General Allenby continued his advance through the rough Judaean hills
east of Jerusalem and occupied the village of Jericho on Thursday week. The London Territorials had two days of hard fighting among the rocky defiles before the Australian and New Zealand mounted troops could descend to the plain by the Jordan and drive the enemy across the river. The Turks have retreated northward up the Jordan Valley to the line of the Wadi el Auja, six miles from Jericho. They hold the bridgehead to the east of the
village, protecting the road across the Jordan to the Hedjaz Rail. way, twenty-two miles away. Our patrols, however, were on Tuesday operating east of the river near the Dead Sea. Meanwhile the Hedjaz Arabs and our airmen are continually harassing the Turks along the railway, which is the enemy's main route of supply from Damascus for his forcei in- the Hanna and his beleaguered garrison in Medina. Jerusalem is now secure against attack from the east. In Mesopotamia on February 20th General Marshall made a further advance of fourteen miles up the Euphrates, to within ten miles of Hit.
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