IMPERIAL CAMEL CORPS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17247, 10 September 1921, Page 14

IMPERIAL CAMEL CORPS.

MR MASSEY AT UNVEILING ,• .CEREMONY. . 2TAMES OP TALLEN MEW v OTW ZBAIiANDEBS. . ' ■ ■ * ' ! IJEOV 01TB OWN CORRESPONDENT.) .LONDON, • July 28. . 'Of all fc the, military units 'partly or. wholly provided by NetfZealand during; thia >.;flrar,' probably. least has been '•heard .of 'iho. Imperial. Camel Corps. jroason'of-the mixed nature of the, personnel—it was ' composed of English, and New', Zea» I^4 e^~r^o s°'"of" its'' linJc' wh6' made the supreme sacrifice now haye -lasting in the heart of London, and, their names are recorded for all mtoito read. Thenefc- monument that

. has been set . up. in Victoria Gardens, on the Thames embaclonent, contains a record of engagements of which any body of troops wight well bo proud-. Their operations in tho Sinai Desert, and in Palestine were practically, identical with those of the Anzac Mounted' Division. Four .comjjankfe were fiftfc brought into being in the earlier months of 1916, when they were sent as a'desert patrol in Egypt against; the Senussi, ana-took part in the action at Solium. 1 . In' August they first ciimo in oontact with the Turks on the second occasion the Suez Canal was attacked. A brigade Ttfa* formed 'in December, 1916, the . Ist Battalion being composed entirely of Australians, the second of British Yeomanry, the third of two companies of Australians and two of New Zealanders, and the fourth partly of Australians "and partly of New Ze'ar landers. Of their _ subsequent activities doubtlesa the history, wll be written, if it has not yet been don 6. Rafa, Kassaha, the first Battle of Gtaza, are some .of the earlier actions. The .events at tho secofiil hattle of; Gaza,..the New Zealanders, who were in; the ;Brd Battalion under Colonel W. B. de Lacey Forth, will not readily forget, for • at.' Kuwilfieh iHey were practically , cut off from the main body for two days,

and suffered heavy casualties. After , wards the Corps were successful in taking the town of Abu Shusba, and they were in the first attempted raid on Amman to the East of Jordan. It was here that the Camel Corps which carried • their five ! days' rations, were able to , come' to the aid of a whole division., The rain had. made it impossible for the transport'to follow, and the division was cut off from supplies. They returned to the West of the Jordan oh the fourth day, and wero subsequently attacked by the_ Turks at Muselabeh. This was practically the last engagement they were .in,- as a camel corps, for, in July of 1918. they were turned into Light Horse, and the New landers became a Machine Gun Squadron. . On .0119 6ide of the monument ' now erected are the names of the engagements tlie corps tOok part in. For 1916 there aro Romdtoi, Baharia, Maisar, 'El Ayish, Magh'daba; for 'ißl'. Rafa, Hassana, Gazza 1. Gaza 2, Sana. Redoubt, Beerslieba, Bir Khu Wei!?e, Hill 265;- and for; 1918, Amman, .Jordan Valley, and Mudawara, (Hedjaz): ' It wa s fortunate that' both General C. ,L. Smith, .8.C., who commanded, the Corps throughout its career, and Colcuel.de Lacey Forth, wero both in London on leave for 'the -unveiling of tho monument. General Smith is now in command qf the Palestine Infantry Brigade, and Colonel Forth ia in command of the Egyptian Frontiers Camel Corps, which has its headquarters ia Cairo, with sections distributed along tho Egyptian frontier. ■'Both general Smith and Colonel For.th speak very highly of the Now Zealand .troops which served •. under I them —"very solid and tenacious" are ■ their expressions. j Victoria Gardens skirt _th§ einbankI meni, and lio below the windows of the | Savoy and Hotel Cecil. It . is a pleaI sant spci, and the monument stands ! at the divergence of twa footpaths with j a gycamoro tree behind it. It is pocu- ;! liarly appropriate that just across the great embankment thoroughfare there j stands Cleopatra's Needle. The square • "ijaso jitsnds some six feet high, an ( \ on >! this is the figure of a trooper in full j marchtay order mounted on a camel. i The figures aro cast in bronze, and ! stand four feet high. On one sido of the, base is a bruize relief r&presenting a dismounted trooper standing bfcsi-o a recumbent camel, and on the other side a relief representing two dismounted troopers going into action. Names of the Falleen. In the front aro carved on broiweJinßS 3 names of 190 officers «i<l,rfa6aJE>aS? /', tr ■ base : pf luie British* Cp-;' Hong-Kong-an«2 ' y, R.G.A., and ;_,en of tha New Zealand Contingent, the 3rd Battalion. These, are:—Captains J. E. McCallum, R. S. Priest; Lieut. A. G. R. Crawford; 2nd-Lieutenants V. E. Adolph S. J. Gooding, C. F. Thorby; Sergts. j'. A. Adams. O. 'W. Campbell, C. E. Levett. G. F. Sanders; "Comls. W. c! Bell. J. G .MoMullan: L-Corp]s. J. Rudge. J. G. Burr: Troopers G. G Alexander. C. Bailey. C. H. Barker • P. F. Bleach, T. R Bowman, Eg! i Bcyes, C. W. Chadwick, J. W Craic 1 < ,R. P. Filluel, J. S. Friend, D l' !, Game, A. R. Hicks, S. 0. Kidd R i Maxwell C. McArtbur, D. McDonnell, ! < R. McKenzie, R. H. McSkimming, ! ] W. Metcalfe. S. W. MUls, C H T i Sandford, J. Tucker, J. F. Turnwald," j 1 D. Walker, R. L. Wilke, R. J. , Wood, L. J. Woodhouse. On the' i lower part of the base are the words: < "10 the Glorious and Immortal Me- i 1 morv of the Officers, N.C.O.'s, and Men ' c of the Camel Cores—British, e Australian, New Zealand, Indian—who c fell in action or died of wounds and r disease in Egypt, Sinai, and Pales- \ tine, 1916, 1917, 1918." h ■Lieut-General Sir Philin Chetwode, I fc who commanded the Army Corps in j ] which the Camel Brigade served for I some, months, unveiled the memorial, f Uthere present were Brig.jGeneral c

