Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 962

Berks Royal Horse Artillery -€” continued.

... "sprint". All the rank and file knew that there was work to be done, but if they could have foreseen the happenings of the next few weeks no doubt they would have ridiculed them as impossible. On September 18th the Battery had moved into position near Sorona, which was just behind the Jaffa front, and the day was spent hidden in orange groves, so that the Turk could not spy on movements of troops from the air. As it turned out, however, not a single enemy plane was to be seen. Our machines had completely gained the mastery. Over on the Jordan valley front many things were happening, however. The roads had been blocked with dummy traffic, dummy camps constructed, and everything possible done to lead the enemy into the supposition that a heavy attack was imminent there. After events proved that he had been completely taken in. Early on the morning of the 19th many guns opened fire with a roar and a crash at the Jaffa end of the line, and for two hours the Turk€™'s defences were mercilessly battered. Then the infantry went over, but there was nothing for them to do. What few Turks there had been in the trenches were flying for their lives, except those who had finished their running career. Then the cavalry with their horse artillery rushed through the gap, and from that moment the Turkish Army was doomed, although even the Commander-in-Chief must have been agreeably surprised at the stupendous results obtained. From the moment of the breakthrough began a cavalry march that has been described as ...

Unprecedented in Military History.

From Sorona to Beisan was a distance of 92 miles, and represented a circuitous march from the enemy's right flank to a spot well behind his left. That march was covered in exactly 36 hours, although the first half of it was through very heavy going, necessitating the use of ped-rails or sand tyres. It must be said that more credit is due to the animals than to the men, for they did this journey on very short rations and with a strictly limited water supply. If ever our old friends, the horses and mules, were responsible for a military victory, then it can safely be said that the laurels were theirs on this occasion. Many dropped dead in the harness, but the residue struggled on, and the ring round the Turkish Army was completed in the nick of time. Just before the capture of El Afule, a railway station of strategic importance, a pass had to be negotiated, and this was reached about twenty minutes before it could be seized by a large body of Germans and Turks. These were charged by the Indian Lancers after they had passed safely through, and the whole were either killed or captured. A few m en could have held that pass for an indefinite period, and failure here might have meant disaster for the whole scheme. Great captures of material, including aeroplanes, were made at El Afule, and a never ceasing stream of prisoners flowed back to the collecting stations. They were in sorry plight; ragged, starving, and thoroughly broken in spirit, and all seemed glad that their troubles were over. Some aeronauts were captured in their beds, and it was stated that General von Sanders, the German Commander-in-Chief, only escaped from the place some ten minutes before the Indians dashed in. A Turkish aeroplane landed after the arrival of the British with despatches for his headquarters, not knowing that the enemy were within his gates, so to speak, but before he could be secured he managed to burn his machine and destroy his papers.

The Plains of Armageddon.

The ground which the Battery crossed en route from El Afule to Beisan is the famous Plain of Armageddon, and it is a peculiar fact that it should thus, for the second time, have been the scene of the destruction of an army. Verily, history repeats itself. The way was long, hot, dusty and tiresome, but the end was in sight, and exhausted men and beasts gave of their best in covering those last weary miles. Luckily it was hard ground and mostly downhill, or the story of the triumphant completion of that great march might never have been told, and the main body of the Turkish army might have effected its escape. At length, however, Beisan was reached. There was no fighting to speak of, only the work of herding and shepherding disordered thousands of straggling Turkish soldiery, making good their escape from the captors of Nablus only to walk blindly into the waiting cavalry. Thousands upon thousands they came, with a fair sprinkling of Germans and the look of bewilderment on their faces as they were piloted into the camp formed for their reception was, to say to say [sic] the least, pathetic. Over 30,000 were gathered in here, at Beisan, and their apathetic attitude may be gauged from the fact that five or six Indians were sufficient to guard a crowd numbering many thousands. Four or five days only were spent in rest, and the Battery and Ammunition Column then joined in the resumption of the march into enemy territory, pursuing the small enemy body that had escaped. The route now lay through the Jordan valley, the river being forded one night under exceptionally difficult circumstances, and then passed over a chain of hills into the land of Caanan. This was wild hilly country, and at one time a height of 8,000 feet above sea level was reached, but it did not seem to get any colder, except at nights, when one was forced to wrap up tightly in a blanket to keep out the cold and dew. There were many villages, peopled by a strange variety of the Arab tribe, and offering straw and tibbin to those who liked to pillage for the sake of their horses. And so on to Mezerib, an important junction, and thence by the old railway embankment, which served as a road, on the concluding stages to Damascus.

