The Turkish (or Ottoman) Empire, from Cram's 1896 Railway Map of the Turkish Empire.

(May not be shown on image) Turkish Empire in Europe and Asia, Greece, Roumania, Ect. [sic]

Area in English Sq. Miles; Population:

Turkey in Europe, 62,028, 4,275,000

Turkey in Asia, 710,320, 15,715,000

United Kingdom, 121,115, 36,100,000

Territory ceded by turkey under Treaty 1878

Turkey in Europe, 81,396, 4,333,000

Turkey in Asia, 5,670, 600,644

Other views: Larger, Larger, Detail

Wednesday, March 27, 1918

"Other disturbing news also curtailed Allenby's operations. The same day that he launched the abortive Amman attack, the Germans began their spring offensive on the western front: the gains they made were devastating. After two days Lloyd George telegraphed the British ambassador in Washington, telling him to try to speed up the deployment of American soldiers in Europe by informing President Wilson that 'the situation is undoubtedly critical and if America delays now she may be too ate.' Within two more days the Germans had taken over 45,000 British and French soldiers prisoner. On 27 March the War Office contacted Allenby to tell him that its plans to send him troops from Mesopotamia were canceled and that British troops and heavy artillery would be taken from him for France as soon as shipping became available. 'You will adopt a policy of active defence in Palestine as soon as the operations you are now undertaking are completed,' Allenby was told."

Quotation Context

Under the command of General Edmund Allenby, the British entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, and continued advancing along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine. In an attack launched on March 8, Allenby tried to take Nablus, and attacking across the Jordan River at the same time. British forces in Mesopotamia had steadily advanced against the Turks. The success of Germany's Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, had made the British position on the Western Front desperate.

Source

Setting the Desert on Fire by James Barr, pp. 234–235, copyright © 2008, 2006 by James Barr, publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., publication date: 2009

Tags

1918-03-27, 1918, March, Allenby, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Operation Michael