hausted in the Flanders fighting, had
been placed while its new material
should be in training. It was not strong
enough to hold, and the enemy drove
through taking Gonnelieu, Villers-
Guislain and Gouzecourt. On the left
and in the centre, the resistance was
gallant and firm, so the Germans




FORT GARRY HORSE ON PARADE IN FRANCE



Canada, 1919




FORT GARRY HORSE AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL CHARGE AT CAMBRAI

A squadron of these horsemen from the Canadian Cavalry Brigade crossed ^he i canal ^J f ^^^^^^f
Masnieres; drove forward about two miles into enemy territory; captured a German [battery . attacKea ana o
powered a body of German infantry in a sunken road; then, misleading the enemy by stamped ng the ^e 01 we
horses that had not fallen, fought on dismounted. By night they pushed back to the British lines, ta
wounded and their prisoners.

025



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



failed of the large success they had
entered upon. But the losses on both
sides were desperately heavy. Gouze-
court was recovered by the British
Guards Division which came forward
to strengthen the wavering line; but the
Bourlon position was too difficult a
salient to keep. It was relinquished
by a skilful withdrawal on Decem-
ber 4-7.

THE GERMANS GAIN BACK ONE PART OF
THEIR LOSSES.

In the end, the Germans held seven
square miles of the ground taken newly
from the British, while the latter kept
sixteen square miles of what they had
seized from the Germans, including a
seven-mile stretch of the Siegfried Line.
In prisoners and casualties the results
were about equal. It had been a
brilliant feat of arms "the most
successful single surprise attack up
to this time on the Western Front."
Whether it should have been under-
taken or whether Sir Douglas Haig
should have closed it after the first
dashing advance, are questions that
may never be satisfactorily decided.

Viewed in the light of the opera-
tions of 1918, Cambrai is of especial
interest. It offered a foretaste of the
return to open fighting, and it gave
warning (which, however, was not
heeded) of the tactics which were to
keep victory wavering in the balance
for months, during the last year of the
war.

D ETR SPECT OF THE BRITISH FIGHTING
\. FOR THE YEAR.

In looking back upon the British
battles of 1917 Arras in April, the
Messines Ridge in June, the Third
Ypres from July to November, and
Cambrai in .November and early De-
cember we get an impression of
steady, arduous, exhausting fighting,
well-planned for the most part, pushed
with admirable spirit and endurance,
yielding a gain of territory not ex-
tensive but important for its dominat-



ing character. It was brilliant fighting
for successes that were not fully ade-
quate to compensate for the struggle
and the loss not quite determinate. It
was such a transition stage as can be
reckoned rightly only in relation to
what precedes and what follows. The
process that had been the only success-
ful method under earlier conditions
the war of attrition, with the limited
objective was no longer the best after
the events of this year had shifted the
conflict practically onto a single front,
giving the enemy the advantage of
almost unlimited reserves.

The actual achievement was not
inconsiderable. Prisoners taken num-
bered 125,000. From the Oise to the
North Sea the Allies had gained ad-
vantageous positions, through the cap-
ture of commanding ridges which had
long overlooked their own lines. To
Canada had been granted the distinc-
tion of regaining Vimy Ridge, Hill 70
(which had been a fateful fighting
ground in the Battle of Loos in 1915),
and Passchendaele.

Yet, there was much to offset these
advantages. The levies for the British
armies were not sufficient to keep the
ranks filled with men that were trained
and ready. And, under the pressure
resulting from the Russian failure and
the exhaustion due to fearful and
unceasing effort under the worst kind
of weather conditions, for which the
British movements are said to have
become "an accurate barometer," the
strongest spirits sagged. The Italian,
set-back added to the depression.

That united consideration might be
devoted to the grave problems troub-
ling the Allies, in November at a con-
ference of prime ministers and chiefs of
staff from Great Britain, France and
Italy, a Supreme War Council was
established. By this council was ap-
pointed, then, the Inter-Allied General
Staff consisting of General Foch, Gen-
eral Wilson and General Cadorna.

L. MARION LOCKHART



826




Australians in camp in Egypt

CHAPTER L

The Conquest of Palestine

THE BRITISH AND THEIR ARAB ALLIES WREST THE HOLY
LAND FROM THE GRASP OF THE TURK



pROM Gallipoli Lord Kitchener sailed
to Egypt, and the story is current
that he summed up the situation on
that front in early 1916 by his question :
"Are you defending the Canal, or is
the Canal defending you?"

