OUR MEN IN PALESTINE

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16265, 16 July 1918, Page 4

OUR MEN IN PALESTINE

One of tlie New Zealand mounted force in Palestine —a lad belonging to Greendale—writing to his people under date of May 14th says: Talking about winter, I wish wo could get a touch of it just now. Thi: old valley is a fair "corker." I think it must be quite as hot as the tropics, because alongside a creek that runs past Jericho there are all kinds oi tropical plants growing wild, such as date palms, bananas, oranges, etc. Away from the water, though, everything is all dry and burnt up, and> every little breeze raises clouds of dust. We had one or two rather exciting "goes" during the .last stunt, which I am not likely to forget in a hurry. Tho most exciting, I think, was one _ day when we had to take up a position along the hills, and before we could reach cover had to cross a flat of two or three miles under shell fire. During the first mile we only got a few shells over, and beyond making tho different troops spread out, they weren't worth ■ troubling about. When we got within a couple of miles, though, old Jacko started rocking them in for all he was ■worth, and it was then a race for it as hard as your horso could go. I hope I never have as tough a gallop again. • It wasn't the shells that were the whole trouble, though the air seemed full of them, and they were bursting all round us. The ground was covered with boulders, any number of them as large as a benzine tin; also large bushes, and every chain or» so there would be a wash-out two -or three feet deep, and about the samo width. I 1 can tell you a fellow didn't have much time to worry about shells: it took all your time to stick on the saddle and to watch where you -were going, and I kiiruv I was more scared of my horse cominor a cropper, and wondering where I would land if he did, than anything else. Luckily nobody got hurt, though several shells burst within a chain of us, and one went off about eight or nine yards in front of the troop, which made us pull up for a second look. It is surprising, though, not tliat there are any casualties, but how few really do get hit, considering the amount of stuff that flies about. The shells play some peculiar tricks at times. I saw one burst during the gallop, which sent a boulder as big as a man's head fifty feet straight up, and another that burst a bit in front of us and sent a oouple more of about the same size rolling one after the other for about two hundred yards, and, my word, they were skipping along.