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The Famous Kremlin (or Citadel) of Moscow as It Appears from the Sofuskaya Quay. The Kremlin Was One of the
Buildings Attacked During the Bolshevist Revolution.

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A Gun Crew Loading One of the 15-inch Guns on the Canadian Front in France. (Canadian Official Photograph from Western Newspaper Union.)

expedition against the Suez Canal in the Sinai Peninsula campaign, in which General Murray turned the tables on the Turks. Askalon was taken on Nov. 9. At that time General Allenby reckoned the Turkish casualties at 10,000, exclusive of "missing" or prisoners. Six days later the British seized the junction of the Beersheba-Damascus railway, from which ran a line to Jerusalem. The end of November saw Allenby closing in on that city from the north and west.

Already the British flag was flying over Ekron, Gederah, Wadi-el-Chanin, and other Zionist colonies. Jerusalem was supposed to have been strongly fortified by the Germans, but it has yielded, almost without a blow. In fact, the Turks made no very determined stand after losing Gaza. Left to their own devices, they failed to keep up their supply system.

Pushing on Toward Damascus

The British after taking Jerusalem showed clearly that they would take full advantage of the cool, dry weather which prevails in Palestine in the late Fall to

push their campaign before the Winter rains set in. On Dec. 12, two days after the surrender of Jerusalem, it was announced that the British line had been advanced northwest of that city and of the line between it and Jaffa, positions having been carried as far as the mouth of the Midieh. The next objective of the British appeared to be Damascus, about 140 miles to the north.

The British, under Lieut. Gen. W. R. Marshall, who succeeded General Maude in Mesopotamia, were reported early in December 150 miles northeast of Bagdad, almost within striking distance of Mosul, an important city on the line of the proposed Bagdad Railway. The Russians, on Oct. 5, were at Nereman, 50 miles north of Mosul, but rested there on account of the state of affairs in Russia. The occupation of Jerusalem and the Mediterranean ports near by, with the control of the Tigris, gives the British a great advantage in supply bases in Syria and Mesopotamia, at the same time threatening the dominion of the Turks and the influence of the Germans in all Asia Minor.

British Sovereigns at the Front

THE King and Queen of England vis

ited the battle lines in France in the Summer of 1917, spending two weeks on the journey and traversing nearly all districts where warfare was in progress. Herbert Maxwell calls attention to the fact that no King and Queen of England had previously visited the seat of a war since 1304.

Queen Margaret accompanied King Edward I. to the siege of Stirling Castle. The King caused an oriel window to be built in his house in the town, whence the Queen and her ladies might witness the play of fourteen mighty siege engines upon the castle. Gunpowder was not employed in the war with Scotland till the campaign of Weardale in 1327, but these great machines, the latest masterpieces of military science for throwing stone balls and wildfire, had been brought around by sea to the Firth of

Forth, and King Edward took as keen personal interest in their performance as his Majesty King George V. shows in modern armament. The engines were all named as scrupulously as battleships-to wit, the Lincoln and the Seagrave, the Robinet and the Kingston, the Vicar and the Parson, the Berefrey, the Linlithgow, the Bothwell, the Prince's, the Gloucester, the Dovedale, the Tout-le-monde, and, newest and mightiest of all, the Loupde-guerre, which did not arrive in time to be placed in position before Oliphant hoisted the white flag of surrender.

King Edward, however, being impatient to try the new engine, bade the garrison take cover while a shot was fired from it into the castle, (tauntge il eit ferru ove le lup de guerre.) So says Sir Thomas Gray (direct ancestor of the late Foreign Secretary) in his "Scalacronica."

The British Conquest of Palestine

Described by W. T. Massey

The British resumed active operations in Palestine in October, 1917, under General Sir Edmund Allenby, and made rapid progress. Beersheba, at the southern end, was taken on Oct. 31, Gaza on Nov. 7, Jaffa on Nov. 19, and on Dec. 10 it was officially announced that the British troops had taken Jerusalem. The subjoined descriptions of the capture of important strongholds in Palestine were written by W. T. Massey, the British war correspondent:

B

Beersheba, Oct. 31, 1917.

Y a rapid and well-delivered surprise blow, General Allenby's army has smashed the western end of the Turks' intrenched line in Southern Palestine and wrested one of the most ancient Biblical towns from the enemy. In the early moonlight hours of Oct. 31 Beersheba was occupied by Australian mounted troops and British infantry after a stern day-long fight, in which our troops displayed great endurance and courage, doing everything planned for them, and working out the Staff scheme as if by the clock. Although meeting with a strong resistance from the enemy in extremely strong positions, nothing went wrong, and the story of the day will add to the military glory of soldiers from English cities and shires and from Australia and New Zealand. The splendid British infantry made long night marches and attacked with such determination that they tore down wire entanglements with their hands, and just as the moon rose over the Judaea hills the Australian Horse charged mounted against strongly held trenches with bayonets on rifles, overwhelming the Turks, and galloping cheering into the town.

