Except for a garrison left on the east bank to hold a bridgehead. all the Allies were back across the Jordan by 2 April. The Turks novr returned from the east and reoccupied a strong position at Shunet Nirnrin with some 5,000 men, about 10 miles from the river. An attempt was made to cut off this force by a roundabout movement to the north of it, to retake Es Salt and hold it if possible till Feisul with his Arabs could come up from the south. The Arabs, as already stated, had their base at Akabah. In January 1918 they had captured the high IrtioauLd about Uheida, within seven miles of while another Arab force had seized the whole of the Hish Forest up to and including Shobek, 20 miles north by west of Maan, and destroyed some 2.2 mlies of the enemy's li t railway, along which they had trans wood for their locomotives. Still another Arab patrol raided Jauf ed Derwish, a station 30 miles north of Maan, which they held for three days, during which they burnt the building and destroyed some rolling stock. In these operations the Turks lost a number of killed, prisoners and guns. Another band of Arabs captured Tafile at the south end of the Dead Sea in January, where the Turks surrendered. On 26 January a strong Turkish force attempted to recapture Tafile, but was driven back with severe loss, over 450 killed and 300 taken prisoners. In March they returned. accompanied by German infantry, when the Arabs retired The raid on the Shunet Nimrin position commenced in the morning of 30 April ; the adv-anced works were captured, but a strong resistance rendered it impossible to go farther for the moment ; the cavalry sent round north of the place arrived at their destination and toolc Es Salt, where an Australian brigade was left This body was attaciced and separated by Turkish cavalry on 1 May and one section was driven back through the foothills to the Wadi el Abiad, abandoning nine guns and part of their transport. Those of the Austrahans left in Es Salt were now cut off with but one line of retreat or supply till the main road could be opened by the capture of Shunet Nimrin. A combined Allied attack on this position began on 2 May, but at the same time two Turkish bat talions with heavy guns arrived at Es Salt and made a desperate attempt to overcome the Aus tralians there, though without success. To ward off this blow the force for Shunet Nimrin had to be weakened and called off, as Turkish re inforcements were approaching. Arab assist ance had been expected, but it did not material ize in time. The Australians withdrew from Es Salt, closely followed by the enemy, who, how ever, was held off without difficulty and all the Allies got safely back over the Jordan by. 4 May. Meanwhile, great events were preparing on the Western Front for the last mighty effort, and troops were collected from every available theatre of war to assist in striking the final blow. Little as they could be spared, men were sent from Syria to France; the reorganization of the forces prevented further operations on any large scale beyond a policy of active de fense. Divisions were withdrawn froin Pales tine and Mesopotamia, also nine Yeomanry reghnents, five siege batteries, 10 British bat talions and five machine-gun companies : all embarked for France. These were replaced by Indian cavalry regiments from France and native battalions from India. During May, 14 British battalions more were withdrawn for France, with only two Indian battalions to re place them. During June, July and August more men arrived from India. While all this shifting had been going on, the enemy had not been neglected; many raids took place. But the Turks had received a considerable °stiffening') of German troops, and their resistance grew stronger by degrees. Advance was made on the British left along the coast in June in a series of minor battles and daring raids. The Indian troops were admirably adapted for this style of warfare, Pathans, Sikhs and Gurkhas partic ularly distinguished themselves in stealthy ap proach, and sudden pouncing upon the enemy lines. During the summer an event of con siderable importance had happened far behind the Palestine front: an iron swing bridge across the Suez Canal had been completed at Al Kantara (Arab, °the bridge% thus establishing direct railway communication between Cairo and Palestine— for the first tiine. This very modern link between the land of the Pharaohs and Judzea facilitated rapid transport of sup plies to the fighting line. On 27 May 1918 the last tremendous German offensive began in France; the Germans were at the height of their great sweep toward Paris when, on 13 July, the Turks emulated the example of their allies by making a most determined attempt to rush the Jordan crossings and recover Jericho. They made some progress at first, but on the next day the Australians counter-attaciced and re stored the position, capturing many Germans including 12 officers and a number of guns. A strong Turkish force concentrated on the east of the Jordan was surprised in a dashing charge by the Jodhpur (Indian) Lancers and sought safety in flight During all this period the Arab allies were busy harassing the Turks along the Hedjaz Railway, not permitting the latter to restore communication between Maan and the north. South of Mann a detaclunent of the Imperial Camel Corps attacked and captured the station at Kalaat el Mudawara, destroying the water tower and pturips, with the result that no water was now to be had for a distance of nearly 100 miles south of Maan; Medina was definitely cut off frorn the north. Since the declaration of their independence the Arabs had cleared the Red Sea coast of the enemy for 800 miles and disposed of 40,000 Turkish troops.
