Diary No.11 of Rupert Major Downes, 30 July - 17 November 1918 - Part 5

of hills picking up a Jew & his kid who asked for
a lift of 1 kilo & got 12 miles of hell - I cursed him
at Rosh Pinna, near Safed, got to the top of the
hill & found it very pretty - a Jewish village.
Stopped by Savage of 5^th D.C.S. who was resting
there & talked to 3 very pretty girls who were on
a picnic down to the Jordan but were frightened
over the place. I didnt have room to take them.
It was a fine view over a good road after
leaving this c̄ the Jordan at its origin from
its Lake (Bahuret) el Hule to the N. of which are
marshes and Jewish villages c̄ their red roofs
beside it flowing down a narrow deep valley
all green & Mt Hermon towering up some 30 miles
off. Passed one of our aeroplanes crashed &
then to the Jordan down a steep slope at Jer
Benat Yakub (Bridge of Jacobs daughters). The centre
arch had been blown out by the Huns in defending
the crossing but had been repaired for lorries
to cross. Then up a continual slope, much very
steep, to Kuneitra the first 7000 yards being
atrocious c̄ big round stones covering the road,
boggy from streams in places & c̄ big ruts
made by the lorries, after that it is quite good
to Kuneitra but, it seems never ending after
getting so well bumped. All along the road
abandoned German motor lorries, transport
wagons, cars & a few guns are still scattered.
Stopped at 4^th L.H.F.A. & talked c̄ Single & McFarland

the staff captain having some lunch. Found
things all right here but busy & the same old
stream of prisoners. Lot of our aeroplanes, some
crashed, nearby. Heard that Damascus - 42
miles further on was probably captured & we
discussed the news we'd heard this morning
that Bulgaria had made an armistice c̄ us which
we hardly believed as we'd heard nothing of any
fight going on there. Then drove home stopping
at Coullie's at Tiberias pretty exhausted & peevish.
Found that cholera was going well but everything
had been done to stop it. Had a dose of cholera
vaccine & on. Had sent for Leggat to run the
cholera outbreak. Struck a few miles from
home an absolute block on the road in the dark
of a convoy of motor lorries going one way
& a number of ambulances - motors - going
the opposite way c̄ no officer & no one doing
much; so took charge & after much cursing,
shoving, lifting & ordering got the two lots
clear & on home to Semakh where I arrived
about 2000 & went straight to bed without dinner.
2/10/18. Took a day's rest. Telephoned to the DMS.
in morning & evening & things seemed to be
getting square as 4^th D.C.S. arrived soon after
the first load of lorry patients who had been
fed by Sanyal & being exhausted had at once
gone to sleep. 4^th D.R.S. had evacuated its patients
to Haifa by the same train as 4^th D.C.S & was
on its way here. Had a ride on Alec - the first

time I've been on him for many weeks & he was
very fit but the groom is ill - malaria. Lorry load
of medical stores arrived. Rained hard in
morning. Had a wander round the place looking
over the ruins of the big medical stores the
dogs had burnt down but found a lot in
some buildings close by which I had collected.
Had some shooting at divers in the lake.
It is very nice bathing here but the sea -
fresh of course though 900 feet below sea level -
is very shallow till a long way out.
The Beduins around here are very wild & a
lot of sniping goes on but, too far out for
to reach us as there are a lot of Indians at
the 3^rd division there which also has the 111^th
ambulance here. There was a pretty fierce
fight here & the 4^th Bde. attacking before
dawn had about 80 casualties. A party of
Germans in one of the station buildings put
up a white flag & then shot the officer who
came up to take their surrender - Whitfield - at
point blank range so were bayoneted to a
man. There's a great stunt on of labelling
captured things for war museum purposes
so one wag had branded a big railway
engine "captured by 11^th L.H. Regt", rather a
big trophy to carry away. The town itself
is dirty & mean but there are some good Jewish
villages about. The railway comes to this place
from the famous Yarmick valley with its

