Australian Light Horse

  2nd Australian Light Horse Signal Troop

  2nd Australian Machine Gun Squadron

  New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) E.W.C. Chaytor CB

  Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiments

  New Zealand Mounted Rifles Signal Troop

  New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron

  22nd Mounted Brigade

  Colonel (temp, Brigadier General) F.A.B. Fryer

  1/1st Lincolnshire Yeomanry, 1/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry,1/1st East Riding Yeomanry

  22nd Mounted Brigade Signal Troop

  18th Machine Gun Squadron

  Divisional Troops

  Artillery: Leicester, Somerset, Inverness and Ayr Batteries RHA

  Engineers: 1st Australian Field Squadron

  Signal Service: 1st A. and NZ Signal Squadron

  ASC: HQ Light Horse Divisional ASC

  Mounted Divisional Ammunition Column

  26 and 27 Australian Units of Supply

  Medical: 1st and 2nd LH Field Ambulances

  NZ Mounted Brigade Ambulance

  1/1st North Midland Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance

  Imperial Mounted Division

  General Officer Commanding:

  Colonel (temp. Major General) H.W. Hodgson CVO CB

  3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) J.R. Royston CMG DSO

  8th, 9th and 10th Regiments Australian Light Horse

  3rd Australian Light Horse Signal Troop

  3rd Australian Machine Gun Squadron

  4th Australian Light Horse Brigade detached

  5th Mounted Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) E.A. Wiggin DSO

  1/1st Warwick Yeomanry, 1/1st Gloucester Yeomanry, 1/1st Worcester Yeomanry

  5th Mounted Brigade Signal Troop

  16th Machine Gun Squadron

  6th Mounted Brigade

  Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) T.M.S. Pitt

  1/1st Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, 1/1st Berkshire Yeomanry, 1/1st Dorsetshire Yeomanry

  6th Mounted Brigade Signal Troop

  17th Machine Gun Squadron

  Divisional Troops

  Artillery: 1/1st Berkshire and 1/1st Nottinghamshire Batteries RHA

  ‘A’ and ‘B’ Batteries HAC

  Mounted Divisional Ammunition Column

  Engineers: Imperial Mounted Division Field Squadron

  Signal Service: Imperial Mounted Division Signal Squadron

  Medical: 3rd and 4th LH Field Ambulances

  1/1st South Midland Mounted and 1/2nd South Midland Mounted Brigades Field Ambulances

  53rd (Welsh) Division

  General Officer Commanding: Major General A.E. Dallas, CB CMG

  158th Infantry Brigade

  Major (temp. Brigadier General) S.F. Mott

  1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1/1st Herefordshire Regiment

  158th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  159th Infantry Brigade Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) J.H. du B. Travers CB

  1/4th and 1/7th Cheshire Regiment, 1/4th and 1/5th Welsh Regiment

  159th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  160th Infantry Brigade

  Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) W.J.C. Butler

&
nbsp; 1/4th Royal Sussex Regiment, 2/4th Royal West Surrey Regiment, 2/10th Middlesex Regiment

  160th Brigade Machine Gun Company

  Divisional Troops

  Mounted Troops: 1 Sqn 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry

  53rd Divisional Cyclist Company

  Artillery: 1/1st Cheshire Brigade, RFA

  265th, 266th and 267th Brigades, RFA

  53rd Divisional Ammunition Column

  Engineers: 1/1st and 2/1st Welsh Field Companies, RE

  2/1st Cheshire Field Company, RE

  Signal Service: 53rd Divisional Signal Company

  ASC: 53rd Divisional Train

  Medical: 1/1st, 1/2nd and 1/3rd Welsh Field Ambulances

  Money’s Detachment

  Colonel N. Money

  1/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, 2/4th Royal West Kent Regiment

  ‘A’ Section 15th Heavy Battery RGA

  Ottoman Forces

  Fourth Army

  General Officer Commanding: Djemal Pasha

  Field Commander: Colonel Baron Kress von Kressenstein

  Group Tiller

  Commander: Major von Tiller (in Gaza)

  Three battalions, 79th Infantry Regiment

  Three battalions, 125th Infantry Regiment

  2nd Battalion, 81st Infantry Regiment

  Two batteries of Austrian heavy mountain howitzers

  One battery of German 10cm field guns

  Two batteries of Ottoman field guns

  One company cavalry

  One company camelry

  3rd Infantry Division (at Jemmame)

  31st Infantry Regiment

  32nd Infantry Regiment

  16th Infantry Division (at Tell el Sharia)

  47th Infantry Regiment

  48th Infantry Regiment

  53rd Infantry Division (marching south from Jaffa)

  3rd Cavalry Division (at Beersheba)

  6th Cavalry Regiment

  7th Cavalry Regiment

  138th Infantry Regiment

  APPENDIX B:

  NOTE ON THE STRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT OF BRITISH AND

  IMPERIAL FORCES

  The basic infantry unit of the British and imperial forces was the battalion (under a colonel or lieutenant colonel). For the British and ANZACs, this consisted of just over 1,000 officers and men, divided into four companies (under a major or captain) of just over 200 men, plus a battalion headquarters. Each company was divided into four platoons (under a lieutenant), each of which was divided into four sections (under a sergeant or corporal). Each battalion had small sections of specialist troops attached; medical staff, signallers (and, later, wireless operators), and from late 1915 members of the Machine Gun Corps with heavy machine guns (before then, they had been members of the battalion).