AMSUSH BY KURDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1918, Page 4

AMSU SH BY KURDS.

rough; time in Persia. AUSTRALIANS” WITH RUSSIAN ARMY. A letter has just been received from Sapper Jack Miller, of Forbes, New South Wales, who is attached to the Australian Wireless Corps in Persia : Since April last 19 other Australians and myself have been attached to the Russian Caucasus Army in North-West Persia,” writes Sapper Miller. “ When we first joined this go-as-you-nlease mob the track to Baghdad was almost > clear, and convoys of armoured cars brought us supplies and mails every three weeks or so. Since the Rus- j sian retirement from Khanikin and Kasriskirin the Turk has blocked the thoroughfare again, the result being that we have had no mail for l the past three mouths, and there is none on the horizon. The last, papers we got were dated the end of March, and letters not much later. 1 Except for two or three hundred words of war news which - Basra ; sends, out to all and sundry every j afternoon, we are absolutely be- I nighted. , ’ j “ Whether the Ruskis or Turks have ever done much dinkum fight- j ing in Persia I know not, but since ' .we have been with our mighty Ally ; no unfriendly feeling has been , manifest. Hostile planes come oyer and hover round with impunity, | often comiug low enough to be ! within range of a decent clothes prop, but they drop no bombs and no one fires at them. Easy good ■ feeling was in existence, too, down ' on the Dialali, where, prior to the j mid-June withdrawal, Turk and I Ruski soldiers used to swim together. That’s the Russian infantryman, not the Cossack. The latter fraternises with no one.

TROUBLESOME KURDS. “ But, apart from John Turk, the Kurds give sufficient trouble in this country. In the hills —and this part of Persia is all mountains and valleys—they shoot and rob by day, while to the villages and towns they come at night, sometimes as raiders, and other times as ordinary sneakthieves. Even’ the hospitals are not spared. One here has been raided twice in the dead of night within the past six weeks. The British Consul, who is reputed to be the best of friends with all the folk for miles around, was recently robbed twice in one week, and lie’s got a strong guard of Pathans, the alleged best man in all India for that class of work.' We have a lair share of nocturnal visitors in this camp, but all we’ve lost to date is .one mule and a bag" ot lovely sugar. , I say lovely, because we have since known what it is to go two weeks on end without any. The Sueak-thiet does not do business in the moonlight. He is a knight of the utmost darkness, and a rare genius at his vocation. Rifles principally are what the Kurds risk their lives for. They enter the camp with the greatest audacity and take the rifles,jrom right alongside thesleeping soldiers, the guard, if he sees the thief, often being disadvantaged by not , being able to fire without the risk ol winging a cobber or some beloved geegee. The intruder invariably sees to that. Our fellows sleep right on top of their fowling-pieces, and bet your life each one is always ready lor immediate use, the magazine I' chock-a-block, and a cartridge inthe spout.

HANDING OUT DECORATIONS. “ A couple of months ago we were attacked in a particularly bloodthirsty manner when negotiating a pass in the mountains. The brigands firing down at very close range from three positions simultaneously. Some Ruskis were with us at the time, and a lot of them were killed and wounded. How every one of us escaped extermination still bewilders me. In connection with this attack three of our men subsequently received decorations, one getting the Military Medal and the others Russian Crosses. The official report must have been a fearful travesty of facts, as we all know that although we all looked death full in the face for seven or eight minutes, no one really deserved a trouser button. ■ “The farcical manner in which the Kaiser’s Iron Crosses are distributed are proverbial, and the profuse and indiscriminate way in which the Russian authorities dish out Sir George Crosses is well know’n, but I do hope that there would always be a little dignity attached to our own decorations. Let us trust that this is an isolated case, and that the time is not at hand when British medals can be bought for two khrans (eighteen pence) each, as is the case with Russian crosses.

SHORT FOOD SUPPLIES. “We have not looked on bread since we left Baghdad, five months ago. Jam, third-class butter, cheese, condensed milk, biscuits; and tobacco are other things to which British troops are entitled, but which we jiever see these days. Chupatdes, what a man would not feed a decent dog on, are issued in lieu of bread. We eat ’em three times a day. Seemingly, however, fresh air and the expectation of a mail some time before Christmas, make up for a lot of things, because most of us are doing well enough, and this in spite of broken sleep every night (with not more than half a dozen exceptions) since the offensive began at Kut in December 1916.”