ALLENBY, Edmund Henry, 1st Viscount (1861-1936). Field Marshal.
Fine Autograph Letter Signed ('Edmund H H Allenby') to 'My dear Leader', written on a train 'on the Palestine front', 4 pages 8vo (some damp-staining), 30 July 1917. Written within a month of taking command of the Egyptian expeditionary force, describing the scenery and agraraian economy of Palestine and discussing the intentions of the Turks.

'... We are close up to Gaza, but not yet in it; and I rode to within 5 miles of Beersheba the other day. It is a fertile country, but water is scarce. After the spring rains it is covered with grass, barley & flowers of all sorts; now it is dry and dusty. Figs abound, & dates; & grapes are fairly common. Most of the barley - wh[ich] is grown by semi-settled Bedouins - is shipped to Scotland, in peace time, to make Scotch Whisky. ...'
'Egypt is quiet now, & there is no trouble on the W frontier; so I hope to be able to move up, & pay attention to this part of the world. The Turk is well dug in, under German instruction, and his positions are strong; but his front is a long one to hold, & he can't be strong everywhere. I hear weekly, or oftener, from Maude [(Sir) Frederick Stanley Maude, 1864-1917] in Mesopotamia. It looks as if the Turks want to make a push at him soon. ...'

An unusually fine and revealing letter of Allenby in the most crucial year of his life, written on writing-paper of the Egyptian State Railways (he was returning the Cairo the next day). By October Allenby had been able to break through at Gaza and push the Turks northwards beyond Jaffa. On 9 December 1917 he was to capture Jerusalem.
[No: 20748]