Two days after the surrender of Jerusalem General Allenby entered the ancient city on foot, accompanied by his staff, the commanding offi cers of the French and Italian detachments co operating with the British forces and American, French and Italian military attaches. Martial law was proclaimed and the general announced that property and all sacred buildings would be protected. On 25 Jan. 1918 the War Office in London issued General Allenby's first dispatch, in which he stated that during the operations from 31 Oct. 1917 to 9 Dec. 1917 over 12,000 prisoners were taken, while among the mass of war material captured there were about 100 guns, many machine guns, 20,000,000 rounds of rifle ammunition and 250,000 rounds of gun ammuni tion. More than 20 aeroplanes had been destroyed by British airmen or burnt by the enemy to avoid capture. Both from a political and military view the British occupation of Jerusalem was a most important event, for it still further reduced Turkish prestige and exer cised a profound influence upon the greater part of the Christian world. Nor was the prospect of losing so important a place underrated on die enemy side, for as soon as Jerusalem was re ported to be in danger, frantic efforts were made to save it. Enver Pasha came post haste from Constantinople and lectured the Turkish com manders, while the German strategist Falken hayn hurriedly covered the 300 miles from Aleppo to the front, but found that he was unable to stave off the inevitable. An Arab prophecy had been current for centuries that a deliverer would come to Jerusalem from the West- There had been considerable speculation in the country in 1898 when the fortner lcaiser visited the aty, but the wise expounders of The Law had asserted that the real saviour would bear a prophet's name and would enter on foot In the minds of the peasantry of Judaea General Allenby fulfilled these conditions, for by a peculiar coincidence his name somewhat re sembles the Arabic for °the prophet,) which is (al nebbi.° C.olloquial Arabic being a very elastic language, ((Allenby) and •Alneb? may easily become synonymons terms.
The retreating Turkish army had been cut in two sections by the rapid British advance along the coast and the dash between Joppa (modern Jaffa) and Jerusalem. One force WU only a few miles north of Joppa; the other hekl a line across the roads leading from Jeri cho east of Jerusalem to Nablus, about midway between the River Jordan and the Mediterra nean. The British line stretched from Jerusalem northwestward to Jaffa, taking up roughly half of the territory between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. It was essential first to protect that line and push it forward, involving an ad vance on a 12-mile front to a depth of out miles, by which the distance between Joppa and the enemy- would be increased to eight miles. But before this movement could be carried out a great deal of labor had to be expended on im proving the roads and in bringing up fresh sup plies frora Egypt These latter were trans ported over the railroad which had been laid down behind the advancing force; in other words, the iron road followed the arsny. Heavy rains now turned the roads into quagmires an4 movement was slow and difficult. The Turks launched several attacks on the Allied positions on the main motor road to Damascus. By de
the front was pushed ahead; by 5 Jan. fale already 13 miles had been covered; the Turlcs had a base at Nablus (the ancient She ehan), about half-way on the road to Nazareth. Allied airmen bombed the base and behind it, causing much damage. Further progress was made in the middle of February, when the oper ation was expanded eastward toward Jericho and the Hedjaz Railway. During 1917 the allied Arabs had been operating successfully along that railway; under the leadership of the 4(mysteriouso Colonel Lawrence they attacked and defeated a large Turkish force at Maan, 120 miles southeast of Gaza, on 7 July. About 703 Turks were reported killed, 650 captured and several guns taken. • By this battle the Arabs gained control of a line from Maan to Ababa, the port at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, whence the Egyptian frontier line runs almost straight across Sinai to Rafa. East of the Jordan lay strong divisions of Turks, whose comraunications were continually harassed and Eiellgttied by elusive bands of Arabs. Allenby a drive eastward on a 15-mile front to the Jordan Valley, 19 Feb. 1918. battered down ob stinate resistance and within two days a detach ment of Australians rode into Jericho. The aim was to drive the enemy across the Jordan and to seize the crossings, in order to prevent them from raiding the country west of the Dead Sea. It was also desirable to gain a point of depart ure for operations eastward, to pass over north of the Dead Sea with a view to interrupting the Turkish line of communication to the Hedjaz, in conjunction with the Arab forces based cat Akaba. Amman, a station on that railway, was to be the first objective. The difficulty of the ground was a greater obstacle than the enemy's opposition, which appeared to weaken with the discouragement of frequent defeat. Of deadly machine-gun fire there was ample for the Allies to face; it was the cold steel assaults that in spired most respect. Aeroplanes scouted high over the Jordan Valley and the shores of the Dead Sea, dropping bombs on El Kerak, on the eastern side and on sections of the railway. On March Allenby's left moved northward on Shechem, where a big tributary of the Jor dan, Wadi Auja, lay in the way. The rocicy defiles of the Robbers' Valley concealed numer ous machine-gun nests. After storming the height of Tel Asur British troops crossed the Wadi Auja on the 9th while the foothills over looking the Plain of Sharon and alone. the coast were partially cleared. On the banks of the Jordan a two weeks' fight for the Ghoraniyeh bridge ended by the Turks blowing it up. Allied engineers threw bridges across the river and toward the end of the month a sudden raid was made through the mountainous region on the east upon Es Salt, which was strongly held by Germans and Turks. Many of the troops had to swim across the Jordan in the night at cer tain parts of the river, while some were able to use the bridges in face of fire and a strong current Es Salt was found to be evacuated on 25 March; Australians and New Zealanders ad vanced beyond and reached the railway line, where they were able to carry out some demoli tion before enemy reinforcements compelled their withdrawal back to the Jordan.