WITH THE MOUNTEDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1921, Page 5

WITH THE MOUNTEDS.

THE PALESTINE CAMPAIGN. AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. BY COLONEL MELDRUM. Those who had the pleasure, of listening to Colonel Meldrum’s addren to the members of the Savage Club last Saturday night were of one mind in wishing that the address could reach a large audience. There was no attempting fine language; no descriptions of “battles magnificently stern-array”; but a quiet talk from a quiet man who helped to do “big things , of his recollections of them and of the motives which guided and impressions which were formed in the doing of them. As the first Expeditionary Force left New Zealand for the East, said Colonel Meldrum, there vs ere two main impressions amongst both officers and men. The first was the grip of discipline. Discipline was not pleasant; sometimes it hurt, but it made the men hardy, and hardihood is a great asset. No army could have got through what the New Zealand forces accomplished without hardy men, and in the long run all ranks came to realise that the discipline thev had often thought so irksome was worth while. The second main impression was that they were going on this fighting expedition as New Zealanders. They knew that in the world of athletics New Zealand had more than held her own. Now the impression felt by all ranks, though scarcely ever spoken of, was that they, as New Zealanders, were taking part in that sternest of ail games, warfare, and it was up to them to make good. Then again they knew that when they reached Australia they would link up with the Australian troops. New Zealand had met Australia at footbaD, cricket, and athletics generally, and, speaking for himaelf, and, he was sure, for many others, their feeling was that Australia was a kind of a big brother to New Zealand, and it was up to the smaller chap to appear well in bis eyes. The expedition Was not allowed to land in Australia, but it was a magnificent sight when the combined expeditionary force in 29 Australian and 10 New 'Zealand j troopships left Albany under escort. THE FIRST INCIDENT.

The journey was fit. first quite uneventful, with physical training to break ite monotony and keep the men as fit as possible.

Early one morning, however, when they were nearing the Cocos Islands, the wireless operator on the Arawa, who had been at Cocos station and knew the “sound” of the wireless instruments ihere, picked up this message: “Strange warship at entrance”. That was all, bee'■.use from then on any messages lie tried (o send were smothered by the Emden’s Telefunken instruments. The message was sent to the Melbourne, the Australian cruiser in charge of the convoy, and the excitement could be imagined when they saw the Sydney leave the convoy and steam full speed in the direction of Cocos.

A Japanese started to go via th the Sydney, but was recalled to her place in the convoy. Before midday they bad the message from the Sydney that the Emden had been destroyed, and those of the crew not killed were prisoners. They had hoped to see the Sydney back in the convoy and to give her a cheer, but, as everyone know-, she did not return to the convoj, but went ou to Colombo, where the New Zealand Expeditionary Force saw her again, with a shell-hole about a foot above watermark in her side as a memento of the Emden. Even at Colombo they were not allowed to give the Sydney a cheer, as to do so would have been contrary to naval rules. THE RED SEA. As the Expeditionary Force reached the Red Sea they came into the midst of scenes made immortal by Biblical stories. Here was the desert through which the Israelites wandered for 40 years, and anyone who had had anything to do with the training of men would appreciate the generalship of wise-headed Moses, who kept the slaves who had fled across the Red Sen into the.desert in that same desert for forty years until he had evolved a nation of fighters, not slaves, who were read}’ and fit for the war of conquest of Canaan.

The passage of the convoy’s 39 ships through the Suez Canal, each with its huge flashlight ahead, with a space of a quarter of a mile between each ship, passing here armed troops guarding the canal, there warships, British, French and Russian, all manned and cheering the newcomers, raised the spirits if it deepened the feeling of responsibility, of the whole Expeditionary Force. The most tautened nerves relaxed, however, at such incidents as when passing H.M.S. Swiftsure a Welshman in the Expeditionary Force suddenly yelled out, “What about the Welsh Match ?”

Daybreak saw the force in the Bay of Aboukir, where Nelson so effectually crippled Napoleon’s eastern campaign in what is called the Battle of the Nile. Next they entered the harbor of Alexandria, under the forts of which Beresford’s Condor did such good work in the ’eighties as to win the signal from the admiral, ‘Well done, Condor.”

The entrance to Alexandria was once famous for the figure of the Colossus which spanned it, and under which vessels sailed, and across that entrance also Julius Caesar swam for his life to escape the Egyptian soldiers who had defeated him. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EGYPT. Most people knew that at one time Alexandria was the most beautiful and important city in the world. Built by Alexander the Great, its fame was worldwide. Its library, afterwards destroyed by the Turks, was as famous as the city which held it. All through the ages it had been a prize worth fighting for. Here Augustus beat Julius Caesar; here Napoleon centuries afterwards gave the Turks a nasty licking.

