kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010
Posts: 785
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 Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:43 pm Post subject: The Turkish Seventh |
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In June 1918, Williams was made a temporary Lieutenant Colonel and commander of the RAF's 40th (Army) Wing, which was operating in Palestine. It comprised his former No. 1 Squadron and three British units.[1][13] As a Dominion officer, however, Williams found that he was not permitted to "exercise powers of punishment over British personnel", leading to him being temporarily "granted a supplementary commission in the Royal Air Force".[15][16] Augmented by a giant Handley Page bomber, his forces took part in the Battle of Armageddon, the final offensive in Palestine, where they inflicted "wholesale destruction" on Turkish columns.[17][18] Of 40th Wing's actions at Wadi Fara on 21 September 1918, Williams wrote: "The Turkish Seventh Army ceased to exist and it must be noted that this was entirely the result of attack from the air." He also sent Captain Ross Smith in the Handley Page, accompanied by two Bristol Fighters, to aid Major T. E. Lawrence's Arab army north of Amman when it was harassed by German aircraft operating from Deraa.[19] In November, Williams was appointed temporary commander of the Palestine Brigade,[1][20] which comprised his previous command, the 40th (Army) Wing, and 5th (Corps) Wing. His service in the theatre later saw him awarded the Order of the Nahda by the King of the Hejaz. Twice Mentioned in Despatches, by the end of the war Williams had established himself, in the words of RAAF historian Alan Stephens, as "the AFC's rising star".
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