In order to keep the narratwe abreast with the events, we must now direct our glance to Mesopotamia, where we left the British in pos session of Bagdad under the command of the new generalissimo, Sir W. R. Marshall. If one will consult a map of the 9uondam Turkish Empire and observe the relative posi tions of Bagdad and Jerusalem, the whole strategy of the two commanders is at once ap parent They are working along on parallel lines with the Great Nefud or Arabian Desert stretched between them. Follow the two lines upon the map and it will be seen at once that the junction where the two armies — provided they are successful — must eventually meet is the ancient city of Aleppo. outside the northern rim of the desert. The last important action under General Maude was the surprise and cap ture of Ramadie on 28 Sept. 1917. The Anglo Indian force which accomplished this exploit was opposed early in October by other Turkish forces northeast of Ramadie on the Jebel Hamrin hills on the Euphrates side of Mesopo tamia. On the Tigris side of the country the enemy was entrenched up the river above Bag dad in front of Daur, his left wing stretching across to Ramadie. Marshall was sent to expel the Turks from their forward position on the right bank of the Diala and to hold them in front while a main attack was delivered against their left flank. The plan succeeded; the enemy was dislodged from a very strong position, but, owing to the low water of the Diala at the thne, most of the Turks made their escape and got over to the right bank In the middle of October a Turkish army co. rps undertook a counter
demonstration, advanced eight miles north of Samarra and entrenched. These operations, begun under General Maude, were continued by Marshall toward the end of November, when the Diala was forced by night and the whole position between Mirjana and the Nahrin oc cupied on 3 Dec. 1917. An infantry brigade meanyvhile advanced along the Jebel Hamrin and drove the enemy toward the Sakaltutan Pass and Nahrin River; another infantry brigade cleared Kishla Suhaniya, occupied the pass after the Turks withdrew in the night, and on 5 December a combined column pushed forward against Kara Tepe, carried the position next day and put the Turks to flight. Prisoners were taken and 100 dead were buried by the British. In this engagement a Russian detach ment co-operated. Khanakin was occupied by the Allies on 9 December, and the next two months were mainly devoted to consolidating positions and constructing bridges across the aiphrates, to whkh side of Mesopotamia the next main attack was to be transferred. On 9 March 1918 a surprise assault on Hit, in the cen tre of the oil country, was entirely successful, while a dashing cavalry coup netted 3,000 prisoners. The next place to fall was Khan Bagdadie, some 22 miles northwest of Hit; pur suit was kept up till the rains intervened; by the first week of April over 5,000 prisoners were taken. At the end of the month the advance was resumed up the road to Mosul. 'Phe Allies were now half-way between Bagdad and their goal at Aleppo. The Turks kept on the move, harassed by cavalry which swept up large numbers of prisoners. Numerous minor operations were in progress during all the time.
German emissaries were busy stirring up cer tain tribes on the Persian border with gold and promises, notably some sections of the Sinjabis. With the assistance of some friendly tribes a small British column fought a brief action with the Sinjabis, defeating them with heavy loss (25 April 1918). The result of this little battle was useful, for the pro-enemy chief of the Sinjabis (who was Icnown to be in German pay) was himself wounded. The German agents fell into discredit; a profound impres sion in favor of the British was created among the surrounding tribes, and the line of com munication into Persia was safeguarded from serious raiding.
