W.T. Massey - How Jerusalem Was Won. Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
centres, and England deprived herself of rolling stock she badly needed, to enable her flag of freedom to
be carried (though it was not to be hoisted) through the Holy Land. And incidentally I may remark that,
with the solitary exception of a dirty little piece of Red Ensign I saw flying in the native quarter in
Jerusalem, the only British flag the people saw in Palestine and Syria was a miniature Union Jack carried
on the Commander-in-Chief's motor car and by his standard-bearer when riding. Thus did the British
Army play the game, for some of the Allied susceptibilities might have been wounded if the people had
been told (though indeed they knew it) that they were under the protection of the British flag. They had
the most convincing evidence, however, that they were under the staunch protection of the British Army.
The doubling of the railway track went on apace. To save pressure at the Alexandria docks and on the
Egyptian State railway, which, giving some of its rolling stock and, I think, the whole of its reserve of
material for the use of the military line east of the Canal, was worked to its utmost capacity, and also to
economise money by saving railway freights, wharves were built on the Canal at Kantara, and as many
as six ocean-going steamers could be unloaded there at one time. By and by a railway bridge was thrown
over the Canal, and when the war was over through trains could be run from Cairo to Jerusalem and
Haifa. Kantara grew into a wonderful town with several miles of Canal frontage, huge railway sidings
and workshops, enormous stores of rations for man and horse, medical supplies, ordnance and
ammunition dumps, etc. Probably the enemy knew all about this vast base. Any one on any ship passing
through the Canal could see the place, and it is surprising, and it certainly points to a lack of enterprise on
the part of the Germans, that no attempt was made to bomb Kantara by the super-Zeppelin which in
November 1917 left its Balkan base and got as far south as the region of Khartoum on its way to East
Africa, before being recalled by wireless. This same Zeppelin was seen about forty miles from Port Said
and a visit by it was anticipated. Aeroplanes with experienced pilots and armed with the latest
anti-Zeppelin devices were stationed at Port Said and Aboukir ready to ascend on any moonlight night
when the hum of aerial motor machinery could be heard. The super-Zeppelin never came and Kantara's
progress was unchecked.
The doubled railway track was laid as far as El Arish by the time operations commenced, and this was a
great aid to the railway staff. Every engine and truck was used to its fullest capacity, and an enormous
amount of time was saved by the abolition of passing stations for some ninety miles of the line's length.
Railhead was at Deir el Belah, about eight miles short of Gaza, and here troops and an army of Egyptian
labourers were working night and day, week in week out, off-loading trucks with a speed that enabled the
maximum amount of service to be got out of rolling stock. There were large depots down the line too. At
Rafa there was a big store of ammunition, and at Shellal large quantities not only of supplies but of
railway material were piled up in readiness for pushing out railhead immediately the advance began. A
Decauville, or light, line ran out towards Gamli from Shellal to make the supply system easier, and I
remember seeing some Indian pioneers lay about three miles of light railway with astonishing rapidity
the day after we took Beersheba. Every mile the line advanced meant time saved in getting up supplies,
and the radius of action of lorries, horse, and camel transport was considerably increased.
To supply the Gaza front we called in aid a small system of light railways. From the railhead at Deir el
Belah to the mouth of the wadi Ghuzze, and from that point along the line of the wadi to various places
behind the line held by us, we had a total length of 21 kilometres of light railway. Before this railway got
into full operation horses had begun to lose condition, and during the summer ammunition-column
officers became very anxious about their horses. The light railway was almost everywhere within range
of the enemy's guns, and in some places it was unavoidably exposed, particularly where it ran on the
banks of the wadi due south of Gaza. I recollect while the track was being laid speaking to an Australian
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