WITH THE TROOPS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 22, 27 January 1915, Page 3

WITH THE TROOPS

EXPEDITIONARY FORCES LANDING THE MEN AND HORSES INTERESTING SCENES. [By "Banjo" Paterson.] (By arrangement with Sydney Morning Herald.) Wednesday, 2nd December.— Reached I ' — about 2 p.m. ■ is always , —the usual crowd of card-sellers, sweet sellers, guides, etc., but since the establishment of martial law there affairs seem to be kept a good deal better in hand ; and there seem to be far less people in the streets than there used to be. We were informed here that a German spy, who had for some time been residing in Alexandria, had gone to Germany on the outbreak of the war, and had then come back and^started to stir up trouble. Getting hold of some information, the British authorities had arrested him and searched his rooms, and found documents so incriminating ihat he was sentenced to be shot. He then turned King's evidence and gave a lot of information, implicating the Khedive and some of his Ministers in a plot to overthrow the English rule. The result was that the Khedive was given twenty-four hours to leave the country. Which he promptly did ; and it is now expected that the British flag will be hoisted and British rule definitely instituted over Egypt. /The question whether the inhabitants will rise against it remains to be settled, but neither Germany nor Turkey can have much money to spare to promote a rising; and unless the Egyptian officials can see something to their own interests in it it is not thought that they will take any step. While at the usual crowd of boatmen surrounded the ship, but were kept off by the sentries, who fired rifle bullets into the water ahead of any boat that ventured too near. The hawkers were very indignant, and jabbered and gesticulated fiercely, _ standing up in their boats, and pointing most dramatically to badges op their arms and certificates in their hands, claiming that they had some sort of right to come aboard. It was no use, however, but it turned out afterwards that one or two boats got right in under the counter of the ship, where they could not be 6een from the decks, and were , handing up something to the troops. , However, evidently nothing came on board to do any harm. This all bears out what our captain told us, that and are unrivalled in the world's ports for cunning. As soon as the gangway was lowered a crowd of Orientals swarmed up it, all claiming that they had business on board connected with the coaling. The first man said that he was No. 1 coalman, and he was allowed on deck, but the others were stopped, and ordered to go back in their boat. They then with one voice raised a yell that the man who had got on board was not a No. 1 coalman, in' fact, had nothing to do with coaling in any shape or form. He was at once recaptured and deported along with the rest. At ■ one hawker was allowed on board, and after selling his stock raised a complaint that the troops had stolen a, box from him. This, however, is an old dodge, and he and his complaints were soon shoved down the gangway. While coming through the end of the Canal we passed a Gurkha -encampment. It is said that a patrol of three Gurkhas stationed on the banks of the Canal flagged a message ' back to the main patrol saying: "There is a battleship coming through the Canal. Shall we stop it?" They would have had a try. too, no doubt. We sailed from at dark, there being great cheering as the New Z-ealanders went past, and so on full speed for AT ALEXANDRIA. Thursday, 3rd December. — We approached Alexandria at daylight, and arrived off a low-lying shore with a big sea running. The first view of the port from the sea showed the usual mass of ships in a very sheltered harbour, with a lot of long concrete quays and breakwaters. We found afterwards that there were twenty captured German merchantmen lying at anchor in the harbour. The pilot came off in a cutter, a big tug cam© alongside our bows, and we were takfn into what must be one of the bestequipped harbours in the world. A great lighthouse, the .well-known Pharos light, is a conspicuous object. The quays all have railways down them, with tlrree or four lines of rail right alongside the ship. This vessel is 15,000 tonsj but she was taken into a basin, slewed round by a tug, and brought in alongside the quay with three big pontoons in about ten minutes — a beautiful bit of handling. The captain says that the harbourmaster is an Arab, a gentleman, and the best man that he ever saw to handle a big veseel. The was berthed at another quay, and the at another, all as quickly and as easily. On arrival at the dock orders cam© for disembarkation, advance parties were put over, winches were set to work, and the troop stores simply poured out of her. The forward pontoon was reserved for the Third Battalion, the second for the Fourth Battalion, and the third for the Army Medical Corps. On the quay we saw a crowd of swarthy biack-mous-tached Egyptians, with loose-flowing garments and red fezzes. A few were carrying oranges and cigarettes for sale, but the majority seemed to be just spectators. We soop found out what they were after. The advance party made them clear out to the other side of the trucks, enforcing the oTder with the points of the bayonets. Before long, black heads began to peer out from tinder the trucks, like rabbits out of burrows, and arm s waved frantically. Then an Egyptian policeman — a great' *well in a blue frock coat, with brass buttons, and a red fez, dragged one Egyptian out from under a truck, swung him round a few times by the scruff of the neck, ran his hands over him, and diving into his capacious trousers, produced a bottle of whisky. This was thrown on the ground and smashed, a dozen or so more Aver© similarly swung round and searched, and their bottles smashed, and then they reluctantly drew of!, and jabbered in knots at conic