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the Nablus and Messudie roads to Jenin. Individual Turkish units fought well. If they were unaware of the disaster which had befallen their cause, they were at least not oppressed by news of defeat; the opposition encountered by the 3rd and 7th Divs. in the W. was tenacious and well organized, and the XX. Turkish Corps in the E., not realizing the necessity for imme- diate retreat, even made a successful counter-attack against the 53rd Div., and for the moment recovered some minor positions.

While the infantry hammered away at each other Gen. Allenby's cavalry had broken through the Carmel Range by the historic pass of Megiddo, captured Nazareth with the Yilderim headquarters (dawn Sept. 20), and 'Afule (08:00); and the 4th Cav. Div. after cooperating with the 5th in its capture hastened to Beisan, which was taken at 16:30, while part of the I2th Bde. (Brig.-Gen. Wigan) reached Jisr el Mujami*, where the railway crosses the Jordan, at 08:00 on Sept. 21, thus cutting off alike all hope of retreat northward from the Turks and guarding against the possible arrival of reinforcements from Damascus. As additional insurance, raiding parties from the Arab N. Army operating in Gilead had broken the railway near Tel 'Ar'ar and at Muzerib on Sept. 17. Meanwhile the 3rd Australian Light Horse Bde. (Brig.-Gen. Wilson), driving in from the N., had captured Jenin (evening of Sept. 20) in spite of the resist- ance of a German force, and Turkish troops and transport on the road between Jenin and 'Afule and Jenin and Nablus were plentifully bombed from aeroplanes.

On Sept. 21 at 13:45 Nablus was captured, and the Turks, having in vain endeavoured to retreat along the newly restored Roman road from Nablus to Beisan, only to be the target of aeroplanes while on the way and to find the British at the end of it, tried as a last resort to withdraw the wreckage of the VII. and VIII. Armies down the Wadi Fara road, so as to retire upon Es Salt and the IV. Army crossing over the Jordan by the Jisr ed Damie. This movement was detected by an air scout early, on the morning of Sept. 21, and the importance of checking the retreat was at once realized, as the Jordan valley troops Lad not yet been able to capture the Jisr ed Damie, nor could the fords to the N. of it be guarded even by the cavalry at Beisan in time. All available aeroplanes were at once detailed for an intensive air attack upon this line of retirement; departures from the Ramleh aerodrome were so timed that two machines should ar- rive over the objective every three minutes, and that an addi- tional formation of six machines should come into action every half-hour. Machines on arriving over the objective bombed it first and then swept down to a low altitude and raked the column with machine-gun fire, crawling uneasily along a narrow road cut out of a precipitous slope, before flying back to Ramleh to replenish with bombs and fresh drums of cartridges.

This form of attack continued from 08:00 until noon, when Chaytor's force came within striking distance of the bridge, and the line of retreat itself was blocked for a distance of 5 m. with countless corpses and carcasses and the debris of 87 guns with their limbers, 55 motor lorries, 4 staff -cars and 842 waggons, all of which had been put out of action by the attacks of the Royal Air Force unaided by any surface cooperation. At 01:30 on Sept. 22 Chaytor's force, which had been pressing all through the previous day, captured Jisr ed Damie, and at 08:00 a Turkish column was observed by air scouts to be moving up towards Beisan from the still unoccupied area E. and N.E. of Nablus. It was bombed from above, while the XX. British Corps shep- herded it up toward the 4th Cav. Div., which came down to meet its survivors and patrolled along the left (E.) bank of Jordan to cut off such stragglers as might cross the stream.

Meanwhile the Jewish battalions of Chaytor's force had cap- tured Umm esh Shert ford at 03:00, and by nightfall the 2nd Australian Light Horse Bde. (Brig.-Gen. Ryrie) was in contact with the main Turkish position at Shunet Nimrin. A little later it became apparent that the IV. Army had realized how isolated and unsafe its position had suddenly become, and that it had begun to retire in hopes of reaching Damascus before it was too late. It was, however, vigorously pressed by Chaytor's force, its railway had been cut by the Hejaz Camel Corps of the

Northern Army, and the whole country-side appeared to be boiling up into sudden revolt about its path.

