e 302nd Brigade Royal Field Artillery, to whom the Mayor, the
head of the Husseiny family, descendants of the Prophet and hereditary
mayors of Jerusalem, signified his desire to surrender the City.
The Mayor was accompanied by the Chief of Police and two of the
gendarmerie, and while communications were passing between General
Shea, General Chetwode and General Headquarters, General Watson rode
as far as the Jaffa Gate of the Holy City to learn what was happening
in the town. I believe Major Montagu Cooke, one of the officers of the
302nd Artillery Brigade, was the first officer actually in the town,
and I understand that whilst he and his orderly were in the Post
Office a substantial body of Turks turned the corner outside the
building and passed down the Jericho road quite unconscious of the
near presence of a British officer. General Shea was deputed by the
Commander-in-Chief to enter Jerusalem in order to accept the surrender
of the City. It was a simple little ceremony, lasting but a minute
or two, free from any display of strength, and a fitting prelude to
General Allenby's official entry. At half-past twelve General Shea,
with his aide-de-camp and a guard of honour furnished by the 2/17th
Londons, met the Mayor, who formally surrendered the City. To the
Chief of Police General Shea gave instructions for the maintenance
of order, and guards were placed over the public buildings. Then the
commander of the 60th Division left to continue the direction of his
troops who were making the Holy City secure from Turkish attacks. I
believe the official report ran: 'Thus at 12.30 the Holy City was
surrendered for the twenty-third time, and for the first time to
British arms, and on this occasion without bloodshed among the
inhabitants or damage to the buildings in the City itself.'

Simple as was the surrender of Jerusalem, there were scenes in the
streets during the short half-hour of General Shea's visit which
reflected the feeling of half the civilised world on receiving the
news. It was a world event. This deliverance of Jerusalem from Turkish
misgovernment was bound to stir the emotions of Christian, Jewish, and
Moslem communities in the two hemispheres. In a war in which the
moral effect of victories was only slightly less important than a
big strategical triumph, Jerusalem was one of the strongest possible
positions for the Allies to win, and it is not making too great a
claim to say that the capture of the Holy City