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THE LAST PITCHED BATTLE OF THE FIRSTWORLD WAR AND THE DETERMINATION OFTHE TURKISH-SYRIAN BOUNDARY LINEDr. Yücel GÜÇLÜ*Given the thankless and impossible task of shoring up the Ottomanfront in Palestine as the commander of the 7th Army on 16 August 1918,Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) 1 departed almost immediately to take uphis new assignment. He reached Nablus, the headquarters of the 7thArmy, on 27 August after an exhausting journey on the railvvay. None ofthe three so-called armies on the front -4th, 7th and 8th Armies- eouldmuster the strength of a well found division and the troops were in thelast extremity of deprivation and despair. British superiority on the frontwas about two to one, even leaving aside questions of fıtness, morale andsupplies and there vvas no reasonable prospect of being able to stop theimpending British attack. British forces struck on 19 September, less thana month after Atatürk's arrival, and immediately broke through the 8thArmy on Atatürk's right. The Ottoman front crumbled and a large part ofthe 8th Army was destroyed in the confused fighting of the next threedays. Under continual air attack and with majör British forces alreadycompletely round his flank and joining from the north in the assaults beingmade on him from the south, Atatürk nevertheless succeeded in vvithdrawingmost of his 7th Army and the remnants of the 8th to the east ofthe river Jordan on 24 September 2 .After a few days in the Dera district attempting to reorganize theshattered and badly mixed units which had come from the west of the riverJordan, Atatürk continued the withdrawal north to Damascus on 27September vvith the 7th Army, leaving the 4th Army to cover its retreatvvith vvhat forces could be gathered from the East Bank. Multitudes of* Embassy of Turkey, Vatican.1. The brackets denote surnames assumed in accordance vvith the law of 2 July 1934.2. Tevfık Bıyıklıoğlu, Türk İstiklal Harbi (Turkish War of Independence), Vol. 1,Mondros Mütarekesi ve Tatbikatı (Moudros Armistice and its application), TurkishGeneral Staff Military History and Strategic Studies Directorate, Ankara, 1962,pp. 17-18. Cyril Falls. Armageddon 1918, London, 1964, pp. 171-172.623