THE MOUNTED MEN.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 187, 8 August 1919, Page 4

THE MOUNTED MEN.

The arrival of the Ulimaroa'a contingent of mounted men from Egypt gives us another opportunity, which we gladly use, to draw attention to the splendid work these troops have done and to the regrettable fact that amid the glamour of their comrades' achievements in France their record' has not been fully appreciated by their countrymen. It will take New Zealand a long time to live down the deplorable slights—happily fe"w in number —that ignorance cast on our mounted brigade. There was an idea that these men were having an easy time, and there -was even an amazing suggestion that they remained in Egypt in comfort and security from choice, >while the Division wae grappling with death and the enemy in France. Written references to the '':old-f ooted Mounteds" got into the hands of the brigade. We hope that all who ever referred to the contingent in such terms have long been ashamed of themselves. Our mounted men covered themselves with success and honour in a long, arduous, and dangerous series of campaigns, and their country's warmest gratitude is due to them. If they were not opopsed to an enemy so competent or so well equipped as the Germans, they fought for a great part of the time in the desert, under trying weather conditions and exposed to greater rick of disease than their comrades in Europe, who were also better off as regards leave and the means of spending it. The enemy, however, was quite competent enough and sufficiently well equipped to be a formidable foe, and when our men helped to drive him out" of his positions and kept him on the move till Palestine was conquered, they took part in splendid military achievements which will live in history for the ability with which the movements were planned and the skill, courage, and endurance with which they were executed. Our men are among the finest mounted troops that the world has known; without them and their Australian cousins Allenby could not have done all he did in those marvellous campaigns. The fame of our mounted brigade will be for ever associated with the capture of Jerusalem, and with that lightning stroke which destroyed the Turkish armies, liberated the rest of Palestine, and forced Turkey to surrender. They struck at one of the oldest and worst of the world's tyrannies, and played an important part in operations that shattered the grandiose ambitions of our main enemy. Their countrymen are delighted to welcome them home, and will no more forget their deeds and their sufferings than they will forget the achievements of the Division from Gallipoli to Le Quesnoy.