17 bridges & a few tunnels, 2 of the former were
blown up. The Beduins - all of whom are now
armed - make it pretty unhealthy for a small
party.
3.10.18. Left at 0615 & stopped at Tiberias to see
Coullie & Leggat who was now there. Had ordered
Coullie yesterday from Kuneitra (a Circassian
village) to go hard for Damascus as soon as
he had got rid of his patients & he was still
waiting for empty lorries to do so as most
of them were full of prisoners. Went on to
the Jordan & there found my water joint
was broken & as soon as it was mended broke
the collector so we lost 1 hour mending this.
Euxster the gunner passed me while there,
just back from leave to England. On to
Single's place at Kuneitra; the road in its
bad part had improved a little but on the
west side of the Jordan near was Rosh Pinna
was quite sodden c̄ the heavy rain.
Had some cocoa c̄ Single where everything was
all right & on the remaining 42 miles to Damascus
over quite a fair road as a whole but very dusty.
Got some spares off an abandoned Ford on the
way & picked up Murchison, a New Zealander,
off a lorry who had started from Semakh 2
nights before. A certain amount of abandoned
enemy guns & lorries &c on the last part of
the road which seemed to go on & on till Damascus
is at last seen as a large green & fertile patch

of vegetation with minarets & towers projecting
surrounded by absolute desert. Arrived
there about 1400 having taken 6 hours running
time over the 93 miles. Stopped at Ausdiv C.S.
at El Mezze on the outskirts of the town oasis
& had some tucker c̄ Parry who was rather
full of patients & then on through narrow
winding lanes & over numerous water courses
& springs, some of which are right in the
road, to Advanced headquarters in a large
house in a quarter called Salahiye. The roads
are littered with broken & abandoned war
materiel & dead animals & the place is in a
fine mess as a result. Went up to give a
message to Chauvel & had some talk with him,
he was in one of his nasty moods & very peevish
& querulous. Found that there was devil
of a lot to do as the Turkish hospitals were
in an awful condition - filthy, without
staff, dead & living mixed, no organization
food or medical equipment. This applies
mostly to the barracks hospital, which was
a recently improvised one, the others being
fair. Hospital for our people wanted some
organisation too. Got the administrative
situation re our relations with the Hedjaz
people as far as anyone seemed to know
them & the channel to get local supplies & then
went over to Ausdiv. Hdqrs. next door to get a
report on things from Fowler & Evans - whom I'd

made P.M.O. Damascus & found the former
in a mood that didnt conduce to getting
things squared up - as a result of this irritation
at the unreasonableness & interference of Chauvel
& the Gen^l Staff. Had a long talk & then drove
c̄ him & Evans to the English & French hospitals
we had taken over to inspect them; had to
go thro' the town which was interesting &
picturesque with its very varied natural
so mixture of people & colours plus the picturesque
& irresponsible Hedjaz troops who were all 
over the place firing away as they liked.
Passed along "the street that is called straight"
which is arched over high up with a metal
framework from which the Germans have
removed all the zinc plates; the road here
& leading to the hospitals in Babtuma was
so broken & narrow that I decided it
was useless to utilise these hospitals unless
a better hospital road was found which Fowler
averred didnt exist. The English hospital
was in a nice garden & c̄ decent buildings but
both it & the French which is close by are in
rotten surroundings. The French hospital
is an excellent building & has more equipment
than the English. Watson of the operating
unit was running the French but there was
no British personnel & none to spare in the
English yet. Both had a few Dago doctors
of kinds, tons of local girls semi trained as

nurses and a few religious sisters. Most of the
food &raho equipment had been pinched.
They contained mixtures of enemy patients
& some of ours - particularly in the English
French. Had a rather rapid inspection of
these but there was nothing more to do at
the present. Then went to Victoria hotel where
I interviewed the wonderful Lawrence - the
baby faced boy who has run all the Arab
army for years & done the most wonderful
things & is a fine murderer on opportunity
besides being a professor of some sort - history
or literature at ? Oxford I think. He reckoned
that the Sherif's lot were responsible for
the care of the Turk patients, which would
have suited my book but was contrary
to what Chauvel had been telling me. Saw
Major Young, 110^th Mahrattas too who had the job
of getting local supplies to fill the gap caused
by the insufficiency of transport to bring up
all the supplies we required over such a distance
He belongs to the Sherif's army & did a similar
job at Baghdad which he told me nearly had
to be evacuated soon after its capture on
account of the supply situation. Arranged
with him to get on with supplying food to the
hospitals quickly. Then on to the Turkish barrack
hospital at Baramkie, which was such a source
of interest to various people but as it was
dark almost couldnt see very much of it

