by Anne Flood
The First and Second Trans-Jordan actions in April and May 1918 were known by the British as “raids” while Von Sanders, commander of the German and Turkish armies, referred to them as ‘The Battles of Jordan’. Both raids on Amman had been decisive defeats for the British, the first since Gaza in 1917. Casualties had been high amounting to 3,132 including more than 400 deaths.
Major General Chauvel, who had headed up the Second Trans-Jordan Raid, was now given the option of withdrawing from the Jordan Valley. Chauvel’s biographer, Alec Hill, records his words:
He (Allenby) practically gave me the option of withdrawing from the actual valley if I thought it better but told me that if I did so I would have to retake the bridgeheads over the Jordan before the Autumn advance. I considered that I would lose more lives retaking the Valley than I would through sickness in holding it and, furthermore, there was neither room nor water for large bodies of cavalry in the jumble of hills overlooking the Southern end of the Valley and the climate was precious little better. I told him I considered it better to hold the Valley. He agreed and I was instructed to do so. [2]
The plan was for the Anzac Mounted Division and the Australian Mounted Division to rotate in garrison of the Western side of the Jordan River during the Summer months. The Anzac Division now consisted of the 1st, 2nd L.H. Brigades and New Zealand Mounted Rifles plus XVIII Royal Horse Artillery. The Australian Mounted Division consisted of the 3rd, 4th L.H. Brigades and 5th Mounted Division Artillery.
The 1st L.H. Brigade, the first Brigade that Chauvel had commanded at Gallipoli, returned to garrison the West Bank of the Jordan around the Wady Auja on 6th June, taking over the line from the 4th L.H. Brigade.
Corporal Maurice Pearce of the 1st L.H. Regiment wrote in his diary:
I went back with the Regiment to the lowest place on Earth, 1100 feet below sea level – the Jordan Valley. For heat, mosquitoes, dust and pests of all nature I do not think the Jordan Valley has a parallel. It was said that white men could not live there however we proved that hardened soldiers could for our troops occupied the Valley for seven of the hottest months of the year … seldom refreshed by a breeze. It is a strange place with a touch of unreality; almost weird. It recalls Dante and Edgar Allen Poe. [3] The heat was oppressive, rarely below 38°C in the shade and reaching up to 49°C in the operating tents.
Musallabeh was a rough and stony knoll about 400 feet high marking the extreme northern point of the British occupation on the western side of the Jordan Valley. It formed the apex of a British salient around the Wady Auja. South-east from Musallabeh stood another rocky outcrop known as The Bluff.
About 1,000 yards South of Musallabeh, deep ravines divided the posts of Vale, View, Vaux, Zoo and Zeiss. Behind these posts rose the harsh, stony ridge of Abu Tellul that was considered to be the key to the whole Northern sector. Abu Tellul commanded the indispensable source of fresh water – the Wady Auja – and British batteries were located south of the Abu Tellul crest to cover the area. The Turkish lines lay less than a mile North of the British Line which was shelled daily from the North and from the Eastern bank of the Jordan Valley.
From 1st – 16th July, 1918 the 1st Light Horse Brigade (1st, 2nd and 3rd L.H. Regiments) was situated on the western side of the Jordan Valley in the vicinity of Abu Tellul. The 1st L.H. Regiment was in reserve.
On 14th July Trooper Ashton Rhoades of the 1st Light Horse Regiment wrote home:
When I last wrote we [the 1st L.H.Regiment] were in reserve, the 2nd and 3rd L.H. Regiments being entrenched … being in reserve is considered the worst job of the lot for you have all the discomfort without the chance of getting one in on Abdul … the most depressing sight is the sick “procession” … an average of 50 cases a week for our Regiment, one week it was 83, relapsing fever and valley-malaria …. hostile aircraft (not Taubes as we get used to those) millions of flies and mosquitoes … we have nets but lots of minute beasts of prey get under them … scorpions, deadly snakes and the “horned viper” a venomous devil has sent some of the A.L.H. to their long home. This is the place Satan offered to Christ … The Valley of Death. The “whiz-bangs”[77m/m shells] and “coal boxes” [howitzers] come over good and plenty and don’t let us alone even at night.
The other morning [8am 1st July] we got a reveille in the shape of a tornado of shrapnel but they only killed eight horses and wounded three men in our squadron and nobody was touched in “B” squadron. Seventy horses stampeded as the shells burst amongst them but all were recovered. [4]
Shelling from the direction of the Jordan continued throughout the month, chiefly on the bivouac area, horse lines and water troughs with 77m/m guns – “whiz-bangs” – killing and injuring men and horses. On 13th July enemy shelling increased in intensity and night patrols reported that a body of around 1,000 German troops were advancing from the waddies 1,000 yards in front of View and Vale.
THE BATTLE OF ABU TELLUL – 1st Australia Light Horse Regiment Diary [6]
Sunday 14th July, 1918
JORDAN VALLEY
3.15am The 1st L.H. Regiment received orders from the Brigade to “Stand to Arms” as the enemy were attacking the 2nd and 3rd L.H. Regiments. At the same time shelling commenced on the area. As soon as General Cox [Commander of the 1st Light Horse Brigade] became aware that a large body of German troops, 1000 strong, were advancing on Abu Tellul he immediately ordered the 1st Light Horse Regiment into the fray. “Get to them Granny” was his order to Colonel Granville.
