W.T. Massey - How Jerusalem Was Won. Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
French Mission; and the French, Italian, and United States Military Attaches. The Chief of the General
Staff (Major-General Sir L.J. Bols) and the Brigadier-General General Staff (Brigadier-General G.
Dawnay) marched slightly ahead of Lieutenant-General Sir Philip W. Chetwode, the XXth Corps
Commander, and Brigadier-General Bartholomew, who was General Chetwode's B.G.G.S. The guard
closed in behind. That was all.
The procession came to a halt at the steps of El Kala, the Citadel, which visitors to Jerusalem will better
remember as the entrance to David's Tower. Here the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff formed up on
the steps with the notables of the City behind them, to listen to the reading of the Proclamation in several
languages. That Proclamation, telling the people they could pursue their lawful business without
interruption and promising that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site,
endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form of three of the great
religions of mankind would be maintained and protected according to existing customs and beliefs to
those to whose faiths they are sacred, made a deep impression on the populace. So you could judge from
the expressions on faces and the frequent murmurs of approval, and it was interesting to note how, when
the procession was being re-formed, many Christians, Jews, and Moslems broke away from the crowd to
run and spread the good news in their respective quarters. How faithfully and with what scrupulous care
our promises have been kept the religious communities of Jerusalem can tell.
The procession next moved into the old Turkish barrack square less than a hundred yards away, where
General Allenby received the notables of the City and the heads of religious communities. The Mayor of
Jerusalem, who unfortunately died of pneumonia a fortnight later, and the Mufti, who, like the Mayor,
was a member of a Mahomedan family which traces its descent back through many centuries, were
presented, as were also the sheikhs in charge of the Mosque of Omar, 'the Tomb of the Rock,' and the
Mosque of El Aksa, and Moslems belonging to the Khaldieh and Alamieh families. The Patriarchs of the
Latin, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Churches and the Coptic bishop had been removed from the Holy
City by the Turks, but their representatives were introduced to the Commander-in-Chief, and so too were
the heads of Jewish communities, the Syriac Church, the Greek Catholic Church, the Abyssinian bishop,
and the representative of the Anglican Church. A notable presentation was the Spanish Consul, who had
been in charge of the interests of almost all countries at war, and whom General Allenby congratulated
upon being so busy a man. The presentations over, the Commander-in-Chief returned to the Jaffa Gate
and left for advanced General Headquarters, having been in the Holy City not more than a quarter of an
hour.
For succinctness it would be difficult to improve upon the Commander-in-Chief's own description of his
Official Entry into Jerusalem. Cabling to London within two hours of that event, General Allenby thus
narrated the events of the day:
(1) At noon to-day I officially entered this City with a few of my Staff, the commanders of the French
and Italian detachments, the heads of the Picot Mission, and the Military Attaches of France, Italy, and
the United States of America.
The procession was all on foot.
I was received by Guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, India, New Zealand,
France, and Italy at the Jaffa Gate.
(2) I was well received by the population.
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