CAMPAIGNING IN PALESTINE.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16266, 17 July 1918, Page 8

CAMPAIGNING IN PALESTINE.

WITH THE NEW ZEALAND MOUNTEDS. TURKS TAKEN BY SURPRISE. (Fkoii a Canterbuhy Soldier.) PALESTINE, April 23. This is to let you know that I am well, and have come through our last "flutter" in good order. Wo left our camp beside the town of Jericho, early in tho morning, of the 21st. Our regiment had been working separately from the rest of the brigade for five or six weeks, the other two regiments being on the coast side. The night before wo moved out the Jordan had been bridged in two or three places, and -the infantry were holding tight to a small portion of the country across tho river. We rode down the flat towards the river, but had to wait until the next day before crossing. A few "Jacko" shells were coming over, but doing no harm, and the bridging train wore making a good job of the heavier boat bridge, being constructed for horse and vehicular traffic, so in the early morning wo came down through tho grey water-worn gullies again to the river flow-

ing very swiftly and deep and yellow, between green trees and shrubs and bamboo, passing on our way some unemplaced Vickers guns, with cheeriui look.ng infantry breakiasting in the hollows behind them; only hero and there padding wearily away trom tho river one would pass a white-faced chap with a bandage somewhere on his anatomy. We crossed by a splendid bridge of boats, constructed by tne "Aussi" (Australian) Engineers, and picked our way through some heavy shrub, and then a patch of clear soft ground, over which tno inlantry had charged to take the "rim" of the river-bed, and hero they had leit a few poor ieiiows to mark tlio way. Again, we rode up througn the iWantiy, molding the eugo of tue river, aim out auead iuo long nat sueioneu about live nines to tne ranges, a hat covered witn small trees, anu scrubuy and little wadis ot running ivaLer. .bach, troop or tho regiment look a line towards tne nWs, just Keeping ,touch, and we evidently surpiised viie J.U4US a bit, as we captuied, 1 think, nvo maewne guns and about 00 piisoners, tney eviuem.y hxiag tneir attention on tne iruanciy ancua, and m some cases we came on top ot tnem suddenly from UanK, or rear. 'lne 4th Troop of the squadron had a terrific go with a troop or cavalry. Tho troop onicer (ours) was killed by a ciose snot, but our men made up. Iney made a terrible mess of the Turks in a hand-to-hand fignt, killing twelve, wounding eight, and bringing back half a dozen prisoners. In the evening we camped back near the river, and early in the ! morning broke camp, and joined up with tho rest of the brigade, they having crossed the river during tho night, and also an Australian Brigade, so we made a big lot of mounted men. Jacko was very busy shelling from the hills, and we were shelling in return, our in fantry being well ahead of us. They made .fast work to the pass, where the road to Es Salt winds, and John left his position in the foothills, and also five or six guns which he could not get away. We toiled up at midday, and then the long column entered by the mountain road on the long trail for the Hedjaz line, while our infantry pursued Jacko towards Es Salt, he having fallen back in that direction. I had always thought we were to go through a barren chain of ranges to a dry_ and barren plain, with the railway running through it, but how different! The road wound upwards through a fertile country, deep in rank grass, and smothered in wild flowers. The afternoon was fine, it seemed anything but war, all sorts of lovely flowers waiting for a hand to pluck them, and sweet-scented herbs and weeds. We had a mountain, battei'y with us (Indian Camel), and our progress was not fast, and we camped the night high afcove the Dead Sea. The climate changed, and it rained hard all night. We were very wet, and very cold, and no wood. Wo had brought no •'bivvy" sheets; it was pitiable to seo our boys coming down from out-post, drenched to the skin. We broke camp and climbed up and up, a never-ending" track of slush and ' water, and our rations had not come up. The weather was bitter, with heavy showers. By mid-day we started to descend, and met native villagers, nearly all armed with rifles of every known pattern, belonging to every known time; many modern, and many ancient. We were now ascending a long and deep valley, with a big tumbling brook, flooded by the rains, tearing down from the harrow tracks: down into this defile poured these craven curs, wildly excited, at the prospect of plunder from the Turk (or anyone else), all protesting great'friendship 1 Later ip the afternoon we reached a village, a pretty substantial one, but now filthy; and rode through a narrow street, which the rain had practical'/? converted into a water-course, and passed amid a crowd of furious faces, among them many Turks. ■ Just before this, our advanced guard captured an unarmed working party of Tur*s and Germans, about 50 in number. They were cutting down poplar trees to make a bridge, and had not expected us.

RAIN AND SHELLS. Leaving the village below we came* out on to fine limestone land, both arable and pastoral. • There are miles of this, something like the finest land south of Oamaru, and there were ■splendid young crops, and better cattle than I have ever seen since the Canal I But, oh I the cruel weather. We lay down that night in soaking rain and wet blankets, and my teeth chattered a tune until morning. The height here is well over 4000 ft above the Dead Sea, in places 4800 ft, so you can understand why one "Aussi" died of exposure. Next morning a pitiful procession of muddy men passed us— the Camel Corps. They looked absolutely dead to the world, and their camels looked worse. I remarked to one that "his camel looked rough. * "Been down eight times in the ia t hour, cobber." Others told me that they had been walking since 6 p.m. the night before, in the heavy rain. Our own Camel Battery was up with ns, but I don't know how thev did it!

