103 Years Ago

76 Years Ago

The Times History of the War - End of Near East campaigns

End of Near East campaigns

This week's chapter examines events preceding the collapse of Turkey, last campaign of the Russian Caucasian Army, effect of Bolshevist revolution, rivalry of Georgians, Armenians and Tartars, Turks Pan-Turanian ambitions, Germany's "new route to India", Turks at Erzerum, Kars, Batum and Tabriz, Germans at Tiflis, Nuri's advance on Baku, British intervention, events in Mesopotamia, replacing Russians on the road to the Caspian, Dunsterville's defence of Baku, helping the Nestorians, Baku reoccupied, Sir Percy Sykes's great march, German intrigues at Kabul, British at Merv, Persia's debt to Great Britain, Turks sue for terms, Enver and Taalat resign, armistice signed, through the Dardanelles to Constantinople, Russian Black Sea Fleet surrendered, plight of the Armenians

Every British officer in the Punjab regiment had fallen in the assault, and when the Bolshevists came on, the Indians were exposed to attack from three sides - frontally down the line, on the right flank by troops who had rallied apparently realizing our inferiority in numbers, and in the rear by a Bolshevist armoured train. The Indian officer of the Punjabi battalion put up a splendid fight and refused to retire without orders

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100 Years Ago

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/fighting-in-a-tunnel-nls2n9grs

OCTOBER 2, 1918

Fighting in a tunnel

The Germans have been beaten from their great defence, the Hindenburg Line, on which their newspapers, their generals, and their public men have assured them they could place trust, and are retiring eastwards. The heavy blow delivered by Americans and Australians on September 29, at its point of greatest strength between Bellicourt and Bony, with the deeper blow magnificently delivered by English troops to the south, staggered the Germans holding this vital point.

The German Staff hastily rushed in every division available in order to stop the gap. The 121st, 54th, and l85th Divisions and the 75th Reserve Division were in the Hindenburg line opposite the American divisions, which made their great assault on Sunday. That day’s fighting shattered and disorganized them to such an extent that they rushed up three divisions into the line at the same point. These were the 2nd Guard Division and the 21st Division, which already smashed by Australian attacks had only been resting a fortnight, and the 119th Division.

But the Germans knew the Hindenburg line was already lost. All yesterday troops and transport were withdrawing along the roads leading east. The Australians and Americans managed yesterday to reach the village of Bony, which for two days held up the advance, and today Australian patrols are well beyond it, and nearing the northern entrance of the great tunnel of which they already hold the southern end.

This morning the Germans still hold the northern end of the great canal tunnel while we hold the south. The barges on which the German troops lived still lie inside the tunnel, and beside the towpath inside the entrance. The entrance to the tunnel is 80ft below the hill surface. Somewhere in that black interior lies the point where the Australian possession of the towpath ends and the German begins, but probably neither Australian nor German knows where that point is. Possibly by now our troops are through, but the fighting yesterday was always stiff in the labyrinth of surface trenches.

The country reached by our troops is now green and less broken by shell fire. The shell-shattered band where British and German Armies faced one another along the Hindenburg line last winter is now passed.

The Times History of the War - The Conquest of Syria

The Conquest of Syria

This week's chapter examines the Turks expelled from Arabic vilayets, opposing forces in Palestine, Allenby's strategy, the battles of Sharon and Mount Ephraim, the great cavalry ride, Von Liman's narrow escape, work of the Air Force, two Turkish armies destroyed, the East Jordan operations, from Galilee to Damascus, Syrian seaports seized, Homs occupied, the advance to Aleppo, tasks of political department, Marshall's victory on the Tigris, two years at Aden, the surrender of Medina

The Germans had fired great dumps of ammunition, petrol, and the hangars and workshops on the aerodromes at our approach. But one plane was seized intact, and close by was found a big cave containing thousands of bottles of champagne and other wines and spirits

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How Nazareth was captured October 1, 1918

