onversely, therefore, a British offensive in Mesopotamia might draw off
troops destined for Palestine, or an offensive in Palestine might
attract troops otherwise intended for operations in Mesopotamia. There
is strong evidence that a Turco-German offensive was contemplated in
Mesopotamia for 1918. In the spring of that year, however, a British
offensive was undertaken in Palestine, which had the immediate effect of
drawing to that country strong Turkish and German reinforcements from
Aleppo. Nothing more was heard of the offensive in Mesopotamia, and, by
the autumn of 1918, there was scarcely a fighting Turk to be found in
that country. Just as our expedition against the Dardanelles, by
engaging the enemy at a vital spot near home, had materially assisted
the defence of Egypt, so did our offensives in Palestine materially
assist the defence of Mesopotamia.

Turning to another corner of the map of Turkey, where Europe and Asia
meet in the mountains of the Caucasus, we see that the Turkish frontier
here marches with that of Russia. In the earlier days of the war, the
Russians carried out an important and successful advance in this
neighbourhood, and, early in 1916, occupied the cities of Trebizond and
Erzerum. Thus, at the time when the campaign in Palestine was embarked
upon, the armies of the allies were closing in upon Eastern Turkey
simultaneously from three directions, the Russian Caucasus army from the
north-east, the British Mesopotamian army from the south-east, and the
Egyptian Expeditionary Force from the south. Strategically, the
situation seemed full of promise. But, in the winter of 1917-18,
followed the disastrous collapse of Russia, and the setting free of many
Turkish soldiers of good quality from all the Russian fronts for service
elsewhere. We had hoped that our offensive in Syria might have been
supported by the co-operation of the Russians. Instead, we felt the
pinch of their defection in the stiffening of enemy resistance on our
front by the transfer of good troops from the Caucasus to Palestine.

There is yet another theatre of warfare in Asiatic Turkey, the
operations in which exerted considerable influence on those in
Palestine. The whole of the eastern shores of the Red Sea formed part
of the Ottoman Empire. The southernmost sector, known as the Yemen, was
the farthest outpost of that Empire. Here a few Turks and Arabs
conducted a sporadic warfare against our garrison at Aden, more
calculated to