EGYPT’S DEFENCES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1567, 22 June 1916, Page 4

EGYPT’S DEFENCES.

SPADE WORK IN THE DESERT, FORTRESSES IN THE SAND. (From W. I’. Massey.) Eastern Egypt, April -1.

Anything in the nature of a serious attack on Egypt during the summer months is absolutely out ot the question, and nobody knows this better than the Germans, who advertised to the world a scheme which was to “cut the main artery in the body of the British Empire.” The Turk is sitting still, or. at least, marking time, but the Egyptian Expeditionary Force pushes forward, and has made the canal so secure that passengers to the East may sleep as soundly in their state rooms as in the piping times of peace. Scan (he horizon with your glasses and you can pick up evidence that a long way ahead towards the enemy’s base an army is making great efforts. The Array is making a good bargain for the Empire l , but how sound the bargain is only those l know who have been out there along the whole line won back for Egypt, the Empire, and civilisation. Having seen what is going forward, T believe if there is a battle for the canal it will not he fought within sight of the banks.

THE PRINCE OF WALES’ TRAIN.

There arc two place's which the enemy knows we have occupied, or he must be a very dull fellow. The duties of the Prince of Wales recently took him to these two places in one day—a, test of endurance about which the soldiers on duty in the neighbourhood have not ceased to talk. The El Shalt train created a record the day the Prince rode in it by (ravelling at the rale of twenty miles an hour, but if you ask the driver about the possibilities of the line he would probably say the (rack has still to settle considerably before a higher speed can be attained. He was a Midland driver before the war, and he ought to know. Oyun Musa, whore the Prince spent some time, is interesting, not merely for military reasons, but because, if tradition has not hopelessly misled later generations, here is the Elim of old and the Wells of Moses, where the great Law Giver and the Children of Israel drank of the sweet waters after crossing the sea. The twelve wells mentioned in the Bible are certainly here. Of all the trenches in the Canal zone (hose of Oyun Musa are the most orderly. It is due to the soldier toilers of other parts to say this because the sand hereabouts is wet, and (here is no drift when the khamseen blows. A battalion of Indians, wonderful men who, coming from France a remnant of its former self, with a V.C. as proof of high soldierly qualities, have spent three months in making Musa impregnable. They have worked wonders, not merely where then 1 avus Avater trouble, but in other parts, about which 1 will be silent, and they are so modest they endeavour to hide (heir handiwork from inquisitive eyes. The Indians lunx 1 sandbagged and excavated lire trench, communication trench, support trench, dug-out, and gun emplacement with infinite* perseverance and skill. They have tunnelled under strata of rock to pre-.-.erve the strongest of head cover. Thev hewed long and hard to cut through stone Avhicb blunted pick and ruffled the temper, and then they sought the aid of the Territorial engineer, for Avhose short Avay with obstinate crust of Mother Earth they have profound admiration. It is not less gratifying to hear the Territorial bestoAV Avarm praise on his Indian comrade. There is betAveen them the bond of hard work equally well done. One avMI defend the honour of the other against all-comers. But they do long for an opportunity to strafe the enemy together. “When will he conn I .’" is a question of second importance to “Will he come. 1 Gebel Murr stands some ten miles north of Musa, a gaunt, stern sentinel guarding (he approaches to tin 1 Canal on a far-llung line. It is the Gibraltar of the southern end of the zone, a mass of red stone as hard as granite, and with a surlace polished by the sands drifted across it through tin 1 ages. With the assistance of fifty blasts a day arranged by skilful English miners and qiiarrymen, Indian soldiers have prepared that inhospitable top, and their officers are satisfied the fortress will stand the tests of war. An enemy marching Aveshvard must come through one of two pusses, from Avhicb he would debouch in full vieAv of Gebel Murr, Avho rears a head nearly 400 feet above the sand, yet looks loav and unimposing compared with the jagged ridges of Gebel Haha aAvay to (he west. Through the slits of Raha the enemy must come forth. Even when the setting sun illumines Avith a delicate pink gIoAV the rough suavlikc fringe of that stony upland, Gebel Raha is forbidding. But the garrison of Gebel Murr Avish fox' nothing better than to slioav the Turk and his Hun leaders that that desolate crest is as Paradise to the hell that a Avails them on the rolling bosom of the desert sand. Gebel Murr Avill take toll of any column that issues from the passes, and Avould Avelcome a.s soft music the bui'sting of high explosives against its face as a preparation fox r infantry attack. “Will he come?” Do not say he Avill not to anyone on Gebel Murr, or the monotony of months spent in carving rooms and underground passages in the toughest stone Avill be unrelieved by a hope Avhieh has almost become the prayer of the patriot.