INVASION OF EGYPT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3873, 9 March 1915, Page 5

INVASION OF EGYPT.

NEW: ZEALAND TROOPS AWAITING THE CALL. THE ADVANCE OVER THE desert discussed. SOME INTER ESTIN( i SH) ELIG H T'S AND OPINIONS. (Specially Written for the '‘Gisborne Times.”) (By A.M.) CM HO. Jen. 18. The training of New Zealand's Expeditionary Force is proceeding apace in ‘Egypt land, so far nothing, certain is announced as to our future movements. There are still current the rumors about our probable utilisation as an opposing force for the advancing Turks and the feeling among the troops is one of keenness for service against the Eormo-Turkish Army on the historical desert. It is five months almost to a day since the Force was organised and the oversea soldiers are naturally looking to some sort of culmination to the long and tedious term of training which they have undergone. As I have already told you, the anticipation of war instilled into the men a more enthusiastic spirit and they are training assiduously and well. Taken ns n whole, the men are in. perfect health, the plain wholesome tucker and the regular and proper exercise entailed in training, having improved the physique of many, and having prepared them like so many athletes for some contest which requires their fitness, endurance and ' strength. It is a soldier’s bounden duty to keep himself clean, healthy and well, so far as lies in his power arid this much accomplished, with the addition of a training such as we have undergone, war, real war, is' the remaining experience necessary to make a man a soldier m the truest sense of the term. Such was the belief of a life-expcrieneed-sergeanb-major as given to me personally to-day. There is much yet-to be learned, hut to a hotly of men who have come, to a far country, imbued with patriotic ideals, something real and practical is what will do most for them. Plainly there is the prospect of the New Zealanders seeing at an early date "what they have hungered for,” as our High Commissioner put it, hut they must perforce take the Hon Thomas Mackenzie's added advice to "be patient men, be patient.” An iron willed man and one who is rich in his knowledge of Egypt iand the dangers which j confront n>. is moulding his policy for j us and will beyond doubt use the j oversea Forces arid the troops in ' Egypt to the best advantage when the time arrives. The leading British Press talks lightly of the advance on the gigantic desert and points to history as a proof of the impossibility of any success in the huge' undertaking; while in Egypt, the utmostoptimism prevails and commerce improves and those who have seen our Protectorate grow are implicitly confident of the defences which the Canal offers and of the resistance which can be offered. I can do no better than quote from the noted sources which I give below in order to show the position as it is:—

"STRANGEST THING IN THE WAR.” , The "Pall Gazette” just to hand says on the subject-: "We are to-day informed that the Turkish army concentrated in the plains of Palestine lias commenced its march south with the intention of crossing the arid desert which lies between it and the Suez Canal. The Germans who are in control of the army, apparently do not think at all about tlio disasters awaiting them, so long as they can give the Allies something to do, however small a task it may be. No one is ignorant of the terrible difficulties which must be encountered in crossing the desert. It is true that several __aneient and modern conquerors have accomplished this exploit, but everyone knows that, victorious or vanquished, they have left the desert strewn with the corpses of their soldiers. Are there by chance among the generals directing the Turkish army men more capable and wiser than Moses or Napoleon.'

