LIBYA CAMPAIGN

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 18

LIBYA CAMPAIGN

SOUTH AFRICA'S PART

FIGHTING THE SENUSSI

IN A CKUEL LAND

With the continuance of the conflict in Abyssinia it may be of interest to learn something of that mysterious territory immediately bordering Italy's North African possessions, the Libyan Desert, writes R. F. Fell in the "Cape Times." It is beyond the confines of .this strange land that Mussolini is reported to be massing in secret an army of considerable proportions, the purpose of which has become the subject of lively conjecture in diplomatic circles. South Africans, many of whom served in the infantry under General Lukin during the last war, know this area well. Before going to France the brigade, consisting of four legiments, was drafted to Egypt and immediately founded the nucleus of an expedition gathered to smash the oower of the Senussi tribes who, officered by Turks, landed on the desolate coastline from enemy submarines, and, armed by Germany through the same means, formed a growing menace to a chain of coastguard stations and forts scattered along the north-western seaboard. It was after these had all fallen to the Senussi that a plan was conceived to attack the defences of Alexandria and Cairo from the west and to eventually make contact with the Turkish forces who were, towards the end of 1915, particularly anxious to capture a strategic position on the Suez Canal. The Grand Senussi at this period had at his command some 60,000 men under the able direction of General Gaafer Pasha, all of them born desert fighters, and had. his plans not been nipped in the bud, serious consequences would'have arisen. FANATICAL SENUSSI. In the early part of 1916 General Peyton's troops'marched into Libya determined: to. overcome the wild fanatical' Senussi. ' They consisted of the South. Africans*' two squadrons of the Dorset Yeomanry under Colonel Soutar, better known as "Mad Sou: tar," a battery of the Notts Field Artillery, the Duke of Westminster's Armoured Cars led by his Lordship in person, the Australian Camel. Corps, ambulances,, and' two companies of the Royal Scots, whose regiment had been badly cut up ; by the Senussi in a previous encounter; All told, these units numbered hot more than 8000 rank and file. ''!;..' The objective was a rock-girt fortress at a place called El Solium, some three hundred miles beyond the starting point of operations at Mersa Matruh, whither the attackers were transported by lighters and coasters. The great, silent, forbidding wastes that are Libya are entered immediately on leaving Mersa Matruh. The red savage desert country spreads away into dim infinity, airless except when lashed to a sea of dust by the fierce sirocco that turns day into Maccabre night, waterless, apart from a few stagnant artesian wells of great depth sunk by Roman legions a thousand and more years ago. The demons' of thirst and privation brood evilly hereabouts and it is a fact known to those familiar with the" terrain that a campaign must be conducted within a few miles of the coastline where the only possible water supplies 'are available. LACK OF WATER. There is a well-known story that an army of 40,000 levies under the Persian ruler Cambyses entered this country 500! years B.C. and never returned; it is surmised from subsequent discoveries that they died through lack of water. A-pitfless sun like a fiery brass ball dominates everything; the coppery sky. sheds an infernal glare upon a shimmering earth burning the - weary feet of man and beast. Like a ghastly fantasy'of: maddening delirium, heat mirage succeeds heat mirage; vision is distorted, things assume weird shapes and proportions—sinister, forbidding. Rain is almost unknown. Scorpions and enormous centipedes, swarm under every stone and poisonous adders menace the unwary. The animals, mostly camels, goats, and donkeys belonging to .■ nomadic families of Senussi, are literally crawling with vermin and lice of the typhusbearing variety, and these-find themselves equally at home on humans, it being'quite impossible to rid clothing or uniforms of these pests. Nights ■ are bitterly cold and'gaunt desert dogs prowl in packs around encampments, while from afar, out of the blackness pierced only by the stars, which Arabs say. are holes in the floor of Heaven, comes the eerie howl of jackals. With daylight the sickening heat is made unbearable to the point of insanity by a contrast, a contrast always present; the cruel translucent blue of the Mediterranean Sea, whose marvellous turquoise waves break in never-enb!ing;;lines - upon golden sands flanking the" blistering hinterland. Everywhere are ,bones, graves, and skeletons, mute evidence of long-for-gotten carayaht; And, there are simple mounds in this b|ot, arid soil marking the last resting place of South Africans,', Dutch;''and British, who died bravely for a gTedt ideal in the fullness of splendid,, manhood, far from their LIBYAN WASTES. Hundreds of miles to the south the Libyan wastes mingle with the sand country of the gijeat Sahara, but westward from Mersa Matruh the going is practically flat, until a lofty escarpment is approached after many weary days': marching. When first visible, this appears like a gigantic blue unbroken wali across the horizon as far as the eye can see. This steppe, for that is what it really is, is about half the-height of Table Mountain. Its northern extremity is dominated by the fortress of El Solium which marks the commencement of Italian territory and once surmounted -it .reveals another great stretch of plain impinging the Tripolitari border; to the south it runs unbroken for a great distance until it loses its continuity. To gain El Solium and disperse the Senussi the forces under Generals Pqyton and Lukin had two heavy en- ! gagements, the first at a place called Bir Shola and the second after much forced marching at Agagia, where the Senussi had'established themselves in one-man trenches from which they were eventually routed. A notable feature of this action was a charge by the Dorset Yeomanry who inflicted '< heavy casualties. ■ A strange incident ! occurred on>. their return over the ; battlefield oh which large numbers of : the enemy had been cut down or were walking about in a state of surren- : der. , . ■ ! Colonel Soutar, ,who had three horses : shot under him and led the charge ; with great gallantry, was bringing back ' his men when he espied the Turkish general Gaafer. Pasha who threw up i his, hands as a token of submission. As Soutar approached he suddenly drew a heavy automatic pistol and, let fly ; at the colonel. Everyone was amazed, but they were ; even more so when their commanding ] officer with a single stroke of his sabre i completely severed the Pasha's right 1 hand, pistol and all, at the wrist, ere he could fire again! The campaign was now practically i

over and the British forces soon after this occupied Sollum. It was now learned that the enemy was in full flight. On hearing this the Duke of Westminster set out in pursuit with nine cars and only 32 men. They dashed along the Tabruk Road running westward to the Bir Asisa Oases' Here an animated scene met their gaze.

Camels were standing loaded, a tenpounder and two machine-guns were in position, and the place was swarming with men just about to move. In a sharp machine-gun action the Senussi were totally demoralised and fled in every direction. It was deemed advisable to prevent the. escape of their supply train and a number of camels were shot, with most startling results, for the beasts were laden with petrol and and blew up with terrific explosions!

The armoured cars were soon again engaged on another daring raid. The Duke of Westminster, who was afterwards awarded the D.S.O. for his services in this connection, learned from a captured tribesman that the survivors of two torpedoed auxiliary cruisers, the Tara and Mcorina, supposed to have been murdered many months before, were captives of the Arabs over 120 miles inside Italian boundaries at a place known as Hidden Spring. The story proved to be true, and after a most adventurous journey the long-lost prisoners wera liberated and rushed to hospital. Among them .was Captain Evans, of the Tara, who wrote a book entitled "In the Hands of Senussi"— being a thrilling narrative of his wanderings in captivity.

These incidents ended the South Africans' association with a land they were far from loath to leave. Libya, hard, cruel, and inscrutable, had once more been subdued by force of arms.