The cavalry of General Allenby's Army swam and forded the Jordan north of Lake Tiberias last night

Read the full story Yesterday I spent a couple of hours at Nazareth with the West Country Yeomanry who first entered the town. The capture of the place was highly dramatic. The Yeomanry crossed Esdraelon Plain in the dark, having covered fully 60 miles from the Jaffa district within 24 hours. Trotting up the steep, tortuous roadway to Nazareth just before the dawn they overran a moving convoy of 75 motor-lorries. The German drivers were greatly startled at the apparently miraculous appearance of our horsemen, and in the confusion which followed a number of the lorries were overturned off the narrow mountain road. Maintaining their place, the Yeomanry clattered over the crest into the little hilltop basin where Nazareth lies.

The town contained numerous enemy troops. These, like the inhabitants, were still sleeping, believing the line unbroken and our Army many miles away. The Yeomanry quickly made the whole force prisoners. The British, however, were only a small party, and when later in the day the German machine-gunners from the ridges round the town to the north opened a vigorous fire, they temporarily withdrew.

The following morning they outflanked the machine-gun posts and re-entered Nazareth. That night the Turks counter-attacked, but meanwhile our force was strengthened by some Indian Lancers galloping out, who killed 50 and took 100 prisoners in a slashing moonlight charge. The inhabitants expressed the greatest delight at the arrival of the British.

Returning from Nazareth I came across an armoured motor battery and light car patrol proceeding on a flying reconnaissance to Haifa and joined the enterprise. The little expedition was marked by splendid dash and daring. Speeding over the hills of Lower Galilee, we crossed the Esdraelon Plain and then ran east under the shadow of Mount Carmel. When we were many miles in advance of our outposts and three miles from Haifa we encountered an enemy post, and after a brief engagement we captured 70 prisoners, including two officers.

Over the next two miles our prisoners increased to upwards of 100. Armoured cars pushed impudently into the outskirts of the town. Despite the heavy fire from enemy batteries and machine-guns and rifle fire at point:blank range, the mission was fully accomplished. The cars pulled out slowly, marching the prisoners before them,. all the while fighting a vigorous rearguard action.

The remarkable success of Allenby’s bold strategy is largely due to the complete ascendancy of British airmen. Towards this the Australian squadron very substantially contributed. For a fortnight preceding the advance the enemy was kept practically blind. Scarcely a single German machine crossed our line, and any machine which came was immediately challenged and destroyed or chased right home to his aerodrome. Simultaneously all enemy aerodromes were being bombed, as we now know from personal observation, almost out of existence. The Australian part in this work is demonstrated by the fact that 12 Distinguished Flying Crosses were awarded to our men in six weeks.

TURKS FIGHT TO SAVE DAMASCUS

The cavalry of General Allenby’s Army swam and forded the Jordan north of Lake Tiberias last night, and today captured the high ground east thereof. The situation is developing most favourably.

The mounted troops hold a far-flung line, the horsemen converging in two great columns on the main Damascus roads. From the south Yeomanry and Indian cavalry moving eastwards. from Beisan have taken Irbid, where a portion of the Turkish Fourth Army not destroyed at Amman intended to stand. The important railway junction of Deraa having been secured, the Arabs on our east, ignoring the bodies of the enemy between Deraa and Amman, marched north on Sheikh Miskin, which is within one cavalry bound of Damascus.

In going forward the cavalry several times left enemy parties in their rear in order to reap the full results of their bold strategy, the advancing infantry clearing. the enemy out of isolated places, as, for instance, in the Yarmuk Valley, where Germans and Turks were holding positions on the railway after Deraa had been taken. The infantry dealt with them and prevented the destruction of some useful railway works.

