Book: With Our Army in Palestine

A >> Antony Bluett >> With Our Army in Palestine




As we approached Beyrout the signs of distress among the people grew more
and more pronounced. Along the route were several tiny villages whose
inhabitants gathered by the roadside to beg for food, and it was awful to
see the wolfish way they ate the biscuits we gave them. At many places
women stood with jars of water which they offered to the camel-drivers,
not, I am sure, as a _quid pro quo_, but because it was all they had to
offer.

Just at the entrance to the olive-groves, which extend for six miles out of
Beyrout, I saw a dead child lying by the roadside, and from that point the
journey became a succession of heartrending sights. Gaunt, lean-faced men,
women thin to the point of emaciation, and children whose wizened faces
made them look like old men, lined the route weeping for joy at their
deliverance. Every one of our men as he passed handed over his day's
rations of bully-beef and biscuits to the starving people; I saw one woman
hysterically trying to insert a piece of army biscuit into the mouth of the
baby in her arms, and groups of little boys fighting for the food thrown to
them. It was pitiful to see the gratitude of people who succeeded in
catching a biscuit or a tin of bully; and the way they welcomed our
camel-drivers, who, of course, spoke Arabic like themselves, was a
revelation.

A man, haggard with want, came out of his little wine-shop and offered me a
glass of aniseed, apologising courteously for its poor quality, and
explaining that it was the only drink he had been able to obtain for sale
during the War! A glance at the rows of empty bottles in his shop-window
confirmed the statement. God knows how he had earned his living during the
past three years.

Towards evening the head of the long column entered Beyrout: from miles
behind on the hills we could see the swinging kilts of the Highlanders,
while the sound of the bag-pipes floated faintly back to us. By eight
o'clock, we, too, were marching into the town through crowds of delirious
people, who clung to the troops as they passed and kissed the boots of the
mounted men; it was the most painful, pitiful experience of all. As we
swung down the hill towards the beach a man said: "You are just in time,
monsieur; in six days we should all have been dead."

That was the main thing: we had marched ninety-six miles in six days, we
were dog-tired after a last continuous trek of eighteen hours, but--we were
in time!




CHAPTER XXII

DESERTED VILLAGES IN LEBANON


Sixty thousand people died of starvation in Beyrout during the War, out of
a total population of one hundred and eighty thousand. There is
overwhelming proof that this was a part of the brutal policy of systematic
extermination adopted by the Turco-Germans towards the weaker races of
Syria and Palestine. When Beyrout was evacuated the enemy collected all the
food they could lay hands on, including the recently garnered harvest; and
what they were unable to carry away with them they dumped in the harbour
rather than give it to the starving people. Four hundred tons of foodstuffs
were wantonly destroyed in this manner; and as an example of callous and
spiteful vengeance, towards a people whose chief fault apparently was that
they were hungry, this would be hard to beat.

The mortality amongst children was appalling. You could not ride out of the
town without seeing their dead bodies lying by the roadside, where they had
dropped from the arms of mothers too weak to carry them, often enough
themselves lying dead a few yards farther on. In the poorer quarters of the
town, especially near the docks, the dreadful death-roll lengthened every
day. The Turks had gone out of their way to destroy many of the houses,
with the result that hundreds of people were wandering about, foodless,
homeless, and utterly friendless. For the first few days most of our work
was carried on in and around the docks, where crowds of women and children
congregated daily in the hope of obtaining food. I saw one small boy
walking in front of me with a curious, unsteady gait, and just as I drew
level with him he pitched forward on to his face without a sound. He was
stone-dead when I turned him over; and judging by the terrible emaciation
of his body he had died of protracted starvation.

Until the foodships arrived the British Army fed most of the people; I use
the word "most" advisedly, for even here there were fat profiteers who had
made fortunes out of the War, and who cared nothing for the sufferings of
others. The poorer inhabitants literally thronged the various camps in
search of food, and with characteristic generosity the troops tried to feed
them all! They gave away bully-beef and biscuits to those most in need,
and, whenever possible, their tea and sugar rations also; it was painful to
see the gratitude of the recipients.

