Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1917-11-08
COMING ARMAGEDDON
Opposing Armies Now Converg-
ing on Palestine's Famous

Transcript.
One of the big, old words, with a
flavor of mystery to it, that is being
brought into the world Of reality by
the present war is" Armageddon,
or "Har Megeddon," as the latest
TRANSACTIONS write it. Commonly
used as a figure of speech-as 1--WE
stand at Armageddon and battle fol
the Lord Armageddon is really {
place on the map, which thousands
of Americans have visited. Its his
tory ranks with that of the mos
famous battlefields of earth, and il
the Book of Revelation it is indicat.
I'd as the scene of the final conflic,
between good and evil.
Just now Armageddon is holding
the interest of students of operations
in the Near East, for the British ar.
my in the Holy Land is steadily
1rawing nearer to it, and there, are
obvious considerations of strategy
which make it the possible scene OF
a great battle. One has to rub his
eyes as he studies the war maps OF
today, to make sure that what he
sees thereon is real and not romano,
Prophets, fiction writers and preacl
.rs should be the ones to deal will
these story-book places, and not so
Der journalists. 1t seems almost like
religious fanaticism for one to b,
talking about an impending battlt
at Armageddon. Yet, as the RAILROAD
advertisements say, "Look at thu
map"
British troops are now MARCHING
aorthward through Palestine. Then
objective is the overthrow of the
syrian army, long commanded By
OJemal Pasha, and now centerin
IN the Oldest living city in the worlo
Damascus. After the Syrian arm,
las been dealt with, the British
troops, which drove the enemy from
The Sinai Peninsula, thus maxim.
'ale the Suez Canal, will seek to ct
.ect junction with the forces from
5agdad, and with the Russian allies
irom the Caucasus. AS the alice
soldiers converge upon -Aleppo
Which is the great railway center
up near the head of the Mediterran
can, they will meet increasing oppo
Sltlon, for they will be drawing nea.
er to the Turco-Teutonic base a
aonstantinople, which is the ulti
nate objective of the operation.
All this involves Armageddon TO.
Two reasons. In the first place, the
enemy are scarcely likely to sit il
Damascus awaiting the arrival of tn,
British. The Syrian army will
doubtless try to intercept the 10.
as convenient place. As the Turks
would follow the railway from Da.
lnascus and as the British would al
so use the prolongation of the same
galway, which runs down through.
The middle of Palestine to Hebron.
and Beersheba, the collision will III.
all likelihood come on the railroad,
But the Turks have to guard agains,
landing of the allies at Haifa,
Which is seaport of Damascus; Sc
they would scarcely go below the
old Haifa Railway.
If the foregoing two paragraphs
dry and technical though they be,
nave been followed, it is clear thai
the junction of the opposing forces
will be nowhere else than the plain
OF Megiddo, or Armageddon, where
the old Haifa Railway to Damascus
is joined by the new German rail-
way down through Palestine. Ar
mageddon is now railroad junction
on the route between Suez and Da-
mascus, even as it was a meeting
place OF the great highways between
Egypt and Assyria, in the days when
Pharoah Necho and Josiah, king OF
Aoi oSA, AOuSlt tuCi Gull. DcCdllSe tile
East and the West met at Arma-
geddon this plain won its fame
as a battle-ground of empire. 1t be-
came synonym for the place of
decision.
Twelve miles wide at its greatest
width, and more than forty miles
long measured from the Mediterran-
can to the Jordan River, the great
plain of Megiddo, or of Esdraelon,
as it is more comonly called, is a
rare battlefield, which soldiers from
The days of the Pharoahs and the
Caesars to Napoleon and Lord Kitch
ener have praised and utilized.
1t is easily located on any Bible
map, or other sketch of Palestine,
on the border between the hills of
Galilee and the hills of Samaria.
Nazareth, the boyhood home of Je-
sus, looks down upon it from it's
northern edge. Mount Tabor and
Mount Gilboa stands sentinel at it's
eastern gates, where it debouches
T.