Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East

by David R. Woodward

Book Overview

In the modern popular imagination, the British Army's campaign in the Middle East during World War I is considered somehow less brutal than the fighting on European battlefields. A romantic view of this conflict has been further encouraged by such films as Lawrence of Arabia and The Light Horsemen. In Hell in the Holy Land, David R. Woodward uses graphic eyewitness accounts from the diaries, letters, and memoirs of British soldiers who fought in that...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813123836
• ISBN13: 9780813123837
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A nice vignette

This short and interesting account of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force examines the campaign in Sinai and Palestine in the First World War largely from the perspective of the soldiers themselves. This is a charming and interesting read that tells of life in the desert and the hardscabble and sweaty existence of the troops forced to march across Sinai, watching the exceedingly slow progress of the railroad tracks being built, assault Gaza in a series of disastrous thrusts at the Turkis right flank and finally march on Jerusalem, up the Jordan valley and fight at Megiddo. It was a fascinating campaign, one the Germans described as 'pure' because it was fought in the desert. This is a good histor from the point of view of the soldier but it is not a thorough history of the campaign and certainly neglects the larger picture. Nevertheless it is an important contrbution to work on the First World War in the Middle East, a very interesing topic. Seth J. Frantzman

First-hand stories told in context

Although the title sounds as if the book will be about the entire campaign in the Middle East it concentrates primarily on the Sinai-Palestine campaigns as told mostly in first person accounts. While extremely interesting in that it discusses details of life and campaigning as experienced by the typical soldier it loses the "big picture" fairly quickly (despite discussions of foibles and weaknesses of the British generals in command) and never really explains to the reader what Austrians and Germans are doing in Palestine. Still, not a bad book and definitely something you would want if studying the WWI campaigns in the region as a whole. I highly recommend it.

A FORGOTTEN THEATER of WORLD WAR I

The Preface observes "Not only has the campaign in Egypt and Palestine been neglected in the historiography of the war, the ordinary British soldier has not been given his due." Author, David Woodward, corrects these omissions by narrating World War I warfare in the Turkish theater using the diaries and letters of the British soldiers to describe combat in this area. Woodward writes "The British soldiers in Egypt and Palestine, whose words constitute a large part of this book, fought in a theatre very different from France and Flanders." They were member of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF). The British faced the problem of "....how could the War Office field the necessary forces to maintain its position in France and also defend the empire against the global threat posed by the Turko-German alignment." They chose to fight Turkey with Territorials augmented by imperial troops from Australia, New Zealand and India. The text notes "Among the participants, the Territorials have been especially overlooked ....and the Territorial Divisions were called upon to do most of the fighting in the battles of Gaza and the conquest of Jerusalem." The Territorials were roughly the equivalent of American Reserve units. The narration begins in Egypt stating "The defense of Egypt....was not a `side show.' Its loss would be a disaster....Not only would the Suez Canal be lost, the Turko-German menace would now extend to Africa." To protect the Suez Canal a campaign to clear the Sinai was initiated. The text gives an excellent account of this operation where the environment was extremely hot and adverse. Camels were an effective means of transportation but were difficult to manage. "Drivers were required as well a camels." Ultimately, tens of thousands of men were employed in the EEF camel force. The difficulties of Sinai operations are illustrated by the work, begun in 1916, to build a standard-gauge railway across the Sinai. Progress averaged only 1/2 a mile a day. Fifty years earlier, the United States had built the Union Pacific Railroad westward at a rate of 1 or 2 miles a day with progress occasionally reaching 3 or 4 miles a day. The EEF praised the pluck and endurance of the Turks. The text's accounts of two failed efforts to conquer the city of Gaza are interesting. Unfortunately, British troops were poorly lead. On the first attempt, elements had reached the center of Gaza but where withdrawn. The appointment of Sir Edmund Allenby as commander of the EEF "brought a new style and needed energy to GHQ." The text gives an excellent narrative of Allenby's performance. An interesting item was that on 13 November 1917 two British cavalry regiments attacked Junction Station in what was probably the last major cavalry charge in the British Army. Faced with morale problems at home, Prime Minister Lloyd George gave Allenby a mandate to capture "Jerusalem before Christmas." Interestingly, the idea of a crusade to free Jerusalem resonated with many of the men. B

Sand, sun and scorpions

Most histories of World War I tend to ignore the British army's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and its battle against the Turks in Palestine. While this theater of war was treated by the powers-that-be as a "sideshow", to the men fighting and dying in the Middle East it was a real war. Conditions there were different from those in France. Trench warfare was not the norm and the soldiers had to combat, not only the enemy, but broiling sun during the day, chilly temeratures at night, shifting sand, dangerous insects, and the incessant attack of flies. This book retells a story of courage and effort in a climate that was really foreign to most of the EEF. We follow them from Egypt, across the Sinai, through Gaza, up to Jerusalem and then farther North as Turkey's resistance collapsed, and the war began to come to an end. Anyone interested in the "complete" history of World War I, in all of its varied aspects, should read this book.