POSITION IN EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 193, 23 January 1915, Page 5

POSITION IN EGYPT.

AMPLE TROOPS AVAILABLE. < Writes tihe Wellington Times' military, critic, whose matter is always instructive and interesting:— We can watch the growth of 'i|he expedition destined p)T Egypt. According to a Cairo correspondent, the army in Syria about to march on Egypt consists of nearly 200,000 men of various sorts,all of the good fighting character which distinguishes the Turk. The headquarters are at Damascus, and thea'e is' tiie buzz of extensive preparation. Amongst the various jqui'pments for this large amy we find mention of motors and a Parseval airship, and no doubt till ere arc many aeroplanes of the Taube order.

The account goes on to state that the head of the transport service told an interviewer that lie was unable to organise sufficient proper transport because as a matter of fact, lie has not got it, being unable to get horses, and. camels in the numbers required. But under the watchful German eyes that abound in this host and under the Tur- ' kisli system which executes people for admitting defeat, there is but one way to regard that story. Either the head of the transport never said anything of the kind attributed to him, or he said it to mislead the enemy. It is the custon to disparage everything on the other side in war, and in connect'on with Turkish affairs the custom lias not been by any means honored in the beach; on the contrary, it has received far too much observance l . We must not forget that German officers, German methods, and German means have .been at work for some months on the ■Turkish armies. It may be quite likely, I that the large army at Damascus is in very much better cause than the Cairo correspondent's informant would have us believe. At the same time we must bear in mind the reports two days ago, which represented the German officers as having declared to the Kaiser. that his army ought not to be sent to certain death, and as having orders to go ! ahead anyhow. They aro apparently going ahead, and their condition will be seen when they get into touch with our troops, But what of our troops ? We publish this morning some particulars from the Lancashire papers which throw on the question of the extent of our force in Egypt some light which is reassuring as it is new. It appears that a very large number of the Territorials of the United Kingdom have been sent to Egypt, far more than has been allowed to appear. What the number is now it is impossible to say.' But when 18,000 of these men have been sent from Lancashire alone, it is pretty evident that the Territorials are in considerable strength. There was a route march of the Territorials at Cairo, described as four miles long, which would represent not less than 30,000 men. Since then more have been sent. Moreover, in his general order to the Territorials about to start for Egypt, Lord Kitchener told them fiat by the time that their training would be finished for the front, there would be more than enough troops from India to relieve them so that they could go to the front. It is clear, as these territorials, are now nearly, if not quite finished, that there must be in Egypt, as many troops from India as there are Territorials. Guessing these troops as 60,000 o! each class—Territorials and Indians—and adding them to ' the 33,000 Australasians, and the 25,000 of the Egyptian army, together with the naval brigade men who have certainly been sent out to Bgypt, we get nearly 190,000 men in Egypt ready to meet the Turkish army getting ready in Syria to attack them. In point of numbers, there is no need to feav any disparity. In point M equipment it is probable that th? forces under the British General Maxwell are incomparably better off. In training, it is true that the territorials of Britain and the army of 'Australasia ■were not at all perfect. But by this time, under the very severe exercise they have been subjected to, worked, as we have seen ten hours a day, they must be by this time pretty fit. They cannot at all events be inferior in this respect to the Turks, who, when they came under their German instructors, had almost no training at all. In the matter of organisation and supplies transport and so on, our army of Egypt is sure to be in everything up-to-date.; It is another way of saying that liprd Kitchener knows the Egyptian position better than any man alive, thai he has absolute power to provide for its requirements, and that he is the best War Minister that Britain has seen or heard of—a man in this respect unique ill the world. On the whole, we may feel sure that even if the Turkish army at Damascus about to start lor Egypt were a German army plentifully supplied with all things up-to-date, the British army now in Egypt would be quite fit to meet it and engage it in battle. The foresight of the British Government in this great war has not been blunted even by the unexpected entry of Turkey into the fighting llxe.