Except amongst the very wealthy both tea and sugar had been literally
unknown for four years. When we entered Beyrout the price of tea was four
hundred piastres (L4 2s.) per lb.--and chemically-treated stuff at that;
and sugar, which was all but unobtainable by anybody, cost three hundred
piastres per lb.! Within a week of our arrival you could buy both
commodities in the shops at about twenty piastres and five piastres per lb.
respectively.

But distress and suffering were not confined to Beyrout alone. On the
pleasant hills of Lebanon north of the town are numerous villages through
which the Turks had swept like a plague. Here the policy had been not so
much starvation as extermination: whole villages were stripped of their
inhabitants, who had been forcibly carried away, the men to slavery or
death; the women to something worse. You could ride through village after
village without seeing a soul, save perhaps an old man who would tell you
that he was keeping the keys of the houses for their owners--who would
never return. It is impossible to describe the pall of desolation that hung
over those silent villages, a desolation that seemed to be accentuated by
the beauty of the surrounding country.

Upwards of a quarter of a million people were either deported or massacred
by the Turks in the Lebanon hills alone; and only in the villages occupied
by Circassians, whom the Turks themselves had subsidised, were there any
signs of even moderate prosperity. These people, moreover, showed marked
hostility towards our troops, and had to be suppressed.

When the 7th Division left Beyrout in the middle of October to march
farther north to Tripoli the situation was considerably easier. Foodships
had arrived, and arrangements had been made for regular supplies to be
given to the people, though at first they needed medical aid rather than
food, so weakened were they by long privation and want. The chief
difficulty in the distribution of supplies was the shortage of labour, for
the advance had been so rapid that it had quite outdistanced the
administrative branches of the service. Half a dozen R.A.S.C. clerks and a
small party of the Egyptian Labour Corps, assisted by the "Camels," toiled
night and day at the docks: we were dock-labourers, stevedores, and
transport all in one. The fact that Beyrout was the only real port in the
whole country nearer than Port Said did not tend to relieve the strain, for
the natural disadvantages of Jaffa as a port prevented its being utilised
to the full, while Haifa, although it possesses a magnificent harbour, had
not as yet enough accommodation for ships.

Our own men now began to feel the effects of the arduous campaign. The
rainy season was imminent, and malaria and blackwater fever claimed their
victims by the score. The troops who had spent the previous five months
stewing in the hothouse atmosphere of the Jordan Valley suffered
particularly heavily through malignant malaria, contracted during those
months, which lay dormant while operations were actually in progress and
appeared when men were run down and weakened by their tremendous exertions.
The Australian Mounted Division, who had been the first to enter Damascus,
were amongst the hardest hit by the disease, for the oldest city in the
world is also one of the most unhealthy--or was, at all events during the
time of our occupation.

The River Abana, which runs through the city, was choked with dead horses
and Turks for ten days. Hundreds of Turks wandered about, nominally
prisoners, but with no one to guard them; they were far more numerous than
our own men; and as the Turks generally had little idea of sanitation and
less of personal cleanliness they were extremely unpleasant people to have
about the place.

There were no regrets at leaving Damascus, for though the odour of sanctity
may hang over the venerable city, it is as naught compared with the other
odours, of which it has a greater and more pungent variety than any city in
the country.

With the capture of Beyrout and Damascus hostilities had not ended,
although the greater part of the Turkish Army had ceased to exist. While
the 7th Division were _en route_ to Tripoli the cavalry were making a
corresponding advance in the centre, despite the ravages caused in their
ranks by malaria. Indeed, with cheerful indifference to the geographical,
to say nothing of the other difficulties in the way, they proposed to ride
as far as Constantinople; that, it was felt, would be the crowning point of
a great ride! However, for the moment they contented themselves with
occupying Homs, a town on the caravan route about a hundred miles north of
Damascus. Then General Allenby ordered a further advance on Aleppo, the
last stronghold of the Turks in the country; and on October 21st the 5th
Cavalry Division with the armoured cars started on what was to be their
last ride. It was a worthy effort: in five days they covered a hundred
miles, entering the city on October 26th, preceded the day before by the
troops of the King of the Hedjaz, who had driven all the Turks away during
the night.

