With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign Part 17

It will be remembered that at the first battle we claimed a victory which history has not since been able to verify, for we retired in hot haste on Rafa; but it is said that, if there had only been a little more push and go in the high command that day, Gaza would have been ours.

As a matter of fact it was ours at one time, for part of General Chaytor's brigade was right in the town, where they captured some hundreds of prisoners and a couple of guns which they turned on the Turks in Gaza with considerable effect, sighting their strange new pieces at point blank range by peeping through the bore of the guns.

The Turks were everywhere beginning to throw up the sponge, when, alas, the British Force was suddenly ordered to retire because a Turkish relieving column was seen approaching in the distance; but if only the British Division, which all this time had been held in reserve, had been thrust forward to intercept this column, tired, thirsty, and done up as it was, we could, no doubt, have shattered it and won a complete victory.

General Chaytor was ordered to retire somewhat early in the afternoon, but, as he had a squadron right in the town, and many wounded men in advanced positions, he waited until nightfall before withdrawing, taking with him all his wounded, and also the Turkish prisoners and captured guns. No matter who had the "wind up" that day, it certainly was not General Chaytor or his Brigade.

The second battle of Gaza was, of course, a terrible fiasco, in which we were repulsed and lost thousands of men to no purpose.

On another occasion I motored, with Colonel Croll, R.A.M.C., of the Anzacs, to Beersheba. It was at this point that General Allenby made a successful thrust when he first took command in Palestine, and from that day to this he has never looked back. The Anzacs and the Australian Mounted Division in this attack made a wide turning movement, outflanked Beersheba, burst suddenly in upon Tel el Saba, some three miles to the east of it, galloped the Turkish trenches, and poured into Beersheba at one end in a whirlwind of dust and storm while the Turks skedaddled out of it as fast as ever they could run from the other end, and made for the shelter of the foothills towards Hebron.

The New Zealanders say that they were responsible for the capture of Tel el Saba, for it was they who outflanked it; while the Australians a.s.sured me that it was they who had stormed it at a mad gallop. At all events it was a decisive victory for the Australians and New Zealanders (for both took part in it), and as fine a piece of mounted work as had been done so far during the war. Dash, energy, and initiative were shown in a very high degree by all ranks engaged.

In the little cemetery at Beersheba I visited the grave of Major Markwell, one of the bravest officers who fell that day.

We also paid a visit to the site of Old Beersheba, and were greatly interested in peering down into the well dug at this celebrated place by the Patriarch Abraham.

From Beersheba we motored to Gaza along the former Turkish front; every inch of the way had been fortified and turned into a maze of trenches, with formidable redoubts here and there throughout the line.

Once Beersheba was captured, the heart was taken out of the Turkish resistance, though they put up some stiff fighting before they were dislodged, especially at Atawineh, a strong redoubt near the centre of the position.

After the capture of Beersheba, Lieutenant-Colonel S. F. Newcombe, D.S.O., R.E., dashed northwards with part of the Camel Corps, to cut off the Turks retreating on the Beersheba-Hebron Road. He reached a point within a few miles of the latter place, but was surrounded by six battalions of the enemy. He held out gallantly for three days; but at last, when he had exhausted all his ammunition and suffered heavy casualties, he was obliged to surrender.

Fate holds in its lap many surprises. If Colonel Newcombe had not been captured that day he would undoubtedly, with ordinary luck, have won distinction and rank, but there was another and better prize awaiting him at Constantinople, for, while he was a prisoner and convalescing in that city, he met a charming young lady who, at great personal risk, helped him to escape from the clutches of the Turk, and afterwards became his wife.

CHAPTER XXIV.

A RED-LETTER DAY.

Soon after the Anzac Division came to Rafa, General Chaytor expressed a wish to inspect the battalion and present decorations to those officers, N.C.O.s, and men who had won them while under his command.

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and every available man in the battalion was on parade when General Chaytor, accompanied by Colonel Bruxner and Major Anderson, rode on to the review ground and took the "General Salute."

The battalion was then formed up on three sides of a square; the officers, N.C.O.s, and men to be decorated stood in the centre, and as each was called out to have the coveted honour pinned to his breast, his deeds were recounted to the a.s.sembled troops.

Captain T. B. Brown won the Military Cross and bar for having gallantly led many a dangerous reconnaissance into the enemy's lines.

Lieutenant Fligelstone was also decorated with the Military Cross for good, gallant, and dangerous work successfully performed while he was acting as machine-gun officer.

Lieutenant Cameron and Lieutenant Bullock both won Military Crosses and bars for good and gallant patrol and intelligence work in the Jordan Valley.

