Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-07-09
TURKS AND HUNS REFUSE :
TOFIGHTFOR DAMASCUS
Australian Tells of Victory Gained
Over Superior Force.
ENEMY MORALE SHATTERED
Interesting Account Of Capture of An
cient City by Australian Forces
Gould Have Sustained
Siege for Months.

Sydney, \. s. Van interesting II
belated account of the capture Of Da-
mascus by Australian forces last fall
Is given by a returned Australian sol
der In the Sydney Morning Herald.
The narrative starts with the Aus
tralians advance from Liberals and
4he subsequent encircling operations
which resulted In the fail Of Damas-
Gus itself.
Leaving Liberals behind the Aus
trallan division pushed on northward
to Lake Huleh, where they tried to
cross the Jordan, but the enemy had
blown up the big stone bridge. and
nests of German machine gunners lined
the precipitous river banks. Up and
down the river the patrols reconn0i-
tered, but always they were met with
burst of fire from the eastern bank.
But the old Jordan had to be crossed.
so the Tenth Light Horse, under cover
Of darkness, forced passage near the
lake, while the Fourteenth Light Horse
did the same further south. In the
morning they converged on the enemy
from either flank, capturing number
of prisoners. few guns, and many
machine guns. The bulk of the enemy
rear guard bolted So once more was
continued the great race toward Da-
mascus
Enemy Rear Guard Routed.
at Kuneitra the rear guard ma
chine gunners were again encountered,
and once more at Sasa. At the latter
place there was stiff fighting, and we
had some casualties, but the last OBJ
stacle was removed, and we pushed
on to the great city.
"Away to the eastward we could
see clouds of dust rising from the
Hedjaz road It was the remnant of
the Fourth Turkish army from Aman.
SO. In spite Of their long start, we
had made a dead-heat of 1t. Their
fate was already sealed. We had
been In the saddle all the previous aft
ernoon. all night and all the morn
ing. but there was no chance of
halt. General Hodgson--command
the Australian divislon-pushed the
Third Light Horse brigade toward the
south Of the city, while he sent Cen
eral Onslow's Fifth brigade on a wide
encircllng sweep to the west and
north of Dumar, with a view to block
ing the escape.
1.-THE battle of Damascus, which fol-
lowed win be studied in years to come
as the perfect example of the influ-
ence of morale. Napoleon said that
morale to material is as three to one
Here one found II a hundred to one. A
few thousand exultant horsemen hem
med in and captured an army. The
city was surrounded. The roads to
northward were held. Having album
dance Of arms and munitions. food and
water, and being In such overwhelming
numbers, they could have sustained
siege for months even II they feared
to risk battle in the open. But their
morale was shattered.
"There was little fight left In them.
A fringe of machine guns and a few
pieces of artillery held off the attack
ers for an hour or so. Then the horse
men broke through THE third Light
Horse brigade captured some thou
sands of the Fourth Turkish army from
Aman.
''The Fourth regiment entered the
outskirts of the city. found the big bar
racks swarming with Turks and Ger
mans But they wouldn't fight and
the Vlctorians rounded up 10000 of
them and led them away. Another
column, several thousand strong. flee
ing from the Arabs, tried TO escape by
the northern road to Honin. But the
Third Light Horse brigade started in
pursuit charged the rear guard of
German machine gunners and captured
the whole column.
Meanwhile the Fifth Light Horse
brigade-which used TO be the camel
corps-broke through the Gordon of
machine guns. hiding in the northern