threat of a German-reinforced threat (although neither Allenby nor Robertson really thought there was much chance of this happening), but urging Maude not to exaggerate his needs in Mesopotamia. Robertson, worried that he would be overruled as Painlevé was visiting London for talks, without waiting for Allenby's reply, claimed (9 October) that 5 divisions would need to be redeployed from France to reach the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, and that Allenby would face at least 16 Turkish divisions (120,000 men). That same day Allenby's own estimate arrived, claiming that he would need 13 extra divisions (an impossible demand even if Haig's forces went on the defensive) and that he might face 18 Turkish and 2 German divisions. Yet in private letters Allenby and Robertson agreed that sufficient British Empire troops were already in place to take and hold Jerusalem. In the event the Germans sent only 3 battalions to Palestine, and Turkish strength there was only 21,000 (out of 110,000 on all fronts) facing 100,000 British Empire troops. The politicians were particularly irritated that they were being shown clearly exaggerated estimates at a time when the General Staff were demanding renewed effort to "divert (Germany's) strategic reserve" to Flanders. In his 8 October paper, Haig claimed that since 1 April 1917, 135 of the 147 German divisions on the Western Front had been driven from their positions or withdrawn after suffering losses, several of them two or three times, and argued that the Allies could beat Germany in 1918 even if Russia were to make peace. The War Cabinet was sceptical, and in his reply (9 October) Robertson, although he thought Haig's memo "splendid", cautioned that German Army morale still seemed to be holding up well. He wrote to Haig in the same letter that "the Palestine thing will not come off", and having heard from Lord Robert Cecil that Haig was dissatisfied with him, asked him to "let me do my own job in my own way" in standing up for proper principles of warfare against Lloyd George. He also commented that (Lloyd George) was "out for my blood very much these days" and claimed that "Milner, Carson, Cecil, Curzon and Balfour, have each in turn expressly spoken to me separately about his intolerable conduct", that he hoped "matters would come to a head" at the next Cabinet as he was "sick of this d–d life", that he would "manage" Lloyd