THE VALLEY OF DESOLATION
The Commander-in-Chief had now to decide whether or not he should hold the Jordan Valley during the summer. Local authorities declared emphatically that it was impossible for Europeans to exist there during the summer months, owing to the intense heat and the prevalence of malaria of a most virulent type. They pointed to the fact that even the native Arabs move out of it to the hills during the hot weather, and that Jericho itself is deserted. The only inhabitants of the district during the summer are the small and miserable tribe of the Abid Miriam, a people of negroid origin, descendants of African slaves imported by the Arabs in former times. These live about Ain el Duk, where they carry on a rude form of irrigation by means of a few of the old, Roman water channels that still exist.
The official military handbook of Palestine confirmed the local opinion by the statement that 'Nothing is known of the climate of the lower Jordan Valley in summer time, since no civilised human being has yet been found to spend a summer there'!
On the other hand, there were several strong reasons for continuing to hold the valley line if possible. Some of these have been indicated at the beginning of Chapter XI., but there was now another, and stronger, reason for holding it, which was to confirm the enemy in his belief that we intended to strike east of the Jordan in our next big advance. Moreover, since it was clear that it would be necessary to occupy the valley and the river crossings, when the next advance was commenced, it was considered less costly to continue to hold it during the summer than to have to retake it later on.
After careful consideration, General Allenby resolved to hold the valley line permanently, and, as several of the German staff documents which we had captured assumed that we would strike in that part of our line near which the cavalry was stationed, it was decided to put them there.
The line was accordingly organised in two sectors. The left sector extended from the foot of the Judæan mountains, along the north bank of the Wadi el Auja, to its junction with the Jordan, and included the bridge and bridgehead there. A rocky ridge, several hundred feet high, ran north and south through this position, from Tel el Sultan, near Jericho, and extended north of the Auja, along the hill of Abu Tellul, ending in an abrupt bluff at Musallabeh. This ridge was held by us, so that this portion of the line resembled a fist with the first finger extended, the finger representing the ridge, and the Wadi el Auja the line of the knuckles. Abu Tellul and Musallabeh overlooked a dreary expanse, part swamp, part stony plain, covered with large patches of dense scrub, and intersected by innumerable deep wadis. The Turks were able to move unseen among the scrub and wadis all round the salient in our line, a fact which caused us much annoyance all the time we were in occupation of the valley. It was, however, necessary to hold Abu Tellul and Musaliabeh, both to preserve the water supply of the Auja for ourselves, and to deny it to the enemy.
The right sector extended from the mouth of the Auja, along the right bank of the Jordan, to the Dead Sea, and included the bridges and bridgehead at Ghoraniyeh.
The reorganisation of the cavalry was completed by the middle of May, and the Desert Mounted Corps now consisted of the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions and the 4th and 5th (Indian) cavalry divisions.[21] The valley line was held by two cavalry divisions, one in each sector, supported by a brigade of Indian infantry, and two battalions of the British West Indies Regiment. This organisation permitted of two divisions at a time being withdrawn to rest in camps established in the cool hills near Bethlehem, so that each cavalry division had alternatively a month on duty in the valley, and a month at rest in the hills. For the gunners of the Corps, however, there was no relief, owing to the shortage of artillery in the force, and they had to pass the whole summer in the valley, till the end of July, an experience which none of them is ever likely to forget.