War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

100 WARBYREVOLUTION

whilewitnessingabattlebetweenthearmiesofIbnSaudandIbn
Rashid."
Thus,theTurkishVIIICorps,whichtooktwo weeks inJanuaryto
crossthenearlyonehundredmilesofSinaideserttoattacktheSuez
Canal,receivednosupportfromtheleadingArabianprinces."Along
thewaybitterdifferencesoverstrategyandother,lessimportantis-
suesseparatedKressandhisstafffromJemalPasha,theTurkishcom-
mander,whousuallysettledthedisputesin hisownfavor.Whereas
Turkishreconnaissancepatrolsusedcamels(withwhichtheyscoured
almosttotheSuez Canal),theBritishusedairplanes,whichkeptCairo
wellinformedoftheTurkishadvanceandenabledtheBritishto in-
creasethecanal'sdefensesevenmore.Inaddition,Britishplanes
bombedtheinvadingforcerepeatedly,frighteningboththeTurks
andGermans.'!
TheTurkishassaultonthecanalbeganearlyonthemorningof 3
February.TheBritishhadstationednotroopsontheeasternbankof
thecanalbuthadheavilyfortifiedtheoppositeside. Also, Royal Navy
cruisersfiredontheTurks,particularlyshellingthelatter'sfield hos-
pital.WhenfortyTurksreachedthecanal'swestbankbypontoon,
theyweremassacred.BynightfalltheBritishforceshadroutedthe
invaders.TotalTurkishlossesnumberedatleastfifteenhundred;
BritishcasualtiesnearedISO.jemalPashaquicklyorderedhisremain-
ingforces toretreatintotheSinai,whichtheTurksaccomplished
withoutdifficulty.WhileJemalledmostofthecorpsbackto Pales-
tine,wheresomeoftheGermanofficersarrivedinJerusalemonII
February,Kressremainedinthedesertwithseveralbattalionsanda
squadronofcamelriders."
Theattackonthecanalfailedfor severalreasons.Althoughthe
Turksorganized,led,andconstitutedmostoftheexpedition,much
oftheblamefor itsoutcomerestedwiththeGermans.Thelatterhad
pushedtheiralliesintoaprematureoperationwithoutproviding
themadequateweaponsandsupplies.Moreover,theGermanleaders
haddeceivedthemselvesasmuchormorethanhadtheirTurkish
counterpartslikeJemalPasha,byexpectingtheappearanceofthe
TurksnearthecanaltosetEgyptablazeinholywaragainstBritain."
TheTurkishadvancepromptedneitheranativeuprisinginEgypt
norany Sanussiactivityinthecountry'swesterndesert.Fortheir