The IV. Army still carried a sting in its tail, and although it lost Es Salt by 16:30 on Sept. 23 it held 'Amman gallantly until 15:10 on Sept. 25, in hopes of being able to keep the line of retreat open for the garrison of Ma'an under *Ali Bey Wahbi, which, though hastening northward amid a perpetual whirl of Arab rifle-fire, was still S. of the town. With all hope of retreat cut off, the Ma'an force became anxious to surrender, and as soon as the 5th Australian Light Horse Regt. was near enough to Qastal to afford protection, the Turks, to the number of over 4,000, with 500 sick and 1 2 guns, surrendered on Sept. 29. The Australians had some difficulty in saving their prisoners from being mas- sacred by the Arabs who were eager for vengeance and plunder.

The news that the IV. Army was trying to avoid the fate which had overwhelmed the VII. and VIII. caused Gen. Allenby to order his available cavalry to advance upon Damascus, in order to prevent the Turks on the E. of Jordan from reaching it and re-forming in combination with the small force there.

The sth Cav. Div. was employed during the greater part of Sept. 23 in capturing Acre and Haifa, when the Turks, contrary to the wishes of the Germans, who did not wish to risk the numer- ous houses of the German colony in a bombardment, put up a stout resistance, and were only quelled by a charge of the i5th (Imperial Service) Cav. Bde. (Brig.-Gen. Harbord). The sth Cav. Div. then went to Nazareth en route for Damascus with the rest of the Desert Mounted Corps by way of Jisr Banat Ya'qub and the main motor road beyond Quneitera.

At Jisr Banat Ya'qub a stiff resistance was made, chiefly by German technical troops, who had blown one arch of the bridge and formed a laager of lorries and machine-guns commanding the ruin. This delayed the Australian Mounted Div. until the position was turned by the action of the 3rd and 4th Australian Light Horse Bdes. (Brig.-Gens. Wilson and Grant), which crossed the river N. and S. of the bridge late on Sept. 27. The position was taken, but the delay had enabled the sth Cav. Div. to come up, and by 20 130 on Sept. 28 both divisions had reached Quneitera. To the S. the 4th Cav. Div., having crossed the Jordan at Jisr el Mujami', engaged the Turks on the Zebda- Irbid-Beitras line on Sept. 26, where a good deal of opposition was made, took Irbod during the night, then pressing on through Remte made contact with the Hejaz Northern Army, which had just taken Der'a, a few miles W., at dawn on Sept. 28.

The Arab Camel Corps, with which was Col. Lawrence, had started on its northern raid on Aug. 31, by unfrequented and often waterless paths through the desert from a point near Akaba and had reached the railway between Der'a and Damascus on Sept. 17. The line was wrecked, and in spite of the activity of the garrison and aeroplanes at Der'a the Arabs continued to prey upon the lines of communication, which they kept in a state of disorganization all through the critical days of Gen. Allenby's advance, and now were able to get their fill of fighting in trying to impede the retreat of the IV. Army.

Under the constant pressure of the Desert Mounted Corps and the Arabs, both regular and insurgent, driving in from W., S.W. and S., the IV. Army melted into rout. It still fought when it could, but it was with the spasmodic jerks of a body no longer under control of its brain, and after actions at Kaukab Jasa and Kiswe the end came for the Yilderim Army Group when the Australian Mounted Div., with the French cavalry attached, got across the Damascus-Beirut road on the afternoon of Sept. 30, capturing 4,000 Germans and Turks as they tried to escape along it. Next morning Maj. Olden with men of the loth A.L.H. Regt. (3rd Bde. A.L.H.) reached the Serail of Damas- cus, at 06:30 on Oct. i., just a little ahead of the Hejaz Camel Corps. Damascus had fallen, and a Turkish column trying to reach safety by the desert road to the N.E. was overtaken, attacked and captured near Duma on Oct. 2.

Nor was the victory a day too soon the British cavalry had been stung by malarial mosquitoes in the plain of Esdraelon,^in the marshes round Beisan and in other areas behind the Turkish lines where army sanitation was grossly neglected. The malaria