New-York tribune., 1921-06-12
How General Allenby Drove
The Turk Out of Palestine
Campaign That Broke the Backbone of Ottoman
Resistance Shown as Brilliant Feat
of Military Strategy

winter and driving the German air
centrate the Desert Mounted Corps
on the coast and to prepare his in
fantry attack in that sector without
arousing the least suspicion.
His strategy was bold and simple.
The infantry was to break through
near the sea and then wheel and drive
the Turks eastward into the broad
mountainous region, running north
and south, which separates the coastal
plain from the deep depression Of the
Jordan Valley. The cavalry was to
dash through the opening made near
the coast for forty or fifty miles and
then turn east and cut the Turkish
communication and lines of retreat
selzlng the railroad junction at Ell
Apule and Beisan and closing the
upper fords of the Jordan. The
British right wing was to advance
north of the Jordan and close the lower
lords. Then the net would be drawn
around the Turkish 7th and 9th armies.
holding the line west of the Jordan
The French army, east of the Jordan.
guarding the Hedjaz Railroad, was to
be cut off by Arab raids in Deraa. the
junction of the Palestine and Mecca
railroad systems, to the east of the
Sea of Galilee.
The surprise on the morning of Sep
tember IS was so complete that the
Turkish line near the sea crumpled IN
like cardboard. Mr.. Massey, who was
on the field, says that the battle was
won "ln the first ten minutes" The
cavalry streamed through the gap and
at dawn of September 20 one brigade
entered Nazareth, fifty miles away,
where General Liman Won Sanders had
his headquarters. Sanders escaped,
but many Of his staff were captured
with most Of his papers. That same
day the 4th Cavalry division entered
belsan, after riding eighty-fve miles
IN thirty-four hours. The envelop-
ment was thus accomplished, except
for the blocking of one Jordan crossing
and that line of retreat was quickly
closed by the destruction of the trans
port crowded into it by the British
Flying Corps. The Turks west Of the
Jordan, hemmed in by infantry on the
west and south and by cavalry on the
north and east, had nothing to do but
surrender. This operation was the
only one in the war in which cavalry
played major role.
After the debacle on the Judean
plateau the road to Damascus lay open.
The Desert Mounted Corps struck out
for that city. The British forces east
OF the Jordan seized Amman and cut
off the Turkish troops still south Of It.
Those to the north tried to retreat to
Damascus, but their path was blocked
at Deraa by the British cavalry and
the Arabs. Damascus was evacuated
without fight. So was Aleppo, a
couple of weeks later. All the coast
cities were abandoned.
The Turks and Germans were on]v
too eager to flee north, for the native
population turned against them and
massacred them whenever they had
the opportunity. Mr.. Massey was with
the British advance guard at Damas-
Gus and witnessed the disorders there.
he tells of the eagerness of Turks and
Germans to surrender to the British in
order to escape the vengeance of the
Syrian Arabs and the brutal rapacity
of the Bedouins. He says:
Il witnessed many instances of the
lear OF Turkish soldiers. Small