Little by little the Mesopotamian colturins pushed ahead, fighting many engagements, dis lodging the enemy from inconvenient positions and securing control of roads, rivers, ravines and natural fastnesses. Substantial gains were made during May along both the Tigris and Euphrates, while Allenby was slowly forging ahead on the other side of the desert. Each commander met with checks and minor reverses; wherever an effort failed, a repeated attempt rarely proved unsuccessful. All strategic move ments were but preliminaries to the great deci sion. As the Allies advanced, the Turks time and again retired after an engagement or evacu ated positions without excessive resistance. In this manner various places were occupied by the Allies. To add to the difficulties famine stalked among the civilian populations on the route, necessitating a combined campaign of fighting with the enemy and alleviating suffering. Cleaning up indescribably dirty towns and intro ducing the elements of sanitation was yet an other of the many tasks to be faced. It must be remembered that during the summer of 1918 there were still some Russic.n troops in Persia who had not yet shared the general demoraliza tion of their brethren in Europe. Persia was relapsing into anarchy and the Russians were retreating to the Caspian. Urgent calls came to Marshall to send troops into the country, where famine also prevailed. Mr. and Mrs. Stead, two American missionaries, were en gaged in strenuous relief work in the neighbor hood of Kermanshah. At the end of May General Marshall dispatched troops in automo biles as far as Kasvin to take over that place from the retreating Russians. Though a mere side issue, this was an operation of considerable difficulty and magnitude. The Allied mission under General Dunsterville arrived at Kasvin on 1 June 1918; on the 8th the Russians stationed there marched away for Enzeli to take ship thence for Baku. A small British detachment accom panied them. On reaching Mandjil three daya later they found the bridge at that place held by a native tribe called the Jangalis, with whom were several German officers. After a vain effort to parley on the part of the Germans, the Russians attacked assisted by British light armored cars, captured the bridge, and moved on to Resht and Enzeli. During July some street fighting occurred in Resht when a small detachment of Anglo-Indian troops were at tacked by the Jangalis. About 100 of the latter were killed, when the tribe made an agreement not to assist the Turks any further. At this time the govenunent of Baku (on the Caspian) was Bolshevik, and strongly opposed to British intervention. Actions were fought near the port between Turks and Tatars on one side and Russians and Armenians on the other. On 26 July the Bolshevik government was over thrown and its place taken by a Centro-Cas pian Dictatorship. The latter at once applied to the British for aid, but before it could arrive the Russian commander who had brought' his men out of Persia had marched them away again along the Caspian. On 4 August a small mission of British officers with one platoon as escort arrived at Baku, where they received an ovation on marching through the town. The Turks attacked Baku the next day and were driven back with many losses. More British einforcements continued to trickle into the town and took over portions of the defenses. General Dunsterville tried to rouse the popu lation into an energetic mood, but they seemed to think it was no longer necessary for them to fight now that the British had come. Twice toward the end of August the Turks attacked Baku with artillery and bayonet charges, op posed at first only by a handful of British troops and Armenian irregulars. On 14 Sep tember the Turks returned to the attack with considerable reinforcements. They scaled the heights and had nearly succeeded in taking the town when a counter-attack by Russians, Brit ish and Armenians held the fort for a while; the Russians lost all their officers and the Ar menians were overcome. The weak British force could do little more, so it was decided to withdraw them on three vessels which had been earmarked for their use. The town was at the mercy of the enemy, who occupied all the high ground and could shell the harbor at 3,000 to 5,000 yards. The Baku government was informed of General Dunsterville's de cision; the sick and wounded were carried on board in the evening and at 10 o'clocic the three ships set sail without lights closely followed by another in which it had been possible to col lect anununition and explosives. This latter vessel was struck by gunfire from the guardship at the mouth of the harbor, but the others slipped away unscathed, and all four arrived safely at Enzeli The British detachment had held the Turks out of Baku for six weeks; the latter were obliged to bring up large rein forcements before they could capture the place.