W.T. Massey - How Jerusalem Was Won. Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
considerable supplies of wheat and flour from military depots, the cost being debited against their pay
which was paid in paper. They then sold the goods for gold. That accounted for the high prices of
foodstuffs, the price in gold being taken for the market valuation.
In the middle of November when there was a prospect of the Turks evacuating Jerusalem, the officers
sold out their stocks of provisions and prices became less prohibitive, but they rose again quickly when it
was decided to defend the City, and the cost of food mounted to almost famine prices. The Turks by
selling for gold that which was bought for paper, rechanging gold for paper at their own prices, made
huge profits and caused a heavy depreciation of the note at the expense of the population. Grain was
brought from the district east of the Dead Sea, but none of it found its way to civilian mouths except
through the extortionate channel provided by officers. Yet when we got into Jerusalem there were people
with small stocks of flour who were willing to make flat loaves of unleavened bread for sale to our
troops. The soldiers had been living for weeks on hard biscuit and bully beef, and many were willing to
pay a shilling for a small cake of bread. They did not know that the stock of flour in the town was
desperately low and that by buying this bread they were almost taking it out of the mouths of the poor.
Some traders were so keen on getting good money, not paper, that they tried to do business on this
footing, looking to the British Army to come to the aid of the people. The Army soon put a stop to this
trade and the troops were prohibited from buying bread in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. As it was, the
Quarter-master-General's branch had to send a large quantity of foodstuffs into the towns, and this was
done at a time when it was a most anxious task to provision the troops. Those were very trying days for
the supply and transport departments, and one wonders whether the civilian population ever realised the
extent of the humanitarian efforts of our Army staff.
During the period when no attempt was made to alleviate the lot of the people the Turks gave them a
number of lessons in frightfulness. There were public executions to show the severity of military law.
Gallows were erected outside the Jaffa Gate and the victims were left hanging for hours as a warning to
the population. I have seen a photograph of six natives who suffered the penalty, with their executioners
standing at the swinging feet of their victims. Before the first battle of Gaza the Turks brought the rich
Mufti of Gaza and his son to Jerusalem, and the Mufti was hanged in the presence of a throng
compulsorily assembled to witness the execution. The son was shot. Their only crime was that they were
believed to have expressed approval of Britain's policy in dealing with Moslem races. Thus were the
people terrorised. They knew the Turkish ideas of justice, and dared not talk of events happening in the
town even in the seclusion of their homes. The evils of war, as war is practised by the Turk, left a mark
on Jerusalem's population which will be indelible for this generation, despite the wondrous change our
Army has wrought in the people.
When General Allenby had broken through the Gaza line the Turks in Jerusalem despaired of saving the
City. That all the army papers were brought from Hebron on November 10, shows that even at that date
von Kress still imagined we would come up the Hebron road, though he had learnt to his cost that a
mighty column was moving through the coastal sector and that our cavalry were cutting across the
country to join it. The notorious Enver reached Jerusalem from the north on November 12 and went
down to Hebron. On his return it was reported that the Turks would leave Jerusalem, the immediate sale
of officers' stocks of foodstuffs giving colour to the rumour. Undoubtedly some preparations were made
to evacuate the place, but the temptation to hold on was too great. One can see the influence of the
German mind in the Turkish councils of war. At a moment when they were flashing the wireless news
throughout the world that their Caporetto victory meant the driving of Italy out of the war they did not
want the icy blast of Jerusalem's fall to tell of disaster to their hopes in the East. Accordingly on the 16th
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