DEFENCE OF THE SUEZ CANAL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2964, 30 December 1916, Page 7

DEFENCE OF THE SUEZ CANAL

OF ENORMOUS MAGNITUDE ; London, December 28. ■■'. Mr. Massey,' the" war correspondent. in Egypt, describing the defence works.-, of the Suez Canal,' .emphasises their permanency as well : as their enormous ■ magnitude. The' expense has been:: heavy, and the work arduous, but the stout hearts of the-troops were equal? to the, task, and'the-■'money lias been'' well spent. The Army has-civilised;, the desert, and tlie result,will remain, when the war has-become history. :~, ■' It was necessary to push --the de--' fences far enough from the Canal to,-'" place the Canal out.of-.'range of tlieheaviest modem artillery. Cons'o-,--quently many pipe lines for] water ply have been-laid down, and many roads and railways now link the. Medi- - terranean with the Gulf of Suez. -," There is one remarkable railway of-: standard gauge, on which locomotives-; from the London and South-westornv Railway draw loads as heavy as any?-.' they drew in England, They do .?,-, journey of 200 miles out and homer-, night and dav. to a strict 'time-table.—: . Aus.-N.Z. Cable .Assn...;'..';' .. (.■ '; EGYPT g HAVE NEVERBEEN A FAILURE' (Rec. December 29, 5.5 p.m.) '/ London, .December 28. ,:-- ! Mr." Massey, the war correspondent;', describes the victory at "Magdhaba a'sK one of the most important battles oftho campaign in Eastern: Egypt, and,adds: "The.fame of the'Anzac Mount-;! Eds has proved of sterling value. ThoCamel Corps, composed of British Yepi. mani-y and colonial horsemen, was a> brilliant stroke. Under extraordinarily arduous,conditions they succeeded . in inflicting an overwhelming defeat of; tho Turks. Their swift, fierce, irrer';! sistible attack had an important moraleffect. The Mounted traversing twenty-,;.; fivo miles to Bl'Arisli in'-a singlo.night-J was a feat hitherto considered impos?:.' sible-in desert warfare. Tho Turks; are hurriedly trekking eastward, their.' calculations in Northern Sinai being completely upset. They evacuated El Arisli," not expecting to suffer any , losses, but they had not reckoned with-'' the remarkable'mobility of the desert column, whose pursuit caused' tha Turks nervousness regarding . their/ communications. .''.'! Vs;.--.The feeling of camaraderie between, ; the Anzacs and Camel Corps' was j strongly cemented in the Magdhaba action. . They had co-operated; •before,/ but were not in such close toucTT. They;. display mutual admiration for determined work, and have become .'.a/ band of brothers. The Anzac Mount/; ed Division has never been" a failure!and. nobody understands the resource,-,; fulness, courage, and endurance of the;; Anzacs better than the enemy. The. - Anzacs are invaluable in Egypt. All are anxious for.another, move to keep the old Turk upon the run."—AusX! N.Z. Cable Assn. -''.;•■-;•' CAPTURE OF MAGDHABA v-J STIRRING ACCOUNT OF THE ' '■•.•■ ACTION

' (Rec. December 29. 5.30 p.m.) , : Jy': London, December 28. /' General Chauvel had entire chargavr of the operation at Magdhaba. It wasrecognised that the movement must be / swift or the Turks getting wind", would - evacuate the"']>lac'c, as they did at E1 ; .... Arish;. therefore, the force was iiot.asr'-. sembled till three hours after sunset " at "Wad el Arish, three miles south?--. ■ ward of tho town. They were there;.'rationed, and the horses fed_and water--, cd for a somewhat prolonged operation,-' • owing to tho difficulty of bringing the...... camel convoys fifteen miles from rail- -- head across a waterless, heavy desert:'-. At one o'clock on Saturday morning the First and Second Australian-Light-'; Horse Brigades ' and ...New _.- Zealand Mounted Rifles, in brigades" of eight ; companies, and- the Imperial Camel, Corps, under Brigadier Smith, V.C.y : jour batteries Territorial Horse 'Artil- -, Tery, and. a mounted battery of HongKong and Singapore Artillery moved off at a rapid pace" to.cover twenty-two; : , miles before dawn. The force-halted: at five o'clock! two miles .from ; the enemy's position. The Turks clearly had not anticipated an- < attack, for; their bivouac' fires were burning: .■-".•.'».:- "" General Chauvel decided to send -the Second Australian Light Horse and they.. .New Zealand giv-" ing the Camel Corps the task of the frontal attack,;with.the: First Austrayy lian -Light Horse in-reserve. Airmen- . reported that: parties'.of. Turks 'Vcre.y leaving, so two - brigades in the'east y hurried forward to. complete the p».y velopment, and were met with shell--S and machine-gun fire, whilst-, the-Light.; Horse, moving to support the Camel;; Corps, was heavily fired-on by. machine--' guns, and deployed westward to pre- ' vent the attempted escape-'"- on' that:;■; side. ■ "■■' ' •'■'■'"; ■'•"';;> '-'Py It was plain' that the position-was. v stronglv held, so the'attack proceeded-, in a deliberate fashion;-with aeroplanes y .bombing the Turkish entrenchments^-;.; and artillery accurately firing, the- dis--y mounted'- troops- making periodical;;;; rushes. .The position was difficult'to attack, because only one of the.five re-tyy .doubts could be observed. , That was-y soon wrecked, and the surviving iTurksy, were quickly white flagging, but from; > the other redoubts there-was the heartiest firo from eight o'clock till riooii; .,-■- and good progress had been made, but,; it then became evident that energetic. v ; measures would be necessary to taWe , Magdhaba before .-darkness, set in. The ; question of water for troops, and horses y was becoming pressing. Though : tlfei;>men were suffering greatly from.thirstiyj their efforts' nover slackened. ,i,v'.-. .■'Early.iii.the afternoon all the serves were brought into action. Aerby y planes brought fresh supplies of bomhsV.. which were . dropped .under..,, continnalfy anti-aircraft niachine-guu fire. • vTlje y artillery poured in incessant salvos .of y.' oighteen-pounders with terrific riflo y' and machine-gun fire from flirce At four o'clock tho Turkish commander;.y seeing that his forces suffered severe:'; losses, accepted the inevitable, and suVy. rendered, bn't\somc rifle fire was keptup from tho sand dunes till dark. ;'-"y Tho action was brilliantly conductedy The troops had three four days, but their spirit, was never,•>. higher. . . '- .".'. j^yy The capture of this, the strongest..-,. position, has rendered many Turkish .-■:: positions in Northern Sinai untenable.-/; —n en tor.. yy 'y