The rain delayed things; we halted for I the day to _adow tiie other troops to get iu position, I think, and after another coid niynt, launched out for tlio railway. 'lhe N.Z.B. was on the extreme right, and I believe C.C. on our left. i'urcher, to the north, the infantry weie in possession of Ea Salt, a village position high on the hills AVe had not moved far over heavy land sodden with water, when "John" started sJieiliug, and the brigade was soon scrapping about among the hills. .To tell you all about it is beyond me. 1 had to run about with the "gun" a lot, and very tiring it was! I was always uncomfortable, about the Bedouins, or Arabs, the "friendlies" 1 On one occafaion, covering the advance of a troop round a tricity corner, 1 looked up to see two tail Arabs, just behind me; needless to say I shoo'd them on after tne troop ahead. After a lot of long-range firing, and some nasty shelling from Jacko, we went back to our horses, and pushed on, leaving the C.C. to look after the position. which we had been firing upon. They had been advancing, over green crops, under a pretty heavy shell fire, but they pushed the Turks back from the plateau which they were holding. Hiding on, we came to very quietly undulating country, with fringes of limestone, and as we stood looking down on the railway, a train hurriedly pulled out of the station, about naif a inile away; it had come from the south, stopped, and put down 50 Turkish soldiers, who attempted to line the bank, and beat off some Wellington men and Arabs. The train then bolted away; allegedly it had some Turkish, or German, general on board, and our boys nabbed tne Turks, a horde of Mecca Arabs grabbed the rifles, and wo had tho greatest trouble to prevent them from massacring the unfortunate prisoners, who were evidently thankful for our protection. An old Arab rode round and round tlje huddled Jackos, slashing at them with a big sabre, and we liad to give his horse a prod in the rump with a bayonet to keep him off. A few belated Turks caught up with their comrades in trouble in great haste, and looking veiy sheepish, practically minus all their clothing, which tiie Bedoiuins hadj seized. These men (Arabs) are crafty and cowardly, and always looking for loot; three poor wounded Turks were lying in the railway station robbed of every stitch of clothing but we could* not remove them that night. . Leaving the prisoners with their escort our squadron passed over a piece of very heavy boggy ground, and a great crowd of the ciherif'a troops rode down to greet us. It would be hard to imagine a wilder-looking or more disorderly crew. Some were oarrying th ee or four of the newly-acquired rifles on their backs; others none at all, and every make and • calibre of rifle was there. They gave a wild mounted haka of greeting. When the Turks, who had evidently been watching through glasses this fraternisation— one-aided—let loose with a shell from tlieir battery, our yam-glorious Arabs gave one yell, and the last we saw they were pushing their horses hard for the horizon. Old Jacko landed his shells very close, but we worked round behind a hill into a hayen of quiet, and two or three of us sneaked over to the railway station close beside, and I was given the job of cutting the telephone wires.

OBJECriVE ATTAINED. Near this station is on old ruin of very large stones, which seems to have beon a solid pyramid of stone, probably a tewnb. luat night w© did outpost, and though fine, the weather was bitterly cold. The next day was " spent patrolling, round a tremendous hill, to the west (roughly) of tlxe long railway line, which tho iuiks were holding m groat strength. Our demolition party was meanwhile very busy destroying the railway line, a job which was satisfactorily accomplished with, the exception of one large briugo. which could not be attained. VVe took no part that day m the attack on the'hill, which was not successful, owing to the broken coun-and,-;ret wea ther. We, had very little artillery, while Jacko. lying richi? on his railway base, seemed to have gSns all over the place. In the evening our squadron joined up with the regiment behind a rocky ridge. Next day, in the afternoon, Turks, w h6 had been pitching over a few.shells, placed two or three among us, doing a certain amount hfll T ° j ad j usti Sot the section S ul'j - one P° or fell °w got a good hot drink, first of tea, and then, as he went off in the camel cradle, a stiff h?, „°» r T ll ?u- , Thin es had been "some £iq n j k likely some A:abs had walked over and told Jacko where our horses were.

