With the Judæans in the Palestine CampaignPatterson, J. H. (John Henry)
History
With the Judæans in the Palestine Campaign
Patterson, J. H. (John Henry)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Palestine; World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, Jewish
Carefully concealed in the orange and olive groves round about Jaffa and
Ludd lay the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions, the Australian Mounted
Division (less one Brigade), and four squadrons of French Colonial
Cavalry (Spahis and Chasseurs d'Afrique).
All these were ready to dash north the moment the infantry and artillery
had broken a gap in the enemy's line to the North of Jaffa.
With this highly mobile force a brilliant victory was achieved, but of
course the historian will not give to the E.E.F. campaign the
extravagant praise which has been lavished upon it by an ill-informed
public, ignorant as yet of the fact that in the field of operations the
strength of the British to that of the Turk was as that of a tiger to a
tom-cat.
The bulk of the Turkish forces were on or south of a line drawn from
Jisr ed Damie, on the Jordan, through Nablus and Tul Keram to the
Mediterranean. His fighting strength on this front was, roughly, 17,000
Infantry, 1,000 Cavalry, and 266 guns. His line of communication was
long and bad. He was about 1,200 miles from his base at Constantinople,
and, owing to incomplete tunnels at Amanus and Taurus and a change of
gauge at Ryak, there were no less than three bad breaks in the single
line of railway which had to carry his reinforcements, munitions,
equipment, and food both to the Palestinian and Mesopotamian fronts.
His troops were badly fed and badly led; medical arrangements were very
poor; there was considerable friction between the Turks and Germans, and
the Turkish Army was composed of a mixture of races, many of them hating
their masters with a fierce hatred.
Here were all the elements of a _débâcle_ on a grand scale.
On the morning of September 19th one of the most triumphant cavalry
marches ever recorded in the world's history began at Jaffa, and before
the troops engaged in it drew rein in far-off Aleppo, five weeks later,
they had covered some 500 miles through an enemy's country, captured or
destroyed over 50,000 Turks, seized Damascus, Beyrout, and Aleppo, and
brought to an inglorious end the Ottoman Empire.
This was no mean record for a mere handful of mounted men to accomplish.
We must not forget, however, that without the lavish help of the other
arms--infantry, artillery, and especially the Air Force, victory on such
a colossal scale could not have been achieved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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