distance at the back of the trucks. Even then they would not go away, and the military officers organised a raid on their own account, and captured about another dozen bottles. The Egyptians seemed to take it philosophically enough — probably they are used to it — but it i s hard to say what the inscrutable Oriental thinks at any time. One officer remarked : " The man who talked of spoiling the Egyptians mad© a mistake — you can't spoil them — they are spoilt already." It is impossible to say whether they looked on our troops in a friendly way or otherwise. They kept on calling out " Fcringhees," which may b» a. term of endearment or otherwise, but from the tone appeared to be rather a term of opprobrium. THE EMBARKATION. Little four-wheeled Victorias, drawn by grey or chestnut Arab ponies, quite good sorts, were waiting for custom. Gangs of labourers appeared dressed in burnouses or whatever one calls those loose clothes, and whenever they had to shift a case they all started to chaut "Eelah-ahlah," which our men soon picked up, and thereafter no case, trunk,

or bag went on board a truck without its "Eelah-ahlah." The train was about forty trucks and carriages, the gauge about the same as ours, and the horseboxes wide enough for even our biggest horses. The arrangements for disembarkation were good. Gangs of Egyptian labourers were sent to help load each train, but our officers found it more satisfactory to Jet their own troops do the loading, a job which they enjoyed after their long spell on the ship. Captain Wall, the ship's quartermaster, rose to the occasion well. He soon had strings of men like ants carrying stuff down the gangways, winches going at two holds, and officers' luggage down the companion-way. Before 10 o'clock the wharf looked like the salvage of a big warehouse after a fire — Wolseley valises, trunks, uniform cases, kit bags, boxes, bales of blankets, being piled up in apparently wild confusion, but the three separate landing pontoons helped the work wonderfully, and order was made before long. The first care was to get rid of the sick, and six or eight { ambulances were sent down from a local military hospital to remove them. Some were local ambulances painted black, and drawn by very swell mules, the others were ambulances of the , drawn by English horses. It brought tears to one's eyes to see those poor sick fellows brought up on deck, lifted on to a grating, and hoisted up by winches, their faces covered in blankets, and just a hand feebly waving a farewell. It was a sorry landing for them. We had 500 cases of ptomaine poisoning on board last night, originating no one knows how, but all the- men had sufficiently recovered to go ashore to-day. The doctors had a busy time while it lasted, each medical officer having a man following j him about with a a bucket of mustard and water, administering emetics, and others again following up with mustard leaves and other remedies. The sick were low- | ered overside and got away with great expedition, and the others then turned their attention to loading the train. An advance party of two and a-half companies went on in the first train, which left amid wild cheers at dark. These men were to prepare the camp at the camping ground of the regiment, which J is ten miles by road out of Cairo. Hay- i ing got these away, work was stopped for the day. The nursing sisters were very excited as to what their work was to be, and were finally told to disembark, and go to some hospital at the disposal of the P.M.O. FIVE DEATHS. Friday, 4th December. — The first train with troops and horses was timed to leave at 12 noon, and the first job was to get the sixteen horses off the ship. A horee-box was slung by the winch on to the deck beside the stalls, the horses were taken out singly on to matting, and led into the box and hoisted overside. When landed on the wharf they were taken out of the box and led straight up a ramp into the trucks. They were landed in wonderful condition, their legs not filled at all after their long confinement on the ship, and even the sick horse — a thoroughbred animal by Mounj tain King — that had been at death's door more than once during the voyage, walked off quite jauntily. The principal veterinary officer came over and congratulated the ship on the condition in which their horses landed. It was certainly a wonderful performance for the fleet to land 6700 horses with only a, loss of 2^ per cent., after a six-weeks' voyage. The same thing applies to the men. The total loss of men on the trip, Australia to Alexandria, was only five and one missing out of 20,000. The deaths were as follow :—: — Private Kendall Private J. Eowe Private Courtney. ' Private Power Private Gardner and one man missing from the , but. of course this latter loss docs not concern in any way the medical staff, which is justly proud of landing such a big percentage. Kitbags, horsefeed, blankets, and stores were piled into the train, and the men were marched in, and only ten minutes after time the long train moved off, and the bulk of the were on their way tfco their training camp. This camp, by the way, will be a Bivouac to the desert, there being no tents, btit the bivouac, once the troops get used to it, and learn to make i themselves .comfortable, is the healthiest way of living. It i 6 reported here that a Territorial regiment lost a lot of their horses at the camp in the desert through eating sand_, and our men took nosebags of calico, which, by a little manipulation, could be made into muzzles to prevent their horses eating the sand. Just astern of us, a big New Zealand transport was discharging her lot, and they, too, got away with little fuss and no delay. Guillaux, the flying man, went across to Marseilles to-day. He goes to rejoin his colours. The* French Consul here tried to capture the two interpreters who are attached to the divisional headquarters staff, and order them