FALL OF JERUSALEM

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 165, 2 April 1918, Page 6

FALL OF JERUSALEM

; OPERATIONS DESCRIBED j GENERAL ALLENBY'S DISPATCH General Allenby, in his dispatch describing the tall of' Jerusalem, gives tlie : ioilowuig account of lao operations:— Tlie situation on the Palestine iront in ; the second week ot July, 1917,. was as follows:—ihe Turkish Army in Soutnern Palestine held u strong position extend- | ing from the sea to Gaza, rouguiy, along ! tho main (.-uiza-lieerslieba iioait lo Beersheba. Gaza had been made into a strong j modern fortress, heavily entrenched and [ wired, ottering every facility for protracted defence. Jly .foreo was extended on a j front of 22 miles, from the sea, opposite I Gaza, lo Gamli. The difficulties to be j overcome in the iterations against BeerI sheba and tho Sheria-Hareira line were considerable, <nd careful preparations ' and training -were necessary. The chief I • difficulties were those of water and trans--1 - port, and arrangements had to be made j to ensure that, the troops could be kept ! supplied with water, while operating at I considerable distances from their original i ■ water base for a period which might i amount to a, week or more. The trans- ; port problem was no less difficult; there, were no good roads south of the line I Gaza-Beersheba, and no reliance could I therefore be placed on the use of motor '■ transport. During-the period from July to Octo- > her the enemy's force on the Palestine J front had been increased. It was evident ' that the enemy was determined to make ; even' effort fo maintain his position on ■ \ the Gaza-Beersheba line. On the evening \ of October 30 tho position of the eastern' ! fnrcp, which was to make the attack or ! Beersheba, was concentrated in positions | of readiness for the night march to its j positions of deployment. The plan was • to attack the hostile works between the Khalasa Eoad and the Wadi Saba. After ! a preliminary bombardment the _ works !.' were occupied with little opposition by j about 7.30 p.m. Meanwhile, attempts to <' advance in small parties across the plain 1 ■ towards the town made slow progress. In ; the evening, however, a mounted attack j by Australian Light Horse, lylio rode : straight at the town from the east, i' proved completely successful. They gal- | loped over two deep trenches held by ; the enemy just outside the 1 town, and : » entered the town at about 7 p.m., cap- . Turing numerous prisoners. About 3000 ; prisoners and 13 guns were taken, and i some 500 Turkish corpses were-buried on ; the battlefield. I ':' The attack' en Gaza was ordered to take place on the morning of November 2. !• The objectives of this attack were the I hostile works from Umbrella Hill (20C0 i ."yards south-west of the town) to Sheikh :: Hasan, on the sea'front (about 2500 yards 1 north-west of the town). The attack was successful in. reaching all objectives, exi cept for a section of trench on the.left j and'sorae of tffe.final objectives in the '■-' centre. Four hundred and fifty prisoners ! were taken ind many Turks killed. On : . the early morning of 'November 1, the i 53rd (Welsh) Division, with the Imperial ! . Camel Corps en its fight, had moved : ont into the hills north of Beershebn, ; 'with the object of securing the flank of j the attack on Sheria. r .The 53rd (Welsh) Division, after a long march, took up a ' position from Towal Abu Jerwal (six j\ miles north of Beersheba) to Muweileh ■ (four miles north-fast of Abu Irgeig). • Irish troops occupied Abu Irgeig the : 'same day. Tel el Khuweilfeh was to be | attacked at dawn on the oth, and the ■ troops were to endeavour to reach line '.'•' Tel el Kh'iweifeh-Eijm el Dhib. The ati . tack progressed rapidly, the Yeomanry. ' : storming Hie works on the enemy's exI , treme left with great dash; and soon , after noon the London and Irish troops < commenced their attack. Sheria Station i was captured before dark. Some 600 prisoners were taken, and some guhs and ; machine-guns captured. The bombardment of Gaza had mean- ! while continued, and another attack wa3 i ordered to take place on the night ot j Gth-Vth. The attack on Outpost Hill and j ; .Middlesex Hill'met •nth little opposition, : mid as soon, after' they had been taken, i as patrols could be pushed forward, the |~ enemy was found'to be gone. East AngliI. can troops on the left also found at : dawn that the enemy had retired during ■ the night, and early in the morning the '<■ main force occupied the northern and , • eastern defences of Gaza. It scon became ■• obvious from the reports of the Eoyal '■■ Flying Corps that the enemy was retiring in considerable disorganisation;.and could ' offer no very serious resistance if. pressed : with determination. By the 9th,'therei fore, operations had reached the stage of ; a direct pursuit by ns many troops as '.' could be supplied so far in front of rail- .' head. Orders were accordingly issued to i press the pursuit and to reach Junction ; Station as early as possible, thus cutting > off the Jerusalem