It matters little whether the story
is true or not. It was to the point.
Was the Egyptian Expeditionary Force
to continue to think and act locally,
or was it to advance to a broader
view in which the true value of the
canal as an artery of empire and as a
touchstone of British prestige in the
East was justly appreciated? Events
had shown that the problems of defend-
ing the canal and of defending Egypt
were not identical. The Turk had
crossed the desert once, he might do it
again. He had placed casual and stray
mines in the canal, he might accom-
plish greater things. How then could
supplies and reinforcements be taken
to Mesopotamia, relying almost entirely
upon Britain because of the breakdown
of the Indian Army machine?

''pHE MEANING OF THE CAMPAIGN UNDER -
1 TAKEN IN 1916.

Only a new line of defense for the
canal east of the desert would remove
the threat of strangle-hold upon the
canal. Such a line could be gained
only at the cost of a vigorous offensive.
Upon this ground the Egyptian Ex-
peditionary Force embarked in 1916



upon a campaign which was to lead it
not only to the Holy City itself, but
to a conquest extending from "Dan
even unto Beersheba."

Different fronts have had their differ-
ent needs at different periods. Desert
campaigning recognized two great fac-
tors: water supply and transport.
Without these nothing could be at-
tempted, with them all might be
accomplished. The Desert of Sinai had
no water supplies save such amounts
as were collected in Roman or Babylon-
ian cisterns or in pools in the rocks in
scattered spots where the winter rains
were heavy. These could not be relied
upon for large forces. Water in
quantities sufficient for numbers of
men and animals had to be run out
into the sandy wastes from the sweet
water canal which ran beside the
waters of the ship canal.

THE WATERS OF THE NILE RUN INTO
THE JORDAN.

Dwellers in Egypt are subject to a
troublesome disease (Bilhaziosis) de-
veloped from drinking the waters of the
Nile, which contain a parasitic worm.
In the new system this danger was
fully guarded against. The water was
passed under the ship canal in siphons,
having filters attached, into reservoirs
on the eastern bank. Here it was again
filtered, chlorinated and pumped for-
ward to its destination. There were

827



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



in the water system, at its fullest
development, seventeen pumping sta-
tions. At all important troop centres
reservoirs were built which served
the camel transport, bearing the water
in advance of railhead and pipe line.
Macbeth was told by the witches that
he was safe "till Birnam Wood do come
to Dunsinane, " and in fancied security
he plunged to ruin. The Arabs had a



Kitchener had demonstrated the need
of a railroad in desert campaigning in
the Sudan, and early in 1916 engineers
began a standard gauge line upon the
eastern bank of the Canal. Natives,
formed into the Egyptian Labor Corps,
under British officials did valuable
work both upon railway and pipe line.
"The standard gauge line running
from Kantara to Palestine was the




SUEZ CANAL, THE CENTRAL ARTERY FOR FOUR CONTINENTS

The Canal, through which Asiatic, Australian and African elements passed to mingle in the service of the great
system of British Empire, was a vitally essential organ. For its defense was developed the campaign in Pales-
tine, which added a chapter of modern romance to the mediaeval and ancient stories of that old, old battle-ground.



saying that Palestine could not be
conquered until a prophet turned the
waters of the Nile into Jordan. Under
General Allenby (whose very name
the Bedouins thought presaged victory,
Allah, God, and Nebi, a prophet) was
brought to pass that which to the
people of the desert had seemed
the great impossibility.

Equally important was the question
of transport. In Western Egypt ex-
periments had established the value of
motor transport, but in the Sinai
district the sand was softer, and camel
and horse transport across the roadless
waste had been the only reliance.

828



keystone of strategic structure in
Eastern Egypt. It was the backbone,
the arteries, the very life-blood of the
Army." Kantara was formerly a
quarantine station with two houses and
a mosque; with the development of the
railroad its growth was amazing.
There were great wharves where ocean-
going vessels discharged their freight,
a big filtration plant and pump-house
and siphons, vast ordnance stores,
hospitals and workshops.

CAMELS COME FROM EVERY PART OF THE
WORLD.

Camel transport, was thoroughly
reorganized, too. The natives of





- - _ * 3 ^~

*
- " _



- -



CAMPAIGNING IN THE DESERT

In the sandy desert one can hardly construct a shelter, still less a block-house; machine gunners had therefore
to content themselves with the feeble protection afforded by heaped-up stones. Exposed to the pitiless rays of a
sub-tropical sun the men served their guns with uncomplaining cheerfulness and fortitude through long hours
under hostile fire.