1 Smith, Colonel de Lacey Forth. Colonel ■ Buxton, Lord Winterton, the -Hon. ' Edward F. L. Wood (Under-Secretary ■ for the Colonies), Sir Ross Smith, Mr > and Mrs Massey and Miss Massey, and 'Mr.and Mrs Hughes. Before the ceremony of unveiling , General Smith read General AUenby's farewell letter to the • corps: "There had been, many calls upon them," General Allenby wrote, "and all of 1 these calls they had responded' to readily. The deserts of Sinai, the plains of Philistia, the hills of Judea, 'Moab, and the valleys of the Jordan had been their bat.tle 'grounds, and'on all they had acquitted themselves nobly." • In unveiling the memorial, General Chetwode said that-it was particularly fortunate because, if he was not mistaken, it would be the last time a camel corps, .would. ever take part in a. war. Even in Palestine they had mechanical tractors, which oould go anywhere, and unlesß war came very quickly in those regions, which it would not, the next time, they fought it would not, bo with ..the. "ship of the desert," but with an "iron ship." Mr Massey'6 Tribute. ' Mr Massey placed against, the monument a wreath of palm leaves, Madonna lilies, red and white carnations, and white gladioli. The inscription thereon was: 'T[n respectful memory of the officers' and men of the Imperial' Camel Corps, who gave their lives in the service of their' country. From the Government and people of .New Zealand." "I place this wreath," said Mr Massey, "to fcho memory or those New Zealand members of the Corps who died for the great cause in which they were engugd. 1 would take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of the courage of the officers and men who belonged to the Imperial Camel Corps." General Chetwode had said that the British race were inclined to be apathetio, inclined to forgetf ulness, but he was sure that they-would remember for long the sacrifices that were made on their behalf during the great war in which our men were engaged. So far as the South Pacific was concerned, while they were sorry for the men who had fallen, whilo they would never forget the 17,000 whose bodies lay in foreign soil as a result of the war in which they took part, their sorrow was mingled with pride. They would always remember that at the Empire's call the boys brought up under the Southern Cross were ready to respond, and give proof of their loyalty, determination, courage, and fervour. Th- i • ) 'who had gone had H"- - tK._i part. "We as private F •=> of the Empire have got to do 'jur part for the privileges, w© enjoy, those privileges will not be filched away by those who would like " p t}le Empire. Thev died that liberty and freedom mig&t not perish from the earth. Our duty is to appreciate their gift."