With the Judaeans in the Palestine Campaign Part 8

My friend the Brigadier saw the wire before it was despatched and stopped it. However, one of my men in the Signal Office told me of this, so I immediately wrote a confidential letter to General Allenby, gave it to a motor-cyclist, and sent him off post haste to G.H.Q., some thirty miles away, telling him to ride for all he was worth, as a man's life hung on his speed.

I am glad to say that not only did General Allenby reprieve the man and reduce the sentence to a certain number of years' imprisonment, but he suspended even that punishment, provided the man proved himself worthy of forgiveness by doing his duty faithfully in the battalion.

The young soldier returned to us overjoyed and full of grat.i.tude for his release. He proved himself worthy in every respect, and was never afterwards called upon to do a day's imprisonment.

Not satisfied with having held up the wire, the Brigadier motored some miles away to report the matter to the Divisional General, Sir John Shea.

I was duly haled before the General, not knowing for what reason, until he said, "You know you will get yourself into trouble if you go sending telegrams direct to the Commander-in-Chief." It then dawned on me for the first time why I had been sent for.

I explained all the circ.u.mstances to the General, and said that, in such an emergency, I felt justified in what I had done. Besides, I said, I had not addressed the Commander-in-Chief as such, but as General Allenby, an officer whom I had known for many years. I also confessed that, when I found that the wire had been blocked, I had immediately written a letter of appeal to General Allenby, and had sent it off by a special cyclist despatch rider.

The General pretended to be so horrified at this that he needed a c.o.c.ktail to revive him--in which I may add he asked me to join him. I do not know what he thought of the Brigadier's action, but I can leave the reader to imagine what I thought of it!

A few days later, when I was breakfasting with General Shea, I was much amused when he told me that when he was at home his children insisted on his reading a lion story to them every evening out of "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo"!

From the frequent consultations between the Brigadier and his friend Colonel X I felt that something was on foot, but little realised that it was a matter which, if carried out, would strike a blow at the very ident.i.ty of the Jewish Battalions. This, however, soon became evident.

Shortly after my interview with the Divisional General I was called to the telephone to speak to the Brigadier, who said, apparently with great satisfaction, "I want to tell you that your Battalion and the 39th Battalion (which was then on its way up from Egypt) are to be brigaded with two West Indian Battalions, and you are to be placed under the command of Colonel X, who is now a General and has come to live near my camp. You will find General X a very nice man." I thanked the Brigadier for his interesting information and hung up the receiver.

It was now clearly my duty to stop this second attempt to destroy the ident.i.ty of the Jewish Battalions in Palestine or resign my command. It was no easy task to achieve, because our good friends had worked underground all the time, and sprang this surprise upon me only when it became an accomplished fact; Colonel X had actually been appointed to the command, a Brigade Major and a Staff Captain had been posted to the new Brigade, while the transport and ordnance section of the formation had been already organized and sent to Jericho.

The Staff at G.H.Q. had, of course, arranged the whole affair, and it would be no easy task to get the Commander-in-Chief to countermand the Brigade formation. I felt that a very firm stand must be taken if this blow aimed at Jewish prestige was to be averted.

I accordingly wrote a strong letter direct to General Allenby, pointing out that, if such a scheme were carried out, it would involve very grave issues. The Adjutant-General at the War Office had promised that the Jewish Battalions would be formed into a Jewish Brigade, and to depart from this declared policy would be looked upon as a direct slight, both by the Jewish Battalions and by Jewry the world over. Loth as I was to worry the Commander-in-Chief, I considered it my duty to him, to my men, to myself, and to Jewry to see that Jewish interests were not trampled upon without a protest while I retained command. I requested therefore that the orders should be cancelled, and, if not, that I should be relieved of my command.

That my att.i.tude on this question was correct was proved by the receipt of a most friendly reply from General Allenby, in which he thanked me for my letter and said:

I see the undesirability of brigading Jewish with West Indian Battalions, and I have decided not to do so. I shall form a provisional Brigade of the two Jewish Battalions until a complete Jewish Brigade can be formed, and they will be under you.

The whole tone of this letter showed that the C.-in-C. had been badly advised by his Staff in this attempted amalgamation of the Jewish with the West Indian Battalions.

A few hours after I had received General Allenby's communication a wire came from G.H.Q. cancelling all the orders which had already been issued with regard to the formation of the new Brigade.