The Turks, in fear of designs on Damascus, sent down to the Jordan from that city a force composed of Germans, Turks, and some Circassians. When our cavalry were opposite the bridge at Benat Yakub, motor lorries from Damascus had deposited a thousand men on the steep eastern bank of the Jordan, covering the bridge with machine-guns.They blew up the centre arch of the 400-year-old bridge, making a crossing there impossible. A brigade of Australian Light Horse swam the river with the horses farther south, another Australian brigade making a passage of the river to the north. The ground approaching the river was marshy, but so swiftly were the difficulties surmounted that before the enemy could scramble back to their lorries 200 Turks, 50 German, three field guns, and some machine guns were cut off and captured.

At 6 this morning the cavalry were at Dar Ezaras, astride the Damascus road, and have since advanced to El Kuneitra, within 40 miles of the ancient city. It is an interesting race between the two columns as to which will reach the coveted point first. One cannot move a mile in this rough, desolate hill country without marvelling at the endurance of the troops.

This Week in History - Iraq invades Kuwait (2 August 1991)

https://ospreypublishing.com/thisweekhistory/

An extract from Essential Histories 55: The Gulf War 1991

Saddam invades Kuwait

Saddam Husajn fot. z 1990 r.

By spring 1990, Saddam Hussein was desperately seeking a financial solution to his rapidly downward-spiralling economic and political situation. In February of that year at the Arab Co-operation Council in Jordan, the Iraqi leader put forward the idea of a suspension of his country’s wartime debts and the urgent need for extra funding, but his pleas fell on deaf ears among his Arab neighbours. Furthermore, his continual requests for oil quotas to be adhered to in order to halt the slide in the price of oil were also ignored. In fact, the attitude of both Kuwait and the UAE to his calls for a cancellation of wartime debts and more credit were decidedly unhelpful: no debt would be absolved and the only money that Iraq would receive from them would be in the form of charity. This blunt rebuff of Saddam Hussein generated a very dangerous condition for an Arab leader (often underestimated by western politicians) – that of a humiliating loss of face. The collapse of Saddam’s dignity combined with the perilous state of the Iraqi economy brought about a sharp contrast in policy by the summer of 1990.

At the height of July, Iraq adopted a dual-track policy of intense diplomacy allied with military manoeuvres near the border with Kuwait. The diplomatic line consisted of a series of accusations of Kuwait: firstly, that it had stolen oil from Iraq’s Rumaila oilfield (near the Iraq–Kuwait border), estimated to be over $2 billion in value, which should be immediately repaid; secondly, that its loans to Iraq in the 1980s were largely from oil profits due to overproduction (exceeding OPEC quotas), which was harming its neighbour; and thirdly, that Kuwait had a long-held secret agenda to acquire Iraqi territory while Iraq was distracted by the fight against Islamic fundamentalism. The proposed Iraqi solution to these crimes encompassed a huge cash rebate, a price hike in oil prices to at least $25 a barrel, the complete suspension of war debts and a comprehensive financial package to aid the economic reconstruction of Iraq. To support his diplomacy, Saddam concurrently started moving large numbers of the élite Republican Guard towards the border with Kuwait; with just under 40,000 troops in position by the 19 July.

WWI - Jerusalem to Damascus

From Jerusalem to Damascus

This week's chapter examines operations from December 1917 to October 1918, freeing Joppa from pressure, fine work of Scottish troops, enemy attempt to retake Jerusalem, capture of Jericho, heavy fighting on Shechem road front, British officers with the Arabs, the Emir Faisal's Dead Sea campaign, crossing the Jordan, raid on Amman, in praise of the Londoners, the Es Salt raid, reorganisation of the force, Turco-German attack astride the Jordan the Autumn offensive, march of the Arabs from Akaba, defeat of the Turks west of the Jordan, British and Arabs join hands, Turkish army east of Jordan surrenders, enemy rout complete, fall of Damascus, the Emir Faisal's entry into the city, arab claims.

