Hour Jerusalem was Won. By W. T. Massey. (Constable. 21s.
net.) —Mr. Massey was the official correspondent of- the London Press with General Alicuby. In this interesting book he describes General Allenby's first campaign from. the battle of Beersheba-Gaza to the taking of Jerusalem and Jericho. Mr. Massey would exasperate a military student by his lack of precision. He succeeds, however, in giving a vivid picture of the wild country of Southern Palestine and Judaea and of the general character of the fighting. Thanks to the Censorship, the public was led to underestimate the obstinacy of the Turkish resistance, and therefore to underrate the achievements of General Allenby's Army. The Turks were heavily reinforced after they had lost Jerusalem, and their attempt to recover the city just after Christmas, 1917, was a far more serious affair than the bulletins suggested at tho time. Mr. Massey prints some documents, found in the Turco-German headquarters at Nazareth, from which it appears that General von Falkenhayn, expecting General Allenby's offensive, tried to induce the Turks to prevent it by an attack. Enver Pasha refused, preferring to go on with the preparations for an expedition to retake Baghdad. Had the German plan been adopted, however, the Turks would not have been ready to begin their offensive before General Allenby's movement had commenced. There would have been more fighting in the coast plain and less in the Judaean
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