ON THE SUEZ CANAL

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 9, 11 May 1915, Page 2

ON THE SUEZ CANAL

Private J. W. King, of Stratford, I wlio has been invalided home, suffering from trouble with liis eyesight, supplier the following notes from his diary : January 25.—Orders came through at 5 p.m. for the New Zealand In--I'antn and Field Ambulance to prepare to entrain for the trenches on Suez Canal early on January 20th. The noise which followed the posting of these orders proved to the letter that the prospect of an early meeting with the Turks, was very popular among the troops. It is rumored that the Turks are moving across the desert in order to attack the canal, and that their main body was sighted within 40 miles of striking distance. I January 2(5.—A1l last night was spent at packing; first train load left lines at 6.30 a.in., and others at initervals of an hour or two until 4.30 p.m. “A” Section Field Ambulance 'had to evacuate our hospital and patients (300 odd), and hand them over to the Mounted Ambulance, which kept .us hard at it until midday. We enItrained with the Canterbury Infantry nit 4.30 p.m., while “B” Section left at 'midday, and “C” Section in early 'the men, notwithstanding their big day yesterday, worked like one man !with the result that the process of entraining horses, stores and munitions of war, was carried out in perfect order and iu good time. Arrived Ismailia 10 p.m., left train with our gear and bivouacked on desert to left of station.

27th.—Revcllie 6 a.m., breakfast 6.30 a.m., and at 8 a.m. got orders for “A” Section Field Ambulance to move on to El Kubir. Can hear big guns booming in the distance, and several British aeroplanes are scouting round in all directions. Entrained gear again at 4 p.m. and horses at 8.30 p.m. January 28th.—Men entrained at 3 a.m., and slept until 7 a.m., when train moved off. Arrived El Kuhir (No. 3 fort), at 10 a.m., and proceeded to our bivouacs site and within half an hour we were settled, and our hospital built about 1* miles in rear of trenches and across railway line Wellington and Southland Infantry are working by relays at digging trenches.

January 30..—“ A” Section hearers arc moved forward up advance dressing station at the trenches. Outposts exchanged few shots with enemy early this morning. February 3rd.—Enemy crept up to about 700 yards range under cover of darkness and sandstorms, their position being just outside the range of our searchlights. At midnight they opened with rifle cross-lire until 8 a.m., when they retired without having done any damage. Bullets whistled over head very thickly, and in the morning scores of them were found along the embankment, and from the edge of our bivouac to a distance of about 300yds. in the rear, March 4th.—A reconnaissance party of about 800 troops went out to reconnoitre the Turks position some miles out. The party consisted of New Zealand Infantry and Gurkhas Infantry Hydrabad lancers (scouts), one battery of Manchester Artillery, and “A” Section bearers of the New Zealand Field Ambulance. After having marched about six miles out the enemy’s outposts engaged our scouts and a lot of rifle fire ensued. Our artillery swung into position, and the infantry extended and doubled to get within 'range with hearers a couple of hunjdred yards in their rear. Artillery 'opened with shrapnel, and after the third round Turkish fire closed up like a book and they retreated on their main position. Our Officer Commanding had gained the information he required and decided to retire on the .Canal, us it was getting late. During the retirement' 25 rounds of shrapnel were poured into their main position. Our infantry did not open fire, and we reached our trenches in the evening with one'* casualty—Hydrabad Lancer killed. Our artillery must have caused the enemy quite a little inconvenience, because they commenced a hot !retreat the following afternoon. | February oth.—From February sth things were fairly quiet at our front, on February 25tk N.Z. troops 'were recalled from the Canal. ‘The fighting at Seraphim, Kantara, Tonsum, was more desperate and the .Turks suffered many severe losses. (They retreated in great disorder, leaving over 1000 dead, while their total losses in killed, wounded and prisoners 'is estimated at about 4000. The British. losses were about 100 killed and wounded.