sisted of
three armies, the 8th and the 7th, plus one added Division on the west
of the Jordan, and the 4th army on the east. All were under the supreme
command of the German General, Liman von Sanders.

The line held by the enemy west of the Jordan extended roughly from the
sea, south of the Nahr el Falyk (some 14 miles north of Jaffa), across
western Palestine approximately east, south-east to near Rafat, thence
easterly and south-easterly, across the Nablus-Jerusalem Road, and so
down to the Jordan Valley. Thus, a portion of his force was entrenched
across the Maritime Plain, while the remainder was in the mountains of
the Central Range. These mountains of Ephraim and Samaria form a rugged,
isolated plateau, which is bounded on the north and east by the
low-lying Valleys of Esdraelon and the Jordan. North-west, the mountains
continue in a broken chain, till they fall precipitously to the sea at
Cape Carmel.

There were two or three routes available to the enemy for supply or
retreat, behind the Samaritan plateau. Most important of these was the
railway, which, leaving the main Damascus-Hejaz line at Deraa, ran
westwards down the Yarmuk Valley to the Jordan, thence through Beisan,
and up the Vale of Jezreel and along the Plain of Esdraelon to Haifa.
From El Afule, a junction in the middle of the Esdraelon Plain, the
south-bound line branched off, and, passing through Jenin (close by
Jezreel), wound its way among the mountains up to Messudieh Station,
close to Samaria. Thence a short line ran on to Nablus, while the main
line continued down the slope of the Wadi Shair to the Maritime Plain,
which it reached at Tul Keram. The advanced enemy bases at Nablus and
Tul Keram were served also by good roads. That from Tul Keram followed
the line of the railway up to a point near Samaria, where it joined the
main north-bound road leading from Nablus down to Jenin and El Afule.
From El Afule it would be possible to go down the Vale of Jezreel (along
the road where Jehu drove furiously) to Beisan, and thence northward up
the Jordan Valley. But the better road from Jenin and El Afule leads
across the Plain of Esdraelon to Nazareth and Tiberias and round the
northern side of the Sea of Galilee to Damascus. Another road from
Nablus leads eastwards, and, dropping steeply down along the Wadi Fara,
leads to the Jordan, which it crosses by a ford at Jisr ed Damie. The
places of tactical importance on the enemy lines of communication be