TURKEY AND EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2363, 20 January 1915, Page 6

TURKEY AND EGYPT

iWILL THERE BE AN INVASION ? ■ Captain C. E. \Y. Beau, official re-. ! porter with.,the first Australian Force, ■ tabling froni Cairo under date January : 12 to the Australian Press, says:—An . official communique issued by the. Press Bureau indicates that an attempt by , tho Turks on Egypt may now be exipected within a few .weeks.;. It, states ■ that, according to latest reports, German and Turkish officers are still deter- . mined to carry out the-attack. The • Turkish concentration is now nearly, if not quite, complete. Storos havo been seized without payment from luckless • Syrians, and probably there is now sufficient in hand. !'- The communique states that it is true that the Turkish commanders seem to ■have grown, nervous at the last moment, and are sending ,to Constantinople Urgent demands for more trained sol'diers, which the Government is hardly in a positiort "to' dispatch, but probably the need to strike a decisive blow in order to recover prestige will outweigh s cautious counsels. Some reinforcements are said to be travelling south already, and perhaps the advance will be delayed until these arrive, but the British military authorities are of opinion that i.he attack,' if. ifc is to be made, cannot be long deferred. The communique continues: "The numbers which tno Germans are likely to bring against, Egypt are large, and no doubt if' they Bucceed in getting within striking distanoo they will make a determined effort to break through. 'Although Turkey may be expected to make a good'fight, the Arabs and Syrians forming a large, proportion of. the army have not got their hearts in ' . the business."' Alluding to the Turkish disasters in • the Caucasus, the communique states: "The Germans will not dare to bo deterred by Turkish misfortune. The German object is not to win victories for Turkey, but to distract 'the attention of Groat Britain from Belgium, It was only, with this idea tbatCthoy embarked on ■what was foredoomed to failure. They found a tool in the -Young' Turk Party, and fear may weaken this unless it is used quickly. "They must strike soon, the communique concludes, "and probably within a iow weeks they may drive forward, the' Syrian, army..' l