That night we were on a rocky peak, on outpost but at 12 p.m. came iff t<s make an attack on the trenches. Our brigade and the Camel Corps on our right, were to rush the trenches at +k« ,n h ! do ? ot know h °w the rest of the attacking force was disposed. Well, wo did about a mile and a half walk to | the startme-point, where yours truly found himself one of a long line of men stretching away into the dark on either Ade, each troop trying to keep touch, and each troop leader m front of his troop. Away we went, not a word spoken, only the noisy rattle of a dis- , placed stone now and then. All of a sudden a Bingle shot was fired, and lo °ktng into the grey darkness I saw ■ one form flying for his life up the ridge ahead. The sentry had fired a warn- ' shot, but the rest of the post had no time to get to business. The fat was in 1 « , As we rushed on, wild, er. atic | fare blazed out, and the rapping of machine guns, followed bva noise that was i very like a whiz-bang. These were Mills's grenades, pitched by the "Aussis," and they not only damaged Jacko, but their throwers, who were travelling too fast on the top of the thrown grenade. I do not think a great many Turks left the part of the trench our boys struck. We found the trench was manned by cavalry men, and they left three or four machine-guns in our hands, which some of onr chaps were able to operate, having had instruction on tho gun. Carrying thp Hotchkiss, events were nearly over, when I got up with isy gun, but I had a little practice. It now started to ram very solidly, and we made use of all the Turks' blankets we could get, in spite of typhus, typhoid, and cholera. These are splendidly warm, and made of a rath or hard fabric, wool and goats' hair mixed, and they turned some rain, and kept us warm for a time. Along om line our hie objective had been attained, and we lay waiting for counters as daybreak came. The Tnrks owned a stiff shellfire, and we diplomatically moved back into Better cover. A rather nnnleasant mnchinepin fire started across our rear, from a blind sdut an oar left, bat two Hotch-

kisses, and our Tickers (which did the job) brought from those trenches a white flag, and about forty Turks. Nearly all day wa lay shivering in the wet, hugging the poor shelter, and waiting for the counter-attack, which fell chiefly on the Canterbury's, who were holding a very rotten position, exposed badly to shell-fire. The attack was promptly smashed, our boys going at them bald-headed. BACK AT JERICHO.

From daylight to evening we were sholied most persistently, without cessation. Ono of our chaps counted IiOO suells in five minutes, and the firing hardly slackened all day, and as M.l. observed, was becoming monotonous. When darkriess fell we were withdrawn, and, after some walking, reached our horses. We got back to our pamp, where, oh, glorious surprise! we got a good nip of rum, followed by tea and biscuit, and bully-beef, a glorious meal! I was sq jolly weak and tired, that, although perfectly clear-headed, that one nip made me feel frightfully staggery—nothing much to eat during tho day, and the cold and wet. Ten minutes later we moved out for the Jordan and home, and joined up with the Brigade, riding most of the night we camped again above the vil.age of Eo Ser, which I mentioned before, and turned in for the remaining hour or two of early morning. Wo stayod here during the day, the time was being spent in clearing our wounded and transport back. In the afternoon Jacko was on the advance, so we took up a line of positions for the night, and spent a pretty anxious one. It was a bitterly cold night, with an Arctic wind, which made sleeping absolutely impossible. Early in the morning we moved out again, and waited on the road that leads through the village and down the big vallev, and after a long wait we got into the valley. W.M.R. actcd as rearguard. They were fired on by Circassian snipers, and snipers of various sorts from the village, and from the hills, losing so.me men. Some snipers at the head of the valley opened fire on the brigade itself, which was crowded in this deep ravine; and things looked very bad. However, we managed to work down the valley to a turn, where wo were out of the line of fire. The enemy had a gun hidden in the village, and this opened up, luckily not soon enough to do damago. We could only move at a snail's paco, as we had hundreds of tired camels in front, transport, and wounded, and none of these wei'e left. As we climbed tho last hill, ohl cheering sight, two batteries of neat little mountain Howitzers opened fire. I don't know what at, but certainly they put the wind up Jacko. Our brigade gradually drew to the hill top, and we were now within the infantry line, and they were holding the summits around. We boiled up our billy, and about 2 p.m. the tail end. i.e., rear-guard of the brigade, No. 1 Troop, _W.M., topped the pass, and were wending down to a golden plain bathed in sunlight—the Jordan Valley. How. I slept on my horse, and many others did the same, and all the endless troops we passed will do to fill in another scrawl. Late that night we camped at the entrance to the great gorge,- and now we are back at Jericho. . . April 24th.—We moved to this new camp, on the side of the valley, a few days ago, anil it seems a good deal cooler, and certainly not as dusty as the flat. It is, however, a pretty rocky spot for a camp. Two of us pitched our ' bivvy" agaiust a big rock, and the first night, on turning in, I was reading, moving my head, to fix the candle, I found a fine lively scorpion beside my ear. When it came to, "dousing the glim" I found another, still larger, both of which I killed. . My tent mate was in a very jumpy state! There is also a round hole under our rock, which is just behind my chum's head, and he always regarded it doubtfully as a snake hole, but the other evening I made the acquaintance _of the owner, a "timorous cowering beastie," a beautiful fawn, of desert colour, but like the domestic mouse, full of curiosity and cunning. There are a number of big deserted monasteries here. We do onr outpost duty in one of them. They are quite •modflrn buildincs, and have been badiy knocked about by the Turks, the Monks, Greeks, or Russians evidently leaving hurriedly.