& didnt see the awfulness described to me. It is
a huge building that would take 2000 patients.
Met Farr there - a bit tight as usual at present -
& making wild statements. Then back to Hdqrs. for
dinner & saw Chauvel after who was moved to
wrath when I told him Lawrence said the Sherifs
crowd were looking after the Turk prisoners
& affirmed c̄ some heat that they weren't.
I was very done at night & angry too so didnt
sleep much.
4.10.18. Went off c̄ Evans in morning & looked
round German hospital which was a good
hospital nearly full of German patients & a
few captured Australians. bi ∧350 in all & a German staff
with however only one D^r - a nice delicate little
chap who did fine work - & 2 nurses. Then took
Evans to the barracks hospital & left him while
I went down to Kadim station where the big
German wireless station had been; the road there
was narrow & crowded c̄ the train rails a long
way above the surface which made it very
bad for driving. Went round a great collection
of prisoners who were in their usual appalling
condition & then to with a number of dead among
them & a lot who looked likely to die. Then went
to a building close by where they'd collected
some 600 of the sick & talked c̄ M^cNab &
Carson - who died of pneumonia a few days later -
& arranged to have all these moved to P of War
hospitals. Then returned to German hospital

where found Chauvel inspecting & had to waste
time going round c̄ him. After this went to
Merkary central hospital c̄ Evans & had a sort
of council c̄ the Director a useless little old
Turk & some of his officers. This place was
fully staffed & equipped but like all the others
was almost without medical equipment &
food. Then back to lunch c̄ Chauvel & went
round the English & French & Merkary hospitals
c̄ he & Godwin in the aft. finding the way c̄
some difficulty & wasting valuable time;
sent Evans off to work meanwhile. Met the
garruluous M^cCowen (DADMS 4^th) after &
talked c̄ him & then back to Hdqrs. deadbeat.
5.10.18. Went to see Young & Farr at Victoria
hotel to talk about supplies for the hospitals.
Then drove c̄ Wallis to the French & English
hospitals where I made full inspection &
arrangements; also to a crowd of houses
scattered about here that contained Turk
patients & were auxiliaries of these two hospitals
& arranged about their feeding & collection
into fewer houses. Had lunch at Victoria
hotel & a powwow after c̄ Major Cornwallis
the liason officer between the British & Sherifian
army & Ramsay an R.A.M.C. lad who was
chief medical officer of the Sherifs army.
It was arranged that the latter should be
look after all the Turk prisoner hospitals but
be under & responsible to me. This made the

thing appear satisfactory at last, as it was
beyond me to do both our & prisoner hospitals.
Went back c̄ Ramsay then to the English hospital
where went thro' the locked up stores which
the Hedjaz people were trying to grab, & were
really entitled too as they had been given Damascus
& all everything captured in it, & gave the keys
to Cyril Clarke who was now in charge of
the hospital. Then to French hospital & had
rather an interesting time making the Turk
quartermaster go thro' all his kit & disgorge
all he had of stolen hospital stuff there & then
locked his doors & shot him out - Shukri
Bey was his name. Caught the hospital writer
purloining hospital socks & putting them into
his pocket & shot him out too. Very amusing
but tiring show but Ramsay gave me the
tip that I was a bit too severe in not letting
them get a little loot so I shut my eyes a bit
as the political relations between us & the Hedjaz
army are a bit mixed & strained. The two thieves
certainly gave me looks that warned me it
would be better not to wander about there
after dark. There was another little blackguard
medical officer named Ratib Bey who was
captured c̄ the Turks but like many of them
had gone over to the Arab forces & an insolent
looking young Arab officer who looked
a bit nasty but I didnt do them much good
& stopped their obvious plans of loot.