WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS IN PALESTINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1918, Page 7

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS IN PALESTINE.

AN INTERESTING LETTER. The following letter, dated October 17 last, was received- by a Patea resident, by the last mail from a relative who is with the New Zealand Mounted Brigade in Palestine. The writer says: "I have been wondering if it is worth while writing any more letters, as the war seems bo nearly over that we might be on our way back to N.Z. before the letters get there. I don't think that we, at any rate, will see any more fighting. I suppose the papers would give good accounts of the big advance that has taken place here, but perhaps you would be interested in an account of what our Brigade did. When the attack started we were camped on the banks of the Jordan, and for two or three days we stayed where we were. The Turks held natural positions opposite us, that would have cost us immense casualties, had we attempted to take them by a frontal attack. We waited until the Turkish right flank had been broken, and the rest of the line in sore strait 9, and then we made a night march up the Jordan, and at daybreak, our advance guard surprised a Turkish divisional staff with about 500 men and a lot of transport who were preparing to retreat and captured the lot -without firing a shot. That day, after & bit of a scrap, we capitured the Turks' bridge across the Jordan, with five casualties on oar side and at least fifty-two Turks killed. The next day we crossed the Jordan, and went about sixteen mile sover very rough country, collecting stragglers all the way. In one place theer was a Tedoubt with 160 Turks and two machine guns in it, who could have made things very hot for us, as they blocked, the only track up the hill, but when we got there they had their rifles piled waiting to be captured. We camped near Es Salt that night, and collected about 800 prisoners and three big guns. The roads around Es Salt were absolutely strewn with dead Turks, horses, mules and dinkeys where our planes had been bombing and machine gunning Jacko's transport. The next day we went about 12 miles, and camped near a village, the inhabitants of which had mostly left, as they hadn't behaved themselves very well the last time our fellows went through there. The Arabs >vere coming in in hosts after loot, and two of them had an argument with sticks, over some grain and one beat the other to death- We were joined here. by some A.L.H. and the next day we advanced on Amman and after a not very brilliant defence, the place was captured. A more demoralised crowd than the Turks, it would be hard to find. \L'liey seemed to realise that their game was up, and so they gave in. Our forces lia-d cut in behind them about 50 miles further north, and even if they got 4way from us they were still in the soup. At Amman we took several hundred prisoners. We stayed at Amman several days and sent to round up some prisoners 20 miles south of Amman, who had sent word they were willing to surrender if a force was sent to protect i them from the Bedouins. About GOOO j Turks were collected there and a fair amount of booty and several guns. The Turks would have been starved out in a very short time if tliey had not surrendered, as the neighbouring tribes were hostile to them, and they were cut off north and south. From there we treked right back to Jericho, and stayed there three days. Here an epidemic af malaria set in, and hundreds of our fellows went to the hospital. A hundred atfd eighty went in one day. From there we came to Richon, with only about enough men to bring the horses through, stopping three days at Jerusalem-, where we got about 700 reinforcements, and still we are not up to strength. However, ~'e have got into a lovely -climate, and the epidemic has died out. We will be unlucky if we have to go back to that hell on earth—Jericho. I think we have fired our last shot, on this front at any rate. Sports are being arranged here, and football will soon be all the go, and it would be hard to realise there was a war on, were it not for a certain amount of discipline that 13 always enforced.