The Suez Canal Fight.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 April 1915, Page 3

The Suez Canal Fight.

FROM A LEVIN SOLDIER

The following interesting account by. Private A. Gray, of' Levin or his part in the Suez Canal battle last"January was received in Levin by the last mail from Egypt. We are indebted" to Mr A. Gray lor the use of it:— On the evening of January 24th, just after tea (about o p.m.) orders came to pack war kits, i.e. all clothes wanted on active .service to be packed in valise, carried in a pack on 'the back, also kit bags to be packed and left at the base, as the Turks neve advancing on tho Canal, and trouble was expected ; t) 48 hours. In twelve hours we Vroiv rr? .••■; -jTi! .-.;■.. "}•</■■:' V>nrnr>y to •.iii , Cn.'iii! : ;■'-■•!•; *>>;o. !!r.-i idillii■ omVci-s. full ~!■ sui.j.s ...,-;.-■<! The iuii ih.si.lv neni.sN the :i--M-,- ; . yi;.l :he •J.'mtl. !:i-iv ;ii; thi.< Lin.i- of the '-par

i& .cry Tvni-j!!. liifi sl-:i|-riiii>. rc'ild Lake Tiinsin, on winch iMt<;ii|ia is situaed we travelled for a eomple of lioui's and then detrained at Mehatel-el-Ku-br, on the Canal, and about seven miles from Suez. "We bivouacked for the night along the railway, line, and were awakened by heavy rifle fire across the canal at 2.30 in tho morning. Then some funny sights were seen. For instance, the Major was putting on. his trousers and hopping about, calling out while doing so "Sergeant-Major! Sergeant-Ma jor! They're at TI-, Sergeant-Major!" "Whenever the time gun is heard now you hear all over the camp "They're ;it it. Sergeant-Major!" Others commenced loading magazines, others lit cigarettes, some sang, and others swore. As no alarm was sounded. 1 refused, with others, to get out of bed, but I wfsbed I had, as in the excitement I got trampled on. However, orders came along to get dressed (put puttees and hat on) and stand by. "We were about a mile and a half from thciCanal and had the railway embankment between us, so that at no time were we in danger from rifle fire. After sitting up for about an hour, listening to the continuous crackle j (crackle Very aptly describes rifle reports in great numbers at a distance) or the rifle fire, and cursing our fate at not being in the firing line, we were ordered back to bed. After "breakTast nest morning we moved off to relievo the Ghurkas in the Canal trenches. The trenches ran from Port Suez to Said on the Egyptian side of the Canal, while on the opposite bank forts had been erected with the earth excavated from the Canal. The best and strongest is situated at Mehatel-el-Kubri station, and i<s known to us as Fort Kubri. Having relieved the Ghuirkas we had an opportunity to look round us; not that there was much to see: a few date palms, an Indian camp and, everywhere, dump heaps of dirt from the Canal. East of us we could see Ports Tufig and Suez, while to the west, the canals draining the "S'weet- [ water" swamps behind us could be seen running into the Suez Canal. In the Canal, and across it, desert and sand dunes running back to a chain of nioiroitains, which obscured further vision. We often wished we could sec what was going on on the other side of these mountains. "►Sweetwater' is a name given to tho water in the swamps. It is very sweet and vefry dangerous. If a person kas a out hand and washes it in the water he becomes ill in a few minute.?, and if he drinks of the water the result is still more serious.

We put in a week in the tivnehes. digging and improving them during the days ; buildfng parapets and stone j walls, reinforced by earth as protection from "battery fire, and taking an hoiw about, watching all through the night. About the fourth night wo were awakened by heavy rifle fire on the opposite .hank, (and the piny; and zip of the bullets flying overhead, and an occasional thud wTien they landed in the earth) about midnight. We had all equipment on, and rifles in hand in quick time, and our section was making for its trench, which was about twenty feet above ns, cut in the hill, like a lot of "bunnios" bolting for a burrow. Once in. down we sat, while the man on watch kept on looking without being told by the officer to keep his head down. We were like a lot of small hoys wanting to see the fun ; wanting to do our share in the real thing with no Wank ammunition about it." hut real hard nickel-cased lead. However, we were not allowed to fire as the strength of the attacking force was not known, and our offi-

