THE CLEARING OF SINAI

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17104, 8 September 1917, Page 11

THE CLEARING OF SINAI

ATTACK BY PIPELINES. BRILLIANT ORGANISATION (Fhom Oou Own CoEEESPONi)E>,r) LONDON, July 10. A score or of New Zoalanders axe. mentioned _ by Sir Archibald Murray foi their services in the operations between, October and March whieh? resulted in the complete clearing of the Peninsula of Sinai, which belongs to Egypt, but which had been for two years partially occupied by the Turks. < The despatch says that to regain this » peninsula, the true- frontier of Egypt, hundreds of miles of road and railway had been built, hundreds of miles of water piping had < been laid, filters . capable of supplying 1,500,000 gall&nsof water a day and reseivoirs bed been installed, and tons of stone j. transported from distant quarries. Kantara had been transformed from a small canal village into an important railway and water terminus, with wharves and cranes and a railway ferry: and the desert, till then almost * | destitute of human habitation, showed the , successive marks of'our advance in the shape : of strong positions firmly entrenched and protected by hundreds of miles of barbed I wire, of standing camps where troops could shelter in comfortable huts, of tanks and reservoirs, of railway stations and sidings, of aercdremes, and of signal stations and wireless installations, by all of which the desert was subdued and made habitable, and adequate lines of communication established , between the- advancing troops and their everreoeding base. The- railway, towards the end of October, had roaohed the neighbourhood of Bir Salmans, 45 miles east of the Suez Canal, and in December it was" beyond Mazar, 23 miles further east. The water supply was, indeed, a controlling factor. Until the pipe line reached Romani the water for the advanced troops had to he brought up by rail ~ in tank tracks and stored in improvised tanks at railway sidings. The troops had i now passed out of the water-bearing Katia , basis and reached a tract in water was almost non-existent. With the first ~ large operation, the attack on El Ansh, the A water difficulty came fflto prominence The *• enemy was disposed so as to cover all the _, water in the area, and, if tibe operation occupied two days, water would have to be car- l ried in very large quantities oil camels, so that an enormous reserve of water had to bo accumulated at the railhead. The sup- s ply was not ready till December 20, and the ' Turks were &us able to withdraw from El Arish, which we occupied on the 21st.

VICTORY OP MAGDHABA. Two days later a flying column, consisting of Australian and New Zealand % mounted troops and the Imperial Camel Corps, started for Magdhaba, usher© & - Turkish force, thought to be the garrison * of El Arish, had been located. A night iraroh brought the cohunn in \ eiffht of the enemy's bivouac fires. "Be- - tween booh and 1.30 p.m. the enemy's posi- , t»n Was ptaeticaUj surrownded, bat for """ some little timo it bad been found inCToasinffly difficult to make progreea. Iα ', the meantime reports were received from . the field squadron tlsAt no water could bo * fouDd. Unless Magvßiaba oould be taken during the day, therefore, it was probable that our troops would have ttr withdraw,

as none of the horses had been watered , since the evening of tho 22nd, and the nearest water, except that in. the enemy's -, position, was at El Arish. General Chauvel reported tho situation to the desert column accordingly, and received order* to \ maintain tho attack, "But before -this communication arrived - the situation had began to improve. ' Some t Ansfcralian mounted troops, pressing ,in . against the enemy's left, captured a work ' to the west of Wadi el Arish, taking about ' 100 prisoners. At 2 p.m. two regiments ( of the Australian Light Horse, coming in from the north-east, wero within 200 yards of the position, m close touch -with the J Imperial Camel Corps, advanoingr from the > north-west. A qoarter of an hour later " the attack of a third regiment of this force was pressing heavily on the enemy ' from the south. By 3 o'clock tho New -. Zealand Mounted Riflee wero within 600 \ yards of the enemy's trenches on the east. From tiria time forward tho pressure on V the enemy increased, from all sides. Before 3.50 the force from the Wadi and the \

Imperial Catoel Oorps attacked the second ' lino of tho enemy's trenches, and at 4- • 3'clock tho former Carried one of toe main. ■edoubte, tolling ISO prisoners, including } he Turkish commander. Imia«Kately ~ tfter this, part, of a I/ight Horso Regiment r . Merged in frotn the south, moisted, and '' v*h fixed bayonets, and by 4.30 all orea- -. lised resistanco was over, and tho enemy ,v was sturetKkring ererywbere. The total '% Ktmbor of prisoners ta3ren in this fine ac- -,5 ;ion was 1282, inchidmg somo\ 50 wounded. snr own casualties were 12 officers and ■ L 34 other ranks killed and wounded.'\ S ACTION OF RAFA. J In Jamiary ftn cqually brillinnt action J was fought at Magruntein, near tbe ' :| coast town on the frontier. General Sir \i P. Chetwodo had oommand. The action ';S lasted for 10 houra, tlie entire enemy force 73 wsb aoootuitod for, and more than 1600 ?,S imwoundod prisouexa were taken, Cg