WESTERN EGYPT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17198, 19 June 1916, Page 5

WESTERN EGYPT.

BEDOUINS SURRENDER

A FOODLESS COUNTRY

(From W. T. MASSEY.)

MEBSA MATRUH, April 17. There nre / several reasons -which make it unsafe to prophesy wlibn the complete submission of the Western Arabs will he secured, but anyone who has been permitted to visit the long line of country on Egypt’s western scabord, and to go deep on to the Lybian plateau along the boundaries of Tripoli, secs the plainest evidence that the power they liavo for mischief is broken. There are a good .many of the Alaliafzioli (the Senussi uniformed soldiery) still in the Held, though they are a very long way from a place where their influence could be exerted against us on tho coast. 'They, know the lesson of the campaign, and the moral effects of repeated defeats and continual retirements, with heavy losses in* men, equipment and warlike material, will not make them hotter lilted' to stir up tho roving Arab, without whose assistance a Senussi attack bn Egypt would be n trifling- pinprick.

Tho value of the swift, unerring, paralysing strokes of General Peyton's little force lies in the smashing of tho German and Turkish influence over tho Bedouin, and you cannot, go through tile country without, getting the fullest proof everywhere of the complete failure of their diabolical plans, For several weeks the Bedouins have been surrendering at'the rate of hundreds a day. They are trekking east towards the camps prepared for them many miles away, where the wiles fr/c the Turk a.ro lost, upon them and whore food is freely given. Every party you meet is in a pitiable plight. Starving men, women and children are witnesses of the devilish scheming of the Hun. The country is absolutely barren, and not a grain of the barley of rare quality which is Matruh’s only contribution to the world’s markets has been raised in the district this season. The Arabs havo been living on root, and snails, but the struggle for existence is terribly hard, uud tho cairns in tho desert toil of those fallen by the way. There are in this garrison two small Arab girls who, abandoned by their tribe to die on tbc sandy uplands, were picked up by a patrol and brought into camp. They were mere skeletons, and it seemed impossible that they could live, hut the hospital sisters tenderly nursed them back to life.

Wo are fording tho multituri'e, and the biscuits and dried dates handed out to this big portion of the enemy army are only less prized than tho pass which permits the journey to the east, and to safety and peace. The Arabs have learnt, in a hard school, and it is difficult- to believe that Turkish cunning or German gold will ever again succeed in raising Bedouins to fight against English rule. You feel proud of your raeo when you hear and see how we wage war against- these misguided savages. There has been no wanton killing, though by the rules of war a treacherous enemy never more deserved the full penalty.ln open battle we bit hard and often, but tho man desiring /to surrender was given his life to live to understand a generous foe. It has frequently happened when the armoured ears were reconnoitring parties of throe or four Arabs were met. Their arms were taken from them, and

all equipment and ammunition destroyed, but as there was no room in the cars for prisoners the men were allowed to go. Men thus set. freo can compare our acts with the ruthlessness of Turkish and German officers in their own camps of which they complain, and .the steady flow ( of deserters from the enemy will doubtless increase in volume. TRIALS OF THE TROOPS.

Most of the details of the fighting in Western Egypt havo been published. There were no accredited correspondents with the force, so that a full description of the work accomplished by troops under difficult conditions cannot be written with the authority of an eye-witness. But I and ono other war correspondent, having received permission from tho Commander-in-Cluef, Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to go anywhere along tho front, can speak of the theatre of operations knd of the trying nature of the country, and from the information freely given to ns by those who. wore engaged can declare that the well-conceived campaign was prosecuted with energy and skill. Good leaders could rely on troops of excellent quality. It was not nn easy campaign. The troops had all sorts of trials. They marched to action at Halazin on January 23 in pitiless rain, which so bogged the ground that transport had to bo left miles behind axle deep hi mud. After their victory the troops bivouacked on two cold nights without greatcoats or blankets, and wounded were for two days on stretchers carried by comrades in reliefs, fatigued bovoud measure l»y the clinging mud. Then there was a period when even tho discomforts of hailstorms would have boon welcomed- Long a,no frequent marches on stony and sandy desert, under a scorching sun, on a. very limited water supply, succeeded the weeks when rain filled the wadis. This was borne with the cheerfulness of hardy men, but thirst was less bearable than cold and wet. Practically

