COLD COMPAIGNING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14647, 3 July 1918, Page 8

COLD COMPAIGNING.

WET WORK, IN. PALESTINE. V-i An officer, writing, to Aid. W. IV. Henderson,.-, of Mosmany ]N.8..\Y., gives spme 'interesting details of campaigning ,jii ; Palestine. The fetter, which ,jr. (dated '•'Jericho, April 17*':'. says :-h- . ..^i "We had a stunt put out over, the' Jordan andi up- into the Hills, of Moribyi and I never want another, lLkesi ifct '■.. It; was the hardest and l'ouglfest- time. I ever put m m my life. We crossed the; Jordan> on ...a., pontoon . bridge, ; and^ marohed across, the .plains;, about seven. 1 miles to the foot of the (hills,- then began to ascend by a road which*: was /said, to be fit for wheels;" but , we . had , not, gone far when, we decided to turn the. gun 9 back, and a. little later the limbers and carts. In fasty 1 tin* road sopiVde-, velopedi into a;' goat -track, :over which. : we had to lead ' ouV- hor-sea iil single iile. Darkness Came m, aiuJiWith it torrents of vain; but still w> had: to; push bu. I fell : twice . while loading my lipi-Be, and at least 100 hov'eets must have fallen. - , * ;. , "At daylight most- of 'us Avbre.. oil the ; tableland, but soine w^re sliU.ibilinff iip" ; the mouiitainsi You rise suddenly • From ! 1400 ft. bciow\sea-level to 3500 ft. above. j j From daylighfl onwards the rain fell m | I sheets; and -the, wjnd '(Was< jcy-cold. We I ; had no tents or .shelters, and there were f no trees. W« simply^ bad to, stand up m it and hold the horses. At ' dark we marched on again, , and, as we had. to make the pace to suit, out ambulance \ camels, ,it \yas slow Work-. Th& i^itt \ and cold wind eontijluetij .jtfVti at jdayli^lit 1 we were .still .trasft>ll{ligi " -Thip w,aS diir \ third njght wiuiqtfti ; Sleep' , , and w£ had | been wet all the tiijie. The" cold Fa 3 I intense.., . .„" : „ '.'However, we got some' rest that day, i[ and at night started^, #n jfche march . to ji at.tack Amman, .whidi is v&n injpqfta.nt y .railway statioii on ,t|ie ,Hedjas .railway. We arrived, m sight ,qf, the place at daylight,/ and conimencgd ilie . finding it strongly", held.. "A« *w& ;h;acl not; been able to ]brtyg up qllr gtt)\sv,)v:e were at a disadvaht§g^ A iViiJtl Jpiintf.it very difficult 4114 (^petlsive^^ ; van.co against ma cj^riengun aWd. riflb positions withoiit/aiHUUery'pvep^y^tibii.' 'iW.e therefore waited^ffof. tw,p b^j^Jipris "of infantry to come from §aJt/ then, continuedi the -attack. . $iq : npjyrnafcp much progress,. , however, . as ,the enqrpy ; was stubbornly : de,f eliding the position 1 and was peing re/nf or.eed f rom Damascus, : ■ although 'we had blpwn i)P .*'. bridaSifJve: S miles nqrth of" A|onia^v jpiill,- 'they to detrain, there'. ais nWrcJi up... We'attacked, at 2,50 a;m. .yv bidding r#ji,: and a gale, of icy wind. ..Atihougih^v-we: gained iittpst of our pbjecti£es, v ..;|\;e dicl! not reach our ultimate pdsitjions^ thft awful •pur t ..gettin]gi up more guns,' and there .w^^.dimger; pf becoming shoj:t ofcam,mu.nitibnjaVwas decided .to, jwithdxaw.; , '. . , « ., ■ '. ,- t . :i I j ... /'My brigade, was detailed as. irea*.! guard, and I fully jto get a :Y,ery! lively tinie, bufc..'Ja<?ko 4 '; ; did iflpt, show! much enterprise. J. ,tl}inlc;Alie fyfls .qui^j satisfied! to see the la?t : of u'^.Th^ marcjv was. slow, as., we. l^:.^.cpnf'9r { in.Jt(>.'>.i^yßi pace of the irtf aiiAi-y ; .and J camels.^ -} : Ti\i^ day was bittarly qpla , ; aud • we, ißtulled :^p\ at dusk at, a place. .^hevo Tour, rations bftdj bean dumped, H«te wo , foun;p)iJa yum] nation, ...I , never . -..enjoyed ft; : iiip,';niQr^,i and, .it put nevr . lif e i^to t the boj^s. ■/r.i'i'pja ctiuld hear .them jsjngingi as jj;« tesum^d| the niarch., . .We now left the iaJEantj 1^ and. steered for. Eg Salt : (ancient ßamq,th; Gilead). The night became 'V.bla^ ,'^sl pitch; it rained and it .b|e\v-, and l Jtiecan^e; colder -and colder 'until that men and horses > could possibly, st^d; it. Still we marclied'.on,. aaid '>atj-l,a^t roached our. camping: gcoundV?^ Es. Salt. I Here we - were glad tcCithtovr Qurselvsis down on the .wet, sodden< ground ■.ito-, get n little sleep. Ifc waß.the--.\rorst. lihjwjcj put m Bo.fai*.' Some.' of -..the boy>B hadi.toj be helped off their horses j and on&diied-j "We resumed our. march. ; .back ;. tc Jericho duruig 'the /day, . and ' -watnessecl some very . pathetic scenes ■.- among«t what Iwa called the refugees, .part, of the population of Es Salt, chiefly Christian Arabs. Theso people were, afraid' .'the Turks would l ill-treat- .tliem ' after . we re-j tired, and so 'they determined, to. leav©J There were about '3000 o'ff them, and they Were strung out all along the road— old^ women, agedi men, and small chjldren-H all barefooted, mostly ;fpdtsore, and [ carrying their worldly goods and chattels 'with them. Some -Wei's fortunate enough jto have donkeys. . : Others had a pack jon a bulloak 'or' a cow, but" the great majority 1 carried hug?., bundles, while many litUe. children. carried a^ fowl each m their arms. Wfe' helped them as much as possible: We'-'oventually reached Jericho, and by all appearances are likely to suffer as much from tho heat as;, we did from the coldl up oh topv It is all down hill from Es Salt? about 18 miles, to the plain. ■'„.* "The result of the operation was not altogether unsatisfactory. We took one thousand prisoners, • destroyed about five miles of railway, apid- caused the Turks to evaouate KeraK,' ' _ wJbich was« occupied by .^he.King of ihe'Hedjasi... "I regret vevy.much;we had sorne fine lads killed, and wounded, sotne; Trpm^ the electorate being amongst them. I pro'r pose to \vrite.to their, ; . '■',