The first impression of Alexandria, however, was that it was a very common Eastern city, rather more cosmopolitan than some, perhaps, but at one with most Eastern cities in its wealth of “scents”. One member of the force reckoned he had counted up to a thousand varieties of stinks and then knocked off. The first impression—and it remained—was that hte population of most Eastern cities wanted a wash, and wanted it badly. Of course, this was understandable in a country wherein there is a great lack of water, even drinking wafer having to come from the Nile, dirt, and all. The New Zealanders were not kept long in Alexandria, but were sent by rail to Cairo. The railway ran through fields of wheat, corn and cotton grown on land which before the building of the Assouan Dam was simply desert. British pluck and enterprise had turned this desert into some of the most valuable cultivated land in the world. CAIRO—AND CONDUCT. They found Cairo a much finer city than bat eumda the more ttMbia

area—i.e., in the Arab portion—the citj is still absolutely Eastern, with its flat roofs, narrow streets, and the ever-present “stink”. Much had been said and written of the evils and temptations to which New /calender were subjected in Cairo* his opinion far too much fua? had been made in regard to this. It was only when under the influence of drink, and particularly of native drink—the vilest of vile concoctions—that any trouble arose, and the vast majority of the men gave nq trouble whatsoever. THE GRIP OF HISTORY. There was no doubt that as one stayed in ancient lands history got its grip upon one, and Cairo and its neighborhood are steeped in history. Near it is the ancient city of Om, at the university of which Moses was a student. There is still an obelisk there built long before Moses studied at Om. Ruins in Egyptian cities are not as a rule impressive. Old Egypt built its houses of mud, and reserved its skill in building for its tombs. Some of these were wonderful, and from the bodies, pictures and inscriptions (the two latter often in colors as vivid to-day as when painted thousands of years ago) found within these tombs can be traced the progress of the nation aa iu life changed from generation to generation. For instance, in the earliest tombe the Ixidies found showed that rheumatic troubles were prevalent in ancient Egypt, some of the bodies being absolutely deformed, the reason being that at first the population lived in the swampy mud on the banks of the Nile. This was periodically flooded; hence the rheumatism. As civilisation advanced, however, and irrigation methods drained the lands, the rheumatic troubles became Jess. Probably the reason why the tombs had lasted so wefi was that they were not built on the wet, swampy ground,, but on the iiigh gnMMfi The fieople had to live in the wet becmwc that was the only part where they coarid grow food, .but the tombs were all ri£rt iu die desert land. Unfortunately Egypt had been so many times conquered that many of her temples bad been destroyed and her images defaced by the vandals which overran the country. It was ouig possible, therefore, to pick up the history in shreds and patches from those tombs and temples which were more or Ires intact. In the Ca : ro Museum are nuNiu of priceless ancient records, some of them 5000 and GOOO years old. To the New Zealander visiting these, coming ns he did from the furthermost part of the British Empire, it gave a great impression oi the might and influence of that Empire ta think that it now had within its keeping such ancient civilisation as that of Egyph He felt that it had a big part to perform in ihe world, and this, added to a Briton's self-respect, quickened his desire to do all that lay in his power as a true subject of the Empire. GALLIPOLI NO FAILURE. After four months’ hard training, which, in addition to making tho troops fit, aho i brought the Australian, New Zealand and British troops together, they had tiieir first scrap on the banks oi the canal, where somo 10,000 Turks attacked, not so much mi attempt to capture the canal as to keep us busy, and therefore keep us from sending troops to France. However, lhe Turks were defeated, aud th? reir forcemeats for France went on. Then came Gallipoli, about which h.» only wished *o say very little. It was a fearful ‘ trying out”, but the . tralians ! and New Zealanders stood the test, .u.d I proved themselves the equal of tne best iigbtlng luen in the British Army. In some J quarters it was the habit Ho speak of Gallipoli as a failure. It was true the British withdrew, but. at the nd of 1916 an Armenian doctor assured lhe speaker that the Turks lost there 300,000 men, the flower of the Turkish Army. This had recently been confirmed by General Hunter Weston, to whom the Chief of Staff to the Turkish Commander in Chief (Von Sanders) had admitted such a lose, and that the losses were far more serious to the Turks than to the British. After ihe withdrawal from Gallipoli the infantry went, xo France, and the mounteds to Romani, from whence they were to proceed through the Sinai Desert further north. PALESTINE. The route to be taken was the same as taken by Napoleon when he besieged Acre, along the sandy coast track. The Turks had made a wonderful march across 30 or 49 miles of desert, cringing with them heavy guns, but their attempt to Mop the British failed. Folic wing the army was rhe gush pipe liae carrying fresh water for the troops. The lecturer explained that he could not attempt to give any description of the fighting in Palestine in the time at his disposal, but was only sketching the course of the campaign with some impressions it had left.

By early in 1917 the Turks had been pushed out of Egypt, and the British had pushed on to Gaza, an ancient city of the Phillistines, which it took Alexander the Great three months to capture. There are many Crusaders’ buildings in Gaza, an 4 a hill outside named El Munta. El Munta is about the height of Paritutu, but is not so steep. It was to the top of this hill that Samson is alleged to have carried the gates of the city—and left them. Gaza was attacked twice by the British under General Murray. Both attacks were claimed as victories, but the fact remained that the city was not captured, and 7009 men were lost in trying to take it. After the second attack General Murray returned to Eiigland and was succeeded by General Allenby. Directly he took charge the British Army felt a new spirit of confidence. Their general was a man who looked into things for himself, was not afraid to see and be seen, and kindled within his men a certainty of success. Within a few months the Turks’ position north of Gaza had been turned, Beersheba taken, and the forces pushed on to Jaffa. North of Jaffa was the scene of one of the greatest fights in the Crusades, between Richard Coeur de Lion and Saladin. It was indecisive, but Saladin withdrew. Jaffa itself was also famous for a rescue made almost singlehanded by the same British King. Tht city was on the point of surrendering to the Saracens when Richard and his fleet oi reinforcements arrived. Seeing the position was desperate, Richard and ten of his immediate followers waded ashore and literally fought their way to the city gates. This heartened the garrison, who held out until the reinforcements arrived and the city was saved. In many of the old citiea in Palestine there were old Georgian churches, and in others various relics of the Crusaders.