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the latter acting on behalf of Allied Powers, resulted in the signing ofMoudros Armistice on the Aegean island of Limnos. Atatürk, when he receivedthe news of the armistice and the order to cease fire, vvas stili resistingvvith his forces to the British advance in the hills northvvest ofAleppo. "In the fıghting of the last few days," wrote Liman Von Sanders,"the army held high the honour of its arms." In the closing days of thevvar, Atatürk gave a final display of his exceptional skills. Thus, after fourlong disastrous years of vvar, Atatürk emerged from the general carnageas the only Turkish field commander, vvho had not suffered a single defeat.A recent historian's judgement has him "the greatest Turkish militaryhero of the vvar.'" 8By 30 October the Turks held a position at least 40 kilometers inlength bestriding the sharply bending road to iskenderun at tvvo points 20kilometers northvvest of Haritan, vvith outposts 6 kilometers in advance.The front extended from the slopes of the heights rising there, from Maratato Babulit and Halebli, thence crossing railvvay and road, from Tennibto Tatmarash and Ain Dakni, from there across the Aleppo-Kilis road tothe southeast of Djibrin. Turkish line of defence stretched from the mouthof the Asi river, vvent south of Antakya, passed eastvvards to Tel Rifat andended upon the Euphrates at Deyrizor. The Turkish position vvas held bythe 24th and 43rd Divisions of the 20th Army Corps, totalling about8,000 rifles ali under the command of Atatürk, vvith headquarters at Katma.A fevv kilometers to the north of Katma the lovv, grey-ash foothills ofthe Taurus mountains vvere clearly visible. The Turks stood at the bottomof the very ramparts of Anatolia. They vvithdrevv to the slopes of theTaurus mountains and solidifıed their positions in the very dravvbridge ofthe Ottoman Empire formed by the cul-de-sac of the Amanus mountainsresting on the triangle formed by iskenderun, islahiye and Antep. Tvvo divisions,4İst and 44th, vvere deployed in the Gulf of iskenderun, vvith the23rd and 47th along the coast in Tarsus 19 .Here it is both interesting and important to remark that Captain WilliamYale, the American military observer vvith General Edmund Allenby'sEgyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine and Syria during theyears of 1917 and 1918, maintains the idea that "this striking force, gatheredby Atatürk, might vvell have driven the British and Arab advancedforces out of northern Syria had it not been for the signing of the Armisticeat Moudros on 30 October 1918." 20With the conclusion of the armistice Atatürk vvas formally appointedLightning Armies Group Commander in Liman Von Sander's place. Plac-18. Ibid. Sanders (1927), p. 319. See also Fahri Belen, Birinci Cihan Harbinde TürkHarbi, 1918 Yılı Hareketleri (Turkish War in the First World War, Movements ofthe Year 1918), Vol.5, Turkish General Staff Military History and Strategic StudiesDirectorate, Ankara, 1967, pp. 110-115.19. Ibid.20. Ibid. VVilliam Yale, The Near East, Michigan, 1958, p. 249.631