Attack on Egypt

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 10 February 1915, Page 5

Attack on Egypt

FOLLOWED BY BRITISH AIRMEN. KG frlf.K (if TIIE MAIX BODY. Ca'Tn, February S. C'iiiro, for.ifkd by orili-i;i! data, take? si contrary yiew to those who consid<;i that Djemal Pasha, with the. majority of the advance guard, took the more difficult line of from Hafia j'.landja na Wada, El Arish and Libur 1 o JsmaiJia anil Toussor.ai. A comparatively small force marched from K1 Arisli toward Kantara while bodies of partisans, following the Akaba-Nakhl road, made unimportant demonstrations at Suez and near Tou. lliey generally arrived in good condition. The officers spread the idea that the crossing of the Canal would be easy. Trying articles from the newspaper Taniii, asserting that the British had committed atrocities, were distributed in the ranks. Tiu> advance guard belongs to the army corps under Djemal Pasha. Little has been seen of tile boasted Bedouin allies and the huge levies that were reported. Either they did not exist or have evaporated. British airmen kept in tou-.h with the advance, dropping bombs. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, February 8. The Times, in a leader, says that when the big Turkish attack conies it ought to be repulsed without great difficulty, and thereafter .we expect to see Egypt left in peace. The Turks have plenty of courage, but the utmost bravery will not enable them to maintain themselves long in trenches in a waterless desert.

TURKS IN FULL RETREAT. CAXAL OUT OF DANCER. " ! XO EXEMY \VITUIX*2O MILES. Received 9, 8.5 pan. London, February 9. The l'ress Bureau at Cairo reports thai the enemy's losses in the attack on the canal were heavier than at first supposed. Jt is difficult to estimate the number owing to tile wide area of fighting, but over 500 were killed, including six drowned and iound buried. Of 052 prisoners a hundred were wounded. Deserters are constantly rendering. Four Turks who crossed the Canal have given themselves up. The Turkish arnij- is in full retreat eastwards, and there are no enemy forces within twenty miles of the Canal.' ' Even afc that distance only small rearguai ds remain, and they are retiring steadily, the retreat being probably due both to discouragement over their defeat and to lack of water in the desert. Whether they will -attempt another attack cannot yet be determined. OXLY A PRELUDE. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received 10, ii.lo p.m. London, February 0. The Times' Cairo correspondent writes that the latest information suggests tint the enemy has drawn off, but it is pr- ;>- able that the recent encounters are only R prelude to the real attack, which is likely to be entrusted to the Turkish Fourth Army corps.