"For these reasons we are impatiently awaiting the advance of this army' to see how it will fare. It is the strangest of all the many strange tilings in this war to see the troops of Padisonali. at the order of a giaour Emperor, preparing the sacred passage of the Jews in their flight from Egypt, in order to encounter the British, Australian and New Zealand troops who are there to bar their path.’' THE THREATENED ADVANCE. an illuminative article. The following is from the "Mail. ? the leading British paper in Egypt: (The following article appeared first in our native contemporary. "A! Abram,” and from inquiries we have since made in official quarters the fact's stated therein are all coreret.) Rumors of the most fantastic nature having been, bruited abroad concerning the situation in Syria, the nature and extent of the Turkish military preparations in that country and proximity of an hosvrie army to the Suez Canal, the. following summary of the situation is from authorativo sources. . - All information received from teyria both before and since the outbreak of war between Turkey and the Akied Powers shows that the Syrian population has suffered grievously from every form of military exaction. Live-stock, provisions, transport, in fact all property which might he useful for military purposes ami articles such as women’s dresses, silks and muslins, the military value of u iiicii is not apparent, have been requisitioned on a large scale. 1 lie owners of the goods thus taken receive atbest derisory compensation and m most cases go unpaid, their sole consolation being the hope that they will escape the financial contributions which are being freely levied under the title of voluntary patriotic subscriptions. Quite recently the Ottoman nnhtaiy authorities ordered the sheikhs or the Beni Sukliuv tribe of Bediuns to bring COO camels to Birves Baba promising to pav a Napoleon hire for each camel. On their arrival the sheikhs were offered 00 Napoleons. Their indignation was such that aided by their followers they broke into the arms depot at BirVes Saha, seized what weapons they found there, and fled with their beasts to the eastern desert, 1 \t Amman, on the Hedjaz railway, {he military attempted to stop them: a conflict ensued in which several lost their lives and the Beduins made good their escane with their camels. Hus incident has naturally made othei Beduin tribes most unwilling supply the authorities with came! transport. THE UNHAPPY FELLAHEEN. A lot of the Syrian fellaheen is even harder than that of the Beduin. ■Great numbers have been called to the colors; many havo deserted and are now hiding. Those able-bodied men who have not been mobilized are obliged to labor for the milit-aiy authorities for nothing. The corve with all its abuses has thus been restored. Had not tlve harvest of 3 been exceptionally good, the unhappy, fellaheen would bv now he starving, and many fear that the continuance of military requisitions of food stuffs will, ultimately, bring about famine. Under these circumstances it is riot surprising that the war is most unpopular with all classes of the community. -The proclamation of an Holy War has been coldly receivedMoslem religious opinion has been scandalized bv the fact that the German Consul at Damascus was present when the Jeliad was:, officially proclaimed at the Omeyyads Mosque at Damascus and addressed the congregatipn himself when the. proclamation had been r.ead.

Ur. Whatever the intention of the Gcs vernment of Constantinople the Ottoman local authorities have on the whole behaved well towards the missionaries and other subjects of tli© Allied Powers detained in Syria and there is reason to hope that the hostages detained at Aleppo are being treated with soldierly courtesy -arid humanity. In this connection it may be noted tnat British Indians, all Moslems, who were arrested in the Adana region and imprisoned at Adana, were all offered their freedom should they become Ottoman subjects and enlist in the Turkish Army. One and all refused.

THE THREATENED INVASION. Having at great expense made extensive preparation and collected a largo force, the Turks and their German advisers are practically obliged to attempt tlieir much advertised attack on Egypt. To this end largo numbers of Turkish troops have been sent into Syria from the north and rrsny camels requisitioned. But with this movement of troops fr- rn north to south there has been a sec i cely less considerable transfer of soldiers from south to north. Arab regiments left in Syria have sent,the majority of their Arabic speaking soldiers to Thrace and Constantinople. These regiments have been brought up to strength by the incorporation of Turks. After the departure of the Aiab rank and file came the turn of the Arab officers to he sent to Asia Minor or to Kurdistan against tho Russians. Those who remain make no secret of their regret to he obliged to take part in the present war and <on.sole themselves by their nope that the blighting influence of the Turks will disappear from Syria when the campaign Is over. An incident which befell a landing party from the Russian cruiser Askold is eloquent of the spirit in which these officers regard tqo situation. The landing party met with a body of Turkish troops Jed ly an Arab officer who ordered his men nofto fire and walked ui> to the Russian officer with whom he shook hands, in tlie course of a friendly conversation the Aral) officer made it clear that he nourished no hostile intentions towards the Russians, provided they abstained from acts of aggression and only declined to <>ive the numbers of t'i-> men under his command. Both parted amicably. THE GE It ALAN ASCENDANCY.

But if the Turkish Government is ousting Arab officers from many commands in Syria and is r placing them In Turks who speak no Arabic, the German officers who have arrived uSyria are adopting the same V etics towards the Turks. Djemal Pasha is nominally com-niander-in-Chief hut the real power

vested in Colonel Yon Krossensteui and his German Staff. Zaki Bey, the Turkish Kaimakam of Jerusalem, lias been superseded and his place taken bv a German officer named Kaurimaim. This and similar appointments have caused ill feeling among the Turks and ilie Hotel Faje at Jerusalem was recently the scene of a brawl between Turkish and Gemini officers.

