November 29, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
of tliis Jerusalem railway, as we have seen, was lost to the 
enemy when the British a fortnight ago seized its junction and 
later the points of Lydda and Ramlch as well. Not only was 
the railway lost, but the main road from the west to Jerusalem 
was lost as well. This road, which runs from Joppa througli 
Lydda up to the capital, north of the railway, was cut when 
Lydda and Joppa were occupied. There is only one avenue of 
fupply left, and that is the carriage road open to petrol traffic 
and probably improved during the war, which unites Shechem 
or Nablus on the main Damascus railway in the north with 
Jerusalem by a tortuous course along the ridge of the moun- 
tain land. It is only just over tkirty miles in length, and so 
long as it remains uncut Jerusalem can still be supplied and 
a way out of it still remains. 
On Sunday the i8th, the British occupied Beit-ur-el-Tahta, 
that is, " The Lower Beit," which is just on the edge of the 
mountain land overlooked by the Upper Beit, Beit-ur-el-Foka, 
both places are the Biblical Beth Horon, the upper and the 
lower respectively. Beth Horon, the lower, which the British 
thus held on Sunday the 18th, is in a direct line only seven 
miles from the vital rough road we have mentioned, but by the 
only path available for guns (if it is available for wheeled 
traffic at all) the distance is over ten miles ; the total distance 
from Beth Horon the lower to Jerusalem itself is twelve. 
To the west of Jerusalem, not threatening this main road, 
the British next day reached a point only si.K miles from the 
city, Kuryet-el-Enah (which was perhaps Kirgath) and there 
they are right in the mountain land of Judea. But it is 
the threat to the main road which concerns us, and the nearest 
peril to this was the presence in the hills north and cast of 
Beth Horon of British davalry only four miles west of Beeroth, 
a point on the main road, which, if it were cut; would isolate 
Jerusalem. 
Upon Wednesday, the 21st, three days later, the British 
advanced another stage against the* Jerusalem-Shechem road 
to cut which is their object on this operation. They stormed 
the site of Mizpah on the Nebi Samwil ridge — from the 
tower on which one can see the whole of the tableland from 
Samaria to Jerusalem— and stood, at the end of the action, 
less than three miles west of the road. Upon this success there 
followed very violent counter-attacks, obviously with the 
object of saving the road, possibly because the evacuation of 
Turkish troops from the south was already proceeding. 
v-Tcanwhile, mounted troops were in possession of Beit-ur-le- 
Poka, the upper Beth Horon on the upper edge of mountain 
land. They had even gone further, but had been somewhat 
pressed back by counter-attack, and it is perhaps in this 
en ounter that the enemy claims a certain number of machine 
guns and a few prisoners. 
What now remains to be seen is whether the road — from 
which at Mizpah or Nebi Samwil the British are as near as 
they are to the main Cambrai railway line — a range of 5,000 
to 6,000 yards can still be used, or whether it will be cut^Jefore 
the Turks to the south get away. 
THE ITALIAN FRONT 
Ob the Italian front there has been no appreciable change 
during the week. Continued attacks are reported upon the 
eastern end of the mountain wall just at the point where the 
mountain sector joins on to the river sector, the corner of the 
whole bent line, distinguished by Mount Tomba and J-Tount 
Grappa. But there is no news as yet of the massing of heavy 
artillery, and it may be presumed that the enemy is still com- 
pleting his preparations for the main bombardment. 
The details given are meagre and we cannot judge the situa- 
tion properly upon them. All we know is that our Allies 
now stand on the extreme edge of the mountain wall above 
the plain, and that, so far as news reaching this country is 
concerned, the enemy do not yet seem to have opened with 
the great mass of heavy pieces they can dispose of. We are 
told that on the Piave itself no ffuns beyond five inches have 
been used, and of the mountain sector we have only vague 
accounts — no details of the weight of metal yet used. 
H. Belloc 
The Criornale d'ltalia, one of Italy's most prominent daily news- 
papers, has penned this fine tribute txi British reinforcements : 
Those Enghsh divisions sent here as a bulwark against the 
invasions of the Huns ares among the most celebrated and valorous 
of the British Army. Those divisions know the homicidal mud 
of the Yser ; they have learnt how to fight the Germans in a 
struggle? without quarter, slowly, obstinately, implacably ; they 
know what it is necessary to^jo to snatch from him step by step 
and inch by inch the ground to which he obstinately clings. The 
homage rendered by I-^ngland to Italy in sending Italy some f)f 
her best troops must never be forgotten. The men of Vimy, 
Messines, and Pa,s.schendaele descend from the North Sea to the 
Adriatic to show the enemy that our alliance is not a theoretical 
or ideal convention, but that it signifies solidaritv and identity 
of work and programme. 
