TO SUEZ CANAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2380, 9 February 1915, Page 6

TO SUEZ CANAL

SCENE OF THE FIGHTING ■ APPROACHES DESCRIBED ■Dr C- Htilford Ross, surgeon, R.N. (retired), late health officer, Suez Canal, writes;;;to:..''LaJ34 and Water" ■ of- December '12 .. (sonicermng, Mr. Hilaire Belloc'sjremarks' on the defence of the canal-"IV miy'interest, your readers if yoa:-will'permit.me td augment the ■comments of Messrs. Hilaire Belloc and T.' : Jane .concerning the defence »of "the 'Suez- Canal* <uid the projected ' raid on Egypt by Turks. I can speak with 'the knowledge gained by fiveyears residence there. In your issue of iNovember 1 the possible routes of invasion 'of Eeypt from Palestine, atfe discussed i —namely', that from Gaza via El .An®' l Ho Kantara, and that from Akaba \through Nekle (Nakl) to Suez. But Hhere'are other routes.- There is a road from El Arish via El Maza direct to Port Said along the sea shore—a fairly harrow strip of desert land between the Mediterranean and the shallow sea water' lake which lies parallel to the-Egyptian'foreshore, between (Alexandria and the . Syrian frontier. This road is frequently used by Bedouins and the Egyptiaji police . (EgyP" , tian army) that garrison El Arish. It is not so good as that between 3iu Arisn and Kantara, but neither,of them could ■now be employed for heavy gun traffic, Yiand certainly would, soon become imjpassable for motor lorries. Nor, on tthe other hand, could they be dominated torn the sea, for here the coast is very and there is a heavy surf. ■ "Your article mentions that the "wells W these routes through the desert, are ■few and far between; but, in addition / the water. in them is brackish, being l',very* different now from that found by .'Napoleon.,- It is, indeed, unfit to water un army ?f considerable numbers, and has altered completely in character under the influence'of modern Egyptian irrigation. The ancient estuaxy-of the Nile, which formerly debouched near' 'Ml .Arish, has dried; up in consequence of "perennial irrigation, the building of ■barrages,' and the cutting of the Suez Canal.;. This estuary was well described by -Miot,i in--his 'Memoirs sui 'l'EgypV written in 1805,; and published in Paris in 1815. "There are other equally bad roads (from the Turkish frontier via El Mara -and 'Ismailia, and via Nekle and Ismailia- Their wels, too, are very salt, •and are usually used to water'camels •only; even Bedouins carry , water for ■their own consumption on these journeys. Nekle itself, being, the headquarters of the Sinai garrison of thd "Egyptian army, has a fairly .good water "Tho statemeht made by Mr. F. T. Pane in your issue of November 14, that |hc Germans might scuttle something Jn. the Suez Canal at a lock, or the /Equivalent thereof, .is not reasonable, .because there are no. locks or the equivalents thereof in the canal; it is a deep- - sva.ter,canal.direct.from sea- to sea. The ■ hiefe"' shuttling:of a ship in the "canal would be. of small moment, probably, as ; in'the c&e of tho srteamr Chatham, (which, full of dynamite, sank therein in ■1905; the block was removed in a.week. Ihere is a considerable current in the Suez Canal—a constant one from the Mediterranean :to Lake- Timsah (Ismailia), and a tidal one from thence through the-bitter lakfes to the Red Sea. Therefore-' bridging : would not be' easy ;by ■'slinging'-a'ship across, for, in addition, th&' s average I'depth1'depth : 'isj .32 1 : feet, 1 'and ' the? tanks,are rarely.','steep-to. . .... "'Contrary'to, tEe generally-accepted Idea, there-are many, heights bordering the : Suez Canal. . Fifteen miles : north of -Ismailia and between that town and Bala station, the canal stream is cut. . through'cliffs of'loo"feet, .'where-; warships could not operate their guns over the surrounding desert j' and to the south of Lake Timsah -there -is'a .-rango'of -low '],i.Hs which could weEdomina.te the Bitter Lakes."'" Near "Suez',' again, the Sinai Desert has several elevated ridges of sand, in which -artillery - would be a serious, menace" if it were possible to get guns there, and to mount them on /the' sand. • But, as stated in "Land and ; (Water,-' the transport, of water wijl be .'■' the chief difficulty-to-bo-encountered by the invader of Egypt."An action fought by .the forces, of :- the Allies'afeout the-Suez Canal against .Turkey would open questions 'of conWiderable international importance and diplomatic interest. The. Suez Canal is ithe*property of an Egyptian,company, ifco which; the concession was granted by ,'fhe Egyptian Government' by the authority of its' suzerain, the Sultan of No nation other than Turkey !has tho right to allow more -than -three Warships to be iix the* canal at the same time, unless they are in actual transit. 'Therefore, if Great Britain or France '•were to put a'fleet-into the canal for punitive purposes, or to bombard a {Turkish army ou its banks, it would constitute an act of piracy equal to, if not •surpassing, that of the sinking of harm'less trading ships by the 'heroic' Emden. "Pirobably the best way we could ex- ■ cuse such a defence of the Suez Canal against. Turkey would be to confiscate -Egypt first, but'.this would be an act of aggression, .which our successive -Governments have promised not to undertake. But we could justify a defensive action of the canal should the Turks be likely to damage it in any , way or harm its usefulness, or threaten "jts freedom to neutral shipping. Then have tho'right to guard it, in comilnon with.any of the other .Powers •signatory to -the convention granted to Ferdinand do Lesscps. In view of this,' it will' be most interesting to ■watch the march of events in the Near lEast, and to follow closely the Egyptian said of the Turks."