Thus I won the second round in my fight for fair play for the Jewish Battalions and Jewish ideals generally.

I realized that my stand for justice would be bitterly resented by certain individuals at G.H.Q., and that, sooner or later, I would be penalised for having upset their attempted little coup.

CHAPTER XI.

WE MARCH TO THE JORDAN VALLEY.

Within two days of the receipt of General Allenby's letter cancelling the mixed Brigade formation, we were suddenly ordered to leave the cool and pleasant hill-tops of Ephraim and march down to the sweltering heat and fever-stricken desolation of the Jordan Valley, 1,300 feet below sea level, in the very hottest and most unhealthy month of the year.

We, of course, took our orders for the deadly Valley quite cheerfully, feeling that it was "not ours to reason why," but we did feel that it was a blow below the belt to be taken out of the line on the Nablus front, just as an attack, for which we had done most of the spade work, was about to be made.

Had we remained with General Emery, I feel sure that he would have given us a chance to show our mettle in the raid which was timed to take place on 12th August, 1918.

Even when we were transferred to the Brigade in the 60th Division we still looked forward to taking part in this move, and, as I have already mentioned, we slaved away at every kind of preparation for the affair, but, alas, we were taken out of the line, and ordered to march to a new front, just three days before the attack.

It almost looked as if our enemies feared we would do well, and our prowess would then get noised abroad to the discomfiture of our detractors.

On the 9th August we marched from our pretty camp at Inniskilling Road, where we had revelled in the grateful shade of the olive trees which abound there, and took the road, bag and baggage, for Ram Allah, our first halt, where we were to bivouac. Here we were to get further orders from the G.O.C. 53rd Division, whose headquarters were in that ancient town. It was midnight when we got to our camp, where we found that someone had carefully chosen a site for us which was literally one ma.s.s of stones. It must have been the favourite place of execution in olden days when stoning to death was in vogue, and the stones had never since been gathered up! There was no grumbling, however; every man cleared a little patch whereon to lie down on his waterproof sheet, and slept the sleep of the tired. We remained at this delectable spot for the best part of two days, and on the afternoon of the 11th we marched to Jerusalem, where we came under the orders of the Desert Mounted Corps.

We bivouacked about a mile or so short of Jerusalem, and, as the camp was reached long after dark, the City remained hidden until dawn next morning. I had a cheery and welcome dinner the evening we arrived with Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode, who commanded the 20th Corps, at his headquarters at the German Hospice on the Mount of Olives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WAILING WALL AT JERUSALEM (_See page_ 93)]

I was awake about 5 o'clock next morning, just as the mist was beginning to disperse, and woke up everybody all round about me to have their first look at the Holy City. My officers were all very tired, so merely gave one peep at it out of sleepy eyes, and then buried themselves once more in their blankets. Later on the men spent the whole of the forenoon visiting Jerusalem, and especially the celebrated Wailing Wall, which is the only authentic portion of the Temple enclosure which still remains. Its huge blocks of stone seem to be as indestructible as the indomitable race which designed, shaped, and placed them in position so many centuries ago. The Jewish "bevel" is a noticeable feature in the stones. Here the Jews for nearly two thousand years have wept and wailed, placing their foreheads against the walls and copiously watering the masonry with their tears. The wailing of the Jews at this remnant of their Temple is one of the most pathetic and curious sights I have ever witnessed.

The Jewish mendicants who are allowed to congregate in the vicinity of the Wailing Wall are not a pleasing spectacle, and I hope that one of the first acts of the Zionists will be the removal of this blot on Jewry.

Bethlehem can be reached in a few minutes by motor from Jerusalem, and near to it Rachel's tomb stands by the roadside, while almost opposite is the field in which Ruth gleaned.

At 4.30 in the afternoon of this day (12th August) we marched off under the walls of Jerusalem, past the Damascus Gate, skirted the Garden of Gethsemane, and wended our way on to the road which would take us down to Jericho. It was a lovely sight as we halted and looked back over the Valley of Jehoshaphat, with the brook Kidron between us and the walls of the venerable city, the beautiful Mosque of Omar overshadowing the Temple area, the mysterious Golden Gates fronting us, sealed up, and the westering sun gilding Mount Zion.