across to France, but they pointed out that they were already serving with the Australian Contingent, and were allowed to go on with it. Friday night saw the second trainload get away, leaving only the Army Medical unit of about 220 men to shift on the Saturday. FIEST IMPRESSIONS. As each big vessel got rid of her load she hauled out and made room for another, and it may be said that the Australasian disembarkation was very creditable. There is a good deal in first impressions, and all troops are very keen to disembark well. As a rule, on arrival of a new force anywhere, the General who is to command them comes dowr himself or sends down a staff officer to report on the landing. If the troops come off ship quickly and quietly, and get off without without delay, their reputation is half made already. In this case the General who is to command the Australian and New Zealand division (General Birdwood) had not yet arrived, so our landing was only watched by the railway staff officer and the military landing officer, but it was hoped that a good report of it would get to headquarters in time. The landed quite a respectable number of motor-cars, whose owners had brought them themselves for service with the contingent. These cars were got off with great honking of horns, and were put on trucks for the trip to the front, though one wondered why they were not sent by road, as the distance is only 80 miles by a good road. One of these automobile officers in peace time follows the occupation of a bookmaker, and he was one of the smartest and keenest officers on board, and was given some responsible staff work to do. The German prisoners, when confined on this, vessel, were at first allowed a little communication with people on the ship, and the one thing that they could not make out was the — to them — extraordinary spectacle of such a number of volunteers. If they had known that the volunteers were not only going to do the fighting, but were even bringing their own motorGal's, they would have been etill more astonished. A visit to the just as she was finishing her disembarkation showed that , the Director of Medical Services, was going on to England, where he hoped to collect several Australian hospitals for possible immediate service near the front, so the writer determined to follow his fortunes, as he has often done before, and go on to England. As the sailed immediately on disembarking her contingent, there was no time to be lost, so. with much regret, "good-bye for the present" was said to thoee who had been one's shipmates ' so long, and

a hu>-tied transfer to the was made. The matttr required a good deal of thin lung over, but there was no immediate prospect of the troops in Africa bcung any seivice, while there was every prospect of the hospitals seeing something, so it seemed better to go with the hospitals. We pulled out at 6 o'clock, leaving Alexandria, with its blazing lighthouse, its rows of transports waiting to get in and disembark, and its other rows of transports all along the quays busily disembarking. To see those wharves made one wonder what Sydney would be like, with miles of wharfage, with railway lines running along the vessels' sides. The only goods we saw scored in the wharf stores were bales of cotton, but there is no doubt a great trade hero when things are normal. Among the sufferers by the general dislocation caused by the war are the Cairo hotelkeepers. A vast tourist trade is done here with people visiting the Pyramids, the Sphinx, etc., but this year the hotels are nearly empty, though it is their best season qf the year, and they are taking in visitors at 11s a day, which is far below the usual tariff. The officers' mess made a contract with a military supply firm to provision the mess at about 29s per week per head, so that the cost of living even in war time has not gone up out of reason. As the — — pulled out the last trainload of the soldiers carried by her moved off for Cairo, leaving only "a few men on the wharf to guard stores, etc., and arother big transport was waiting her turn to come in. The gigantic was hauling into the berth just vacated by the , and all the disembarkation seemed to be proceeding very smoothly ; but with vessels to unload it seemed likely that it would be at least a fortnight before the last of them got rid of her troops. Up to the time of leaving there had been no word of any stores short or missing, whereas one of the other contingents had landed short of more than a thousand pounds' worth. Considering ' that our force was enrolled, officered, and equipped in the most unexampled hurry, the venture so far has turned out better than even the most sanguine dared to hope, and there is every prospect that it will continue to do well. The management reflects great credit on the staff officers responsible. So now, leaving them to battle their own 'way on their training ground, let us on to England and as near the front as possible. Saturday, sth December. — At sea on a desert island. This vast ship has only seven passengers, General , Mrs. Mac Lagan and daughter, Mr. Stephenson, of Gibbs, Bright, and Co., Melbourne, who is going home to volunteer, two young gentlemen from the Cable Company's service, and the writer. After being for six weeks on a ship with 2600 other people, it is an uncanny experience to go round this ship of an afternoon. The great stretches of deck are empty and desolate. Look into' the smokingroom — nobody ; into the lounge — nobody. •■Look down into the saloon — a vast emptiness. The drawing-room is a gilded arid luxurious waste space. I went round three decks to-day, and the only living soul in sight was a cockney ship's boy, who has earned some fame, having told a lot of the troops who were teasing him that they were " not soldiers a»- all, but just a collection of false teeth and wrist.watches." t They let him alone after that. We are doing fifteen knots against a strong head wind, and expect to be in London on Monday week. The lights are still lowered, aud shutters darkened at night. We are out of sight of land, and all through the day we only saw one ship, a sailing vessel. The war has dislocated all trade and commerce. Sunday, 6th December. — At sea in - — . We suggested to the captain that he should paint out the transport number on the bow, and then if the Germans get us they will have to treat us as an ordinary merchantman, whereas, if -, they treat us as a transport they might sink us first and ask questions afterwards. Still, so far as we know, there are no Germans to fear, and Britain is again mistress of the seas. THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN. Monday, 7th December.