'• the whole of the water supply came , by the sea route from Alexandria to Matruli in those days, and was sent forward by camel train, and there were , times when men had only eight pints for all purposes in forty-eight, hours. ; Now condenser plants allow a fuller supply. The wells furnished very little, and for sorao reason the Roman cisterns which abound in this area gave nothing liko the quantity expetd of them. Some of tho underground cisterns I have seen had only an inch of thick, yellow liquid in them, j though in average years they would , • have several feet of water. Tot- this lias been an unusually wet winter. , Still, the column never faltered in its ■ progress until Solium, evacuated last summer, was reoccupied, and the whole , of tho Egyptian coastline ports were t deniod as possible bases for. German j submarines. These submarines aro known to have conveyed Turkish offi- s cors, rifles, and ammunition to the j enemy, and on one occasion a U-boat , shelled ami sank a small vessel m t

Solium Bay. REOCCUPATION OF SOLLUM. Tho advance on Solium was admirably done. Brigadier-General H. TLukin commanded the column, and Ids South Africans had a big share of the work. They went, forward from Matruli by the coast road, and when thev reached Sidi Baraui, and had non decisively at Agagir, the enemy must have recognised that his hopes of a British attack on Solium from the sea would not bo fulfilled. A landing in the bay would havo been a hazardous operation. Solium, a tiny town of three houses. with a tort on the hill top, lies on tho flat shore of a beautiful bay. Across a few hundred yards of iairlj level sand there is a rough, uneven wall which rises very abruptly somo 700 ft above sen. level, and this escarpment runs round the Lybiau plateau many scores of miles. The top of tho plateau is almost flat, with not moie than a few feet rise over hundreds or square miles. To approach the plateau from Solium with tho line of the escarpment occu-

pied. would have courted disaster. There are only one or two possible paths, and half'a dozen well placed machine guns could control all ot them. One of the ascents is a Roman road, scarcely used for 1500 years, but still in good condition in places, and when I walked up it Royal Scots and Middlesex men were preparing a better surface than tins road possessed in the clays of ancient colonisers. General Lukin decided to get Solium from the crest, and took his column up Halfia Pass, the character of which may bo judged by the name of “ Hell Firo Pass ” given to it by bis men. The pass was absolutely impracticable for armoured cars, and these made a detour of some thirty miles. From the moment the infantry and armoured car batteries were on the plateau Solium was automatically ours, whether the enemy resisted or not. As a matter of fact, the Arabs accepted the inevitable, burnt their camp and Ger-man-owned ammunition factory at Bir TV aor and fled south-westwards, charged brilliantly on the way by tho armoured oars. That story has been 1 cabled to you. ' TROOPS OF THE EMPIRE. ' Tho campaign lias an importance to the Empire far beyond that of relieving the Egyptian seaboard of the presenco of an enemy invader. It has been an object-lesson of Imperial unity, and long after the war is over the effect of this little, though important, “ side-show ” of the world-war will bo Felt in most corners of the earth I ivboro tho British flag flies. Tho com-

| radeship of troops drawn from four continents was cemented by the strongest welding influence—close association on the field of battle —and mutual admiration for each other’s qualifies has forged tics which will grow firmer when the Empire's soldiers separate after their work is done and return to spread the. good rejiort among their own people. *" / .General Peyton’s force was drawn from a far-flung Imperial line. Tho Mother Country sent- units of horse, foot and artillery, yeomanry and territorial. which long ago stood as ex-