After the capture of Aleppo, Turkey, having no army left, threw up the
sponge, much to the disgust of the Australian Mounted Division, who, having
reached Homs, hoped to be in at the death. Still, since theirs had been the
honour of entering Damascus, it was but fitting that the 5th Cavalry
Division should be the first into Aleppo, for the exploits of the two
forces had been almost parallel throughout the campaign.

Thus in forty days, in the course of which the army had advanced upwards of
five hundred miles, Turkey had been brought to her knees, her armies had
been completely destroyed, and a country that had suffered from centuries
of misrule had been cleared of the oppressor. It is, however, significant
of the bitter hatred the Turks bear towards the Armenians and other races
of Asia Minor, that even after the Armistice one of the chief troubles of
our troops was to prevent the Turkish prisoners, who were awaiting
transportation to the great camps in Egypt, from maltreating Armenians
wherever and whenever they came into contact with them! Drastic measures
with Turkey will have to be adopted by the Allies if these little nations
are to live in comfort and security in the future.

The weeks following the surrender of Turkey were occupied by the army in
feeding the people, in reinstating them on the land, and in setting up a
stable form of government in the country. It is unnecessary here to enter
into detail, but it may be stated that the policy which had met with
universal approval in Palestine was adopted in Syria. Subject to certain
obvious limitations every man was free to come and go as he pleased; and,
with no restriction whatever, he could worship as he pleased, whether
Christian, Mussulman, or Jew. To quote one example of the goodwill that
prevailed: the head of the Greek Church in Homs offered his Cathedral to
the Army for the thanksgiving service held after the signing of the general
Armistice, and members of nearly every religious denomination were present
at a most impressive ceremony.

The Arabs took over the government of Damascus and the surrounding country,
which presumably they will retain for the future; the French, who have
large interests in Beyrout and Lebanon, will, I believe, be the paramount
influence there--though curiously enough, the one question we were
constantly asked by the people of Beyrout was whether the British were
going to take over the town; and from fifteen miles north of Acre down to
the Suez Canal the country will probably be under the protection of the
British. As this includes the desert of Northern Sinai the conquest of
which had taken two long years, it is unlikely that we shall be accused of
land-grabbing!

It is reasonably certain that Palestine will need material help for some
time, for Turkish maladministration, and the iniquitously heavy taxes
imposed upon the people, have almost killed initiative. So far as real
development is concerned, it is almost a virgin land, and although the
efforts of those responsible for the work of reconstruction are both
vigorous and successful, it will be many years before Palestine is
producing up to her full capacity. At present the grain crop of the entire
country could be brought to England in about seven ships; in fact, before
the War most of it was bought by a well-known firm of whisky distillers!

Whether the Jews as a nation will ever settle in Palestine is a question
the future alone will solve; certainly the wise policy of the British and
French governments offers them every inducement, if they really wish to
become a nation again in their own ancient land. If the prophets are to be
believed Jerusalem will one day be the capital of the world--but it will
not be in our day.


PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH.




TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

LIST OF FIXED ISSUES

p. 037--inserted missing period after "train accomodation"
p. 125--typo corrected, "siege" instead of "seige"
p. 179--typo corrected, "slightest" instead of "slighest"
p. 189--typo corrected, "resourcefulness" instead of "resorcefulness"
p. 194--inserted missing period after "by the troops"
p. 208--inserted missing period after "from the wells"
p. 220--inserted missing period after "of the party"
p. 267--inserted missing comma after "amazing things"
p. 288--typo corrected, "Edinburgh" instead of "Edinburrgh"

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