Arab legion
Originally formed by the British Army, these Bedouin warriors were a stern opponent to Israeli forces
“GLUBB PASHA EARNED THE TRUST OF HIS BEDOUIN THROUGH UNFAILING PROFESSIONALISM AND A GENUINE COMPASSION FOR THEIR WELFARE”
The British Army’s prolonged excursion in the Middle East had a lasting effect on generations of officers. While TE Lawrence is best remembered for his role in the
Arab Revolt and overall contributions to special operations, other men of similar calibre are less celebrated today. One of them is General Sir John Bagot Glubb, whose loyal subordinates ordained him Glubb Pasha, in the Turkish fashion – ‘Pasha’ being a prestigious moniker for someone of high stature.
In what stands as a unique legacy of British decolonisation from the 1940s onward, the Arab Legion, along with its commander, were passed on to Transjordan before the British Army’s exit from Mandatory Palestine. This meant a British general was serving at the leisure of a foreign monarch, in this case the Hashemite King Abdullah I. The Hashemi – or Hashemite dynasty – were a powerful Arab tribe, and the historic overlords of the Hejaz, or the western half of the Arabian desert.
Their lineage was sworn to defend the holy city of Mecca, yet the ascendance of the al Sauds – the Saudi royal family – and the demands of geopolitics, meant that the British patronised the Hashemite kings as rulers in their own distinct territory east of the Jordan River, named the Transjordan. At one stage, two Hashemite brothers each ruled over Iraq and Jordan until the former was lost after a nationalist coup d’etat, which deposed King Faisal II in 1958.
With no more than 5,000 troops in its ranks, the Arab Legion was renowned for its professionalism and equipment. In form, it was no different to a British Army division, albeit composed of Bedouin Arabs. On the ground, however, it was tailored for protecting vast frontiers, using camels and horses to traverse the vast and unforgiving terrain.
During the Second World War, Glubb
Pasha’s track record battling the Axis in
Syria, which was then controlled by the Vichy French, settled any doubts about the Legion’s effectiveness. The ironic part, then, was that the British Army enlisted many Jewish soldiers from Palestine, among which was a youthful Moshe Dayan, to fight in its ranks. Years later, these men faced the Arab Legion in battle.
With its competence beyond doubt, the Legion’s reputation was put to the test in 1948. Glubb Pasha earned the trust of his Bedouin through unfailing professionalism and a genuine compassion for their welfare. These qualities shone through even in the most difficult of circumstances, such as the long months battling in the hills and valleys of the Galilee, or the northern portion of the West Bank.
At the outbreak of war in May, the Arab
Legion received orders to begin securing the hilltops west of the Jordan River, along with the Allenby Bridge. The latter was a vital, if modest, piece of infrastructure that allowed Arabs living in the West Bank to cross over and enter Transjordan, which became fully independent as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1946. Under the Legion’s control, it was then possible to avert a humanitarian crisis, which Glubb Pasha correctly anticipated. Matters took a turn for the worse, however, when the Israelis launched repeated offensives to roll back the Legion’s overextended perimeter. This is where experience won over gallantry. In many engagements over landmarks and dusty roads, the Legion’s preparedness beat back the Israelis again and again.
Although the Arab Legion was primarily composed of infantry and cavalry armed with the familiar Lee Enfield rifle, it did have an abundance of heavy weapons, such as 4.5-inch howitzers and mortars. The Legion’s unbeatable armoured cars were essential in keeping the roads to Jerusalem free from Israeli control, and these represented Israel’s first painful lessons in armoured warfare.
The Haganah and its auxiliaries, on the other hand, made do with a hodgepodge of small arms trafficked from various countries and whatever else could be assembled in crude workshops. When a few Sherman tanks were imported from Europe to even the odds, the Israelis soon realised that maintaining them for battle was far more difficult to overcome than Arab guns.
The Arab Legion had another crucial task that tested even the unfailing resolve of its veterans – keeping Jerusalem as a possession of their king. This was both strategic, in the way it gave the Jordanian ruler the upper hand in negotiations, and deeply symbolic.
King Abdullah I, by dint of his lineage, was recognised as the custodian of the Al Aqsa mosque and the Temple Mount it was built upon, along with Jerusalem’s other holy sites. Israel would never accept the loss of the city, and finally won it back in 1967. The Arab Legion was disbanded in 1956, leaving their beloved Glubb Pasha retired in Britain.