"TRENTS" UNDER FIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 65, 16 March 1916, Page 7

"TRENTS" UNDER FIRE.

SECOND FIGHT IN EGYPT. AGAINST FORCES LED BY SENUSSI. ENEMY SUCCESSFULLY i ROUTED. - A letter wfhieh reached Auckland this morning from a machine gunner of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (let Battalion) gives an interesting account of a second occasion, on which members of the Earl of Liverpool's Own were under fire in Egypt. "You have heard," the writer proceeds, "of our action on Christmas Day. This laet one, which took place last Saturday, was a bigger affair, and against troops stiffened by regulars and armed with modern rifles, machine guns, I an.l big guns. Returning one day from her usual reconnaissance, one of our aeroplanes reported the presence of a force of an estimated strength of 8000. Accordingly on Saturday afternoon, at 3 p.m.. a cdlumn some 5000 strong marched out of camp. IX THE VAX. f 'We N.Z.H.B.'a were advance guard, and were foHowed by Australian Light Horse, Bucks Hussars, Sikh Infantry, African Infantry, Middlesex; and Royal Scots. With its attendant transport and a battery of Xotte Artillery ' the column was about U to 2 miles long, and looked like a great snake winding over tlie desert. At 9 pji. we halted' at two wells sonic 18 miles !rom camp s and ! bivouacked for the night. At 7 p.m. on Sunday morning our force was astir again, and moved out to meet the enemy. Tho cavalry units forrj,;d the advance guard. Next came the Sikhsfine fellows these and the beet ctf fighters —followed firstly by Africans, -then the N.Z.R.8., the Artillery, and ?,atly the Middlesex and the Royal Sects 'in reserve. The men were "fairly tired, and after marching for a couple of hours the most weary and those wittn core feet began to drop back. Abo-«t half an hour later, however, the boom of a heavy gun about two liiiies ar«*'d had an electrical effect on the colujwn. It was just as if a refreshing brrea. had ozonised our energies. Cheering "burst forth from five thousand luety-liir.ged soldiers, and the step brisked up 'eonsiderablv. The enemy shelled away - lV ,t.;, at least three gune, and soon our. advance party were compelled to disirrtir.mt and retire. But now the Sikhs had extended, and advancing opened up a 'ij ve ] y T j ue f lrCi whilst our guns in the rrar energetically shelled the enemy. THE, FIRST TOLL. "Just here we had a few casualties. Ihe Africans i.., front of ua had extended, and were y. lcti advancing in artillery formation. We, however, were still in column of Tou te, and epeni and stray bullets ]x'g, in to drop around us, some lialf-dozc a finding a mark and putting good m tn temporarily hors de combat. By no>- the fight had developed on a front of perhaps four miles in width. Then came. o rdern for in to assume artillery fori /lj.tion. in which platoons advance iii •oifflTi or in file nt about 100 yards dietn.n». c an ,i 50 yards interval. By such a ■W nation a shell bursting over one pla- . io<,n .would not injure the next 100 yards °>- so in its rear. Having advanced" thus V .ir about 400 yards we were next ordered .into uction—at least two of our guns were. My gun {So. 1) and Xo. 2 gun were cent on to the right Hank to assist in stemming a Hank attack. The Bucks Hussars had ndvanced some distance, but were suddenly confronted by rifle and machine gun fire, and had to retire at the gallop. Accordingly two platoons of our infantry and our two guns wore hurried up to hold up the attack. We were soon into the thick of it, and had our first taste of machine giin fire. The enemy spotted us at about 1400 yards, and commenced peppering us for nil they were worth. I can assure you we iiad to look lively in our advances, and did not parade the fact that we were machine gunners. MACHINE GUXS MOUNTED. "However, at 1200 yards we both mounted gun and commenced a rowdy duel with t>he enemy's three guns. And •we had the advantage, for our range lakers had found the range for us. We swept the whole line, and searched all the ground in front and behind, so tihat soon the enemy decided that the 'pace was too hot,' and bolted to join their main body. Our little share of the action lasted perhaps about an hour, but it wa3 about two hours later that we rejoined at headquarters. An officer who went over the ground on which we had been firing told ue later tliat there was quite one hundred dead left, and, of course, many must have been wounded. Among the dead the officer ('tis said now that he was Scmwsi's brother) in charge of the flank attack was found, and on him quite a number of valuable papere. Thue out little share in the fight! Our other two guns were sent into the centre, but did not get into action. Meanwhile the attack in the centre and on the left was going well, and the enemy were forced to fall back. Our fellows took their camp, some 400 tents, and burnt the lot. The armoured care with their guns pursued the retiring enemy and inflicted quite a lot of damage on them. It wae discovered that German and Turkish officere, together with Senuesi himself and his brother, and their staff officers, directed their fighting. Their machine-guns weTe the latest Lewie guns, firing 600 rounds per minute, and usins the latest .303 mark 7 ammunition. INTERIOR GUNNERS. "Had their gunnere been more skilled in the various methods of obtaining the best fire effects, they would undoubtedly have given us a very meny time. As it wae, most of their fire went clean over our heads, killing only a poor old mule about 400 yards in the rear, where out limbers had stopped. . Machine-gun fire has a very unpleasant eound. At 1,200 yards you hear the regular rap, rap, rap first, and then as the lead paeees the wWspy zip, zip, zip. As each burst of lead flew overhead we thanked our lucky efcrrs that th« gunnere had not thought to cha-nge their elevation occasionally. The whole action ended at about 5 p.m., and until about 7 p.m. a steady stream of wounded came in, had their wounds dressed, and were taken away back to iMatruh. We bivouacked, for the night about two miles from the enemy's ruined camp, and started our homeward journey at about 8 a.m. on Monday morning. After a long and blow march we arrived (home at 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening.