W.T. Massey - How Jerusalem Was Won. Allenby's Campaign in Palestine
Turks out of another series of hills and were in firm possession of the line from Beitin, across the Nablus
road north of the Balua Lake, to the ridge of El Burj, having carried through everything which had been
planned for the Division.
Ramallah had been taken at nine o'clock in the morning without opposition by the 230th and 229th
Brigades, and at night the 74th Division held a strong line north of the picturesque village as far as Et
Tireh. The 10th Division also occupied the Tireh ridge quite early in the day, and one of their field
batteries and both mountain batteries got within long range of the Nablus road, and not only assisted in
shelling the enemy in Bireh but harassed with a hot fire any bodies of men or transport seen retreating
northwards. The Flying Corps, too, caused the Turks many losses on the road. The airmen bombed the
enemy from a low altitude and also machine-gunned them, and moreover by their timely information
gave great assistance during the operations. By the 30th December all organised resistance to our
advance had ceased and the XXth Corps consolidated its line, the 60th Division going forward slightly to
improve its position and the other divisions rearranging their own. The consolidation of the line was not
an easy matter. It had to be very thoroughly and rapidly done. The supply difficulty compelled the
holding of the line with as few troops as possible, and when it had been won it was necessary to put it in
a proper order in a minimum of time, and to bring back a considerable number of the troops who had
been engaged in the fighting to hold the grand defensive chain which made Jerusalem absolutely safe.
The standard gauge railway was still a long way from Ramleh, and the railway construction parties had
to fight against bad weather and washouts. The Turkish line from Ramleh to Jerusalem was in bad order;
a number of bridges were down, so that it was not likely the railway could be working for several weeks.
Lorries could supply the troops in the neighbourhood of the Nablus road, though the highway was getting
into bad condition, but in the right centre of the line the difficulties of terrain were appalling. The enemy
had had a painful experience of it and was not likely to wish to fight in that country again; consequently
it was decided to hold this part of the line with light forces.
In this description of the operations I have made little mention of the work of the Australian Mounted
Division which covered the gap between XXth and XXIst Corps. These Australian horsemen and
yeomanry guarded an extended front in inaccessible country, and every man in the Division will long
remember the troubles of supply in the hills. They had some stiff fighting against a wily enemy, and not
for a minute could they relax their vigilance. When, with the Turks' fatal effort to retake Jerusalem, the
10th Division changed their front and attacked in a north-easterly direction, the Australian Mounted
Division moved with it, and they found the country as they progressed become more rugged and bleak
and extremely difficult for mounted troops. The Division was in the fighting line for the whole month of
December, and when they handed over the new positions they had reached to the infantry on the last day
of the year, their horses fully needed the lengthened period of rest allotted to them.
CHAPTER XVII. A GREAT FEAT OF WAR
From the story of how Jerusalem was made secure (for we may hope the clamour of war has echoed for
the last time about her Holy Shrines and venerable walls) we may turn back to the coastal sector and see
how the XXIst Corps improved a rather dangerous situation and laid the foundations for the biggest
break-through of the world struggle. For it was the preparations in this area which made possible General
Allenby's tremendous gallop through Northern Palestine and Syria, and gave the Allies Haifa, Beyrout,
and Tripoli on the seaboard, and Nazareth, Damascus, and Aleppo in the interior. The foundations were
soundly laid when the XXIst Corps crossed the Auja before Christmas 1917, and the superstructure of
the victory which put Turkey as well as Bulgaria and Austria out of the war was built up with many
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