AUSTRALIANS ON THE LINE OF FIRE

In the sand of the desert trench-digging was an arduous affair. To make a trench three feet wide a cut of fifteen
feet was necessary. Then battens with canvas backs were put in and anchored, and the spaces behind refilled
with excavated soil. A tiny rent in the canvas would allow the sand to filter through alarmingly; when the kham-
seen blew a whole series of trenches would be filled up in a night.

829



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



Egypt were astounded at the numbers
assembled: from every camel-market
of the world, from India to Morocco,
the camel came to Egypt. When the
natives or French colonists were asked
as to the camels' rations they laughed,
for how could one tell how much a
beast ate in pasturage? Yet the
British soldier like Robinson Crusoe
evolved a system of his own and,
stable-fed, the camel thrived. Four
kilos of straw and four kilos of millet



as Wadi Haifa. The first four months
of 1916 were entirely given over to
various preparations for a great ad-
vance. In addition to rail and pipe-
laying, the defenses of the canal were
strengthened, and to enlarge the area
of safety, parties were sent out into the
desert to drain off all water the enemy
might use within a sixty-mile radius.
Thus in April, from one big pool
at Er Rigm, 5,000,000 gallons were
taken, and by June not a bucketful of




LIGHT CAVALRY OF THE DESERT

Camels, like horses, are differently bred for different purposes. Those for burden-carrying are heavier and
larger than those which are destined for riding purposes. The camels in the picture are meharis, fitted by their
slender proportions to move with remarkable speed, capable, indeed, of a rate of over 100 miles in 24 hours. They
come from northern and central Africa. Their riders, here, are Arab allies of the British.



or dourrah were apportioned daily,
and in camps and bivouacs the camel
was picketed like the horse. It is a
tribute to German thoroughness to
relate that manuals in Arabic on the
care of camelry were picked up after
the Battle of Romani and used there-
after by the Egyptian Army with great
profit.

The position on the Eastern Egyptian
Front had been made easier by the
victories early in 1916 over the Grand
Sheikh of the Senussi, but then the
Sultan Ali Dinar rose in Darfur, and
the Sirdar had to turn his attention
to this open evil. To lighten his task
Sir Archibald Murray sent troops to
take over the Nile district as far south

830



water was available in a wide strip of
desert.

THE TURKS ATTACK THE GANGS CON-
STRUCTING THE RAILWAY.

The Turks descended upo'n the
guards protecting the construction
gangs on the railroad, and at the^nd
of April three regiments of yeomanry
and a half company of engineers
suffered substantial losses when, ''under
cover of dense fog, several thousand
Turks in three columns attacked at
Oghratina, Katia and Dueidar. But
the railway went on and by July
reached Romani. There in the third
week the Turk attacked and a battle
the most serious' in the campaign
fought on Egyptian soil ensued.



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



It was the hot season when the ther-
mometer registered 100-115 in the
shade, and a man got sunstroke in a
bell tent if he moved without his
helmet. Both sides were wont to use
this season for preparation rather than
for fighting, and upon this the Turk
had reckoned. His prepara-tions had
gone on secretly for months; equipment
had been especially made in Germany.



von Kressenstein, the Turkish force
numbered some 18,000 men. At mid-
night on August 3rd, the Turks at-
tacked and fighting continued through-
out the day. "Allah, finish Australia"
the Turks shouted as they charged.
Pivoting on the shore the British
cavalry withdrew so as to entangle the
enemy in difficult sand-dunes. When
reinforcements came up a counter-




"THE BREAD LINE" IN THE EAST
A remarkable picture of the Camel Transport in Palestine laden with bags of bread ready for the .men in i the front
lines. Each camel's burden though bulky was not so heavy as it looks, and the men learning from the native dnv
quickly became experienced in making their loads.



His camel pack-saddles were the best
in the country, his machine-gun and
mountain-gun packs scientifically prac-
tical. To bring up 4-inch, 6-inch, even
8-inch howitzers he had evolved an
ingenious road in the sand by cutting
two trenches each a foot deep and
eighteen inches wide which he filled
in with brushwood and tough scrub and
covered with sand, or, where the sand
was too soft, with wide planks.

