When Major Glubb was put in command of the police force of the Trans-Jordanian desert, the British Government apparently knew what was doing. For this man was able, with English adaptability, to become one of the people. To win their confidence he lives their lives, manages somehow to digest their food, s their water (teeming with impurities), and sleeps by the ashes of their camp fires, rolled in a blanket. He removes the desert Ice from his uniforms with dignity. It is these small details which have made Abu Huniek respected from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and feared as much as he is respected.
An: mportant link in the chain of Britain's defence of the Eastern Mediterranean is Major Glubb's mighty desert force whose members are bivouacked along the Palestine- i Syrian frontier. Its presence is no mean factor: n keeping the remnants of the Vichy Government's armies in their place. What is the Desert Patrol and how does it function?
This Patrol is one of the most remarkable police forces in the world. Like the famous French Foreign Legion it asks no questions of its recruits; and like the Legion ts ranks include fugitives from justice from all parts of Arabia and the Near East.
"Jugular Vein of the Empire"
Because control of the forces of the Trans-Jordanian desert means control of the great part of the Iraq Pipeline and the Baghdad-Haifa road—the former the "Jugular Vein of the Empire." the latter its "Spinal Column"—the maintenance of security during pre-war times in this region was of vital importance. Today the very lifeline of the Empire depends for its existence upon ihe manner in which Major Glubb and his desert patrol ce-operate with the British Army of the Nile.
The Desert Patrol moves on camels, the fastest beasts in the world, some of them travelling at a^ rate of forty miles an hour. It has sixteen units of armoured cars and its own air arm, a recent acquisi-ton. The Patrol prevents intertribal and trans-frontier raiding, suppresses tribal disorders and maintains an intelligence service, reputed to be of the highest quality.
Founded by Lord Plumer in 1926. the Patrol has through the genius of its commanding officer made itself a terrifying agency of destruction. There is good reason to believe that in the event of trouble between British forces in the Near East and the Vichy armies in Syria, the victory of the former will be due to Major Glubb, Father of the Chi wr
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.