3.45am. “B” Squadron under Lieutenant Gregory was ordered forward to Abu Tellul Left No.3 and 4 Posts to prevent German troops from occupying the posts. Finding the posts already occupied by troops of the 3rd L.H. Regiment the squadron was diverted to give covering fire to “A” Squadron attacking Abu Tellul Right where enemy were reported to be holding The Bluff in strength.
“A” Squadron under Major Weir was ordered forward to counter attack against Abu Tellul Right. They moved forward at a gallop but were forced to dismount as the Germans were within a few hundred yards of their batteries. Abu Tellul Right was captured at 5am.
6am. The enemy were reported to be holding The Bluff in strength. “C” Squadron was ordered forward to operate a mounted attack, with bayonets fixed, against The Bluff on the right of “A” Squadron who were now operating dismounted. Gullett reported:
Now ready with fixed bayonets for the charge … with an eager shout the light horsemen topped the crest and followed their leaders in a rushing charge upon the Germans … [who] trapped and distracted … (in a light horseman’s words) “ran about like a lot of mad rabbits”. [7]
7.30am. “C” Squadron was unable to get forward owing to heavy shell fire from enemy Howitzers and eventually were forced to reinforce “A” Squadron dismounted on Abu Tellul.
Trooper Rhoades continues his story:
Further on up the support trench the boys of the 2nd A.L.H and the Huns lay thickly … I saw eleven of the 2nd dead in one place all piled up together and one little officer, Lieutenant King, lay dead with his hand and bandolier over his shoulder. The poor little chap must have made a big fight of it as did the men around him … after our immediate front became clear there came a call for twenty men to reconnoitre The Bluff … I volunteered. We worked along the support trench in which the gallant 2nd had made their last stand … the first dead Huns I saw had the ribbons for the Iron Cross … storm troopers with exceptionally fine gear and equipment.
The shelling from both sides was terrible and we expected to be blown to pieces any minute. When we neared The Bluff we could see the Huns firing like fury at “A” and “B” Squadrons so we tried to creep closer unobserved to make a certainty of every target. I was fired on and the bullet burst the butt of my rifle and shattered half of it, and tore my wrist. There were automatic rifles lying around so I found a Mauser with a cartridge in breech and pulled the trigger … the Hun never had time to fire and his head jerked over and he rolled on his side.
As we neared The Bluff we found that “A” Squadron and the Huns opposing us had drawn back onto it. Then the enemy’s artillery concentrated an accurate and terrific fire on The Bluff killing great numbers of the Huns. The rest ran. A chap from “A” Squadron went down and disarmed them and marched them back. [4]
7.45am. One troop of “A” Squadron under Lieutenant Macfarlane gained a footing on The Bluff and enemy, who were all Germans belonging to 702 and 703 German Battalions, began to surrender as they were completely surrounded. The outer posts had been surrounded but they had all held out and turned their machine guns on the attacking forces.
8am. Lieutenant Gregory reported having recaptured Vale Post and one enemy machine gun. Reinforcements from the Wellington Mounted Rifles and the 1st L.H. Regiment were pushed along both sides of the Abu Tellul Ridge.
6pm. After a heavy day of fighting orders were received for The Bluff, Abu Tellul Right and Vale Posts to be held by this Regiment tonight: “C” Squadron to hold The Bluff, “A” Squadron Abu Tellul and “B” Squadron Vale Posts. After a quiet night our troops were withdrawn to the Bivouac area.
One hundred and seventy German prisoners were captured including a percentage of officers belonging to 702 and 703 German Battalions, chiefly Storm Troopers. Three machine guns and 17 automatic rifles and 100 rifles were taken.
7.15pm “C” Squadron under Lieutenant Rogers left the bivouac to bury the Australian men killed, together with the slain Germans. The Australian men were buried in the field by Chaplains H.J. Clarke and P.J. Donovan. Their graves are now located in the Jerusalem War Cemetery.
1st Light Horse Regiment casualties during the attack were six other ranks killed with Lieutenants Taylor, Macfarlane and 2/Lieutenant Goodchild and 30 other ranks wounded.
Tuesday 16th July, 1918
6.15am. The enemy shelled the Bivouac area with 4.5 inch Howitzers firing 120 shells in 30 minutes. While attempting to lead the horses out of firing range, Captain E.C. Battye and one other rank were killed and 2/Lieutenant O’Connor and five other ranks were wounded. Fifty eight horses were killed and twenty seven wounded – some of the oldest and original horses. Captain Eric Charles Battye, a Grazier of Strathfield, NSW, enlisted as a Lieutenant in the 12th reinforcements and fought at Romani, Gaza, Beersheba and in the Jordan Valley.
Casualties for the 1st Light Horse Brigade 1st – 17th July
The total number of casualties for the 1st L.H. Brigade was 129 casualties including 35 killed in action in defence of Abu Tellul.
