ALLENBY, EDMUND HENRY HYNMAN, 1ST VIS COUNT (186T-1936), British field-marshal, was born April 23, 1861, and joined the Inniskilling Dragoons in 1882. He saw active service early in the Bechuanaland expedition of 1884-85 and in Zululand 1888, and later passed through the Staff College. During the South African war (1899-1902) he took part in the cavalry operations leading to the relief of Kimberley, in the battle of Paardeberg, and in the advance to Pretoria. His command of the 5th Lancers from 1902-05 spread his reputation throughout the Army. After commanding a cavalry brigade, he became inspector of cavalry in 191 o avd in 1914 went out to France in command of the cavalry division.
The work of his troops, mounted, during the retreat from Mons and advance to the Aisne, and, dismounted, in holding the line south of Ypres during the critical weeks of October, won high praise in Sir John French's despatches. When a second cavalry division arrived, Allenby was given command of the Cavalry Corps then formed, and in Oct. 1915 he succeeded Sir Charles Monro as commander of the III. Army. Throughout 1916 his Army front was relatively quiet, but in the spring of 1917 it played a foremost role in the battle of Arras.
In June Allenby left France to succeed Sir Archibald Murray in charge of the forces in Egypt and Palestine. His first three months on the borders of Palestine, the season being still unsuit able for operations, were devoted to intensive preparations for an autumn offensive, reorganizing the command, greatly develop ing the communications, and moving his own General Head quarters from Cairo to the front at Rafa. Complete secrecy and many ruses misled the Turks as to the main point of attack. The strong defences of Gaza were bombarded from Oct. 26 onwards, and serious attacks followed on Nov. I to fix the enemy's atten tion and compel him to draw in his reserves.
Meanwhile, as a necessary preliminary to the real blow, the outlying bastion of Beersheba, 35 m. E. of Gaza, was gained by a convergent manoeuvre on Oct. 31, a prelude to the decisive attack on Nov. 6 which broke through the enemy's weakened centre and into the plain of Philistia. This compelled a general retreat of the Turks, and the pursuit was pressed so relentlessly that by Nov. 14 the port of Jaffa had been seized, the Turkish armies driven apart in two divergent masses, and Allenby was able to wheel his forces to the right for an advance inland on Jerusalem. The British troops kept too closely on the heels of the Turks for the latter to block the narrow mountain passes, and, despite a stout Turkish resistance almost at the gates of Jerusa lem the objective was gained with the surrender of the city on Dec. 9. By the time the winter rains set in the position of the British had been improved and their hold on Jaffa and Jerusalem had been made thoroughly secure.
The further advance initiated in the spring was interrupted by the crisis on the western front, which forced the dispatch to France of most of Allenby's British troops. The depletion was made up by reinforcements from India and Mesopotamia, and the summer of 1918 was devoted to reorganization and the train ing of these new units. Finally, in mid-September, the carefully planned and prepared offensive was launched. Feinting towards the east bank of the Jordan, to distract the enemy's attention, Allenby secretly concentrated, on the Mediterranean flank, the mass of the infantry and behind them the cavalry. In this way he changed a two-to-one superiority on the general front into a four-to-one superiority at the decisive point of attack. On the night Sept. 18-19 the forces in the hilly centre had attacked to fix the enemy's attention, and at dawn on the 19th the western mass struck; the result was to roll the Turks back north-east, like a door on its hinges.
Through the open doorway the cavalry passed, riding straight up the coastal corridor for 3o m. before swinging east to cut the Turkish communications and close all exits of retreat. Com pletely trapped, the main Turkish armies were rounded up, while the British cavalry exploited the victory of Megiddo by a swift and sustained pursuit which gained first Damascus and finally Aleppo. The capitulation of Turkey rang down the curtain on this brief and dazzling campaign. Making all allowances for the British superiority in strength, it must rank as one of the master pieces of military history, as perfect in execution as in design. For his services the victor was promoted field-marshal and raised to the peerage as Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe, receiving also a grant of £50,000.
Though his campaign had been waged beyond the borders of Egypt, Allenby had been throughout responsible for the protec tion and internal order of the Nile delta, where the military situation and the changed status of Egypt had led to considerable unrest. In I g 19 he was appointed British High Commissioner in Egypt, and held the post until 1925, through the long sequence of political trouble and disturbances arising out of the agitation for independence. In such conditions criticism of the administra tion was inevitable, but it is a testimony to Allenby's impartiality and sympathy that it was rather of the velvet glove than of the iron hand. If the ultimate verdict rests with history, it can at least be recognized now that the prestige of his name was a unique asset, and indeed made him the only possible choice for The post at such a critical period. He died in London, May 14.
1936. See PALESTINE, OPERATIONS IN. (B. H. L. H.)