A SOLDIER M.P.

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 102, 24 January 1919, Page 6

A SOLDIER M.P.

CAPTAIN J. B. HINE IN THE PALESTINE ADVANCE

THE FAMOUS CAVALRY RIDE

Captain J.-B.'Hine, M.P., was'one. of tho New Zcalanders who took a part in the' groat offensive in which ' Turkish resistance was filially broken. He. has been attached to the New Zealand, Mounted Brigade in Egypt and Palestine since the latter part of 1916, and his service has since been interrupted only as the result of his being severely wounded in tho attack on Gaza at the beginning of November, 1917. On that occasion Captain Hine was shot 'through the lung, but lie made a remarkably good and quick recovery. While convalescing he paid a brief visit to Now Zealand in the early part of last year. A letter just received from Palestine. shows'that' bo •got back to the front in good time' to take part in General Allenby's great drive, and at the same time throws light upon the experiences of the New Zealand troops while the offensive was under way, and subsequently. Throughout the offensive, Captain Hine commanded his old squadron, the Second Wellington Mounteds. "The Anzac Division, which consists of two Australian brigades 'and oue New Zealand brigade," the letter states, "had been holding the right flank of the line all the summer. And that meant that we were in tho valley , of the Jordan where it-is ahout twelve hundvtd feet below sea level, and with a temperature of- 125 degrees during the greatest part of the summer. It was a 'severe strain -on the health of the troops. Later on the ill-effects of the loug, say down there became very marked. Before tho advance our job was holding the flank/ which was. trying, owing to tho continual shelling we were-subjected to. We held all the bridges and fords over the Jordan for about six or oight miles from the Dead.Sea northwards. As the Turks were on the high ground east of tho river they ■ dominated our positions with their big guns, with which they j were well supplied, and we were con-! stantly having a few casualties. When the operations at last commenced wo had to demonstrate on our flank while the balance of thrt cavalry broke through on the coast. It is stale news now how successfully they did their work, never stopping, until tHey had I captured Damascus,-,-Aleppo, and the j rest. '/'Before., how (November 6) they would have been well on their way to Constantinople but for the cessation of hostilities. Our division went out east beyond the Jordan and over the j Hejaz railway, capturing en route Es Salt, Amman, and Castcl. The Turks were-numerous in these localities," but their moral was completely gone, and • only at Amman did they put up anyj thing like a..fight. Poor beggars! they were on tho point of starvation. The only things they had without stint were guns, both large and small, and ammunition galore. It was a stiff advance, riding all day and night I sometimes, but it had its recompenses. J "No sooner was the fighting over j and the whole of the Turkish forces in j our hands than malarial fever made J its appearance amongst us, and in three weeks twelve hundred men and i-fifty officers were on the sick list from j our brigade alone. The other forces suffered, as badly. ■ Malaria plays I havoc with a fellow if he gets what is called the. malignant type, which, unfortunately, most of the men have. we knoK' we were in for it, having to spend several days and nights in a mosquito-infested area, where malaria ,is found! at all times. _The brigade has lost about seventy men to date (November 6) through pneumonia supervening on malaria." Captain Hine was attacked by malaria, but it projed to be of the mild type, and he made an excellent recovery after spending a couple of weeks ia hospital.