... Internationa! Complications. There can be no international complications now, because Great Britain has assumed the protectorate of Egypt in consequence of -Turkey having aer dared war upon her. The canal is i now a British possession, though leased ( to the Canal. Company, the company " being merely the lessee, not the sovereign. It is probable that all international conventions in regard to the &anal hare become dead by tho assumption of the protectorate of Egypt by ■''Great Britain, just as all capitulations, otc., bccame dead when Franco assumed the protectorate of Tunis, another .'Turkish dependency, in 1882. In that -year, during the "Eastern campaign, os-it was called—the Egyptian cam- : -paisn and the suppression of Arabi iPasha's rebellion is the usual name—'Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour did •not hesitate to 'occupy the whole length : of the canal. But now Egypt is under ( British;-protection, British warships ' have. as .much right .to be in the canal i «s. at Spithead or in Hobson's Bay. i; ;. Canal Defence. 'The depression in the desert to the oast of Port Said has been flooded, and 60 enemy can approach within cannon range of the canal El Kantara ( the Ferry") is 28 miles from Port Said. Then comes somo marshy ground; a • ;: t n o north-to Lake .Timsah and due east'of. it there are rutees; after a gap of about. three miles . there other ridge,-which continues to TUtmn a mile of the Bitter Lakes About three miles'south of, these Jakes begins another ridge,;.which .continues tc, withm thrco-or four miles from the Red Sea. Loul Kitchener had .the front from the inundated area southwards entrenched, mid tho- rii'ees properly nrcpnied for defence. There is also a forward pos>tiou in the, desert ««ino 2o mites towards Nekle prepared, if . n ° fc ' Finally there ■ is. a setj. strong tor--

present in Egypt just now, and the general officer commanding, LieutenanfcGeneral Sir Join Maxell, knows as much about desert fighting as any man living. ■ 1 The laying down of a light rail from El Arish or from Akaba is quite possible if the 'forks have time and the material, for it would be easy to recall the troops who bnilt the Pilgrim railway from Damascus to Medina. These, under German-engineer officers, became very expert railway troops, and there were about 4000 employed. To assist the defence there is the 'Sweet Water Canal, parallel with the ship canal, also a railway line runs along-the whole length, both being on the west side.