Ras-el-Ain

McBey, James, 1883-1959 · 1918–1919

Ras-el-Ain, a fortress of the Crusaders, lies in the maritime plane a few miles north of Jaffa-Jerusalem road. During the summer of 1918 the front line of British forces ran to the north of the castle. The etching shows cavalry watering at a spring to the left of the fortress. High in the sky, shrapnel is bursting in the train of an aeroplane which is observing for the camouflaged artillery in the foreground to the right. (This subject was selected as a suitable introduction to a series of etchings dealing with the modern Crusade.)