As they made evening reconnaissance
over Bir el Abd, British airmen dis-
covered this large force of the enemy
Vithin fifty miles of the canal. Under
command of the German general Kress



attack was delivered, and by nightfall
the enemy was in full retreat. He was
not suffered to get off lightly, but for
four days was driven before the
cavalry. When pursuit halted it was
found to have covered nineteen miles,
and in its course to have captured 4,000
prisoners and a large quantity of
stores. In addition, Turki-sh casualties
amounted to 5,000, so that in all the
enemy suffered fully fifty per cent
wastage of his attacking force. The
Battle of Romani marks the last
attempt to attack the Suez Canal and
Egypt. Henceforth, in the campaign
the Turk was on the defensive.

831



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



THE INTERRUPTED PROGRESS OF THE
ADVANCE.

Throughout the autumn the railway
pushed slowly on. As soon as it reached
a suitable spot stores were collected and
the front cleared. Then followed a
pause for the army while the railroad
was again advanced. Water was
brought up in great tanks until the
pipe-line could be laid, and where the
front overshot the railhead the gap was
bridged by camel transport. After
the Battle of Romani, the Turks had
consolidated a position at Bir-el-Mazar,
twenty miles to the east. They were
there attacked by the Desert Column
operating under Sir Philip Chetwode
and withdrew to El Arish. There
was again a pause while the engineers
toiled to bring up the railway. During
the interval the Royal Flying Corps did
much bombing work over the enemy's
positions, and the cavalry was active.
By December 20 the advance was
ready again, but airmen discovered
that the Turk had evacuated his lines
without pausing to give battle. He
was followed by a flying column and
found in a strong position to the south
at Magdhaba.

The British attack that followed was
delivered entirely by mounted troops:
the Australian Light Horse and New
Zealand Mounted Rifles operated
against right flank and rear, and the
Imperial Camel Corps against the
front. Mirage delayed the work of
the horse artillery batteries, so that as
the day wore on shortage of water
became a serious menace to the con-
tinuance of the attack. Orders were
given, therefore, to press the charge
and by four o clock the place was won.
This time the Turk retreated to Rafa
on the border of Syria, while pursuit
halted until the Egyptian Labor Corps
and the engineers could send forward
supplies. In a fortnight all was ready
again and Sir Philip Chetwode's Desert
Column left El Arish on the evening
of January 8, 1917, and at dawn on the
9th had surrounded the enemy. The
action lasted ten hours, and mobility
and tactical boldness carried the day.
At last the desert had been conquered :
the Promised Land was in sight.

832



THE BRITISH ON THE BORDERS OF THE
PROMISED LAND.

Briefly, the positions of the con-
tending forces at the end of February
1917 were: while the main Egyptian
Expeditionary Force had reached El
Arish, portions of the army had crossed
into Palestine at Rafa and the cavalry
had penetrated to Khan Tunas. The
Turkish line defending Syria ran from
Gaza to Beersheba, both places were
strongly fortified. Dobell's first objec-
tive was Gaza that point on the
Jerusalem railway which had served as
a base for the attacks upon Egypt.
Like all border cities, Gaza has long
legendary and historical associations.
One of the five lordships of the Philis-
tines, it was the scene of Samson's
triumph when he carried off the city's
"massy gate and bar" to the top of a
neighboring hill, and of his humiliation
when he worked as a slave at the mill
among his enemies. In crusading days
Gaza had witnessed the triumph of
Frank and of Saracen. In this last war
against the Turk the city was to be the
site of three sanguinary battles, and of
six months' trench warfare. Taken
and retaken some forty or fifty times,
well might its walls re-echo, "Happy is
the city that has no history."

In preparation for the assault upon
the fortress, at the end of March a
large force was concentrated at Rafa
and marched up secretly at night.
The first objective was secured without
serious opposition. Meanwhile from
the north a cavalry screen had pierced
into the town itself. But a sea-fog
had cost two hours' precious daylight
a vital thing where water shortage
limited the fighting to daylight. At this
juncture, as the Turks received strong
reinforcements, the British were given
orders to retire, for they were strung
out on a thin line investing the city and
had no water for their horses, although
they were within measurable distance
of their goal. Thus for two days'
battle they had nothing to show save
considerable casualties.