— Passing through the Mediterranean. We do not pass unnoticed either. An English war vessel came out to see whom we were, and to-day two French torpedo boats suddenly rose up out of the sea, as it were, in front of us. They were small, and lie very close to the water, so they could see us before we saw them. When we sighted them they had the "hoist your colours" sign ■ all flying, which we promptly obeyed. Then they steamed close up and exchanged cheers, and were soon out of sight again about their business. These little wasps patrol these seas unceasingly. Talking of patrolling, the , during the voyage to Alexandria, sent over to this ship for some fresh meat. They had been steaming continuously without a break except for coaling for 20,000 miles. Every field was well covered with a crop of some sort. The glasses would ( not tell us what it was. The island seemed so peaceful, lying there in the sunlight, it seemed to be a sort of object-lesson of the blessings of peace ; and here were we hurrying over half the world to get to the scene of the mos* appalling carnage that the world has ever seen. Tuesday, Bth December. — The following notes were copied from the diary of an officer on this ship : — 15th Nov., Sunday. — Red Cross stores were distributed to, and greatly appreciated by, the troops. 16th Nov., Monday. — Four officers and 48 other ratings, 52 in all, came aboard from Emden. The officers were Captain yon Muller, captain of the Emden ; Lieutenant Prince Francois Hohenzollern, torpedo lieutenant ; Dr. Luther, and a fourth officer, with a difficult German name. They only had what they stood up in. They were given pyjamas . and towels. 17th Nov., Tuesday. — Inspected German prisoners ; four slightly wounded require practically no' treatment.. A request was made by the Naval Secretary that the officers on the transport assist with shirts, socks, • and handkerchiefs, which was clone. ■. 18th Nov., Wednesday. — Captaih of Emden refused to give his parole, he objected to the clause against escaping. 19th Nov., Thursday. — Prisoners state that they think about forty were killed after the Emden was beached. 24th Nov., Tuesday. — Ascertained from officeis of Emden that it is not true that a man jumped overboard and climbed up the side to haul down the flag. The flag was hauled down by the captain's servant, who crawled along the side and bulwarks of the burning deck and detached the flag from the mast. Wednesday, 2nd December. — German prisoners transferred to 2.30 p.m. One learns here that the Germans, while in custody on this vessel, had a fixed belief that they would be rescued by some German vessel before they were landed. They were kept away from the other people on the ship, and the officers were marched to their meals and out to exercise under an armed guard — the only possible way to treat them, as they would not give their parole. It is an example of the fortunes of war to hear that the captain of the Emden and the captain of the have been for years close personal friends, and here tliey are now, one a jealously guarded prisoner of the other. WILL THERE BE ANY FIGHTING? The great question at Alexandria was whether our troops would see any fighting. They have two chances — one, that a rising may take place in Egypt, and the other that the T^rks may make some

sort of an attack. Neither contingency seems very likely to arise, but in the game of war one never knows quite what will happen. The Turks would have to bring any attacking force a long way over the desert, which seems almost an impossibility. Our troops, of course, have also the chance that they will be wanted on the Continent when they are sufficiently trained. It has already been pointed out that the Territorials are being sent to Africa, India, and so on for training, so the standard at the front is evidently pretty high- Our infantry would be ready for service before the other arm 3, and they may be detached from the division and taken over in brigades, but it is not much use speculating on what may happen, as by the time this reaches Australia the whole position 'may bo altered. Tuesday, Bth December. — The back country is said to be very wild. The sea was very calm, and a curious pinkish light lay over everything. It was one of the most beautiful days that one could see anywhere. We passed several vessels to-day, but none near enough to identify. They must wonder what this big ship is doing ao far away from her usual track. No doubt a lot of traffic is going by this route, keeping as far away as possible from the Adriatic, whence the Austriana may conceivably make a dash, and from the Dardanelles, from which place the Turks might conceivably venture forth to emulate the Emden's feats in preying on commerce. It is an exciting trip in one way, as one never knows when the ship may be stopped aud robbed, but we suppose that the Turks and Austrians are securely bottled up. Wednesday, 9th December. — Approaching , which we expect to reach at daylight to-morrow. Wo have had no wireless messages about the war for three days, so we look forward to getting some at . This letter must be posted to-night to catch the mail at .