Public-domain ebook
by W. T. Massey
Language: en1,309 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: World War I·History - British·History - Modern (1750+)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #10098.
The work is a contemporary military narrative by W. T. Massey, written in April 1919, that records the British‑led campaign of General Allenby in Palestine up to the occupation of Jericho and the securing of Jerusalem. Its opening frames the capture of the holy city as the “twenty‑third fall of Jerusalem,” presenting the campaign as a civilising mission that prevented any Turkish attempt to retake the site. The author promises a two‑volume account, the first of which concentrates on the march through Gaza and Beersheba, the crushing of the Turkish left, and the final delivery of Jerusalem, while promising a second volume that will cover the rapid advance through 400 miles of country and the continued relevance of cavalry despite modern warfare. The detailed chapter list and extensive illustration captions indicate a thorough, map‑rich chronicle of the campaign’s logistics, battles, and symbolic significance.
Massey writes in a formal, declarative style typical of post‑war British officers, blending strategic analysis with patriotic rhetoric. The prose reflects the period’s confidence in imperial purpose and a desire to justify the war’s sacrifices by highlighting the preservation of sacred sites. Readers interested in World War I military history, especially the Middle‑Eastern theatre, as well as those who appreciate first‑hand accounts of British Imperial campaigns and the interplay of geography, religion, and strategy, will find this volume engaging.
The opening · free to read
This narrative of the work accomplished for civilisation by General Allenby's Army is carried only as far as the occupation of Jericho. The capture of that ancient town, with the possession of a line of rugged hills a dozen miles north of Jerusalem, secured the Holy City from any Turkish attempt to retake it. The book, in fact, tells the story of the twenty-third fall of Jerusalem, one of the most beneficent happenings of all wars, and marking an epoch in the wonderful history of the Holy Place which will rank second only to that era which saw the birth of Christianity. All that occurred in the fighting on the Gaza-Beersheba line was part and parcel of the taking of Jerusalem, the freeing of which from four centuries of Turkish domination was the object of the first part of the campaign. The Holy City was the goal sought by every officer and man in the Army; and though from the moment that goal had been attained all energies were concentrated upon driving the Turk out of the war, there was not a member of the Force, from the highest on the Staff to the humblest private in the ranks, who did not feel that Jerusalem was the greatest prize of the campaign.
In a second volume I shall tell of that tremendous feat of arms which overwhelmed the Turkish Armies, drove them through 400 miles of country in six weeks, and gave cavalry an opportunity of proving that, despite all the arts and devices of modern warfare, with fighters and observers in the air and an entirely new mechanism of war, they continued as indispensable a part of an army as when the legions of old took the field. This is too long a story to be told in this volume, though the details of that magnificent triumph are so firmly impressed on the mind that one is loth to leave the narration of them to a future date. For the moment Jerusalem must be sufficient, and if in the telling of the British work up to that point I can succeed in giving an idea of the immense value of General Allenby's Army to the Empire, of the soldier's courage and fortitude, of his indomitable will and self-sacrifice and patriotism, it will indeed prove the most grateful task I have ever set myself.
April 1919.
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