Diary No.11 of Rupert Major Downes, 30 July - 17 November 1918 - Part 4

northwards off the road to Nablus & followed
a winding & hilly road for about 14 miles (its 26
from Tulkeram to Jenin) which is wonderfully
well graded on some of the steep hills & very pretty.
We were not too sure if this road was clear of 
enemy nor of the Beduins behaviour so had our
rifles guns handy; the road is pretty narrow
in places. Lots of dead & broken transport wagons,
motor lorries, guns, field cookers & disinfectors
all the way & just before getting to Jenin there 
is a devil of a mess but everything has been
well rifled & looted - largely by the thieving
Beduins. Jenin is rather a picturesque town
at the apex of the plain of Armageddon but very
dirty c̄ dead animals all over the place. We went
& had a look thro' two Turk hospitals, one full of
wounded, the other all dysentery ⁽²⁰⁰⁾ - chiefly malarial - 
& there were some wretched looking people in them. 
Met Evans & went to a medical store he had just
found & all got some loot. Then looked over
the German hospital which was well & sensibly
equipped c̄ a full staff & mostly German ⁽⁸⁰⁾ & a few ⁽²⁰⁾
of our patients. There were 9 sisters here - all
trained army nurses c̄ a very fine woman in
charge - a Baroness something - who spoke English
fairly well. Did the polite to them, saw the German
doctor, looked round the place, drank a lot
of champagne of which there were seas of here &
had a fresh meat lunch c̄ the 3rd L.H.F.A who
were in charge here. Drove one of two captured 

ambulances which was a good car. Then went off
with a good load of loot after Ausdiv Hdqrs which
had left here this morning to Afuleh (11 miles).
Talked c̄ Fowler & then left Dawson to go up to
Nazareth c̄ Fowler to see how things were & drove
down to Beisan (16 miles) passing Chauvel along 
a good but soft unmetalled track passing thousands
of prisoners c̄ the usual proportion dropping out
to die. Went to Fourcav Hdqrs. at the station & had
tea c̄ Moore (A.D.M.S.) & found things all right;
talked to Foster too & heard they'd just taken a 
heap more prisoners down near Jisred Damie. 
Drove back to Afuleh intending to return home
but Dawson was back very late so had dinner
c̄ Gen^l Hodgson & drove to Lejjun (7½ m) after &
slept there after some work & talk. 
There were a tremendous number of German lorries
on the Jenin Afuleh road, bombed out of existence
& more on the way to Beisan as well as transport
& dead horses everywhere c̄ mules & bullocks.
24.9.18. After breakfast at GS mess fixed up c̄ A.P.M.
for prisoners to clean up the mess & bury dead 
animals. Tried to get one of the many captured
cars we had but the selfish G.S. swine (Campbell Ross)
wouldnt part. Saw Ausdiv. R.S. just pitching
tents & then drove back to Tulkeram by the
musmus defile which is becoming very bad
stopping at Coullies D.R.S on the way. 
Did not do very much in aft. as feeling tired
but messed about quietly & phoned D.M.S. 

25.9.18. Felt pretty rotten in morning so did not
join up c̄ Adv. Hqrs as I'd intended. Did some A.D.F.
stuff c̄ Dawson for some time & then laid down.
Did the same in aft. & then strolled in to Fourcav.
D.R.S. at Tul Keram c̄ Dawson & found a lot of Hun
& Turk wounded lying out in the sun, went to see
the operating car which had been smashed the
day before in crossing the railway. Saw the motor
amb. chap Purdue who seemed pretty ill so had
him sent off. Drove home c̄ Coullie who had
come down in an amb. car. Yarned away after 
dinner.
26.9.18. Off at 0800 to Lejjun where our Hqrs were
moving to; Dawson returned home; packed Padre
Woods off sick. Stopped at Coullie's place & ordered
him forward to Afuleh; chewed up M^cLaren for
not obeying orders re sending his cars down by
Jenin. Found that an advance was to be made
to Damascus so decided to hold all patients at
Nazareth as it was impossible to evacuate all the
way to Tulkeram & ordered 4^th & Ausdiv. R.Ss. up &
wired D.M.S for drugs & dressings to be sent to
Haifa by sea. Tried to get Dawson back as things 
were going to be strenuous but my wires missed 
him. Drove to Afuleh meeting M^cNab on the
way looking very done. Tried to pick a site
for our camp in aft. at a Jewish village but a
heavy downpour of rain made the it necessary
to be on the one metalled road - to Nazareth - as all
the country was too soft for transport elsewhere