The Triumph of Hedjaz.

At Beisan the Battery had been given charge of a Turkish 5.9 howitzer, which after due investigation had been found to be in perfect order, and was brought along by a twelve-mule team. There was never a chance to give the Turk s some of their own medicine, however, for they retired too fast. At one place the Battery had a few shots with their own guns, but it was not a case of pushing the Turks back, only hurrying to keep up with them. Ghastly scenes were witnessed on the road. Hundreds of Turks lay dead or dying, not of wounds, but of starvation. Though they were enemies, one could not deny a thrill of pity at the sight of these miserable wretches, starved to death by the roadside and stripped of their clothing by the prowling Arabs. The troops of the King of the Hedjaz were now marching side by side with the British, singing and shouting with joy at the victory which they had awaited so long. They were picturesque troops, with their head dresses and fine trappings, and all armed with the latest pattern British rifle and burdened down with many bandoliers of cartridges. Some rode horses and some camels, while their artillery consisted of light mountain guns, carried on the ships of the desert. The inhabitants of the villages showed themselves to be of widely different temperaments. Some stood silently and glowered with puckered brows while the British troops marched by, while others greeted the victors with cries of triumph and the display of the Hedjaz flag and other bunting of a mysterious character.

A Pleasant Halt at Damascus.

Weary and worn, the Battery at last rumbled along the last piece of road to Damascus, and finally drew rein amid vineyards and other pleasant surroundings. It was not long before those vineyards were being heavily attacked. Such grapes, too. Nearly as big as English plums, and one could have a sand-bag full for the taking. Four days were spent just outside the walls of Damascus, and then the never-ending pursuit began once more.

Over Lebanon to Beyrut.

It is unfortunate that the last chapter of this history should also be the saddest in many respects, for one generally likes a story to end with satisfaction to readers and characters alike. The resumption of the march from Damascus saw the beginning of that epidemic of death and disease that raged for some weeks and claimed thousands of victims. The medical men said that infected mosquitoes at Beisan had laid the foundations of this "super-malaria"€ which now raged among the troops and reduced divisions to brigades and brigades to bare regiments. However that may be, it was certainly fostered and abetted by the terrible conditions along the road northwards from Damascus. The Australian division had surprised the retreating enemy along this road and had strewn it with hundreds of dead men and horses and oxen, while discarded transport wagons, smashed motor-lorries and all the aftermath of disordered route [sic] lined the highway on both sides for a score of miles. The stench from the bodies was terrible to an extreme, and the quickest way out was to burn them. Hundreds of captured Germans were set to work to heap corpses, both men and animals, into funeral pyres, which were started by means of the wood from the smashed wagons and other lumber left by the enemy. Every fifty or one hundred yards upon the road this grim spectacle was repeated, and men who had thought themselves impervious to any of the horrors of war reached their first halting-place that night thoroughly nauseated and sickened. It was during the next few days that the first rush of the fever came. Field ambulances were swamped and overflowed with cases, clearing-stations were choked, ambulance transport completely broke down, and doctors and orderlies, hopelessly insufficient for the task, fought despairingly night and day to check the onslaught of a disease that threatened to sweep away almost an entire army.

Heroic Medical Services.

The history of the medical services in those days would make an immortal story could it ever be written. Swamped with patients in the very first rush and with the clearing-stations unable to accept more cases, they fought a hopelessly unequal fight and triumphed in the end. Men died like flies, but it was not the fault of the doctors, many of whom won Victoria Crosses just as surely as the coveted distinction was ever gained on the battlefield. The scenes in the temporary "hospitals" erected would baffle description. An aged padre, alone with four hundred patients and one young doctor, only a boy, scrubbed the floors of the house and did what cooking he could, and then went round with a dixie serving out milk and such other comforts as could be obtained. The 10th C.F.A. was isolated for a fortnight with no supplies, but succeeded in living on the countryside, a really miraculous achievement. The Indians suffered just as much from the terrible disease as did the British troops, and whole units were rendered "hors de combat" and left stranded in isolated spots. The Berks Battery sent 50 per cent. of its men to hospital, while the Brigade Ammunition Column had less than twenty fit men out of a total of 200. Even thus, with half the horses riderless and led in strings behind the Brigade, the sixty or seventy miles to Baalbek were somehow accomplished. That was the limit, however, and exhausted troops could go no further. Then tidings of the dead began to arrive, names of men who had survived battle and climate for four years, to give their lives like this, just when the end of the war was in sight.