HAND OF FRIENDSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 11 November 1930, Page 9

HAND OF FRIENDSHIP

GERMAN LEADER OF TURKS

GUEST OF WELSH DIVISION

(British Official Wireless.) EUGBY, Bth November. General Freiherr Kress yon Kresscnstoin, who commanded the Turkish Army against which the Fifty-third Welsh Division fought in Palestine, was the guest of honour at the twelfth annuy.l dinner of- officers of that Division last night. In his speech the Genera! said that, like the invitation last year accepted by General Lettow yon Vorbcck, ho regarded the invitation as an extremely valuable ' building stone in the reconstruction of friendly relations betweeu tho two countries. The whole of the German Army and an overwhelming majority of German people gladly and gratefully the hand which their former enemy extended to them. When Turkey entered the World War on tho side of the Central Powers at the beginning of November, 1914, it was obvious that an advance- from southern Palestine against the Suez Canal and Egypt was likely to form part of the Turkish strategical programme, largely inspired from Berlin. Seizure of tho canal would paralyse the most vital communication with the British Empire and seriously hamper tho gathering of its armies. The dream of re-asserting dominion over their former province of Egypt was an additional lure to the Turks. When the Dardanelles expedition came finally to an end in 1916, the British troops who had been engaged on the Gallipoli Peninsula were dispatched to Egypt to ' undertake its defence against a possible attack from the Turks. For a short time- there- existed within Egypt three separate, independent commands, but in March, 1916, all three were united under Sir Archibald Murray. Tho Turkish force consisted of some 12,000 to 15,000 men, who had as their commander tho Bavarian chief of staff, Colonel Kress yon Kressenstein. Sir Archibald Murray's objective was to secure control of tho Sinai desert. The first stop was to occupy tlic Qatiya oasis, 25 miles east of tho canal, and thus deny to the enemy the only district within striking distance where a sufficiency of water permitted the assembly of a large force. Towards the end of April, 1916, the Turks made a raid on the oasis and surprised and captured . some advance posts of the British. The object of the raid seems to have been to cause alarm and thus prevent the further withdrawal of troops from Egypt for France, which had been going on during the spring of 1916. By July the British advance had reached Romani at the western end of a scattered group of oases extending for some 15 or 20 miles, when a strong Turkish force entered the eastern end. This force consisted of about 18,000 men under tho command of Kressenstein. At dawn on 4th August it attacked the British position at Komani, held by the 52nd and 42nd divisions, the Anzac mounted division, and some Yeomanry, in all about 30,000 men, under LieutGeneral the Hon. H. A. Lawrence. The Turks made a determined assault, but were heavily repulsed. Their losses, including sonic 4000 prisoners, amounted to nearly half their total force. At the time it was impossible to say under what pressure Kressenstein undertook this forlorn hope, nor what real prospects he or his superiors conceived it to offer. It failed completely, with the loss* of half the force employed. Nevertheless the German 'General was accounted fortunate. A somewhat earlier and more rigorous handling of tho 52nd division .against the enemy's right, at the time when his left began to give way on 4th and sth August, might have rn.nderad it very difficult to extricate any considerable portion of the Turkish force. The defeated' Turks retreated to Bl'Arish, leaving a small detachment at Bir el Mazar till.the middle of September, when it was dislodtred by the Anzac Mounted Division. There was no further fish tine until December.