SPLENDID LIGHT HORSE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 25 August 1916, Page 2

SPLENDID LIGHT HORSE.

NONE BETTER' IN THE WORLD. Mr Massey, the British Press representative in the Eastern Mediterranean, telegraphing from Cairo, ascribes the the failure of the Turkish counter-at-tacks to the heavy gusts of shrapnel from the British guns, and the steady and disciplined markmanship of the Anzaes. He proceeds: The Turkish dead in front of our positions after our attacks were very numerous. The foe, finding Bir-01-Abd too costly to •hold against the Anzaes, even though the monitors were out of range, crept away in the moonlight. The original estimate that the Turks had lost a third of their forces has proved to be under the mark. They have had to fight ineesantly, which is the finest tribute that could be paid to them. General Chanvel’s division which has borne the heat and burden of eight days of continuous fighting, for neaih a fortnight previously was engaged

with the enemy ’s line of outposts. It is the unanimous poinion that no troops in the world could have done better. Their home life fitted them to endure the heavy trials of the heat and the hardships of th desert. They have displayed cheerfulness without suffering from the fatigue that would have overwhelmed most men, whicl their special training hero has made them a corps d’elite

Remarkable powers of endurance, enthusiasm for the Empire’s battles, and a sporting refusal to regard bigg odds against them as a reason for yielding ground, characterised the daily work of the Australian Light Horse. No Australian troops have done anything in this war surpassing the brilliant achievement of the Light Horse, which made the battle of Roman an important victory. After the natural obstacles compelled our infantry to cease the pursuit, the Anzaes bore the u eight of the whole attack until the last moment, when the mobile column, aftei a forced march, threatened the enemy’s loft. The Turks were always superior in numbers but the Anzaes’ initiative and mobility prove more than a match for the foe. The captured guns included an ingenious German arrangement of a machine gun mounted on a packsaddle.