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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Bulfin Hill and other hills south of the Auja River


Eran Tearosh

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Good year everyone!

 

The residence of the British Ambassador to Israel is located on a high hill, in the city of Ramat-Gan, just next to Tel-Aviv. During one of my last visits to the ambassador's residence I strolled to the nearby park at the highest part of the hill and found this sign:

 

1809865210_IMG_20191110_133914-1.jpg.29c17570c7d9f62b5013478a559de16b.jpg

 

As you can see, lines 4-7 relate to this hill as "Bulfin's Hill". This is of course wrong, as 'Bulfin Hill' is located east of this place, in the nearby modern Jewish-Orthodox city Bnei Brak. The hill is called today Har Habanim ('Bulfin Hill' is marked in blue on the map below).  I marked also 'Tell Abu Zeitun' in blue, as this little tell still exists and can be found easily in today's maps, helping to put the the finger on the right 'Bulfin Hill'. 

 

177507556_HillssouthofNahrElAuja-details.jpg.5aa717358f9667c6947603402ad0883b.jpg

 

But, here's a challenge... 

 

Searching "The advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force", I looked at the list of locations of the XXI Corps HQ:

 

392278707_XXICorpsHQ.jpg.f0f8b837ed9a60d9002247c93c741334.jpg

 

As you can see, there's no reference to an HQ (Or an advanced HQ) in this area before April 1918, and even then - At Jerishe (Marked in a purple circle). On the other hand, the name 'Bulfin Hill' appears in quite a few maps, including the BOH and 1918 additions of the military maps. Was there an advanced HQ at that location? Was it just a British military nickname of this hill?

 

As to the hill in Ramat-Gan (The first photo above - I marked it's location with a green circle) - it overlooks the area of Sarona Bridge and it's definitely a great spot to place artillery operating towards the north bank of the Auja River. However, I can't find anything about the locations of artillery batteries or HQ's of the brigades or battalions involved. Can anyone help?  

 

Last, I circled in yellow a very high and impressive ridge of hills, named Dhahr Selma, in the area that is today Givatayim. In a Wikipedia page in Hebrew, it's been stated that this was the site of a battle between the Ottomans and ANZAC forces. As far as I know, there was no battle here, but it was the HQ of the 6th ALH Regiment at late November - early December 1917. The fighting took place a bit to the east, at and around Bald Hill (which Steve wrote a great chapter about the ICC's actions there). Does anyone know more about Dhahr Selma?

 

Thanks, Eran 

 

   

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Have you looked at any of the Div Histories?

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Hi Gareth! Long time...

 

I've looked mostly at the British and Australian official histories. Also at the 52nd Divisional history. I don't think there is an official Divisional history of the 54th division. I don't have the history of the 6th ALH regiment.

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No, the 54th didn't commission a history. I doubt I will have a reference that you don't already have but I will have a look.

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