I have seen Jerusalem since from many points, but the view from the corner of the Jericho Road, where it skirts the Mount of Olives on the descent to Bethany, is, to my mind, by far the most beautiful and impressive. I halted every platoon there, so that all might look well at the glory of it--a glory which, alas, some of them would never again return to look upon.

We bivouacked about three miles beyond Jerusalem, and next morning (13th August) marched through Bethany while it was yet dark, and reached our bivouac at Talaat ed Dumm at 2.30 in the afternoon. I reported our arrival to General Chauvel, of the Australian Mounted Division, whose headquarters were at this place, and from his hut I had a splendid view of the beauty and desolation of the Jordan Valley which lay spread out before me.

Talaat ed Dumm is a weird uncanny spot. It is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as Adummim, and is the gate of the Judaean wilderness. The red and yellow barren hills and rocky narrow valleys have a peculiar desolation all their own, while the heat at the time we were there was scorching.

By some jugglery on the part of the Staff, all our transport animals had been taken away from us, and we found ourselves stranded without a particle of shade, shelter, or food on this G.o.d-forsaken spot, sweltering in the fierce rays of the burning sun. At last, towards sundown, our baggage and rations arrived in motor lorries, dinners and teas were rolled into one, and peace reigned once more in this drowsy wilderness.

When the terrific heat had become somewhat less scorching, accompanied by the Padre, I wandered up to an ancient ruin which topped the summit of a hill dominating the roadway. This proved to be the castle of a redoubtable robber chief, who had lived here in bygone days and taken his toll from every traveller. From time immemorial this had been the stronghold of the robber bands who waylaid, robbed, and even murdered those journeying to and fro between Jerusalem and Jericho. It was close to this bandit's castle that the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine into the wounds of the unfortunate wayfarer who had fallen among thieves. It was an ideal spot for a robber's lair, because it commands a full view of what is practically the only route for caravans through this dreary barren wilderness.

We were not sorry to leave our camp at dawn, and strode out so merrily that we overtook a Cavalry Brigade which blocked our way! As we marched down the steep descent to the Jordan Valley we had on our left the Wadi Kelt, which wound its tortuous course through the boulders at the bottom, hundreds of feet sheer below us. Some people say that it was here that the Prophet Elijah was fed by the ravens, but it has been satisfactorily proved that the brook Cherith, where Elijah hid, is now known as the Wadi Fusail. It runs into the Jordan from the westward, near a place called the rock of Oreb.

This suggested an idea to me that the "ravens" spoken of in the Bible were not birds but people, for the word "Oreb" means a raven. Now we know there was a prince called Oreb, for we have an account of his death in Judges, Chapter 7, Verse 25. It is also a well-known fact that in the East tribes take their names from their prince or chief man, so that in all probability there was a tribe called Orbim (the plural of "oreb" or raven).

The place where Prince Oreb was slain was the rock of Oreb, and it is known to this day as "Tel el Orbaim." Moreover, this place is in Gilead, which was Elijah's old home, so it was quite natural that he should flee to this neighbourhood and be fed with flesh and bread, night and morning, by his friends the Orbim, or "Ravens."

How similar, too, are the words used in the 4th and 9th verses of 1st Kings, Chapter 17: "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there," and "I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee!"

Can it be possible that the ravens were people and not birds, and that our old and learned translators fell into the error of thinking that they were birds, because they did not know of the possible existence of a tribe called "Orbim" or "Ravens"?

We continued our march down through the Judaean wilderness, the place where the High Priest yearly turned loose the Scapegoat which bore on its head the sins of the Children of Israel.

Occasionally, away to our right, between the desolate, dusty, sulphurous-looking hills, we caught a momentary glimpse of the emerald sheen of the Dead Sea, while away on our left on the edge of the valley, stood out the Mount of Temptation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JERUSALEM-JERICHO ROAD]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEAR THE WADI KELT (See page 95)]

The moment we got down to the Jordan Valley (or Ghor, as the Arabs call it) the real trials of the men began. The heat was intense, and the going became very heavy, for we had no longer a good metalled road on which to march. Dust lay a foot deep on the path; it was exceedingly fine and looked like the best powdered cement. As the men marched clouds of it arose and choked them, while their feet were actually sucked down at each step, and an effort had to be made to draw the foot out again, as if some devil were below, pulling at the sole of the boot.

The sixteen platoons forming the battalion marched well apart in order to evade as much of this blinding, choking, sulphurous dust as possible.