THE MAGHDABA VICTORY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16890, 30 December 1916, Page 7

THE MAGHDABA VICTORY.

FINE WORK BY MOUNTED MEN.

A BAND OF BROTHERS.

Australian £j)d N.Z. Cable Association LONDON, December 28.

(Received Dec. 29, at 5.5 p-m.)

In a despatch from El Arish Mr W. T. Massey, correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, describes the victory at Maghdaba as one of the most important battles of the campaign in Eastern Egypt. It added fame to the Anzac mounted troops and proved the sterling value of the camel corps, composed of British yeomanry antl colonial horsemen. It was a brilliant stroke, tinder extraordinarily arduous conditions, inflicting an overwhelming defeat on the Turks. The swift, fierce, and irresistible attack will have an important moral effect, the mounted men traversing 25 miles to El Arish in a single night—a feat which has been hitherto considered impossible in desert warfare. The Turks are hurriedly trekking eastward, their calculations regarding Northern Sinai having been completely upset. They evacu ated El Arish, not expecting its loss, but they did not reckon on the remarkable mobility of the desert column, whose pursuit caused nervousness regarding communications.

The feeling of camaraderie between the Anzac mounted men and the camel corps was strongly cemented by the Maghdaba action. They have co-operated before, but not in Such close proximity, and under the mutual admiration for strong, deter mined work they have become a band of brothers. The Anzac uounted division has never known failure. Nobody understands the resourcefulness, courage, ana endurance of the Anzacs better than the enemy. The Anzacs are simply invaluable in Egypt. All are anxious for an other move to keep the old Turk on the run.