Corporal Bloom, Lance-Corporal Elfman, and Privates Angel and Robinson were all decorated with the Military Medal for various gallant acts performed in the Mellahah, and during the recent operations.

Major Neill had the D.S.O. conferred on him for his able handling of the battalion while it was under his command in "Patterson's Column,"

Captain Leadley received the Military Cross for his good Staff work, and Company Sergeant-Major Plant won the D.C.M. for special services rendered by him during the whole time we were in the fighting line.

At the end of the presentation the General made the following address:

Colonel Patterson, Officers, N.C.O.s, and men of the 38th Jewish Battalion Royal Fusiliers, I have specially come here to-day, first of all to present decorations to the officers and men who have won them in the recent operations under my command.

Secondly, I want to tell you how sorry I am that I was not able to put you in the Van in the advance on Es Salt. I wished that you had been there, and I wanted you to be there, but the Indian Infantry and other units were in a more favourable position from which to spring off, while you were still entangled miles to the northward in the heavy sandhills of the Jordan Valley. In any case, even had you been in the Van you would have seen but little fighting, for the mounted men got well to the front and were able to effect the capture of Es Salt and Amman before the Infantry could possibly come up.

I am pleased to be able to tell you, however, that I was particularly struck with your good work on the Mellahah front, and by your gallant capture of the Umm esh Shert Ford and defeat of the Turkish rearguard when I gave you the order to go, for I was then enabled to push my mounted men over the Jordan at that crossing, and so you contributed materially to the capture of Es Salt and of the guns and other material which fell to our share; to the capture of Amman; the cutting of the Hedjaz Railway, and the destruction of the 4th Turkish Army, which helped considerably towards the great victory won at Damascus.

I briefly thanked the General for his praise of the battalion, and a march past the decorated officers and men concluded the pleasant ceremony. It was indeed a Red-Letter Day for the battalion.

It will be seen from the above what really good work was done by the Jewish Battalion, and how much it was appreciated by the one man who was in a position to judge of our fighting abilities by actual experience in the field.

Yet all mention of Jewish Troops was deliberately suppressed by the Staff at G.H.Q. True, Jewish Troops were mentioned in official despatches all over the world, but the part of these despatches relating to Jewish Troops was never allowed to appear in the Palestinian and Egyptian papers. This naturally upset and humiliated both Jewish troops and the Jewish population generally, for it gave outsiders the impression that we had failed to do our duty, whereas, on the contrary, the Jewish Battalion had done extraordinarily good work for England. It would, therefore, have been only mere justice and fair play if it had received recognition in the local Egyptian and Palestinian Press, but it was rigidly excluded from all mention by what the _Times_ truthfully branded as "the most incompetent, the most inept, and the most savagely ruthless censors.h.i.+p in any country under British control."

This omission was especially noted by all when the Commander-in-Chief in his speech at Cairo, in December, 1918, mentioned all nationalities who fought under his command, including Armenians and West Indians, but maintained a stony silence on the doings of Jewish Troops in Palestine.

Coming on the top of all our persecution, this was most marked.

The following is indeed in his despatch published in England, which must by some fluke or other have dodged the Censor:

GENERAL ALLENBY'S DESPATCH, 31ST OCTOBER, 1918.

In operations east of the Jordan.

The enemy, however, still held the bridgeheads on the west bank, covering the crossings of the Jordan at Umm es Shert, etc.

Early in the morning of the 22nd September, the 38th Battalion Royal Fusiliers captured the bridgehead at Umm es Shert.

Of the fighting troops, all have taken their share and have carried out what was required of them.

I will bring to notice the good fighting qualities shown by the newer units. These include ... the 38th and 39th (Jewish) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers.

(Signed) E. H. H. ALLENBY, General, Commander-in-Chief, E.E.F.

The Commander-in-Chief also wrote in reply to a letter of congratulation which he received from the Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America:

22D NOVEMBER, 1918.

DEAR SIR,

I have the honour to acknowledge your letter....

You will be glad to hear that the Jewish Regiment did consistently good work....

I received letters of congratulations from many prominent people, but the most valued of all was from that wonderful and truly great man, Theodore Roosevelt. I only received this letter, written three weeks before his lamented death, towards the end of March--over two months after he had pa.s.sed away. It had been sent to France in error, and wandered in and out amongst the different armies there until somebody noticed that it had "E.E.F." on the address, and sent it on to Palestine:

11TH DECEMBER, 1918.

MY DEAR COLONEL PATTERSON,

I most heartily congratulate you on leading in what was not only one of the most important, but one of the most dramatic incidents in the whole War. To have the sons of Israel smite Ammon "hip and thigh" under your leaders.h.i.+p is something worth while.