eers did not wish to have the position given away. There we sat listeningcrack, crack, ping, ping, thud, thud. Everyone was smoking, not at all concerned, when bang, bang went two of tho guns on the armed merchantman. Himalaya, on our left flank. Up wont our heads to see the shells hurst, aim so locate the enemy. Two muffled reports, two sheets of flame; they had burstl but with what effect we coii'ld not tell. Then three more reports and nothing was to be heard, but the flip-flop of the Turkish Mauser, and an occasional heavy pang of an Austrian Mannlicher. In about two hours all was over, and back we went to our "two hlankei" beds on the sand.

This was what ive saw and hoard ; this is what we were told next day:—ln the Canal, near Fort Kufori was a dredge with a powerful light, which, together with the light on the forte, and the lights of H.M.S. Ocean, seven miles away at Suez (now at the Dardanelles where we hope to he soon) (The Ocean has heen sunk at the IJardanelles since the letter ,was written.— Chronicle), played across the dceort every night, and it was at the lights on the dredge and on the fort thai the Turks were firing. I firmly believe that if they had •boen successful in extinguishing these lights we would have 'boon attacked quite as strongly, if not stronger, as were the men at Tsmailia. and Kantara. From the trenches wo could see with the glasses the three lines, of entrenchments which the Turks had roughly and hurriedly thrown up. The first Ifilo was ahout 800 yards from the fort, second 1000 yards and the third 1500 yards; all too far tor elective shooting. They did not spare their ammunition however, hut let us have it thick and heavy. It lias heen said that the nearest shot to hitting the searchlight was only two feet six inches wide of the mark. The Turks used three kinds of ammunition ; one cartridge being something like ours, with a round pointed bullet. Another was sharp pointed like our Mark VII ammunition, now being i"sed at the front. The worst hullet they used was the Mannlicher type of .1880. The cartridge is about.half as long again as the ordinary cartridge and half as wide again. Tliu bullet is a soft lead bullet not unlike the bullets used in the old "bulldog" revolvers. It is a deadly and inhumane bullet. From the trenches -we retired to a "rest" camp, but it belied is name, for '''■"<• iia'i i. march N. Lh." CV, nn] pv ( .;-v d;iY, •'() ii;iVV_> '.vorfc. :-liV::;(> : lr!l t'h. doi -«. mm! 1,-.vi th- !:>!ls ivbere tli.-y oil-true''.: •: I);; , Field ;>i iiir. Vnnii (?'.<• "■C.-'" -i [:i ! > \»'' ..- ■ I :l'T>v-- i|n- < ; 111;; : ' k'IOiVII ! <> 'IS i!S 1.1 ■ >'. I." I : v-i-)- 1 il!''(.,'i Kii'.i'i. ll'lii!' ,\ h«' Ml = !: illlO , <M Hyderabad Lancei.s ueiib oirt reconnoitring across tho desert twice a day. While in the fort we had a good time. Each platoon Had a night in the trenches ; a night in reserve on which it found all patrols and guards, and the third night in support, which meant a full night in bed. Everyone was on the "fjui vivo" at 5 a.m.. on hour later that when we were in the trenches. The patrol consisted ot three men and a sergeant. There wvvo two patrols, each one doing two hours' turn about, all through the night, commencing at 6 p.m.. and finishing at -1 a.m. Then another patrol went out 1200 yards in front of the fort and -remained till 7 a.m. when it was relieved by the Laneer patrol. The twohours patrol is the ''nerviest" duty I have been on. The patrols had a beat of about 800 yards to outside of the wire entanglements, which means well outside the fort. The beat ran north-west. If anything happened while on patrol one would be in a most undesirable position, with the choice of three awkward ways out. liither to retire on the fort, climb through the entanglements—a precarious job on a dark night—and risk being shot by the eentries. or retire on the Canal, and vswim across, taking the chance of being shot by the sentries on the other side. Initially the patrol could dig itself in and trust to the rifle and to i'rovidenee. Often in my two hours did** tfguro out the situation and the above was the result. I think in two or three weeks' time we "will be on oiw wa;- to the Dardanelles.