WITH THE MOUNTED MEN IN PALESTINE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 288, 24 August 1918, Page 8

WITH THE MOUNTED MEN IN PALESTINE

A GRUELLING CAMPAIGN HOW THE HORSEMAN HAS JUSTIFIED HIMSELF [New Zealand unfortunately is not vorv well served in the matter of news regarding the doings of tho mounted meii who are serving in Palestine. Thero is a general notion that campaigning in tiio Holy Land is. by comparison with the battlefields of France, somewhat of a pic- ' nic. That it is very far from being a picnic, that, in some respects, the lot of the. men in Palestine is infinitely worse than of those on tho Western front, is expressively told by "Snaffle". in a most interesting dispatch to the Sydney "Sunday Times." It should be noted that "Snaffle" is an Australian, writing for Australians, and he writes intinly of the part played by the Australian Light Horse in the warfare against the Turks, but as he himself says in. effect, in a graceful tribute to the men of the Fern, "one couples the New Zealanders with tho Australians." He says: "There is not a Light Horseman who would, or could, have it otherwise."!

. Palestine, May 21. The Jordan Valley in Summer is the threshold of hell. Since Jericho was taken most of tho British line there has been held by the Light Horse and tho men of. the Imperial Camel Brigade. With a shade temperature which ranges from 108 at the foothills to from 115 to 120 at tho water's edge, tho valley is a distressing area in which to exist in peace. Even the Arabs evacuate it during tho hot season. Tho Australians are not only living in it; for many weeks past they have been fighting tho Turk there as bitterly as he was fought at Gallipoli. His attacks have been Frequent and heavy, and have cost him thousands of casualties; but so severo are the conditions under which uur men livo that the punishment they have, inflicted on the enemy has afforded them little or no exhilaration. Tho valley is a wide sea of deep, white clay dust. Not only is this singular trough from 1000 to 1300 feet below sea level, but it is enfolded on cither side by mountains rising abruptly to another MOOft. The heavy dust rides all day in a still and evil atmosphere. Sometimes in the evening a relatively cool breeze comes down from tho north, but many of the nights ara as still as the days. Mos. quitoes abound, and flies swarm. As you would expect, the doctors are kept very busy treating and evacuating cases of diarrhoea, dysentery, and sunstroke, together with not a few men it ith malaria. And it is pathetic to notice that tho men who are going down aro chiefly tho "old originals," tho men who fought on tho Peninsula and in the desort, and have been at tho harsh gamo for three and a half years and more. It is wonderful these veterans have lasted so long. , Tho. actual living here is far rougher than in Prance. It is truth to say that for three years their diet for three days out of four has been tinned beef and stale—very stale-bread or biscuits, and jam, with sometimes a little cheese and a handful of dates. Again and again, as recently, they have lived for weeks at a time on biscuits, or bread as dry as bran, and bully. But the chief enemy is not perhaps tho excessively hard diet, although tho absence of vegetables leads to all sorts of evils, the most troublesome of which is tho septic sore, or, in other words, our old friend tho scurvy. (At times every soul in a brigade will have septic sores.) Tremendous Demand on Physique.

Worse than positive' iilness is the failure of physical tone which comes from sustained loss of sleep and rest. On a number of occasions this year the Light Horsemen and (ho Camels have dono threo days and three nights at a stretch without any sleep other than they took in their saddles at the risk of their necks. Thousands of men have done as much as a week on a total of from sis to ten hours' sleep. This happened to whole brigades on tho two raids across the Jordan; And during these sleepless periods the men would bo ceaselessly called upon for the keenest mental vigiiance and supreme physical effort. You can imagine the result and the reaction. On the Amman raid it was not uncommon to seo men fall asleep standing up, pitch into the" ice-cold mud and sleep on where they fell. Scarcely less tragic than the sight of the slain 'is to see a largo force of these men as the dawn finds them in the saddle, as, for instance, when they last came down from Es Salt. Smothered in dust, a week's beard on their faces, haggard with strain and exhaustion, their nerves 011 edge, their tempers gone, in body and spirit they craved rest and nourishment. , ■ And if they get a rest of even a couple of days their recovery is scarcely short of miraculous. They will sleep almost indefinitely. But it frequently happens that rest is impossible. After Fs Salt regimonts of men who came down 111 that condition were hurried into the line in the fierce heat of the valley on the same afternoon. And when that happens, as at times in war it inevitably must, you get lots of fiick wastage. Then the Light Horseman, unlike the infantry, is not able to snatch an hour's sleep when tho opportunity offers. In this hot land of little water, lie has often, when scarcely able to sit in the saddle with weariness, to do another hour or more watering his horses before lie can settle down, A Gruelling Campaign. Foolish people sometimes draw comparisons between the lot of the Light Horseman and the man in the infantry. Tho two services are so different, and this country is so dissimilar to France, that comparisons convey nothing. The Light llorscman would be the Inst to say that he has bled as have the infantry in tho West. But the lot of the mounted men hero is far rougher than many Australians appear to imagine. Tho living is incomparably rougher than in France. Not three pel- cent, of ollieers and 111011 here have hail English or Australian leave, or havo known in their long spell of service the touch of a privnio home. Casualties by any other istandard than that of the shniubles in France havo been high. In short, for moro than threo years tho Utfht. llorso and the "Camels" havo lived 011 the diet of dogs aniong an indescribably filthy, verminous, and unattrnetivo people, in a harsh and barren land. Their brief spell on the rich Philistine plain was their one decent break. The Force seeks no defence or advertisement. It goes its way and does its self-appointed job in a wonderful spirit of sustained keenness and thoroughness. But as a mere camp-follower who has seen plenty of the fighting at its worst in Frauoo, 1 toko it as 11 priNiloKO 1o write this simple, unprejudiced tribute to the friends of the Force at home. You get tho impression (hat soldiering has to°im extraordinary degree becomo the accepted lifelong occupation of these Australian .soldiers in PuloPliiK?, "hoii conception of duty is so high, and there is so little grousng that you are often reminded of tho old-time soldiers of fortune who. followed the game for the, frame's sake. It is not until you see a r'crimeiit on (lie scent of an Australian mail, or until a man. ns «o many of (hem can, shows vou photograph of his wife and children, that he has not seen for nearly four years, or as, 1 have been shown more (hail once, of a child from three to four years old that the father has not seen at all—not until then do vou appreciate their nobility nf spirit and tho great gaijie of bluff that is played in the supreme interest of the cause. Sound Original Training. Tho work of the force here has been very keenly followed by the foreign cavalry attaches, and tho relatively few lessons our men have had to learn has led to .much commendation of (lie sound lines of their original training in Australia. Naturally, they aro a far more offcctivo body than the original Light Horsemen who came to Egypt, but practically the whole of their improvement lias iieen based upon their work in prewar days. The one striking change has been in their greatly increased punishing powers, due. lo a multiplication of mounted machine-guns and tho automatic rifle. Observers are frequently surprised at the great results in position taken and pri- 1

