Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
thousands of similar records compiled by army units fighting in the two world wars. They are
not personal diaries but official journals of daily activity and progress, often supplemented
by fuller accounts of combat and casualties. Small maps are frequently included to aid the
explanations of events and enliven the written word. Some, like this one, are hand-drawn on
scraps of paper; others are neatly cut from printed sheets and annotated.
At the beginning of May, the battalion was fighting in the small area covered by this map,
which lies a few miles east of the River Jordan and some distance north of the Dead Sea. It
was tasked with attacking Bulaybil (here spelt Bileibil, at upper right), near to the Ottoman
stronghold of Shunat Nimrin (off the map, to lower right). The sketch marks the positions
of the battalion's four companies during 1-2 May (in red) and 3-4 May (in blue). East is
roughly at the top. The commentary in the war diary reveals that the battalion was subjected
to intense fire from its opponents, often at close range. 22 men died and 108 were wounded.
The British would have found this landscape punishing even without constant enemy bom-
bardment. The map's prominent, closely-spaced contour lines present a strong impression of
rugged terrain. Nicknames such as Bucket Hill, Surprise Hill and Blackheath Ridge were de-
vised to distinguish one otherwise nameless piece of high ground from another. Even relat-
ively low hills could assume great importance as vantage points during military action. In this
harsh environment, streams such as Wadi Nimrin (shown at right) could also be significant
barriers to progress.
The battalion's activity was one component of a wider venture now known as the Second
Action of As-Salt or the Second Battle of the Jordan. On 30 April, a combined force of Brit-
ish, Australian, New Zealand and Indian soldiers had crossed from the western side of the
River Jordan to attack enemy-held territory to the east. Their aim was to gain control of this
region - then known as Transjordan - by capturing the cities of As-Salt and Amman and their
surroundings. This plan failed. Although As-Salt swiftly fell to the Allies, they were unable
to take Shunat Nimrin. Ottoman and German counter-attacks forced them to give up the ter-
ritory that they had gained, and by 5 May all of the surviving troops had retreated westward
across the river.
Ultimately, however, Allied operations in the Middle East proved more successful. The
Ottoman Empire, which had joined the war in the hope of regaining territory that she had
previously lost to Russia, was defeated and broken up. Under the terms of the peace treat-
ies, Transjordan was made a British protectorate. The region remained in British hands until
1946, when it gained independence as the Kingdom of Jordan.
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