The summer is not in Palestine the ideal campaigning season, especially in the deep gorge of the Jordan, where the heat is excessive, and dust, flies, malaria, and snakes are common plagues

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The capture of Jerusalem

Today General Allenby makes his entry into the city, and his entry means that the yoke of the Turk is broken forever

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-capture-of-jerusalem-br6xl8wc0?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_16.05.2018%20Jerusalem%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3352346_118 december 11, 1917 The Capture of Jerusalem The deliverance of Jerusalem, though its influence on the war may be relatively remote, must remain for all time a memorable event in the history of Christendom. Wherever the Gospel has been preached it has been in all ages the most sacred spot upon earth to countless millions. There the Divine Author of their faith taught the great truths which are the wellspring of all that is holiest, and there He suffered and died. For well-nigh 13 centuries it has remained, with relatively brief intervals, in Musulman hands, and for 400 years Turkish Sultans have been its lords. To Moslem, too, it is a holy place, though the tradition of its sanctity is no longer a living force among them in India and in the outer world. For the Jews, whatever may be the land of their exile, its memories are imperishable. To them it has always remained their providential home and the earthly centre of their ancient religion. To-day General Allenby makes his entry into the city, and his entry means that the yoke of the Turk is broken for ever. The Sultan will dominate the Holy Places no more; the scattered Jews will have a prospect of returning as a free people to their national home, and a new order will be established, founded upon the ideals of righteousness and of justice. Whilst the Germans have wantonly destroyed the noblest of Christian churches on the false plea of military necessity, the British General has delayed his operations to save the sacred places in and about Jerusalem from accidental hurt. That is a warrant of the care which will certainly be taken to safeguard the rights and to respect the susceptibilities of every faith. The great Mosque of Omar and the other sites most intimately associated with the traditions of Islam will, doubtless, be safeguarded and left in Moslem keeping, and the priests and ministers of all communions who are not alien enemies may confidently rely upon the countenance of the conquerors. The fall of Jerusalem, whatever its military importance, marks the latest stage in a brilliant campaign. It is a sign that the tyranny of the Turk is doomed and that the dawn of a new freedom is rising over his dominions. To all whom he oppresses — Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, Jews and Syrians — it is an augury of deliverance.

100 Years Ago - Palestine

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/the-censure-division-bv9vkdbk2

may 10, 1918

The censure division

The Prime Minister defended himself so successfully against General Maurice’s charges today that the House of Commons rejected Mr Asquith’s motion for the appointment of a Select Committee to investigate the matter by 293 votes to 106 — a Government majority of 187. Extraordinary interest was taken in the debate. There was a big crowd outside the House, and the Chamber was crowded from end to end.
Mr Asquith’s speech was not one of his best efforts. He did not seem sure of his ground, and never recovered from a bad start. He devoted the greater part of his speech to a laboured argument directed to the need of an inquiry into General Maurice’s charges.
The Prime Minister quickly got into his stride. Facing the issues raised by General Maurice, he declared that he had been treated unfairly. While he was in daily contact with General Maurice, whom he regarded as a great friend, he had never challenged the statements in his letter. He now proposed to give the facts in public with a detailed examination of General Maurice’s charges. On the fighting strength of the British forces in France on January 1, 1918, he explained that the figures he gave were taken from the official records of the War Office. Next, he had been charged with misleading the public as to the comparative strength of the Allied and enemy forces when the offensive began. He pointed out that the figures on which he had based that statement came from General Maurice. He mentioned that General Maurice, although in the building at Versailles, was not in the Council Chamber when the question of extending the front of General Gough’s Army was discussed. Finally, speaking with great earnestness and carrying the House with him, he pointed the moral of the Maurice incident. He insisted that the letter was a flagrant breach of discipline, and respectfully suggested that Mr Asquith ought to have deprecated it.

He warned the House that the Germans were silently preparing perhaps the biggest blow of the war. With the fate of the country in the balance, he demanded an end of “this sniping”. It was a great Parliamentary effort, and a large section of the House clearly felt that there was nothing more to be said.