Boners captured by a mere handful Light Horsemen. At first eight you ara inclined to put this down to the weakness of the enemy. Hut that is a mistake. The tamo enemy will put up a stout fight against our infantry. Tho secret of the Light Horseman's success is due almost entirely to his mobility, and when (he lessons of this war are appreciated, a big relative increase in tho mounted, arm of our Australian Defence r.'orce will probably be decided upon. Where the Light Horseman Scores. To an extent never anticipated, tho Light Horseman has been used and lias been brilliantly successful as straight-out infantry. He lias on numerous occasions here played tho infantry gamo just as he did on the Peninsula. But is is in his true sphere that his work has been seen at its best. It is scarcely too much to say that in an attack on alraost any given Turkish position which is not actually wired, 500 Light Horsemen will accomplish far more than 1000 or 1500 infantry, and at substantially less cost.

The reasons for this are: Par greater rapidity in the approach; the choice of lines of approach and the consequent uncertainty of the enemy which prevents him registering with his artillery the exact zone to.be crosscd; the relative freshness of tho Light. Horsemen when they, dismount for the final advance with the bayonet; and—very important, indeed— the speed of tho men when on foot owing to their being able to leave iheir- N gear on the horses. Tho Light Horseman moving to a bayonet attack and carrying only his rirte and ammunition and water bottle, is faster than the unhappy infantryman with his pack, and he is also able to bike far more advantage of any cover the ground may offer.

Then the Light Horseman, haying his trusty waler handy behind a neighbouring ridge or down in the bed of a wady,; can, if necessary, break off a fight rap-' idly and cleanly. This enables him to "have a fly" at dubious positions which infantry would l>e justified in attacking only with a reasonable chance of success. Bv sheer speed and cheek the Light Horsemen'have gained scores of such positions during (his campaign. But all of these advantages do not fully explain the uniquo position occupied by tho Australian and New Zealand mounted brigades in the minds of cavalry leaders of all nationalities to-day. That the mounted Anzacs are acknowledged to be the most effective horsemen engaged in tho war is due primarily fo the quality of the mon themselves—to their unconscious skill as riders, their clever shooting, their peerless eye for country, their, huge bump of native cunning, their self-control, their pugnacity, their love of adventure, and their capacity for endurance. One couples tlie New Zealanders with the Australians. Thero is not a Light Horseman who would or could have it otherwise. On the whole, perhaps, the lot of tho Light Horseman is, for the young Australian accustomcd to animals more attractive than most other branches of the service engaged in the war. W ltli all its hardships it is a sporting force. The Dreaded Blighty. But it has one terrible feature. No Light Horseman looks for a Blighty. In no. wars of old have tho wounded suffered more tortures than those sometimes imposed upon our mounted men here. Many men fear a bad wound tar more than they fear death. 11l the desert days, when wheels were ' impossible because of the sand and the abruptness of tho dunes, an Australian devised as a merciful alternative to the hideous camel cacolet a simple sledge made of a sheet of corrugated iron turned up in front. On this the stretcher was placed, and the contrivance was drawn by horse-power. _ Then a .NewZealandcr improved on this with a clover sleigh. Both ambulances worked Tell enough on level, smooth sand. But the desert was seldom other than a succession of little sandhills, blown by the strong winds into fantastic shapes and steep and often sheer gradients, and covered as a rule with little bumps of sand blown np about the stunted bushes In the fierce heat and with flies in thousands, the sufferings of the wounded were of a I'iture not to be written about. ' Wounded men, in dread of the cacolet and the -sledges, pleaded to be allowed to W-a their chance on their horses, There are" at least two cases of troopers who rode six miles or more in the saddle with a fractured thigh; and one of them did not die!