PALESTINE.
THE RECENT FIGHTING. A PECULIAR SITUATION, EESOUBCE Oi' the AUSTRALIANS, Received May S, 12.10 p.m. London, May 8Mr. Massey reports:— Onco across the valley, the road winds up three to four thousand feet- Es Salt lies between steep hills at tlio mouth of a pass flanked by hills which a few determined men could hold against overwhelming numbers. Six miles north-ward's there is another track through a difficult route from the Jordan to Es Salt. It was decided that tlio Londoners make an attack on Nimrin, keeping the Turks pinned there while i|e Au/ralian mounteds proceeded by the northern road towards Es Salt. Some of the Anzac cavalry were placed at (lie foot of t>he hills south of Nimrin to harass the enemy if they decided to retire by the rough track to Amman. O n Monday night the Australian mounteds and Londoners crossed the bridges at Hgoraniyeh. The former moved a long way up the road before dawn. At daybreak on Tuesday the Londoners engaged the enemy position at Nimrin, where the enemy wa3 behind lines or sangas covering trie road and all aproaches to the hills flanking it, "" ' The Anzaes southwards faced the foothills manned by machinc-gunnersjbut as far as they intended. The Australian mounteds, overcoming great difficulties of the country on a narrow front, detached troops to envelop Es SMfc on the north. By Wednesday they had. surrounded the tmvn. securing 350 prisoners and twenty-nine machine-guns. During the dark on Wednesday m6rn- , ing large forces of Turks from the Nafilih area crossed the Jordan well north of Auja, and crept south along the river bank, which, to a depth of over half a mile, is a succession of steep mudhills and watercourses peculiarly suitable for hiding bodies of troops. They moved towards the Red Hill ridge, a mass of broken ground. The mounted brigade and horse artillery guarding the crossing had to give way before superior numbers and albandoned nine guns, which they only got into -position after extra--ordinarily heavy lahor. They could not he hastily removed. The gun crews got away with the teams.
The situation at this moment was peculiar, for we were across Wmrin, with the Turks in the rear, while the Turks* occupation of the Red Hill mfeht develop into cutting the road the Australian mounteda had taken towards 1?s Salt. The AWac cavalry brought from tho south made a rapid march to the hisrh Tronnd north-west of this ,-oad. Their ■swift progress "on the wide plain was "«;iv nlfeewable through the dust, but the Turks were nowerleßs. The AustraTfln mounted* in tho rear thi«s made "oid prerciratirms. and removed the prisoners from Es Salt, the troops being °ent from Es Salt, to Howelj. They nrcvented the Turks from marching up -hp "Nimrin road. _ Others were engaging considerable re. "lforcements from Amman and some from aerates the Jordan. Although TRB.tlv outnumbered, the covering troops verv successfully held off the enemy, two attacks being hpavilv defeated. ' The Turkish dead aiboiit Es Salt were humTwrprT hv hundreds. On Friday night the Australian monnteds were returning from the plain. This morning all tho troops were over except those guarding the bridgeheads. The Londoners' attack at Nimrin was entirely successful, the enemv until the last moment being under the'impression that it was an attempt to get through. A Turkish o.ommunioue claims that the British attacks east of the Jordan on the third failed with heavy losses, and that the British cavalry was beaten and dispersed, i
ENEMY FORCE DEPLETED. A FURTHER BRITISH SUCCESS. London, May 7. Mr. Massey, writing from Jericho on Sunday, says:—By dawn this morning operations east of the Jordan were completed which brought into our hands nearly 1000 Turfcs and Germans as prisoners. We have depleted the enemy, force by many casualties and have inflicted severe loss on them in war material. It was another successful raid in the mountain?, of Gilead. As we watched the Anzac cavalry and British yeomanry across the Jordan valley in the intense heat they were hardly diatinguishajble through dense dustclotid'3. Their fortitude and endurance during five heavy days of work excited .the keenest admiration. Since cur previous raid on Es-Salt and Amman, when the Hedjajr railway was damaged, the enemy had collected a large force to guard Rhundt Nimrin, at the foot of a mountain pass leading from the Ghoraniyeh bridge over the Jordan 1 to Es-Salt. It was hardly possible to conceive a position of greater strength nor one more easily defended j-Aus.-N 7 Cable Assoc.
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Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1918, Page 5
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750PALESTINE. Taranaki Daily News, 9 May 1918, Page 5
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