Jerusalem surrenders to the British

This is a famous photograph taken just before Christmas, 1917 and it shows the surrender of the city of Jerusalem to the British Army. The campaign against the Turkish army had succeeded and the Turks were in total retreat. The city authorities awaited the British army which was already nearby and finally the mayor (the man in the fez and carrying a cane) and the local police went out looking for advance units of the British Army in order to surrender to them. They encountered these two British soldiers who were simply out scavenging for tobacco and the mayor handed them a white flag as token of surrender. A photographer of the American Colony Photo Service, accompanying the mayor recorded the incident. At first the two soldiers, a private and a sergeant, didn’t want to accept the surrender but the mayor and his party were insistent.