T 
Le Dernier Croise 
By Emile Camm.aerts. 
OMMY \-eille an pied du Calvaire, 
La brise souffle de Syric, 
—Depuis combien de temps ont-ils scolle la pierre '- 
Tommy veille, Tommj' prie, 
la nuit brune, sur la terre brune, Tommy 
Dan^ 
Brun khaki. 
Avez-vous vu briller sa bayonette, 
Au clair de lune ? 
La croix aigue de sa bayonette, 
Claire au clair de lune ? 
— Depuis combien de temps L'ont-ils enterme la. ?^ 
Tommy courbe la tete, 
Son ame veille, son corps est las. 
Ou'attend-il, brun dans la nuit brune, 
Sous la brise svrienne ? 
Ou'attend-il, au pied de la croix. 
Sous le croissant de la lune ? 
Est-ceque ses freres reviennent, 
Richard, Robert, Louis et Godefroid ? 
— Depuis combien de temps L'ont-ils enferme la ? — 
Le sepulcre est tout proche ou, ils L'ont enterre, 
Et le jardin de Joseph d'Arimathie. 
Sous la lune en croissant, Christ est ressuscitc 
Et sa croix brille 
Entre les mains calleuses du dernier Croise, 
Entre les mains calleuses et brunes 
D'un ouvrier. 
— Est-ce le voile de Madeleine qui flotte dans la brise ? — 
Tommy ecoute una cloche qui tinte, 
Tinte, tinte dans son village. 
C'est Paques ici et Paques la-bas. 
La lune soudain s'est 6teinte 
Derriere un nuage. 
— Depuis combien de temps L'ont-ils enferme la ? 
Dites, Richard, Robert, Louis et Godefroid? — 
La nuit se passe et I'aube pointe, » 
Les merles sifflent dans les haies d'lllstree. 
Tommy veille, Tommy reve. Tommy prie. 
La brise souffle de Syrie. 1 
— Depuis combien de temps ont-ils scelle la pierre ? — ■ 
Dites-le nous. Tommy, au pied du Calvaire. . . . 
Mais Tommy ne repond pas, Tommy prie, 
Dans la nuit rose, sur la terre mauve. Tommy 
Brun khaki. [All Rights Reserved] 
Caricatures — By Order 
GERMANY must be badly in want of a Raemaekers 
for the Great German General Staff reahses the 
deadly nature of his work. The Allied cartoonists 
have abundant material at their command, since the record . 
of German atrocities on land and sea is proved to the hilt, 
and grows more horrible as fresh facts come to light. But 
the absence of facts is not to be permitted to interfere with the 
work of the German' cartoonist. The following document, 
which reached the Berner Bund was communicated to the 
German Press by the Wolff News Bureau in Berhn in the form 
of an official circular issued from Supreme Military Head- 
quarters. It runs : 
The Imperial and Royal Propaganda Department, Section 
of Foreign Affairs, calls the editor's attention to the practice of 
the enemy press in caricaturing the Kaiser, the Crown Prince, 
Hindenburg, and alleged German militarism, with the evident 
intention of an odious anti-German propaganda. Not satisfied 
with this, the caricaturists of the Allied enemies carr>' on a 
campaign of presumed atrocities, the murder of women and 
children by the German Army. The effect of that pernicious 
propaganda instilled day by day into the masses in the Allied 
countries is incontrovertible, the stories of atrocities being 
accompanied by pictures. It would, therefore, be important, 
from the patriotic point of view, for the daily papers also to 
occupy themselves by means of caricatures with the principal 
events of the day. 
The idea of such propaganda has been conceived by the 
Supreme Military Command, and it is therefore desirable that 
all should conform to it. The official cinema has been ordered 
by the Supreme Command to enter into direct communication 
with the daily press, and many leading newspapers have 
hastened to express their readiness to insert these patriotic 
caricatures, for tlie drawing of which the services of the best 
artists in Munich and Berlin have been secured. These 
caricatures will regard chiefly the heads of state of the Entente 
Powers, their political leaders, and those who make no mystery 
of their hatred for Germany. The blocks will be supplied - 
free of expense. 
