[ANONYMOUS]. Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine-Gun Squadron. [London, Printed and published for private circulation by J. M Baxter, c. 1920].
Small 4to. Original illustrated cloth; pp. [vi], 179, folding map, five plates after photographs, numerous vignettes in the text; rubbing and spotting to cover; apart from a little fading to cloth an internally clean, fresh and unread copy of an extremely rare work.
First edition. 'This Booklet has been compiled with the object of enabling the members of the 20th Machine-Gun Squadron to recall the principal incidents in its history, as well as to allow their friends and relations to obtain some idea of their experiences whilst they were serving with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Although no pains have been spared to obtain accuracy, the statements made must, necessarily, not be regarded as absolutely authoritative' (preface). This regimental history covers the First World War in the Levant from 1917 to 1919. The first major action the squadron saw was the third battle of Gaza, before moving into Syria, which was handed over to the French in December of 1919. The events described in this book coincide with Allenby's EEF command, and his 'finest hour, and the crowning triumph of the Palestine campaign, came with his final offensive against the Turkish armies in Palestine, launched on 19 September 1918 and ending with the armistice signed at Mudros on 30 October 1918. This final battle was given the name Megiddo as Allenby's forces pushed by the ancient mound of Megiddo, the supposed site of the final battle (or Armageddon) revealed in the book of Revelation (16: 16). Megiddo was a cavalry triumph: once artillery and infantry had punched a hole in the Turkish lines, Allenby's British, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand cavalry swept out behind Turkish lines and advanced all the way to Aleppo in northern Syria' (ODNB).
COPAC locates copies in the BL, at SOAS and Leeds University only.
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