any a hard-won field in the torrid heat
of summer had paved the way for this greater triumph. A French and an
Italian guard of honour was posted inside the Jaffa Gate. As I have
previously said, the Italians had held a portion of the line in front
of Gaza with a composite brigade, but the French troops had not yet
been in action in Palestine, though their Navy had assisted with a
battleship in the Gaza bombardment. We welcomed the participation of
the representatives of our Allies in the Official Entry, as it showed
to those of their nationality in Jerusalem that we were fighting
the battle of freedom for them all. Outside the Jaffa Gate the
Commander-in-Chief was received by Major-General Borton, who had
been appointed Military Governor of the City, and a procession being
formed, General Allenby passed between the iron gates to within the
City walls. Preceded by two aides-de-camp the Commander-in-Chief
advanced with the commander of the French Palestine detachment on his
right and the commander of the Italian Palestine detachment on his
left. Four Staff officers followed. Then came Brigadier-General
Clayton, Political Officer; M. Picot, head of the French Mission; and
the French, Italian, and United States Military Attaches. The Chief
of the General Staff (Major-General Sir L.J. Bols) and the
Brigadier-General General Staff (Brigadier-General G. Dawnay) marched
slightly ahead of Lieutenant-General Sir Philip W. Chetwode, the XXth
Corps Commander, and Brigadier-General Bartholomew, who was General
Chetwode's B.G.G.S. The guard closed in behind. That was all.

The procession came to a halt at the steps of El Kala, the Citadel,
which visitors to Jerusalem will better remember as the entrance to
David's Tower. Here the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff formed up on
the steps with the notables of the City behind them, to listen to the
reading of the Proclamation in several languages. That Proclamation,
telling the people they could pursue their lawful business without
interruption and promising that every sacred building, monument, holy
spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary
place of prayer of whatsoever form of three of the great religions
of mankind would be maintained and protected according to existing
customs and beliefs to those to whose faiths they are sacred, made
a deep impression on the populace. So you could judge from the
expressions on faces and the frequent murmurs of approval, a