THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 331 



comfortable train at the canal base camp, 

 Kantara, and arrive early the next morn- 

 ing in Jerusalem. 



This quick and comfortable trip has 

 been made possible by the last Crusaders, 

 many of whom sleep beneath the lonely 

 crosses that mark the road from the Suez 

 Canal to the gates of the Holy City. 



On December 5 the British forces had 

 fought forward to a line from Neby 

 Samwil to a position opposite Ain Karim, 

 a distance of just under five miles. 



Neby Samwil is 2,935 feet above sea- 

 level and quite the highest point in the 

 vicinity of Jerusalem. It is about four 

 and a half miles from the north wall of 

 the city. Ain Karim, the traditional 

 birthplace of John the Baptist, is about 

 four miles slightly to the southwest of 

 Jerusalem. 



how the; attack was launched 



The actual attack on Jerusalem was 

 begun on the morning of December 8. 

 Unfortunately, on December 7 it had be- 

 gun to rain, and there was a deluge for 

 three days, as it was the rainy season. 

 Mist and fog hung over the hills and 

 made aeroplane observation practically 

 impossible. 



The rain also made the roads almost 

 impassable for mechanical transport and 

 the camels were useless. The troops had 

 been moved up in the same clothing they 

 had worn in the desert campaign — khaki 

 drill and Shorts — and the men suffered 

 severely from the intense cold. 



The general who commanded the 60th 

 division told me that on the night of De- 

 cember 7 he had brought up from Jaffa 

 all the oranges he could get, and then 

 went among the troops and threw the 

 fruit on the ground and made the men 

 scramble for it as they would in a foot- 

 ball game, to get them warmed up. 



The only food the troops had was bully 

 beef and biscuits. But in spite of cold, 

 rain, and rough food, they were all ex- 

 ceedingly keen to go forward. Every 

 soldier, that cold, rainy December night, 

 seemed to be inspired with the spirit of 

 the old Crusaders, as he went forward, 

 singing, to the attack. 



About midnight the British forces 

 reached the position of deployment and 

 the attack began. By dawn they had cap- 



tured all of their first objectives. It is 

 impossible to speak of this attack as a 

 charge, because, as I went over all the 

 ground, I found it was quite difficult even 

 to crawl up the side of the hill. 



Their last objective lay quite a little 

 way out of the city. It was an old fac- 

 tory on top of the hill, in which there had 

 been installed a large number of ma- 

 chine guns, which swept the slopes. 



At 8 o'clock on the morning of De- 

 cember 8, the British left the Turkish 

 trenches they had captured and made for 

 the factory. The only cover was the big 

 rocks on the hillside, and they went for- 

 ward in the style of the old Indian fighter. 

 At 4 o'clock that afternoon they made a 

 final rush and seized the crest. At 5 

 o'clock the assailants were in possession, 

 and this practically meant the capture of 

 Jerusalen, as there were no more com- 

 manding heights to which the Turks 

 could retire. 



THE SURRENDER OE THE CITY 



On the morning of December 9, Pri- 

 vates H. E. Church and R. W. J. An- 

 drew, of the 220th London Regiment, 

 sighted a white flag outside of Jerusalem. 

 The news was immediately wired back to 

 Major General Shea, who at once wired 

 General Allenby. 



General Allenby telegraphed : "Go for- 

 ward at once and receive the surrender 

 of the city in my name." 



General Shea immediately went for- 

 ward and from the acting mayor and 

 chief of police he received the surrender 

 of Jerusalem. Of course, it was received 

 outside the city wall. 



At noon on December 11 General Al- 

 lenby made his official entry into Jerusa- 

 lem through the small, narrow Jaffa 

 Gate, on foot, in his ordinary active serv- 

 ice uniform, without even the display of 

 military medals. 



What a contrast to the entry of the 

 Kaiser, when he made his pilgrimage to 

 Jerusalem in 1898! His agents had the 

 Turks tear down a part of the city walls 

 near the Jaffa Gate so that he could ad- 

 vance through a passage made solely for 

 himself, and on horseback he entered, 

 with all the pomp and glory and display 

 of wealth that the Teutonic mind could 

 conceive. 



