On the 21st the advance was resumed, the Division reaching a line which overlooked Jericho. At 8.20 a.m. mounted troops rode into the town.
Paragraph 8 describes a further advance, 8th to 12th March, in which the XX. Corps “had to drive the enemy from ridge to ridge.” On the 9th the right brigade of the 60th Division, which had crossed the Wadi el Auja, north of Jericho, in the dark, and “had subsequently met with determined resistance,” seized a position astride the Beisan-Jericho road. Other troops on their left also made good progress and by the 11th “a line had been captured with great natural facilities for defence.”
Paragraph 11 and 12 deal with a raid on Amman. The troops employed were the 60th Division, the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division, the Imperial Camel Brigade, etc., the whole under the General Officer Commanding 60th Division. Heavy rains made the crossing of the Jordan a task of almost insuperable difficulty and also made progress very slow when the eastern bank was reached. On 24th March the 60th Division drove the enemy from a position which blocked the road to Es Salt, captured three guns and pursued him for four miles. On the 25th they occupied Es Salt. The mounted troops effected the destruction of portions of the railway. There was heavy fighting on the 29th and 30th March, the Turks having been reinforced; thereafter the Commander-in-Chief ordered a withdrawal and this was carried out by the evening of 2nd April. Troops were left on the east side of the Jordan to form a bridgehead. Over 900 prisoners were taken in this raid.
On 30th April operations east of the Jordan were again undertaken. “The 60th Division captured the advanced works of the Shunet Nimrin position but were unable to make further progress in face of the stubborn resistance offered by the enemy.” On 2nd May there was another attack but the Turks were found to be in great strength. “The 60th Division was unable to make any substantial progress, in spite of determined efforts.” About 1000 prisoners were taken in this operation. On 4th May the force was withdrawn.
Paragraph 15 of the despatch refers to the reorganisation of the Palestine Army consequent on the departure of the 52nd and 74th Divisions for France, and it states that 24 British battalions were also withdrawn from the remaining divisions and sent to France. The 60th contributed its share of these, while the remainder of the Division continued to set a very high standard of efficient work in the field to the troops brought to Palestine from Mesopotamia and India, to take the place of those who had left for the western front. The 2/20th joined the famous 62nd Division in August 1918.
In the despatch of 31st October, 1918, as to the final overthrow of the Turks in Palestine, paragraph 9 shows that the break-through by the infantry was entrusted to Sir E. Bulfin’s XXI. Corps, to which the 60th Division was attached, it having been moved from the right to the left of the line. At 4.30 a.m. on 19th September, the XXI. Corps attacked and, within 36 hours, “the greater part of the VIII. Turkish Army had been overwhelmed.”
The 60th Division attacked in the coastal sector, then moved inland to leave “the coast route clear for the Desert Mounted Corps.”
After the 20th the infantry had heavy marching but no severe fighting. The operations 19th-25th September are now “The Battles of Megiddo.”
The armistice with Turkey came into force on 31st October, but fighting had ceased on the 26th. The 60th Division had certainly done a great deal to bring about the satisfactory conclusion of the War with Turkey.
Battalions of the Division were selected for the Armies of Occupation as follows: for Western Front, the 2/14th, 2/15th, 2/16th, 2/17th and 2/23rd London Regiment; for Egypt, 2/13th, 2/19th and 2/22nd London Regiment.