Syria and Palestine Front: Judea and Samaria with Jerusalem to the south, Nablus to the north, the Mediterranean to the west and Dead Sea to the south. From Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus, by Karl Baedeker.
Southern Palestine
"On March 9th [1918] the British began the heavy attack on the Nablus road which had been expected ever since March 1st. The Turks call it the battle of Turmus Aya.From March 9th to 11th there was heavy fighting for three days in which both sides lost heavily. The height of the Tell Azur was taken and retaken five times and finally remained in the hands of the British. The village of Turmus Aya, another contested point on the second and third day, remained in the hands of the Turks. The Turkish front was slightly pushed back on both sides of the Nablus road, but remained intact. . . .From orders found on the persons of British dead it was learned that the British intended to take Nablus. They did not get there until six and one-half months later."
Excerpt from German General Otto Liman von Sanders' account of the defense of Nablus, Palestine, March 9 to 11, 1918. Under the command of General Edmund Allenby, the British entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, and continued advancing along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine and Syria. Their goal in launching an attack the night of March 8, 1918 was Nablus. Starting in December 1913, six months before the war began and ten months before Turkey entered it, General Otto Liman von Sanders led a German mission to Turkey to reorganize and train its army.
Five Years in Turkey by Liman von Sanders, pp. 204–205, publisher: The Battery Press with War and Peace Books, publication date: 1928 (originally)
1918-03-10, 1918, March, Nablus, Battle of Turmus Aya, Palestine, Turmus Aya
