The advance across the Nahr el Auja at the end of December 1917, and the infantry operations north of Jerusalem about the same time, established our line sufficiently far north of Jaffa and Jerusalem to secure these two places from all but long-range gun fire from the enemy. The line was then consolidated, and a period of trench warfare set in, which, with the exception of several minor operations, was to last till the autumn of the following year.

For the first part of this period, the Desert Mounted Corps remained in the neighbourhood of Gaza to rest and train.

The horses were in a sorry state, and the remount depots were empty, save for a few animals which had been returned from veterinary hospitals, after treatment for wounds or other injuries. Owing to the shortage of shipping, there was no prospect of any fresh remounts arriving in the country for an indefinite time. Consequently all the horses of the Corps had to be nursed back to condition before the cavalry could take part in any further serious work.

The divisions were all camped on deep sand, among the coastal dunes—the Yeomanry and the Australian Mounted Divisions round Gaza, the Anzac Division farther north. The heaviest rain drained through this sand immediately, and half an hour of sunshine was enough to dry the surface. For the[Pg 124] first time in many weeks the horses had clean, dry standings, and the effect of this was soon evident in the improved condition of their legs and coats. At the end of the first fortnight, which was a period of rest for men as well as horses, there was an all round improvement. Forage was plentiful again, and of fair quality, though every one would have given a great deal for a few tons of good oats, in place of the eternal barley.

After the first fortnight, training recommenced, gradually at first, so as not to check the recovery of the horses. By the end of the month, however, brigade and divisional schemes were in full swing.

The training was varied by salvage work on the old trenches at Gaza, from which a great quantity of ammunition and stores of every description was collected. Most of the men had an opportunity of visiting Gaza, and many were the 'curios' collected among the ruins, to be taken home to sweethearts and wives on that glorious 'leave,' that was always coming, but never quite came.

At a little distance the city appeared to be intact, except for two minarets, accidentally broken by shell fire, the jagged stumps of which stood up conspicuously. This curious, undamaged appearance was due to the great quantity of trees which grew all over the town, and which had now put on their spring coat of green. The kindly leaves hid the scarred and broken skeletons of the trees, and veiled the shapeless ruins of the houses.

Inside, however, was a scene of utter desolation. Not a living thing was to be seen in this city, which once held 40,000 souls, save an occasional, hungry pariah dog, engaged in his horrible work among the graves of the dead.

mosque

Ruins of the Great Mosque at Gaza, showing one of the arches of the old Crusader Church.

The great mosque, which had once been a noble,[Pg 125] Christian church, was almost entirely destroyed, but not by our guns. The Turks had used it as an ammunition depot, with that callous disregard for the Holy Places of their own religion which was always so characteristic of them, and, when the city was abandoned, they blew up the great store of shells there, and laid the mosque in ruins. Some of the lower arches remained, and one beautiful Norman gateway, but all the rest was a heap of tumbled masonry.

The German headquarters was in the north-west corner of the town, close to the remains of a graceful little Greek church. The house in which the officers lived was screened from view on all sides, and, as it was far removed from any of the enemy defences, it had escaped serious damage. But it was satisfactory to note that both the tennis courts, which had been made with such evident pains, had been visited by eight-inch shells.

The rest of the city was a mass of ruins, stark and silent. And so it is likely to remain for all time, an awful witness to the devastation of war. Its inhabitants have neither the energy of the people of Europe, nor the incentive of a bitter climate, and they are never likely to rebuild it.

By the end of January our front had been thoroughly consolidated, and the infantry had recovered from the hard fighting and cruel weather of December. The Commander-in-Chief now determined to extend his line to the Jordan, in order to secure his right flank.

There were several other advantages to be gained by securing possession of one or two crossings over the river. The enemy was at this time obtaining large supplies of grain from the districts round Kerak, in the land of Moab, on the eastern and south-[Pg 126]eastern shores of the Dead Sea. This grain was carried across the sea, in barges towed by motor boats, to the north end, whence it was transported to the Turkish front by the good metalled road from Jericho to Jerusalem. With Jericho and the crossings of the Jordan immediately north of the Dead Sea in our hands, we should have control of the sea, and all this traffic would be stopped. The grain would then have to be brought up to Amman, thirty miles east of the Jordan, by the Hedjaz Railway, and transported from there over some fifty miles of bad mountain track. In the extremely disorganised state of the Turkish transport, this would be likely to cause the enemy much inconvenience and delay. The control of the river crossings at Jericho would also facilitate raiding operations across the Jordan, directed against the enemy's line of communications with the Hedjaz.

The operations necessary to secure these objects were limited to the establishment of one or more bridgeheads on the east bank of the Jordan, and to an advance of our line northwards as far as the Wadi el Auja, a small, perennial stream that flows into the Jordan some nine miles north of the point where the latter enters the Dead Sea.

The watershed between the Mediterranean and the deep cleft of the Jordan Valley runs roughly north and south, through the Mount of Olives. Some description of the difficulties of the country on the west of the watershed has already been given. On the east side they are very much greater. The streams that run down from the mountains to the plain have cut gorges through the rock, often many hundreds of feet deep, which divide the eastern portion of the range into a series of parallel ridges running east and west. Innumerable tributaries of the main[Pg 127] watercourses run in all directions, and split these ridges again into isolated masses of rocks. It is only possible to cross the main wadis in a few places, so that movement north and south on the part of any considerable body of troops is out of the question.

Going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the general fall of the ground is gradual to Tal............