As all the inhabitants said the place was awful for
Malaria - as was obvious - & sandflies tried to get 
Trew to go to Nazareth & again on the next day, but
he said it wasnt possible which was rot & we
paid a very heavy price later in illness & death
for our 3 nights there - Trew being one of those
who got Malaria. Corps Commanders conference
at which the plans for attacking Damascus were
gone over; Chauvel in one of his worst moods.
Picked a site for our camp after & then had some
tea at an amb. (13th) & drove up to Nazareth (8 miles)
taking Leahy c̄ me. Went to French hospital which
was a good spot c̄ Nuns & sisters Syrian doctors
& local nurse girls & well equipped which Parry
was running c̄ his outfit; then walked thro'
town c̄ Leahy looking for Parry & others hospitals
but it was too dark so returned & had tea. A
number of 4^th Bde wounded from Semakh
were brought in. Nazareth is rather a pretty 
little town in a cup with a lot of large religious
buildings very fine looking & suitable for
hospitals. The Turks had had 20 hospitals there
& there were still about 350 patients - Turks. As
usual most of the equipment had been looted by
the inhabitants from the empty hospitals or
destroyed & they were very dirty, The German
headquarters of Liman von Sanders had been
here & they'd had to bolt for their lives out of
bed early on the morning of the 20^th. The road
up from Afuleh for the first half is on the flat

but then there's a devil of a climb up a well
graded hill road which was littered c̄ German
lorries the 5^th division had caught & cars too.
Drove back to Afuleh meeting M^cLaren on his
way to the French hospital to take over from Parry.
Got back to find no tents or equipment had arrived
at our camp & only 3 officers very sorry for
themselves on wet ground c̄ a fine brand of sand
fly & mosquito much in evidence. I had my
bivouac tent so had a fair sleep.
27.9.18. Felt pretty rotten in a.m. & started off
without breakfast. Went to signal office at
Afuleh & talked to the D.M.S. about things &
interviewed Trew & then Stansfield about supplies
& then onto 5^th Recog. Stn. which had arrived
at Afuleh last night where had some tea &
cursed Leggat for not coming to his headquarters
last night. Ordered Coullie to go on to Nazareth
rapidly & take over the Carmelite monastery.
Drove to Lejjun over a road which had been
good but was ruined by the traffic on
top of the rain of yesterday to see how 
operating unit & remains of Ausdiv. R.S. were
but met them both on their way & Lejjun
was deserted. Drove thence to Jenin where I
packed drugs in a.m. c̄ a Hun to help me to go to 
Nazareth - a lot had been looted since my last
visit. Had lunch on chops at Fizz at German 
hospital & saw the matron now ill in bed, squared
up things on to R.A.F. at Afuleh to borrow lorries 

Saw Trew & back to camp to be well bitten.
Had sent Leggat off to Nazareth in the morning
to organise the hospital there.
28.9.18. Drove up to Nazareth directly after
breakfast to see how things were going on &
found French hospital very full & that Leggat
as usual hadnt done very much - he was a bit 
seedy. Walked up to the Carmelite monastery
which was a devil of a climb & was very done
when I got there as was still feeling mighty
feeble. Found Coullie who was having the
very dirty building cleaned & had done a 
lot; it is a fine big building c̄ a great
outlook c̄ room for several hundred patients
but as it was apparently impossible to get
any transport to it was about to order the
5 D.R.S. out of it when we found that there was
another practicable way up which my car 
had come. Drove down below & inspected a
rifled & untidy building that had contained
the 215 Feldlazariet & was quite suitable for
hospital & arranged for Coullie to take over
this place as well as the one on the hill. Then
visited the Austrian hospital - a nice little
place c̄ priest, religious sisters, X ray & well
equipped - electric light -; there were 17 German
patients pretty ill & a nasty lazy big Prussian
doctor. Decided to use this as an officer's
hospital & to bring up the sisters & spare 
equipment from Jenin - the former to live in

this hospital. Had tucker at French hospital
after booking a nice looking room at the pub
in case I wanted it & drove to Tiberias (19 miles)
There was a very bad 5 miles of road - the worst
I've ever been over. The last few miles are down
a steep & winding road from the top of which
there is a great view over the sea of Gallilee
which is a very vivid blue color. Tiberias is
picturesque but dismal looking with its
walls & houses of black basalt & it was
blowing a gale when I got there c̄ clouds of 
dust. Went to see part of Ausdiv C.S. which
was there c̄ patients the rest having  gone on
& found them in a decent building for a hospital.
Had a good deal of plug trouble in starting 
& on the way home; drove right thro' to
Afuleh meeting the lorries that had brought the
equipment from Seimal Jenin. Parry was
now at Mejdel moving on & 4^th D.R.S. arrived
at Afuleh so that 5^th D.C.S. from which it had 
taken over was ordered to chase Parry's
lot & join up.
29.9.18. Went to see 4^th D.R.S. after breakfast & then
to station to see when a train might be going
to Semakh on which I wanted a small ambulance
party to go to look after lorry patients who
would be arriving there tomorrow. Found 
that my whole hospital town of Nazareth 
was going to become useless as the line of
supplies was to be changed to run from a