THE SECOND ATTACK ON GAZA LIKEWISE
UNSUCCESSFUL.' -

For three weeks both sides made
preparations for renewing the struggle:



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



the British were reinforced by some
tanks and hoped to cover the 2,000
yards' open advance across the sandy
plain under their screen and a strong
artillery preparation, as well as en-
filading fire from a flotilla at sea.
The Turkish outposts of Wadi-Gaza
were captured on the iyth of April
without difficulty, and the public
expected a victory as far-reaching in its
effects in Palestine as had been that of
Kut in Mesopotamia. But the Turks
had been strongly reinforced and had
in line five infantry divisons supported
by cavalry and good artillery served
by Austrian gunners. Furthermore,
they had strengthened their intrench-
ments. The battle was hotly contested
throughout the io.th but the British
tanks were too few in number, and some
of them caught fire, so that the in-
fantry in frontal advance lost tragically
as the enemy machine guns cut down
swath after swath. Under cover of dark
such as survived the hail of fire crept
back and 'dug themselves in at Man-
sourah. Had the Turk counter-attack-
ed, the whole force would have been at
his mercy, but he contented himself
merely with coming out of his trenches
and exulting over the victory, and the
British line stayed where it was.

Because the results did not cor-
respond to the hopes of writers who
had no understanding of the difficulties
of the enterprise, and who under-
estimated the fighting value of the
Turk, a violent stir followed in the
British Press and Parliament. Sir
Archibald Murray was recalled, and
Sir Edmund Allenby appointed to
succeed him.



ALLENBY, THE NEW COM-

\_T MANDER OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.

General Edmund H. H. Allenby was
fifty-six years old when he succeeded
to the command of the Third Army in
Egypt. From his first commission in
the Inniskilling Dragoons he had
served in every war for the Empire.
In the days of the retreat from Mons
he had commanded the Expeditionary
Cavalry Force with distinction. With
his coming the Egyptian Expeditionary
Force was reshaped. The whole force
was organized into corps, and the



strength of the artillery and infantry
considerably augmented. In this army
all the Empire was represented except
Canada. There were English, Scotch,
Irish, and Welsh battalions, batteries
and regiments. Every state in the
Australian Commonwealth had regi-
ments, as had also New Zealand, while
the Maoris furnished a battalion.
There was a brigade of South Africans,




GENERAL SIR HERBERT LAWRENCE
General Lawrence under Sir Archibald Murray was in
Command of the land operations in Egypt during 1916,
and played a distinguished part in repelling von Kres-
senstein's invasion during July and August. In Janu-
ary, 1918, he was appointed Chief of General Staff.

and from India many warlike races:
Ghurkas, Sikhs, Bikaners, and Pun-
jabis. The tea-planters of Ceylon came
to Egypt as a rifle corps, from Singapore
and Hong-Kong a mountain battery.
The three corps into which Allenby
organized the force were thus composed :
The XXth Corps comprised the loth
(Irish), 53rd (Welsh), 6oth (London),
and 74th (Dismounted Yeomanry)
Divisions. In the XXI Corps were
included the 52nd (Scottish Lowland),
54th (East Anglian), and 75th (Wessex
and Indian) Divisions. The Desert
Corps was made up of the Australian
Mounted Division, the Anzac Mounted

833



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



MEDITERRANEAN

#ady Su fief sir

Esdud




Copyright ILLUSTRATING THE TURKISH DEFENSES ON THE GAZA-BEERSHEBA LINE



Division and the Yeomanry Division.
There was in addition a composite
brigade of French and Italians fami-
liarly known as "Mixed Vermouth."



ALLENBVS PLANS FOR THE
\J CAMPAIGN.

When Allenby took over command
at the end of June, 1917, he submitted
a report on the military situation and
outlined the necessary conditions in
which an offensive operation might be
undertaken in the autumn or winter of
1917. The enemy's line from Gaza to
Beersheba, some thirty miles, was a
strong one. "Gaza," he stated, "had
been made into a strong modern
fortress, heavily intrenched and wired,

834



offering every facility for protracted
defense." The remainder of the enemy's
line consisted of a series of strong
groups of works. These groups were
generally from 1,500 to 2,000 yards
apart, except that the distance from
the Hareira group to Beersheba was
about four and a half miles. Lateral
communications were good, and any
threatened point of the line could
be very quickly reinforced.

Such were the positions. Allenby's
plan was to deliver a decisive blow
against the enemy's left flank where his
line bent back at Hareira and Sheria.
First, however, 'it was essential to
clear away the isolated position of




AGRICULTURE IN PALESTINE

Somewhat primitive methods for cultivating the soil exist in Palestine where changes, as in all eastern countries,
come slowly. The Arab does not drive his yoked ox and ass by means of reins but with his long pole taps horns
or ears for direction and uses his voice for checking or starting. Henry Ruschin.




WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Shortage of water was the primary difficulty in the Palestine Campaign, but the contour of the country was rrmch