THE DESERT MARCH. But in spite of Arab indifference or hostility, local distress and lack of equipment for even the Turkish Troops, only a third of whom are possessed of uniforms, the Turkish Government inspired by its German advisers, whose motives are obvious to the meanest comprehension, lias determined to attempt the march across the desert against the Canal. The difficulties of such an undertaking are clear. The Turks have by great exertions collected 13.000 camels in Syria but it is doubtful whether these will suffice for the transport of their army nor is it clear how such pieces of artillery as can alone be profitably employed against war vessels and strong defence works are to be transported, across the desert in sufficient number to give the defence any real trouble. Several of these large cumbrous pieces are known to have stuck fast many-long-miles from the Egyptian border. But assuming that the enemy succeeds in vanquishing the difficulties of the desert neighborhood of the Suez Canal there remains the problem of the 'Suez Canal defences. These,* defended as they will he by a numerous and enthusiastic force, are unmanly speaking certain to resist every assault by the invader. Meanwhile the enemy is advancing extremely- slowly. None of his forces, regular or irregular, are now west of El-Arish and except for the collision with his advance parties which took place so long ago as November 21 when the Camel Corps was engaged at Bir el Xuss there has-been no fighting in Egyptian territory.

"LET THE TURKS COME.” PLAYING INTO OUR HANDS. The "Mail” commented editorially on the subjects as follows: "We published yesterday a very interesting communique front the Egyptian Pless Bureau regarding the projected Turkish invasion of Egypt, and wo also print to-day a translation of an equally interesting article front "Al-Aliram” giving further details on the same subject of the truth of which we have been able to obtain official confirmation. There seems, then, hut little doubt that the Turks certainly intend to attempt to invade this country, hut to anyone who has given any study at all to the question it must, have been obvious that they would do so from the day that war was declared between Great Britain and Turkey. Indeed, they could not well act otherwise. Apart from the fact that the Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha, besides being a mere political adventurer with no thought of patriotism or how best- to serve the interests of iiis country in his heart, is an absolute tool in the hands, of the Germans, the Turkish authorities had to make some sort of demonstration to save their own faces with the people. They have proclaimed their intention of •freeing once and for all Syria, and Egypt from all European influence, and the vow once made they must- perforce make some effort, no matter how sorry, to carry it out for the benefit of those suffering thousands whom they have led to believe they intend to liberate, even though such liberation imply the exchanging of the European necklace of toleration lor the Turkish yoke of despotism. That an invasion of Egypt- by way of desert is doomed to failure mustbe apparent to everyone lint- perhaps the Turks themselves, and it seems incredible that even they do not realise tlioir follv. Modern warfare is essentially a war of artillery: no matter how bravely cavalry and artillery may charge their efforts are of no avail aiuL*eud only in death if met with a raking fire from carefully aimed gun:-:. -Wo are told, it is true, thatfor some time past German guns of heavy calibre have been sent to Syria tor the invasion of Egypt, but the problem of how they are to be transported across the desert does not- appear to have entered the Tui’co-Ger-man mind. Several of these large cumbrous pieces arc already reported i<> have stuck fast in the sand many long miles from the Egyptian frontier. But even assuming—and this is doubtful- in the extreme—that the enemy succeeds in vanquishing the difficulties of the desert and in arriving in strength in the neighborhood of the Suez Canal there remains the problem of the Suez Canal defences. We are quite prepared to receive any force >« Turks cafe to sqnd against us, and besides our land forces we would be able to use warships in tlwCanal —no Inconsiderable addition to our already great strength. "The German object in stirring up the Turks was undoubtedly to force Greath Britain to maintain in this country a- considerable force to withstand possible invasion. Once the invaders have come and are defeated—as they must assuredly be—we are free, to use our troops elsewhere. Thus, from our point of view the sooner the invasion begins the better. The Turk would indeed seem to be playing right into our hands.”

"That an invasion of Egypt by way <-t There are no further startling at-' velopments. By the time this readier. New Zealand the cablegrams may have told you that your sons are at grips with tiie Turkish foe: Let us hop©, that New Zealand wins for herself • distinction that the Canadians have gained in their first engagements. January 21. From all that can he learned up 16 the present and from the bulb-tine that have been issued from the Egyptian Tress Bureau, it seems that tho army which is allowed to he advancing over Sinai is reaching a more deplorable condition daily. There hu>been interna) trouble in tbe Armv and the German leaders themselves are reported to be in daily danger. The Bedouins arc becoming dissatisfied with, the condition and with the food supplied and it is said that they are deserting in large numbers.