Our movements were all done by night. At dawn yesterday the cavalry were south of the town, and the infantry were facing the northern, western, and southwestern defenses, which were cut in the range of hills hiding Beersheba from view. These intrenchments were elaborate and skillfully chosen, and generally were heavily protected by wire, while guns covered all approaches. The country we had to march over was in a bad condition. In the Spring it consists of

fertile rolling downs; now the sun has parched the desert, the slightest movement raising enormous clouds of dust. Only a few trees and cactus hedges between the sea and the gaunt Judaea hills relieve the picture of a land laid bare by war. Yet with these surroundings against us General Allenby was able to effect a surprise which the Turks considered impossible. The prisoners declare that all thought Beersheba could never be taken in a day, and that many believed the place to be impregnable.

Preliminary Cavalry Work

On Oct. 27 before our movement began there was a little affair in which British mounted troops acquitted themselves magnificently. A cavalry screen occupied the high ground five miles west of Abu Irgeig station, on the JerusalemBeersheba railway. Three thousand Turks, with twelve guns, moved against this position, with the intention of shelling the construction parties. Infantry were about to replace the cavalry, but before they could do so the Turks descended from Kauwakah and attacked the cavalry west of the Wadi Hanafish, a rough watercourse with many twisting tributaries in the torrent-torn country parallel to the Beersheba-Gaza road. One of our squadrons at Girheir held out all day with both flanks enveloped. Another, south of the line, faced by troops on three sides, put up a splendid fight, beating off two determined cavalry charges supported by gunfire, and only retiring after a third charge, keeping the enemy at bay for six hours. At least 200 Turks were accounted for; the enemy had the heart so taken out of him by this resistance that when the infantry arrived

the line was secured without difficulty, and we did not have to make a night attack, which might have cost many casualties.

This gallant fight was a fitting prelude for the operations against Beersheba. The troops had been well trained. Indeed, this force was never in such efficient condition. The infantry marched by night and remained as well hidden as possible in the daytime in the folds of the ground or in the river beds. The cavalry got well round to the southwest, and their position was doubtless seen by enemy airmen. On the night of Oct. 30-31, under a beautiful moon, our horsemen made a wide, rapid sweep round from the south to southeast, ready at dawn to rush up and cover the town from the east and get astride the Hebron road to prevent a retirement in that direction. The infantry were to attack the trenches on the southeast, but before that could be done Hill 1,070, about three miles to the south, had to be taken. This hill had been made into a very strong redoubt, commanding a wide stretch, but an extremely heavy fire was brought to bear against it, and the gallant infantry carried it with an irresistible rush within half an hour of the attack. There was a German machine-gun section on the hill, but prisoners admitted that every machine gun was knocked out by our fire. Our casualties in taking the hill were very small. We took eight officers and eighty men prisoners on this hill, while there were many killed and wounded.

Enemy Taken by Surprise

When this important outpost had been secured the infantry prepared to attack the system of trenches southwest of the Wadi Saba, from the Khalassa road to the Beersheba-Sheria railway, camel corps and other infantry making a holding attack north of the Wadi. There had been some rifle firing and shelling by the enemy just before dawn, and thereafter the guns north of the Wadi fired heavily on the troops moving across the open ground to the south until one of our batteries located them and silenced them for the remainder of the day. The advance against the southwestern trench

The

system was a great achievement. Turks held on desperately, and time would not permit more than an hour's bombardment to cut the wire. The advance, too, was over exposed ground, and but for an extremely clever scheme the infantry must have sustained serious loss. Usu

The day was remarkably still. ally a strongish breeze blows for hours in the middle of the day, but a sluggish, oppressive air overhung the downs. During the morning the shells were tearing up so much earth that a dense sand pall hid the line of entanglements they were cutting. Our infantry made rushes across the open, heeding neither the enfilade fire of the guns nor the spasmodic machine-gun fire. In a few places the shells had broken down the wire, and into these the bombers dashed, while others tore down the wire from the iron supports with their hands and were in upon the Turks before they realized that resistance was futile.

This grand work was done by soldiers from English counties, many of them men who had prepared themselves for Great Britain's defense before the war burst upon the world. They showed inspiring courage and resource. This onslaught on the southwestern trenches only served to whet their appetite. Resting awhile, they crossed the rough, pebbly bed of the Wadi Saba to reduce the chain of holes and trenches on the western sides of Beersheba, which, strongly held, were even more formidable. Fighting for more than twelve hours had not lessened their determination, and, moving steadily and methodically on same well-thought-out plan which had been so successful throughout the day, they proceeded to capture one length of defenses after another, until at 9:30 all the Beersheba stronghold was ours.

Australian Cavalry's Exploits

The cavalry work was equally meritorious. Many horsemen rode thirty miles before getting into action. They had two very difficult places to reduce during the day. The Australians in their widest sweep had to capture Sakaty, a high hill six miles northeast of Beersheba, dominating a wide district. With their usual élan these big Australians

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