railhead at Semakh instead of thro' Af Nazareth
so that patients thro coming by lorries as
the majority do will only come to the former 
place. This was a pretty nasty situation to be
up against as everyone of my units was holding
patients with no means of evacuation till
the train started; 2 were at Nazareth & one at 
Afuleh & a divisional one at Jisr Mejamie; it
would take luck here to avoid a mess up. Rang
up D.M.S & told him what was going to happen &
he agreed to evacuate Nazareth patients to 
Haifa quickly, to send an operating team as 
the corps operating car was bust & medical stores
as well as promising a C.C.S. to Haifa. Dashed
up to Nazareth to order 5^th D.R.S. to hand over
its two hospitals to Ausdiv R.S. & sprint for
Tiberias tomorrow probably moving to Semakh
after; this meant pretty hard work for Ausdiv.
R.S. & a scramble all round but as the 5^th D.R.S.
couldn't get to Semakh as early as the patients
were expected I had already ordered a small
party of 4 D.R.S. to go there to try & fill the breach.
As a matter of fact this train didn't get to 
Semakh till 48 hours later but luckily the
expected patients did not arrive till a day
later than that (on the 2^nd); by this time the 
4^th Collecting Stⁿ was also there so by luck
we'd not had a load of homeless & neglected
patients. This is anticipating.
Had lunch at Nazareth & returned to Afuleh 

after going to the 4^th D.R.S & station again
to see about the trains which were still in 
a state of delightful uncertainty, Till they
go evacuation of patients wont be on a satisfactory
footing or even possible at all; then can xxx
empty 4^th D.R.S. from Afuleh to Haifa if the C.C.S
is up there to receive them & it will be free to 
move to Semakh & close to gap; the Semakh
people can also be got rid of though whether
to Tulkeram or Haifa depends on which line
of railway is got going first. 
30.9.18. Moved to Semakh first ringing up the
D.M.S. to tell him the situation & that no trains
were yet returning; it took an hour &½ to get on
& then I couldn't hear what he said for the noise. 
I forget what it was we arranged. but Left
at 1015 after failing to get D.D.M.S. XXI Corps to
ask him if he could receive at patients at Haifa.
The road past Beisan in the Jordan valley again
is very bad & bumpy from many round
basalt stones at first but soon improved;
there are some fine old stone aqueducts still
in full use too. Got bogged at a wadi ^Bardeh but
soon pulled out & stopped at the 4^th D.C.S. at
Jisr Mejamie station & had lunch with
Mackay the officer & some wounded officers
just in. He had 100 patients waiting for the
train & another 20 were on their way in
in motor ambs from Er Renite where they'd
had a hard scrap.

Heard details of this scrap from the officers
& of the uncertainty of the beduins there in the
wild country. The 4th D.C.S. as the result of their
stay here were nearly wiped out with malaria.
The train with my wee ambulance detachment
on it which had started from Afuleh last night
was held up here as the engine was no good.
Arrived at Semakh early in afternoon, dropped
my kit & proceeded to drive across the Jordan
just where it flows out of the sea of Galillee
but it was a bit to deep & we had to be pushed
thr most of the way. Rather a pleasing outlook
about here, Went on the 5 miles to Tiberias along 
the edge of the Lake of Tiberias (Semakh is 33 miles
from Afuleh) & found Coullie & the operating unit
already there; Coullie's a wonder to move. Went
& talked c̄ White the military governor & looked
over the two hospitals Coullie was to run. Drove
back then again failing to quite find the ford across
the Jordan. Camped down near the A.D.S.T. tents
1.10.18. Rode Walked over to station to see the detachment of
4^th D.R.S. under Sanyal which had just arrived -
& no patients yet by good fortune. Drove off
at 1030 and stopped to talk to Coullie at Tiberias
who told me that Cholera had broken out there
among the civilians & he had it in hand. Drove
on to Kuneitra where arrived at 1430 (45 miles fr.
Tiberias). The road goes first over a flat plain
well watered - forget its biblical name - then past 
Capernaeum & up never ending hill or series