ON THE BORDER OF PALESTINE.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 March 1917, Page 3

ON THE BORDER OF PALESTINE.

Th 9 Fafa Battle. Interesting letter From Trooper Louis GibbThe following letter received from Trooper Louis Gibb, of feouth Westland, has been kindly handed to us for publication. It will be noted by the marks of omission . • • •

the C.-nsor has been at work in many places ; Near Palestine, Sinai Bolder, 13/1/17.—Once again as in my last scribble, I can write you of victory, for it is but four days, the 9ib J nuary, since our mounted troops invaded Palestine, and by combined as-ault, splendidly backtd up by the English and Scotch batteries of artillery, carried the entrenched Turkish position on the fertile plain cf Rafa. It iB a far cry from the cattle run-, the dairy farms and sheep station of our peaceful lards in New Zealand and Australia (for it ia from these pastoral pursuits in our own dear homelands that the Ana-ae Mounted Div eion is recruited, squatters’ son?, dairy farmers, shearers, fencers, boundary rideie, a few, too, back block miners and many bushmeu from Auckland, Wellington, Marlborough and Westland may be fonnd in our ranks) and who would have thought three years ago that we would be a unit of the little invading army that would fight and win a carefully planned battle on that historic land sacred to the Jaws and jealously guarded by the marauding Turk, picture us then,

A 3 silently aa possible, with no smoking allowed, followed by a . . . . (one of which, the . . . battery, was recruited in the pater’s own county in the old laud, and fired their first shot (after over two years’ hard training) in the fighting at Romani to Bir re Abd last August, Curing that memorable attack on the Canal), passing the newly occupied town of El Arieh, particulars of which and the fight for Magdhaba I wrote you l&Bt week, we, wonder of wonders, had to crcea and actually ford a running stream, the Wadoi Arieh, which, owing to the rough, boisterous weather of the New Year, wee swollen and running thick, aye, thicker than the glacier-fed Waibo, oa'y of » rich yellow silt, sli surface water, as wo found it dry two days later. Pressing on wb pas&eu through acres of fig trees g' owing out of the sand, for we wera/still on the desert, hut gradually the country changed aa we got further rp the coast, for we were never far from the blue Mediterranean, and just as dawn broke our advanced guard came in contact with the Bedouin village which was batween U 3 and the Turkish position.

I say viilaee but it was really a broad plain of splendid land of a light loam with occasional hummock?, crops of barley a few inches high, orchards of fig and oraDge tress aud all over the tent-like shacks of the nomadic tribes of Bedouins. Hostile and treacherous *wo have always found these ragged, half-witted nom da of tba aesprt, ana hc.te rbey proved no better than their kinsmen of Sian, for an eoou as we struck their c&mp they gave the s’gnai of tbeir tribe, a long crying wail -which was taken up and passed on with the precision of a military oid&r.

Sh&rp mer.auees were at once immediately ordered and carried ou<, every male of military ego and all old m?a were &t once tr-ksri prisoner and sent to the roar, the women and children and liva stock being unmolested and treated with the ntraoßt respect. It was a strange scene this, thG troops of colonial horsemen ia their great coate for it was a cold morning preceding a colder night, and all around tho Emobs and small camp fires of the Bsdouin villages, tho fertile plain with the little herds of goats, she9p, ponies, the little children looking on and munching tbs army biscuits given them by tho “ terrible invaders ” of tbeir country. I cannot express in mere writing what my feelings were when our Major informed ua we were actually in Palestine, but there just behind ns was the stone on the knoll which

marks the border, and here was the land historical in biblical history aa the birth-place of our Saviour. As these people were in those days so are they to this day aud clothed iu the self same wr.y in their robes of goatskin and camels hair. Their dwellings if such they could be called, were merely a bag like camels hair tent, about 5 feet high and supported by short poles, at intervals stayed back by ropes of palm fibre. Very, very temporary affairs I should call these t6nte, but underneath on the earthern floor lived the whole family with the fowl?, the dogs, and the goat herd, for every Bedouin has hia few goats and sheep and also he possesses some camelp, donkeys and ponies. Scarcely a young man was there, all evidently called up by the ambitioua Turk, likely by promise of great booty when the Turkish dream, tho conquering of Egypt, wa* attained.