1st L.H. Regiment (NSW) – one officer and ten other ranks killed and five officers and forty-five other ranks wounded.
2nd L.H. Regiment (Queensland) – two officers and seventeen other ranks killed and four officers and twenty-four other ranks wounded. Casualties included Lieutenant King who was killed: all of his troop were killed or wounded.
3rd L.H. Regiment (South Australia and Tasmania) – one officer and two other ranks killed and one officer and ten other ranks wounded.
1st Machine Gun Squadron – Two other ranks were killed and four were wounded
The names of the fallen are listed at the end of the article.
In addition, in July alone seven officers and 334 other ranks were taken out of the Jordan Valley with sickness, chiefly malaria that had been contracted through Anopheles Mosquitoes that bred in the swamps adjacent to the River. These numbers brought the total numbers of casualties to 470 men close to one third of a full strength of a Light Horse Brigade.
The Abu Tellul “Affair” was a crushing victory for Chauvel and his Light Horsemen, particularly the 1st Light horse Brigade that Chauvel had commanded at Gallipoli. The victory had significance beyond the defeat over superior numbers of the enemy.
Abu Tellul was the last offensive move against the British in Palestine and the only time that German troops were employed as Storm Troopers in Palestine. The attack was planned to be the preliminary blow to overwhelm Chauvel’s entire Desert Corps in the Jordan Valley. Had the attack succeeded it would have effectively broken the British Line between the “Two Aujas”, and denied the British a presence in the Jordan Valley. Ultimately defeat at Abu Tellul would have had a resounding impact on the September advance North to Damascus across the Coastal Plains of Sharon.
Honour Roll 1st Light Horse Brigade 1 – 16 July 1918 [7]
1st Light Horse Regiment – NSW
Shoeing-Smith Raymond William Chappell
Trooper William Caldwell
Sergeant John Ellerton
Trooper Thomas Lindsay
Corporal George Schadel
Corporal Thomas Scott
Trooper Henry Heath
Corporal Donald Lucas
Captain Eric Charles Battye
Trooper Michael O’Donnell
3rd Light Horse Regiment – South Australia and Tasmania
Trooper Roy Herbert Dunham
Trooper Kenneth Inglis
Machine Gun Section
Trooper John Robert Murray (Victoria)
2nd Light Horse Regiment – Queensland
Trooper William Thomas Anderson
Trooper William Edward Bunkum
Farrier Sergeant James Artemus Chambers
Trooper George Frederick Cornick
Sergeant John Cowie
Corporal Albert Hellmuth DeBerg
Sergeant James Robinson Geddes
Sergeant Frederick Wallace Grau
Gunner Walter Joseph Edward Gridley
Trooper Charles James Grieve
Captain William John Handley
Trooper Thomas William Hildebrand
Trooper Patrick Ravenhill Hulbert
Trooper Victor Carlton Irish
Lieutenant William Keith King
Trooper Lawrence Raymond O’Connor
Lance Corporal Tom Alexander Ogg
Trooper William James Peach
Trooper Bertie George Rixon
Trooper Ernest Edward Sweedman
The soldiers were buried ‘In the Field” and their graves are now located in the Jerusalem War Cemetery.
LEST WE FORGET
This article is based on Chapter 27 of Anne Flood’s second book “In the Footsteps of the First: History of the 1st Light Horse Regiment 1916 – 1919”. This book tells the story of the 1st Light Horse Regiment, her grandfather Trooper Frederick Henry Wood’s Regiment, in the Sinai and Palestine through the words of the commanders and men of the 1st Light Horse Regiment. The book will be published early 2018. [9]
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ENDNOTES
[1] Negative Number OM77-14-0023-0026 Australian soldiers at a reserve post at Musallabeh, West Bank, 1914 – 1918. Copyright John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
[2] Hill, A., (2009). Chauvel of the Light Horse: A Biography of General Sir Harry Chauvel, GCMG, KCB. Loftus Australia: Australian Military History Publications, p.149.
[3] Corporal Pearce, M.E., Station Overseer of Orange, NSW. Maurice Evelyn Pearce Diary extracts MLMSS 2940 1917 – 1919. Copyright Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.
[4] Copies of letters from Trooper Rhoades 1 L.H. Regiment, Palestine, 1918. Hugh Venables Vernon miscellaneous papers, 1916 – 1919. Used with the permission of the State Library of NSW.
[5] Map of the Jordan Valley http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/319801.html retrieved 10.6.2017.
[6] 1st Light Australian Horse Regiment Unit Diary – July 1918 AWM4 10/6/39 – July 1918
[7] Gullett, H., (1921). Official History of Australia in the War of 1914 – 1918 Volume 7. Chapter XXXIX ABU TELLUL. Queensland Australia : University of Queensland Press. Australian War Memorial p.668.
[7] Based on the Rolls of Honour for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Regiments
http://alh-research.tripod.com/Light_Horse/index.blog?topic_id=1105005 retrieved 2.1.2009, 2.9.2017.
[9] Flood, A., In the Footsteps of the First: The History of the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment 1916 – 1919. Unpublished.