ARMY THAT VANISHED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1957, 27 March 1919, Page 4

ARMY THAT VANISHED.

THE TURKISH TRAGEDY. BEDOUINS A BIG FACTOR. (From H. S. Gullet I, Official Correspondent in Palestine.) Palestine, December 18. In loss than a fortnight the Brio ish army in Palestine captured 75,000 Turkish and German.prisoners. Of the whole enemy force from Damascus south, it is doubtHil if inure than 5,000 escaped. The" troops taken in this phenomenally ,swift campaign included a great hulk of what rvas the best in the Ottoman army. But the officers ami men made prisoner or killed were only the beginning of the enmy's disaster.

So rapid rvas the advance made by General Chauvel’s eager horsemen that the Turks lost everything on which these three Palestine armies depended for (heir capacity as lighters and existence as human beings. On the day before our bombardment there were south of Damascus millions sterling of Turkish arms and munitions and every kind of equipment. Of that vast amount of widespread material practically nothing escaped. Nearly every gun and shell, machine-gun, and rille, and round of ammunition, hundreds of motor lorries, many motor cars, great and small, great numbers of animal-drawn vehicles, horses, camels, mules, and oxen, numbering several thousand, aeroplanes, complete railway trains, etc., were overtaken and instantly Hung out of action by our galloping cavalry. Then there were large supplies of petrol, half a dozen aerodromes with all their intricate mechanical workshops, scores of railway stations, many telephones, and coimiderable.quaniities of signalling apparatus, including wireless stations and many miles of wire, travelling kitchens, supplies of food, surprisingly large quantities of German wines and cigars, many unit headquarters, with all their army papers and unbroken stationery —all this, and much more.

On September 18th it Avas in perfect Avorking order. A Fcav days later it Avas out of action, and most of it rapidly going out of existence.

THE BEDOUIN HARVEST. It is almost a misuse of words to -my that we captured this huge mass of material. We certainly overran it. But the hulk of it Avas destroyed. War is waste all the way. In a few days enemy property to the tune of scores of millions sterling Avas absolutely destroyed. This dost ruction was not wanton; i( Avas simply an inevitable part of Avar. Of all the enemy staff wo .overran not 10 per cent, perhaps is to-day of any value to us. The rest ! Much the enemy fired at the last moment. A Ccav gallons of petrol and a match Hung at a motor lorry as our horsemen swooped down upon it left little hut the engine nnd iron for ns lo “capture.’’ Sometimes (he cavalry secured great hauls of stuff intact. But their mission Avas not I lie protection or sah’age of enemy property, lioavever valuable. And they Avould not be out of sight before the thieving Bedouins, (he camp followers of five thousand years, and the boldest and most brazenly honest looters in (lie world, would rise from the hare [■Jains as mysteriously as vultures appear from a bright (Hue sky and begin their gentle trafficking. One had to admire in this campaign the audacity and swift resources of the Bedouin. INDIFFERENT TO DANGER.

They Avent boldly on to the edge of (he (lames, careless of the frequent explosions and showers of debris as (he fire reached the shells and bombs. The temptation there was a great supply of German tinned fresh beef, and they laughed and shouted as they ventured their lives for it. They are strangely indifferent to physical suffering. At Nablus they were looting ayaihvay building when a bom!) burst on contact and killed some of them, and wounded many others. The multitude momentarily lied, but quickly returned lo their happy task, quite unconcerned about their dead and Avounded. Every track for many miles round the Esdraelton I’lain was for days congested by Bedouins Avith their heavy burdens; as a rule the men drove (he overloaded animals, and the Avomen paced alongside Avitli incredible weights poised easily on their heads. And of all they bore not one article or fragment out of ten could ever he of the least use to them.

FIREWOOD. The Bedouins were certainly a leading factor in the wonderful clean-up Avhich followed our grand Hood of conquest. But our own troops Avere a good second, and were especially deadly on all the good Avork. For a fertile region (he country Avhich lies between Gaza and Damascus 240 miles aAvay is perhaps the barest in the world. You could almost count the trees within sight as you went through in the train. On this campaign, as in all the earlier ones, the soldier’s chief anxiety Avas firewood. Over hundreds, even thousands of square miles, the troopers sought in vain for sticks enough to boil their billies. The importance of tea increases during a long advance; give a man strong, sAveet tea two or three times a day and he will care little - about the quality of his hard biscuit and salt bully. But the tea he will have.

To-day you would notice a string of little Turkish Avaggons' on the roadside.; To-uioitoav you Avould discover there only the heavy tim-«

her of the under-earring.- and perhaps the wheels. The ro-l of these waggons would have gone up in smoke while the Light Horse or the Indians or Yoemanry boiled their quarts. The destructive powers of the bayonet upon woodwork is amazing. What was not burned at’ the moment you would see attached in small bundles to the saddles of each horseman. MOTORS.' . The British Army, of course, took over at once all enemy arms and munitions. There was no destruction and practically no loss of guns or machine-guns or rifles. There was, too, an instant appropriation for active use of every serviceable motor lorry and ear; it was wittily remarked that he was a poor man who had not secured an enemy motor ear. The trouble was nut to find the car, hut to lay hands on a driver. It was forbidden, except .under veryspecial circumstances, to employ the captured German chauffeurs, and I saw more than one Dun camouflaged under a big Australian hat as he cheerfully did odd jobs in Hie way of extra supplies for a Light Horse regiment: or brigade. But the majority of enemy motor lorries and cars continued to stand idle because of (ho mysterious removal of the magneto, and each British driver as he passed helped himself to til-bits-ac-cording to his needs or his fancy..