hey had established. For the
next six months, the railway to the north of Medina was frequently
raided by the Arabs, but the town was effectually cut off from its
communications with Turkey.

In July, 1917, Akaba, at the head of the gulf of that name, the
north-eastern arm of the Red Sea, was captured. This is at no great
distance from Maan, an important depot on the Hejaz Railway, the last
outpost of Syria at the edge of the desert of North Arabia. From Akaba,
the railway was now attacked at Maan, with serious results to Medina;
nevertheless, that city continued to hold out, and was probably never
very closely invested.

In October and November, 1917, about the time of the third battle of
Gaza, the Turks were still in Maan, and tried to assume the offensive
against the Arabs, but proved too weak to succeed. After the fall of
Jerusalem, the Turks withdrew to some extent, and the Arabs advanced
towards the lands east of the Dead Sea.

From this period forward, the history of the Hejaz revolt merges in that
of the Palestine campaign. The Arab forces east of the Dead Sea afforded
a safeguard against any possible Turkish attempt to move round our right
flank and raid our line of communications. In February and in March,
1918, Turkish expeditions moving against the Arab forces of the King of
the Hejaz southward from Kerak, near the south-eastern corner of the
Dead Sea, met with failure. The former expedition ended in disaster, and
the latter was forced to withdraw, owing to the imminence of a British
crossing of the Jordan in its rear. Arab activity on the railway now
definitely isolated Medina. Although the Arabs were never strong enough
to push a powerful force up through Eastern Palestine, yet the presence
of a friendly force operating in that country exercised considerable
influence upon the later stages of the Palestine campaign. The
assistance which the Arabs gave in the ultimate destruction of the
Turkish army was invaluable.

CHAPTER IV

PALESTINE

The story of a campaign is more interesting if we have a general idea of
the topography of the country in which it is conducted. Our time will,
therefore, not be wasted if we leave the British Army on the frontiers
of the Holy Land for a few minutes longer and form a mental picture of
the terrain over which they are about to operate.

Picture a country, about the size of Wales, divided into parallel strips
running north and south, zones of alternate elevat