TURKISH DEBACLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17101, 5 March 1919, Page 7

TURKISH DEBACLE.

THE PALESTINE VICTORY.

VAST. BOOTY CAPTURED.

STORES AND EQUIPMENT.

(Commonwealth Official—Copyright.) PALESTINE, Headquarters. In less than a fortnight the British Army in Palestine captured 75,000.Turkish and German prisoners. Of. the if hole enemy force from Damascus south' it is doubtful if more than 5000 escaped. • The troops taken in this phenomenally swift campaign included tue great .biuk of wuui was best in the Ottoman''A-tiny. But the officers and men maue prisoners or killed, were only the beginning ot mo enemy s disaster. So rapid was Uio advance made by Uenerai Cnauve.'s eager horsemen that the lurks lost everything on wiiich his three I'aiestiue armies depended for their capacity as tignters and existence as human bangs. Un tile day before our bombardment there was south of Damascus millions starling of iuikisli arms and munitions, and every kind of equipment. Of that vast amount, of, widespread material practically'nothing escaped. Nea'ny every gun and shell, macnine-giui 'find rifle and round of ammunition, hundreds of motot-l.orj-ies, - many motor-cars, great and small, great numbers of animal-drawn ■vea.iCiesy..)iorses, camels,, mules,: and-,, oxen, numbering several, thousand, " aeroplanes,? complete railway trains, etc., were overtaken and . instantly flung out of. action by our galloping cavairy. Then there were largo supplies of petrol, half-a-dozsn aerodromes, witn all their intricate mechaical work- ■ I shops, scores of railway stations, _ many ' telephones, and considerable-quantities of signalling apparatus, including . tireless stations, and many .miles of wire,', travelling kitchens, supplies of food, surprising.y large quantities .of German wines and cigars, many unit headquarters, with all their; ~ army ]papera i t ajiu,.-. unbroken stationery— this and much,more^" On September' : l&V' it ,r was' v In" perfect. , working order. A.few (lays latent was out of -action, and most Wei:-it rapidly, going but of existence..'V",';":• *,i>l? ....'-.": ■ -'' «..iUv 4& The Bedouin Harvest.^,,..,:-!.

! It is almost a misuse of words to say i that we captured ' this -huge mass of [ material. We certainly -overran, it,. But the bulk of it was destroyed; $ W&r is I waste all the' way. In aiew.days enemy ! property to the tune 'of scores^of,millions | sterling was absolutely destroyed* This destruction was not wanton-r-ifr-Tcas simply an inevitable part of war. Of all the enemy stuff we overran not-. Ivlper cent, perhaps is to-day iof !;any'4yalua to us. ''The rest'? :Much'.the "enemy -fired at the last moment. '■ A petrol and a^maicii.fSung : , at v f : lorry as onr horsemen swooped down< upon it, left little but the' engine arid. iron-tor us to " capture." Sometimes: the" 'cavalry, secured great hauls' of; stuff intact;'' ':Buft d their , mission- was not,the protection or salvage . of enemy property, '■ >howler; valuable. And they would' not be out of sight before the thieving Bedouins, the camp . followers of 5000-year:!, and the bodeat and most, brazenly honest .looted m toe world, would rise from -.the, bare;-p>ms \ as mysteriously as vultures- 1 appear- from a bright blue sky and begin their,gentle trafficking. One had to admire this campaign the audacity and swift resource of the Bedouin. Looting is a passion with these' picturesque folk /of Western , Palestine. War fulfils 'the u harvest of • their dreams;- They must .not-.bo confused with'fighting Allies on'the e>st of Jordan. Those are the true Arabs, who are to-day'very near to what : tliey; W a thousand years ago. These' fellows along the Mediterranean suffer by t comparison. Fichting is not in their; line ft mo sincere neutrals.-. ; They win, whoever wins. Like the true connoiseur they collect for the joy : of possession, but their one condition is cheapness. They will take anything, that. they can, get for nothing, from empty jam tira .to the'flesh of a dead carnal • *'■■. • ' When our cavalry swarmed- over tire Esdraelon Plain, ar.<! in a few hours captured great dumps at Nazareth, Jemn, and ; Afule, the Bedouin revelled in his conception of Armageddon. He came from every camp and village within twentymiles • or more, and with him came his womon and children and parents.,and .grandl parents, and camels and horseS and asses. ■'•'*"'■ Motors : 'and Turkish. , The British Army, of course, took over at once all enemy arms and munitions. ! There was no" destruction, and, practically no loss of guns or There was, too,, an instant appropriation for active use of every serviceable motorlorry and car. It was wittily remarked that he was a poor man who had not scored an enemy motor-car. The trouble was not to find the car, but to lay,hands on a driver. Then there were the captured horses, or rather ponies, for very seldom has Hie Turk a horse which stands above thirteen hands. We picked these. ponies up in i preat numbers, skinny, long-haired, little* fellows, but, like their masters, extremely 'hardy campaigners. All captured horses •have to be 6ent back to the- base as soon as possible after they are taken. But a little srace, is given, and' for Vweek or two after an advance you see a fair sprinkling of the best of them in. .ouv cavalry lines. . , m", ." , Since then most of the-Turkish ponies have been sold ait auction in a keen local market; the puis have been collected by ordinance; tho Turkish grains ar<<. .running on the restored railways; life « almost normal over the wide captured territorv and in the villages and '•towns. Drive over the 20.000 or 30,000 square miles of territory acquired in the campaign. and you cannot believe that here less: 'han. a month aero was a great modern .enemy army 100.000 strong. Scarcely i trace , of the fighting; Turk remains;, rod what is, sWIJ more extraordinary there,'is yery little .-,. to tell that for many hundreds,of years . the Ottoman Government (Ke'd ..and ruled . : , the land. ; The evidenceof-i;hei long .• ;; Turkish oppression is negatMlV .One of tho '.\i richest lands in the" worlcliliejft relatively- ,d undeveloped.. A region iwhmhiorice carried fh-v many millions ,of rich > settlers, and was .■% beautiful with ,- its wide s orchards and groves and priceless : forwts of timber?ancl; ; v ; i its wide'domains'of intensive cultivation,'-., i" I its wide' domains of intensive cultivation, to-day lies taeelete and negWod and [poor,-.: ," ,\ ; • , '■'.■:■•■'..'•'..': : , ' ■■' 'fii