WITH THE FIFTH CONTINGENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 290, 15 September 1915, Page 4

WITH THE FIFTH CONTINGENT.

LETTER FROM PVT. E. LENIHAN. The following letter has been received by a member of "The Times'' staff from Private E. Lenihan, who left with the Fifth Reinforcements, and who was for several years o.n the literary staff of this journal:-

Zeitoun Military Camp, Egypt, Sunday, Ist August, 1913

The first section of the Fifth Reinforcements arrived at this hell of infamy on 24th July; but, thank goodness, we are expecting to leave for the trenches to-morrow or the next day. The Manganui readied Suez over a week in advance of the two other

two transports, and we are expecting the men from the Aparima and Taihiti to-day. We have been issued our full equipment, and will have to carry a load of about SOlbs, including ammunition.. "Full marching order" is the most dreaded of all orders in this furnace. .Since our arrival here several of

our men have knocked up owing to the heat and diseases due to the climate. The thermometer registered 103 deg. in the shade yesterday, which is about the average for a week. The mercury has been up to the 120 deg. mark since this camp was opened, but I hope the offence will not be repeated while I am here. We ©at. drink, and breathe sand, as we are camped in the desert near Heliopolis, and about six miles from Cairo. The result is that san? cholera and dysentery are prevalent.

The smallest cut is liable to fester, and need* careful treatment to prevent septic poisoning. Our equipment includes 1 , a "bottle of iodine as a safeguard against blood-poisoning from apparently trivial injuries. I knocked a piece of skin off my right I instep the other day, and am now receiving medical) attention on aecount of the wound festering. Had I gone or. sick parade with the trouble, I would have to stay here instead of going ."o the front xvith the Fifth; so I just arranged about medical attention on iv own account, and when we get marching orders to-morrow I will be able to march out somehow to the railway s:ation, as my name will not be found on the sick report. If I do not get away ' with this lot, I will not see any fighting in the Dardanelles, as our officers have given us the official news that the campaign there must end in August or be held up-until next sammer. Judging by the preparations which are being made at present, the news of tTie deciding battle will have reached you before this letter, and I expeet to be in the great and final scrap so far as Turkey is concerned. The hospital accommodation here is excelent, the most magnificent buildings in Heliopolis and Cairo being utilised for the purpose. There are thousand of men In the hospitals already; but in anticipation of a big fight in the Dardanelles preparations are being made for the reception of an additional 40,000 wounded men. So far as we know the big attack will be done by Tommy Atkins, who is numerous enough to overwhelm the Turkish position which is the key to Constantinople. We are beginning to realise the enormity of the war now that •we have seen the wounded men quartered in Egypt. Many of them are crippled for life owing to the loss of a leg or an arm, some are blind, and others are suffering from either serious or trivial wound's; while, apart from this, the number who have found a grave in this borderland of civilisation is much greater than it should be. Many of, our men have lost their lives in the trenches owing to their own carelessness or recklessness in not keeping under cover in obedienee to orders; but recent casualties have been fortunately few. The trenches are safer and the men are protected from shrapnel Ere by head cove. But if anyone wishes to lose the number of his mess, he ca> still do so very easily by showing any part of his person to the enemy. Some of the New Zealanders are hanging on to the forward trenekes, which are situated from twelve to twenty-five yards from the forward trenches of the enemy. A deadlock has been reached in this' region, as neither side can advance, and do nothing more than keep up a continuous. Title fire throughout, the day and night: but the sappers will probably shift the Turks before long. I met a man here who stopped six bullets and is now looking for a chance to stop a few more. He is convalescent now, although one of the bullets went, right through his stomach. Several of our men who received what were* regarded as fatal wounds have made remarkable recoveries, and these include the case of a man who was shot right through the head from side to side. I have seen a good deal of Cairo and suburbs since I arrived. Somo of the buiMings are stately and magnificent, and include the two largest hotels in the w-orhi; but the native quarters are merery a collection of hovels surrounded by filth of every description. Cairo

is not clean, as we understand cleanli

aess in New Zealand, and until you accustom yourself to it you can be ex-

cused for being convinced that it stinks." It must easily'bo tlio greatest hell of sin and infamy in the- worM. If the sins-of Sodom and Gomorrah, justified tm tkgtctt.e>ti<m of thorn two citie^

the sins of Cairo should be sialic

both in enormity and number, to jnstify the destruction of the whole universe. Cairo is the extreme of bfraatl:ness, and a parade is made of vice instead of virtue This city is an education in one respect only—if shows' to what great depths of beastliness and utter degradation the human race cans sink. Of the grand civilisation which

once existed in Egypt not a ve'stigo re-

mains;, except fchings. inanimate, such as stately ruins and priceless works of art. The animate remnant of this an-

oint civilisation has degenerated' into people who know not the meaning of cleanliness or of virtue. Thev have

developed only In regard to animnT I passions, and the pity of it is that tJHsdepraved race: is- so prolific. The penpie are thieving degenerates, and even the better classes are not of a very high intellectual or racial standard. Thev have no love for us, either, and were it not for the fact that the British guns at the Citadel command building in Cairo, we would probably have fluEgyptians as enemies. It would bo a little more satisfactory if they wereour enemies just novr. S 3 every decentminded man among: trg would be gla<t of an opportunity to- rid the world of a scourge . I Md read and

heard a good deal alwHit Cairo, but its vices could never fee- described in print and no decent-minded man would ever think of describing tiiom in detail. The resuft was that I found Cairo to be much worse than I imagined it to be. I can only describe it as a "hell upon earth" and a lure for the weak. My

advice to anyone coming- here is to see Cairo at its best ana? worst, but to avoid its temptations as he would a pestilence. Many of our boys have already gone under because they would

not heed the advice of our doctors, and throughout their disease-saddened lives the;.' will have cause to curse the day they became acquainted with this, hell of sin ami disease.. We had fhe bad luck to miss a scTap- at Aden on the way here. The- Turks- came over the hills and attempted' to wreck the water supply. They were pursued by a body of British troops, which suffered severely from the heat, and owing to some error their supplies- went the wrong road and the force had to retitre; but the Turks were' eventually repulsed. We were near Aden at the time, but Australian troops were closer than we were, and they were called upon. A few days after we had left Suez by train, there was some fun there, too. The Turks tried to mine the Canal, and when the alarm was given, Suez was overrun: by British and Indian troops. The Unspeakable did get a.few mines into the Canal, but he was caught in time-and! no- damage was done.

By the time this reachsc you, I will have undergone my baptism of fire, which will be in the landing, as the enemy's guns on the' opposite side of the hill) drop shrapnel 1 into the water. They cannot sight their guns to do much damage, as the' trajw-tory is so high that the shrapnel' strikes only along one line and can be avoided. It is very hard to fire over a hill and hit anything, as the High: trajectory lessens the danger zone and very greatly increases the area- of safety; so we do not anticipate any great danger from the Turkish guns; The> passage of the Narrows is still blocked', and the attempt to reduce the- forts by gun fire from the battleships- has .apparently been abandoned. The' forts have been smashed repeatedly, but the guns are continually appearing in the most unexpected places. The- hillsides overlooking the entrance the entrance are said to be tunnelled and the guns are moved from- place to place. One wounded men told me yesterday that it had been found that the tunnels opened out overlooking- the entrance, and were protected by shell-proof slidingdoors which were only opened when it was required to fire a shot, after which the door closed immediately. I am inclined to think that that wounded soldier has had his imagination affeeted much more than his bo<Jy. If that *s not so, then the battleship "Lizzie"" has been up against a problem as formidable as Gibraltar.