However as we hid halted and tha prisoners were collected (whilst the general stsff on a mound or hill nearby were purveying through the glasses the enemy position which bad heretofore bsen.recounoitercd from the air by cur aircraft) the artillery now came up and trotted into action aod in a very short time the big guun opoke then eqnsdron leaders having their orders, troop lssders got theirs and soon we knew exactly what, wo were expected to do aod were told what we already expected, that cur advance unlike the excellent cover at Mmgdbaba, would be over a clean grass surface and such it proved to be, not tha slightest cover of any kind. The Turkish position was plaotd with iheii* usual canning and thoroughness 3 ridges in half moou shape which were each dafended from all elopes on every side by cunningly cut trenches with tiring bays and machine gun posre3 well concealed ?o that in every direction they could sweep the slopes to with a raking fire thero being blit little dead ground. Our place being assigned ns, we now proceeded to gallop into action a distance of near 2 miles round the flank. In equadron cjlumu well extended, we swept round, line after line, Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington in tho order named, the . ,

of which was in reserve, taking the left of us. As we galloped over the barley fields and ploughed land we were joined by ponies, cattle, goats e'e all careering in different direction?, rifles and machine guns were cracking also the mountain gun?, but up till this Abdul bad not found the range only aa occasional stray bullet finding its mark, soon we re&oked our position round the back between the enemy and the high white sand bills that were b'nwn in from the ocean. Her' a fi w sinners pub out t > pick off offi e-s, Wr.ra soon piokad up by our No I iroup who opened fire on them ami afrsr wounding fourths remainder who were caught before they reached tbeir- posses, were taken prisoner?, 32 ia all, tho first firmed ptisonera of the day.

J?or connive of see fourth pag^

After a short delay Canterbury were ordered to take the right, Wellington the centre and Auckland the left, oounectirg up with the . . . . meanwhile the .... caiae over the sand hills from the sea racking good targets for the enemy against the white sand and the .... on their right, thus completely surrounding the position. For hours (he guns elided the trenches and at 11.80 we b?gan our adjatco in ehoit rashes in half troops, one per,y keeping up a fire on the enemy’s paiapet which at the start was at 1800 yards range while the next advanced, »nd so consis'ent was the fire that the “Abduls ” were gallied at showing themselves and their fire was often erratic. This went on until 3.30 at which time we had reached from 300 to 500 yards of the redoubt we were alloled to take which was the key of the position. The .... twice charged only to be beaten back and the rat-a-tat of the machine guue, and the swish of the rifle bullets were easily the most consistent I have heard in Egypt. Having reached tbus far we were ordered to hold fast and “ await reinforcements on the right.” However, whatever happened .... who were to advance with us in the line failed to get sufficiently close up to the redoubt No 2 ou their left and we Were next oidered to take all possible cover and hold on. As cover was not there we proceeded to make it in the only possiblo way, by digging with all speed with our bayonets iD the lcamy soil, burrowing liko dogs, in the approved style; as we were taught to do, only the drill book says “entrenching tools,” which are not carried except by infantry and field engineers. Be that as it may, whistling bullets and flyiDg shell cases and shell fragments are a wonderful incentive to dig quickly and get a goodly mound of brown soil in front of your headpiece, and soon that important part of our bodies was behind a cover. Thus we lay for over an hour and the precious daylight was fast waning and the sun quickly leaving us, when the order came passing along from mouth to mouth “ prepare for a general advance-” Just then the booming of the guns stopped on our Bide and our officers as coolly as though on parade, gave the order to fix bayonets and each man also crammed the two clips of five cartridges in his magazine and with a tremendous yell of derision and bayonets flashing in the setting sun, we ran with all speed towards the redoubt. Offioers of all ranks had armed themselves with rifles and as we ran we kept up a con' tinuous fire on the parapets some firiag from the shoulder, others from the hip and every Turk’s head that popped up to return the fire was almost immediately down again, many as we afterwards found with more than one leaden messenger that bad found its mark. As usual, they held out, tboße followers of the star and crescent, until our boys hopped the parapet and showed the steel, and then down went the rifles and up went the hauds and of course not being Huns, we could not use the steel on unarmed men, though I heard a few got it from the S . . . who did not drop their arms quick enough for the bushmen of the far north. When we invited them by signs and tlippo language “taallah-henah iggery” meaning come here quick, to bop up out of the treneb, many of them were terrified at the idea as they were afraid of getting the fire from the next trench, but the ooonpants of that trench which was a ditch 12 feet wide, had evidently seen enough, as our fellows swarmed over the hill wild for fight and to avenge our comrades who had fallen that afternoon, so that after a couple of minutes’ concentrated fire on their parapet, up went white flags and over we went, a mixture of New Zealanders from the North Cape to the Bluff, That 300 yards was done in quick time and what a sight that wide trench presented, dead Turks, wounded Turks, live Turks, mixed up with dead mules and ponies with pack saddles on and cases of ammunition, rifles, bayonets, and equipment cm every side. Soon all the prisoners were collected, all Turks, with a few German machine gunners, and the German camp commandant, and it was not till then we were told that Turkish reinforcements estimated at from 2,000 to 4,000 infantry and cavalry were coming at all speed to reinforce their comrades, The order for withdrawal had been given by the Divisional Commander . ... .