amples to others to prepare for the day that, has como. Australia and New Zealand had veterans reinforced by men who responded to the call when the colonies left tho indelible mark of a courageous stock on Gallipoli. South Africans, having conquered in SouthWest. Africa, came to the north-east of the continent to prove tho strain was mie to the old line. India was worthily represented by Sikhs. They all' had a share, and if it fell to the lob of tho South Africans and a portion of the British troops to bear the fullest part of the active work which ended the campaign no one grudges them the praise which is their due. A remarkable feature of this theatre of operations: is the pleasure given to men of one unit to speak well of'another. It was not always thus, but hero, whenever you talk of a. British yeoman, a New Zealand rifleman, an Australian stalwart in the camel corps or a South African infantryman, .the conversation lends, mu’to inevitably, to some sterling work done by men of another corps. SPLENDID SOUTH AFRICANS. Thus while the South Africans find it difficult to say much about their triumphs, it delights them to tell of tho Dorset Ycomanty’s charge, of the dash of the armoured cars, and of the fine gunnery ot the Horse Battery, and, seemingly, they are more anxious that tlie yeomen’s gallop over ground flecked with the Are of machine guns and bursting Turkish shells should be described than the trials of themselves during very long marches when wells failed them. On the other hand, an English officer largely responsible for the sue- • cess of an operation which will stand as a big deed in the war can onlr find it in him to talk qf the South

.ui'iKMia, miiu iiij> uTioounaea praise or behaviour under, fire was summed up in the words, “ They attacked as coolly as if walking down Bond Street.” Similarly, .the New Zealander has carried away with him a high opinion of all bis comrades in arms, but he is particularly proud cf his South African brothers, because bo regards them as a branch ,of the vounger Briton’s limb of the old tree, and in their strength lies added fagio to the whole of the colonial forces. When the South Africans finish their work here they hope to join their comrades from overseas on another front, where the bond uniting them to the Mother Country will become even stronger than it was when patriotism prompted them to join for service against the Hun. Sixty per cent of the men arc South African born of British parents, a number are British domiciled within the Union, and a

good sprinkling of Boers 'points to the success of our colonisation. In camp, as I sow them, they were the cheeriest set of men iu the Empire's Army, excellent ir, discipline, and possessing a physique which the heavy limbed meu from the Antipodes cannot surpass. A staff officer who witnessed the inspection of the South African Scottish showed me an entry he had made in his diary: “ Absolutely tbo finest regiment I have ever seen on parade.” The compliment to the wearers of ;he Athol tartan was deserved. Some of the South Africans, including General Lukin, have had three campaigns in waterless countries. They regard themselves as properly “ blooded ” for the trial which is to be the hall-mark of their military capacity, and for that effort.

their strength and courage will well and truly serve the Empire.

A BARREN COUNTRY

A word or two about the country which has bean re-gathered to the British and Egyptian flags. Except for tho fringe along the coast it is inhospitable, and everywhere if is waterless. Tho wells are no% worth the name. Save in the sponging season, when a profitable trade is allowed to be carried on by Greeks, who spend nothing in Egypt and carry away their harvest to be handled in their own country, there is no export other than Mat mil barley. Whether there will over be commercial prospects for Western Egypt is problematical, but politically the importance qf the long stretch we have garrisoned is unquestionable. Mersa Ma t rub is the principal town. It has a dozen houses, nearly all owned by Greeks, who fled on* enemy rumours. The harbour is quite good for vessels drawing fifteen feet, ancl in it I was comfortably stormbound on a small coastguard vessel famous for .its hospitality to all held up for a passage. The barometer stood lower than the veteran skipper remembered it in these waters, j but the stout English-built craft rode out a heavy gnle with complete serenity

Thor© are many traces of ancient civilisation hero, and Cleopatra’s villa, now only a few feet above the beautiful white sands which enclose the blue, scintillating waters of the harbour, is worthy of an antiquary’s studies. Bo aro the tombs of an old race. Catacombs arc found for miles 'around, but tlie.y were long ago visited by ipeople with loss respect for burial places than British troops, and only tile holes out in stone are of interest. H Sidi Baraiu and the other small ports’are of vahidf to the coastguard, who, ceaselessly watch for the smuggling of arms and other things harmful in Bedouin hands. The country is barren, and is a fickle support for Arabs, their camels and flocks, and unless water, which has eluded the search of engineers, is found the plateau will never support more than a wandering population.