ROMANCE OF THE DESERT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17199, 20 June 1916, Page 8

ROMANCE OF THE DESERT.

RESCUE OF THE TARA'S PRISONERS. . " (Prom W. T. MASSEY.) While on the Western Egyptian front last week I heard full details of tho armoured car fleet's dash to the rescue of the Tara's prisoners, from four officers engaged in that" daring enterprise, in an absolutely unknown country, to succour nearly 100 starving Britons. It will stand as a classic in.motoring aiinals. In many ways fortune favoured u.s, but it was only by a, complete disregard of tremendous difficulties and a display of high qualities of courage and resource that • the expedition was successful. ■. The discovery of the place of concealment was one of the romantic features. When General Lukin reoccupied Solium lie found that the enemy had burnt the camp and the German-owned munition factory at Bir Waer, six miles south of tho port. Ten armoured cars, following up tho enemy's tracks came upon a remarkable road, which,'starting in the desert, runs to Tobruk. ninety miles away in Tripoli. According to English notions, tho road surface was execrable, but the armoured car enthusiasts declare it tci bo splendid. _ Over it the motors had a speed of thirty-five miles an hour. At Aziza, nineteen miles from Bir Waer, the cars suddenly came upon the enemy,' and dashed into a Turkish mountain gun and two machine-guns, killing every gunner by maxim fire. Then, without a halt, they charged in line over the boulders, stiff scrub, sandy patches, and all the other traps among the_ widely-scattering foe, who were taking to their heels at the aproach of tho magical instruments of the infidel. The charge continued for seven miles, but the enemy, thrown into the wildest confusion, could not be further chased for fear of a shortage of petrol. Many of tho enemy were killed, and three field-guns, nine machine-guns, hundreds of rifles, spare parts, dynamite, travelling workshops, and a quarter of a million rounds of riflo ammunition were captured. Some of the camels, hit by our ma-chine-gun fire, blew to pieces as if struck by a high explosive and then burst into flames. It was found that the Arabs had loaded them up with bombs aud petrol. ARAB'S LONG MEMORY. On returning to Solium the Duke of Westminster was informed that a letter had been picked up in the ruins of Bir Waer from Captain Gwntkin Williams to Nuri Bey, complaining that tho Tara prisoners were starving and ill and suggesting that medical comforts should bo procured at Solium. Tho letter mentioned Bir Hakim as tho place of the prisoners' detention. Every prisoner and refugee was interrogated, but none knew Bir Hakim except a man who said he had fed a flock there thirty years ago. Subsequently another man, who had been the prisoners' guard, was discovered, and the Duke asked permission to att-empt a rescue. Every man in the batteries sat up all night and next day tuning up the machines. Tho batteries were reinforced by light cars carrying guns, and all tho motor ambulances within travelling range of Solium were brought in. By midnight on March 16 there were gathered at the old Turkish fort on the ridge above Solium nine armoured cars, five touring cars with guns, light cars with supplies, and the ambulances—-forty-two motors altogether. No tourist trophy cars were over more carefully prepared than these. At three o'clock on St Patrick s morning the column moved out of tlie fort across tho few miles, of trackless desert, until the Tobruk road was picked up. Azizia, the sceno of the charge two days before, was reached in darkness, aud the force halted for the first rays of tho sun to light up'the sky behind them The cars then hummed ahead, gathering pace as tho shadows disappeared. At sixty-fivo miles a small party of. Arabs were disarmed, but the men wero set freo, as there was no room for prisoners, For-miles the tracks of a car had heen seen, and at eighty-one miles yocaptured one belonging to the Royal >aval Armoured Car Division. The cars engine was in good order, hut one of the back wheels was buckled. It had improvised tyres. ■ .• • A great quantity of sheet rubber has been washed up on this coast, presumably part of the cargo of a torpedoed ship The Arabs had rolled it up tightly, bound it with camel hide, and fastened it to the rims with wire. An officer went out a few days later tor this car, and found that it had heen When the column got eighty miles on tho Torbuk road the cars changed direction, turning on the desert due south. After fifteen miles rough-and-tumble over desperately rough ground the party to feel uncertain of success The two Arab guides were arguing as to whether they were on the Fight track; the man who had not seen En- Hakim since his boyhood thought they were wrong. The other. Arab would not say much, although circumstances proved him a zealous guide. Me thought the pace of the cars was greater than it really was, and lie expected to arrive sooner. The desert was now very stony, but the going was fairly hard. A hundred miles went by, andl then 105. That was believed to be the limit of the distance, but still there was not the faintest sign of the Tara prisoners camp. At between 110 and 115 miles nobody spoke; and the silence suggested fears of failure. A mile further on the Arab became animated, on seeing a sort ot small mountain. " ARE WE FREE." \ halt was called at two o'clock, and the Duke sent forward the armoured cars to attack. They raced up to within two hundred yards of the mound, and, as one would expect, the first car was that of Lieutenant William Griggs, the famous jockey, who regards this as the biggest of the classic races in which ho has taken part. Before the relievers tho prisoners were standing silhouetted against the sky-line, absolutely motionless and silent as statues, dumb with amazement at the appearance of the strange,

throbbing fleet. At last one man threw off the sack covering him and faintly cheered, and the crowd staggered forward in the rolling gait of starved men, and swarmed round the cars, crying. " Are wo free?" They could not be persuaded to leave the cars, and slightly hindered our advance to tackle tho guards, all of whom were subsequently killed. One officer declared that the prisoners were so excited that they " jawed like blazes." Meanwhile the remainder of the column, on seeing the prisoners leave tho mound, started a tremendous race to the spot. They ran abreast, caring not for obstacles or punctures, but just tore forward as fast as their engines would propel them, and the air was filled with the cheers of the crews and the noise of the exhausts. The prisoners' condition was desperate. A heap of white shells showed that snails had been their staple diet. Occasionally they had goat flesh, but the amount served out was reduced to the size of a skinned mouse, one prisoner said. Some parties had. gone out daily to find edible roots. These had been collected from a wide area, and as,the captives' strength diminish, ed they made painful_ journeys with small results. They think that in five days their resources would have ended. Some of them ate too freely of the bread, milk, jam and bully beef .carried in the ambulances, and the cars were slowed down on tho homeward journey, Solium being reached on tho following day.

The cars travelled 240 miles. With the rescued prisoners were two mascots of the Armoured Car Division, one being a parrot brought away front Ypres, which cannot speak, but betraya its former home by making a quaint noise like the flight of a shell. A ship's officer and a Greek interpreter missing from the prisoners wero found safe. Thev went under escort to Tobruk for food, the guards tolling the Italian authorities that the prisoners were starving and that tho English woulH pay. While food was being procured! tho Italians received a wireless message announcing tho rescue, and the two were immediately released.