ANZACS IN EGYPT

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 September 1916, Page 6

ANZACS IN EGYPT

FIGBmiiNG TURKISH INVADERS. INITIATIVE AMD ENIHjRANCE. Many tributes* are paid by English newspapers to the work of the Anzac Mounted [Division, which played an important part in the defeat of the Turkish forces which, recently invaded 'Egypt. A correspondent of the Morning Post wrote from Cairo:—"They have borne the heat and fourden of eight days of continuous fighting, and £or neariy'a fortnight previously they were engaged night and dav with, the enemy outpost line. It is the unanimous opinion that no troops in the world could have fought better. Fitted by their daily life in peace time to endure heat and other hardships, in the desert they have displayed cheerfulness when their fatigue would have over whelmed most men, and their training for the particular kind of warfare whici has to be faced in this barren country turned them into a corps d'elite. Remarkable powers of eudurance, enthusiasm to fight the Empire's battles, and a sporting refusal to regard odds as a reason for yielding ground characterised' their daily work. 'Nfeither they nor any other Australasian troops have done anything to surpass in military value the brilliant achievement which has made the of Romani one of the important victories of the war! From the moment when the infantry were compelled by the natural obstacles of the country to cease their pursuit, the Anzacs bore the entire weight of the enemy attacks, except, almost at the end, when a mobile column which had marched several days came up to threaten the enemv on his left flank. During this period the Turks were always in superior numbers, but the Anzacs' initiative and mobility proved more than a match for them.

"On August -9, the fighting between the two forces, who were equally determined, was exceedingly bitter, but the Australian light Horse, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, and the British Territorial Horse Artillery and Yeomanry fought with superb resolution. Their skill and courage overcame attacks launched; with desperation and forced the enemy, who was in superior numbers, back behind his defences. Our guns got within 2000 yards range of the Turks, who threw an amazing number of highexplosive shells. In the afternoon the artillery duel was much more intense than at the Battle of Romani, and all who were engaged in it, and who had also been at Gallipoli, agree that nothing on the peninsula was so consistently fierce. The high-explosive fire, however, had poor results, the shells burstiuo- in the Band and having only a small local effect. The Turks thrice attacked. The third attack, delivered late in the afternoon, was a very determined attempt to reach our line, and could only have been made with the impetuosity which characterised it by fresh troops. It failed completely owing to heavy gusts of shrapnel and the steady, disciplined fire of the Anzac marksmen. In front of our position the enemy dead were very numerous, and the Turks buried many the next cay. Constant pressure was kept up, and the Turks found it too costly to hold Bir el Abd—though here they were out of range of the monitors in the Mediterranean—and they therefore crept away in th« moonlight. It was originally estimated that the enemy lost- one-third of his effective strength, and there is no doubt that this proportion Las now been largely exceeded."