PALESTINE.

Taihape Daily Times, 9 October 1918, Page 6

PALESTINE.

THE TRIUMPH OF THE ■ MOUNTEDS. TEN DAYS' WONDERFUL WORK. GREAT CITY IN A GLORIOUS SETTING. CAIRO, Oct 6. A correspondent descriDmg the advance upon Damascus, says: General J Allenby's niounteds were supremely J si ?cessful, and never missed an opportunity of hitting.hard swiftly .following one. big movement by another, until three cavalry division's converged on Damascus, The masses of British Yeomanry and Australian and Indian Horse were larger probably than ever before assembled under one commander. After out-manoe-i vring the Turkish forces and dealing' death-blows to their armies, in ten days the mounted troops covered 150 miles, over country which yielded no food for man or beast. The city as it lies before us is set in a most beautiful frame of gloriously green gardens, rendered the more refreshing to eyes used to the glare of the Eastern sun, by comparison with the stony hills overlooking the verdant scene. The enemy burned vast quantities of stores. Numerous explosions of ammunition and petrol were heard. They j burned their military establishments, J and at our approach blew up an enormous wireless installation affording communication between Constantinople and Berlin. The roads over which the troops advanced were ab-1 solutely the worst on the surface of the globe. The highways were a mass of lava boulders. An impressive sptec--1 tacle was that of thousands of horsemen passing in the darkness, with no sound save hoof beats and the rumble of wheels, and with the irregular mass of Mount Hermon looming in the distance. A brisk action delayed our advance at one point on steep, rough hills overlooking the road, with a wadi in front. Several hundred Germans and Turks, with machine guns and two field guns well placed, put up a fight. We got them on the flank. Most of them were captured and the rest scattered. Other columns also had some brisk brushes with the enemy attempting to stop our approach to the city, many prisoners being the

outcome of tbese actions. A regiment [ of light horse and French cavalry sent, in 3500 between them. The enemy destruction of stores and munitions within the city made one of the rarest pyrotechnic displays, lighting up the circle of hills and throwing out immense balls of flames and rolling smoke clouds to an immense height. His main ammunition dump* went up with one stunning roar, the hills widely re-echoing. What ammunition General Allenby's army did not capture seems to be in process of destruction. The inhabitants are gratified at the British advance, and-it "is significant that a deputation of Druse Sheikhs asked permission to fight with us and expresed their deep thankfulness at our arrival to deliver them from the Turku. ' : :;'-!!f;f