THE MOTOR CAR IN THE DESERT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3008, 20 February 1917, Page 9

THE MOTOR CAR IN THE DESERT

AS EFFECTIVE AS TANKS IN PICARDY

A TIME-TABLE SERVICE (FromW. T. Masscy.)' General Headquarters, Egypt, Decomber 12. ■ ' With a railway as its spinal column Lord Kitchener's Army brought the Sudan within the civilising touch ' of tho British hand. Sir Archibald Murray has also called railways to his aid, bub the advanco in tho science of mechanical engineering has left tho railway behind oven in desert warfare. There aro places in tho sandy wilds where the railway still stands alone and invincible as the conveyor and feeder of armies, and tho engineer has yet to oust tho steam engine from all of its positions of supremacy. But whero the sand is not too deep or shifting the motor-car beats tho railroad out of sight. Western Egypt has -shown that. Hero the armoured cars aro as effective as tho tanks in Picardy. Only in a few spots in tho Libyan Desert have railways boon laid down. Until this war began only one man tried a motor journey in tho desert, uud he, like many another pioneer,' was voted a fool. Yet to-day many hundreds of our bravo troopa depend on cars for their subsistence, and they live as securely as comrades encamped on main railway lines. • So perfect and reliable has tho car supply service- becomo that tho vehicles move to a time-table, and at one spot I have seen two convoys which started ninety miles apart meet to exchange loads at tho .exact moment fixed by tho conductor. 1 ■ ' a , Snortsmen All, Armoured car motoring in tho desert adds to tho work of -war the hazards of a. difficult and almost unknown country. Every officer and man in the batteries Is a sportsman in his way. It is a corps d'olite, with a unique personnel; tho finest officers and men of \heir class, big-hearted, nerveless, and. physically so sound that sixteen hours' buffeting in rock-strewn desert, or wrestling with the wheel as the ear ploughs through soft, sand, leaves only moderate aching in tho muscles. ' I have done 100 miles in one stretch with them. There has been more than one reconnaissanco of 400 miles out and home, but though quite email by comparison,. my shorter trips will live long in tho memory. We were out searching for buried arms. There was an uncertainty about the scheme to make it appeal to the. armoured-car sportsman. A fow roving bands , of Bedouins might come within visual range, and a littlo punishment, vigorously applied would give a piquant touch to the digging for rifles. That hopo was disappointed, but a dozen rifles and 8000 rounds of ammunition, somo of it with a flat-nosed bullet, were unearthed.and carried home. The jaunt was in good-going country, as tho armoured-car driver classifies tracks._ Tho best comparison I can make is that «i motorist would find equally good going if he. halted in the middle of Dartmoor and decided to make for, say, Princetown or Tavistock by compass bearings across.country. I am certain the. track taken would be certified as good in the roadbook of tho anhoured-car enthusiast. Driven by an old Richmond and Gloucester county Rugger player whoso sporting game always pleased the crowd, a Rolls-Royce staff car has carried men over rock and sand on the Dakhla Read at an average speed of thirty-fivo miles an hour. The car has touched sixtythree. No wonder tho Senussi throw off their clothes and hide at the approach of such dread engines of war. A Reconnaissance Column. Tho utility of the motor in desert warfare is illustrated by a noteworthy exploit of tho car batteries. Three armoured cars, two light cars with machine-guns, and 12 other motors carrying petrol and water, left to make a. reconnaissance. In the neighbourhood a considerable body of tho enemy was believed to bo at the time—at noon. The column, having filled up with petrol and put on board as much water for radiators as could be carried, continued the /long trek. Bivouacking 126 miles inland, the party got under way at six tho next morning, and did good running for three hours, but the sun's rays were blistering, tho wind blowing from the northj the engines got- very hot. The drivers had been warned not to expect to find a pint of water on the road, and there was a serious prospect of water in the radiators running out before the return journey could he completed. Nevertheless, the southward run -was continued until the mileage was 192, when the cars reached the fringe of the plateau in front of the plain of Siwa. Along tho_ edge of the -plateau they ran for eight miles, and then the water difficulty determined the question whether further progress could be made. Fortunately the wind grew cooler, and helped the cars on tho homeward trip. The party arrived-in tho afternoon of the following day entirely on their own supplies, no depot having been formed on the route. The armoured cars ran 400 miles. in fiftythree hours, including time spent in bivouacs, and for more than 350 miles they carried every ounce of supplies. Tliero was only ono puncture on the way back. ■'•..-