by British arms gave
more satisfaction to countless millions of people than did the winning
back for France of any big town on the Western Front. The latter might
be more important from a military standpoint, but among the people,
especially neutrals, it would be regarded merely as a passing incident
in the ebb and flow of the tide of war. Bagdad had an important
influence on the Eastern mind; Jerusalem affected Christian, Jew, and
Moslem alike the world over. The War Cabinet regarded the taking of
Jerusalem by British Imperial troops in so important a light that
orders were given to hold up correspondents' messages and any
telegrams the military attaches might write until the announcement of
the victory had been made to the world by a Minister in the House of
Commons. This instruction was officially communicated to me before we
took Jerusalem, and I believe it was the case that the world received
the first news when the mouthpiece of the Government gave it to
the chosen representatives of the British people in the Mother of
Parliaments.

The end of Ottoman dominion over the cradle of Christianity, a place
held in reverence by the vast majority of the peoples of the Old and
New World, made a deep and abiding impression, and as long as people
hold dearly to their faiths, sentiment will make General Allenby's
victory one of the greatest triumphs of the war. The relief of the
people of Jerusalem, as well as their confidence that we were there
to stay, manifested itself when General Shea drove into the City. The
news had gone abroad that the General was to arrive about noon, and
all Jerusalem came into the streets to welcome him. They clapped their
hands and raised shrill cries of delight in a babel of tongues.
Women threw flowers into the car and spread palm leaves on the road.
Scarcely had the Turks left, probably before they had all gone and
while the guns were still banging outside the entrances to Jerusalem,
stray pieces of bunting which had done duty on many another day were
hung out to signify the popular pleasure at the end of an old, hard,
extortionate regime and the beginning of an era of happiness and
freedom.

After leaving Jerusalem the enemy took up a strong position on the
hills north and north-east of the City from which he had to be driven
before Jerusalem was secure from counter-attack. During the morning
General Chetwode gave orders for a general advance to the line laid
down in his original plan of at