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

224 WARBYREVOLUTION

theTurkishFourthArmyfearedthatwiththearrivaloftherainy
seasonin several weekstheBritishwouldresumetheiroffensivein
Palestine,andthatsoontheHijazrailroadwouldfall totheArabs.
"Accordingly,"Papenargued,"itisofthehighestpriorityfortheen-
tirePalestinefrontthat,assoonaspossible,anagreementwithSharif
Faysal isachievedandtherearofthe4thOttomanArmyisrelieved."?
Suchapact,headvised,wouldalsoimproveTurkey'srelationshipto
thetribesoftheHauran,thegrain-producingregioneastofDam-
ascus,therebyassistingtheTurksinacquiringthelocalharvest,which
theybadlyneededto feedtheirtroops.IS
EvenGeneralErichLudendorff,thechiefoftheGermanhighcom-
mand,urgentlysuggestedtotheforeignministrythat"forrelieving
theSyrianfront...anunderstandingwithSharifFaysalwouldbe
especiallyeffective."Butunfortunately,hecontinued,theTurkish
governmentstillappearedunabletorecognizetheseriousnessofthe
situation;"he urgedtheministrytoraisetheissueagainwith
BernstorffandTalaat.Meanwhile,renewednegotiationsbetween
FaysalandtheTurksfaltered.On 4 SeptemberGeneralHansvon
Seeckt,thedeputycommanderoftheGermanmilitarymissionin
Turkey,reportedtoBernstorffthatFaysalhaddemandedpostwar
ruleoverPalestineandSyria,whichthenewOttomansultan,
MehmedVI,hadrejected.Instead,theTurksproposedtomakeFaysal
governor-generaloftheHijazwhich,asSeecktprophesied,Faysal
soonrefused."
EvenhadthedesperateGermancampaignto achieve arapproche-
mentwithFaysalsucceeded,itwouldhavemadelittledifferenceto
theoutcomeofthewarintheMiddleEast. Allenby,nowreinforced
byIndianregimentsandairpower,launchedhissurprisecavalry of-
fensiveatMegiddo,innorthernPalestine.TheTurkishtroopsand
GermanArmyGroupF-poorlysupplied,plaguedbywidespreadde-
sertions,andlackingeitheradequatereinforcementsor airsupport-
soondissolved.On1-2OctoberAllenbyauthorizedFaysal, Lawrence,
andtheArab forces toenterDamascus;fromtheretheEEF,which
includedaportionofFaysal's Arab army,chasedtheremnantsofthe
enemy'stroopsfurthernorthwardtowardAnatolia."
InMesopotamia,Anglo-Indiancavalrymenadvancedrapidlyup
theTigrisRiveragainsttheTurksandGermans.TheBritishcapture