bnt before it reached oar headquarters oar popular little G.0.C., Brigadier .... had giveu the order for his brigade to Btorm the position with the result above given, and thus waa the position changed, for the , . , . hearing ua yell and the prolonged rattle of small armß, made a fresh rush on their redoubt and carried it in the true .... Btyle. It was made easier by the eDeroyJ ou onr redoubt now having to devote the whole of their time to us. Ia the meantime the first brigade 0 f , , . . with a squadron of

. , who had been in reserve

and were watching the flanka, set out to watch for the reinforcements who were coming up, but evidently these jokers thought discretion the better part of valour, for they never reached us, evidently expecting a trap in the darkness, which had now set in, but we hear that next day their advance

guard got in contact with the . . • and these dare devils managed to capture 14 of their cavalry, so all our other forces started back. The, . • who had done good work acd aod for the reason they can carry four days’ food and water, remained to dear up the battle ground and buty the dtad of both sides, Our side’s casualtifs, “considering thecircumatancos,” were slight, something like . . • • P sr cent, 1 think, and many woueda are not at all bad. Of the • «

and artillery 1 have not heard, but should think they would not average more than ours. Those figures, however, you will have read in the papers long ere this reaohes you. Yours trnly’s luck was in. 1 never received a scratch; that bit of lead is not made yet and irony of fate it must be, for here am I and many others who have been on Gallipoli, passed through every fight and skirmish on Sinai and at Magdhaba with never a wound, while other poor chaps, men of the —th, —th and —th reinforcements who had only joined up from the base camp at Moascar a few days or weeks and in their first fight were killed or wounded. Two brothers 1 heard of farmers of Wellington were shot dead within a few minutes of each other. Many of those young fellows of thd later reinforcements especially are too eager and show themselves just when they shouldn’t, but all learn after the first fight or so that there pre no medals for throwing away their lives by useless bravado, as our officers and senior N.C.O.'s (all of whom were those who survived the early days of Gallipoli) tell us “ keep your heads down,” till the proper time and then fire when the shooting will take effect.

The number of prisoners as officially given which is irrespective of the unarmed Bedouins was 1,437 unwounded also 35 officers; IGO wounded and between 200 and 300 dead buried also 1 mountain battery, 6 machine guns and a huge quantity of rifl-s and ammunition besides camels, ponies, horses and equipment. I must not forget to mention the splendid work done by the. ... of the Royal Flying Corps, with the wings of tbeir planes which must have been riddled with bullets, they swooped down and hovered over tb9 enemy’s position directing the batteries aod dropping messages at different stages of the fight, while high, high, overhead soared the eagle shaped fast flying maohines of the Hun seemingly afraid to come too oloee to the wary .... of who you

xaaj bet had one eye upon him and except to vainly endeavour to bomb our batteries and perhaps aoquaint the enemy’s reinforcements as to how the battle was t°- c £> th o y at all.

One inoideut on our homeward journey I must here relate. While yet a mile or so from home, we were aroused out of our half sleepy state by the music of the bagpipes playing a popular tune and a tremendous burst of cheering, cheer upon cheer, in a whole hearted fashion and there before us were a fine body of our Scottish troops of the divisioD,and in their picturesque Scotch caps and tarn o’shantere, and many wearing the kilts, they came across at the doable, we were at a watering trough for horses and the happy Scotch lads pushed our fellows from the pumps and insisted on jumping the water, no small job either considering there were thousands of horses as the whole division oame up iu their turn, Our squadron was advance guard for the division, and many and varied were the questions asked us and it was grand to see the way these fine lads eyes shone. When we told of the good work of the battalion, officers and men alike were mixed up with our horses and men ail asking questions. One would have thought we had conquered Palestine, instead of merely making a successful raid. Well, I said iu the beginning, I would write a few lines and here I must conolude as I have filled eleven pages of another chaps writing pad, so kind regards to all iu dear old Westland, with love to all at home, from Lou.