array. Operations on the 10th and 11th showed : a stiffening uf tue enemy's resistance on ■■ the general line of tho Wadi Sukereir, , with centre about El Kustineh; tho ■ Hebron group, f iter- an ineffective demon- '■ Etration in the direction of Arak.el Hen- ; shiye on thelOth, retired north-east and ', prolonged.the;enemy's lino towards Beit Jibrin. Tho situation on the morning of Noi vember 13 was. that the enemy had , strung out his force (amounting probably : to no more than 20,000 rifles in all) on . a front of 20 miles, from El Kubeibch on ; the north to about Beit Jibrin to the" : , south. In this Tegion the. Katrah-El ■> Mughar lino forms a very strong posi- / tion, and it was here that the enemy i made his most determined resistance ; against the turning movement directed i against his Tight f.ank. The capture of ■ this position by the 52nd (Lowland) Division, assisted bv a most dashing charge ; l of mounted troops,, who galloped across i the plain under heavy fire and turned ! the enemy's position from the north, was a-fine feat of arms. Some HOO prisoners, '■ 3 guns, and many machine-guns were • ; taken here. After this tho enemy resist- ■ ance weakened, and by the evening his : forces were retiring east and north. The infantry, vho were sent forward ; about dusk to occupy Junction Station, ! met with some -resistance, and halted for ; the night, not much; more lhan a mile west of the station. Early next morning i (November It) they occupied the station. In fifteen days our force had advanced : sixty miles on'its rictht and about' forty ' <m its left. Tt bail driven a Turkish Army of nine infantry divisions and one ; cavalry division' out of a position In : which it had been entrenched for six ! months, and had pursued it,.giving battle : whenever it fttempted to 6tand, and in- ! ilicting on it losses amounting probably i to nearly two-thirds of the enemy's orii ginal effectives. Over 9000 prisoners, ! about 80 guns, more than 100 machmei guns, and very large quantities of aminui nition and other stores hud been cap- | By the evening of the 15th the mounted ■ troop* had occupied Hauiieh and Ludd, ■ and had pushed patrols to within a short j distance of Jaffa, which was occupied I without opposition on the evening ot ! the 16th. ! The situation was now as iollows:— I The enemy's army, cus in two'by our 1 capture of Junction Station, had retired : -nartlv east into the mountains towards ! Jerusalem and partly north along tho ' plain On our side the mounted • troopt.. i" had 'been inarching and fighting con-' ; timioii'lv since October 31, and had adi vanced a distance of 75 miles, measured ' in a straight lire from Asm] to Jaffa. The troops, after their heavy fighting at ' Gaza had advanced in nine days a dlsI tance of about 10 miles,' with two ' severe engagements and continual au--1 vanced cuard fish ting. The 52nd (Lowland) Division had co-eral fin miles in this period. On the 21st a body of in- ■ fantry moved north-east by a track from ' Khryet el Ewib, through Biddu and : Kulundia, towards Bireh. Progress-was • slow, but by evening the ridge on which : stands Neby Samwil was secured. '' Favoured by a continuance .of fine • -Keather, preparations for a fresh advance ■ against the Turkish positions west _wnd '• south of Jerusalem proceeded rapidly. i The date for the attack was fixed as Dei cember 8. Welsh troops, with a cavalry ! regiment attached, had. advanced from j their positions north of Beersheba up : the Hobron-Jerusalem Toad on the tt.li. ■ No opposition-was met, and by evening ■ of the Oth the head of this column was i ten miles north of Hebron. The infantry I Tvere directed to reach the Bethlehem'Beit Jala area by the 7th, and the lino ! Surbahir-Sherafat (about three miles

south of Jerusalem) by dawn on the Bth, and no troops were to enter Jerusalem during this operation. The troops moved into positions of assembly by niglit, and, assaulting at dawn on the Bth, soon carried their first objectives. They then pressed steadily forward. During the day about 300 prisoners were taken awl many Turks kiliod. Ouv own casualties were light. Next morniug the- advance was resumed. The Turks, had withdrawn during the night, and the London troops and Yeomanry, driving back rearguards, occupied a lino across the Nablaus-Jerusa-lem Road, four miles north of Jerusalem, while Welsh troops occupied a position enst of Jerusalem across the Jericho Road. These operations isolated Jerusalem, and at about noon the enemy sent out a parlemeniaire and surrendered the city. At noon on the lltli I made my official entry into Jerusalem. ' In the operations' from October 31 to December 9 over 12,000 prisoners were taken. The total cantnres of material have not vet been fully counted, owing to the large area covered by these operations; but are known to include about 100 , Suns of various calibres, many machineguns, more than 20Wfl.0f)f) rounds of rifle ammunition, and 250,000 rounds of gun | ammunition. More than twenty aero- j nlanes were destroyed by our airmen or j burnt by We to avoid capture, j