MARCH INTO PALESTINE.

Nelson Evening Mail, 15 May 1917, Page 1

MARCH INTO PALESTINE.

RAPID RAILWAY BUILDING. "WATER SUPPLY PROBLEM. How the British troops mastered the difficulties of the desert and planted htcel rails an they advanced from Sue/, towards' Beer&heba is told by a correspondent of the Manchester " Guardian. Our occupation of El Arish and victories at Makhdaba and Rafa make it permissible to write some account of the long and arduous preparations made and the immense natural difficulties ■ overcome before these objects could bo achieved with such apparent ease and at su little seeming cist. - New wharves were built and improvised -along the canal. The Egyptian Labour Corps' was increased and organised by British officers, "and thousands an,d thousands of natives were '"doing ' their bit" as members of it. Enormous quantities of stores were accumulated on ■ the canal bank, which became a huge "< town of canvas and hutments. Meantime at right angles to the canal, shooting out due east, went a railway, which, since August, has actually grown at the, rate of a mile a day, and beside the' t'aihvay, following it as quickly aspos- s ■ sible, went a, road, a macadamised road, capable of resisting the wear of streams of three-ton lorries, guns, and all other military traffic. Vast numbers of camels had to "be ■'' found and camel transport of water' or- ' ganised to supply the advanced units with "fantassis"—that is, flat, recta'ngular metal cases, each containing -12 gallons of water. Twelve gallons of wa- ! tcr weigh, roughly, 1201b, and two of ! these fantassis are accordingly the load | for a single camel. .Even if water could Liu found locally fit for the horses and camels the transport for the watering of a single brigade would thus involve a camel ti-ain of nearly a mile in length.When the August 'fighting was over it was decided to exploit the- water ■ resources of the desert itself, because the '. eventual advance, now, acomplishcd, . was already decided on. Among many difficulties the water difficulty was the most acute. This northern part of the Sinai Peninsula is not a waterless desert in the sense that the greater part o£ the Sahara or the"Libyan desert is." On, the contrary, the subsoil water- is almost, • everywhere fairly close beneath the sur- ' facel varving from 2ft to 20ft as a rule. ' Unfortunately this water more "- than an extension of the sea or of the ' ' ''sabkhots,' 1 or salt marshes, on « the, coast. These in the summertime dry up' > » into sheets of solid salt as white as snow. i The highlands of this country are | sand dunes, rising in placos to hills of i sand, hills and ridges rising to' 300 ft and over, masses of sand that actually move across the desert in course of time. ' All the conditions were cruel to' working and fighting men. The soft, ankle-deep , sand exhausted both men and 'horses - that had to traverse it, fand its v particle blew and mingled, with - every' morsel that man ate. Sand permeated everything, and one came to loathe it as we have loathed mud at home andin Fland- '_ ers. I have known both, and I believe ■. sand conies only second to inud in'.pro-' v ducing an intolerable weariness in this human spirit. Snow and extreme, cold ' ■ will kill more quickly,, but their victim escapes the long weariness and the undignified diseases which are the band/, maidens of the desert sand. ' " , Across this'country we used ,to,nd'e out at dawn prospecting' for water,, fol* . ' , lowed by 'a : party .of Royal Engineers s with their apparatus loaded on camels. . Then, when a likely place had been selected, came the toilsome job of sinking a tube,to the water level. If it was a luck sh6t water would-be found at 12ft or 15ft, and the hand pump mo itited.'.- Samples of water were collected, and as soon as possible a . made to return to our bivouacs, for it was important to get men, horses; and camels back to some sort of shade before the'sun got too high and the heat dangerous. . ' ,' . Then under" the shade of a blanket , stretched between stout palm - leave? driven into tho sand< the portable, chemical outfit was produced and the exact percentage of salt was estimated. This was entered on .the map on tno spot where tho boring was situated, and . tabulated in the report as fit for- came la* onlv, for horses, or for men—very sel.-.-, Mom tho last. Thus by degrees the,; 'water state of the whole area of opart*tions was mapped out, wells sunk, and every possiblo preparation m*de , tor ; the oncoming army.