ALLENBY'S CHARGE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 January 1920, Page 9

ALLENBY'S CHARGE.

A PALESTINE INCIDENT.

WHY THE ANZACS WEKE IGNORED.

THE TRUE FACTS OF THE CASE.

General O. de L. Ryrie has returned from Egypt. deferring to Viscount Allenby's pointed omission of reference to the Australians recently, he said their behaviour was excellent. A regrettable incident occurred at Surafend, in Palestine, which was, perhaps, responsible for Visennnt AUeivby's non-reference to the Australians, but the act lie held the Australians responsible for should never have been attributed to them, as it was the work of the New Zealanders. l

This cablegram, received from Australia this week, referring to this "regrettable incident," should not bo allowed to go uirehallenged (writes an extrooper of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade in the Christchureh Sun), and it is a matter for regret that the incident has been hushed up. Ido not propose to justify the action taken, but it is unjustifiable to tack the blame on to the New Zealanders, ns General Eyrie has done, and the public of New Zealand should have been told the truth about the incident.

The Anzac Monnted Division consisted of the First and Second Brigade of the Australian Light, Horse ararl" jthu New Zealand Mounted Ride Brigade. Major-General Sir Edward Chavtor, the new G.0.C., tiie New Zealand' Defence Forces, was in command. BrigadierGeneral Ryrie is an astute politician-squattcr-solidcr, who commanded the First Brigade, Australian Light Horse. Ir, comes as n surprise that Oeiverni Ryrie—a man famed for discretion md common-sense—should make this outburst now. The day that he should have made hip protest'was the day that Lord Allenby, in an outburst of temper, called his men "a pack of cowards and murderers.'' General Ryrie was at the head of his men that'day, and, if lie thought the Australians were not blameworthy, in fairness to his men ho should have tendered his resignation That would have been the only course left to a soldier and a gentleman. I This Snrafciid incident occurred at (he villaue of the name, after the ces.ation of hostilities with the Turks. Surafend is a little village in Southern Palestine, and the whole of the Anzac Mounted Division was resting there after Allenby's "stunt" in September and October of 101 K. The armistice with the Turks had then been concluded. The whole of f'a'estine abounds with nomadic tribes of Bedouins, whose mission in life is to murder and stent Their history down through the ages has been one long story of rapine ami murder. The graves of New Zealanders who met their fate in lonely places on (he long trek from the Suez Canal to the Jordan Valley were looted and robbed. Wounded were clubbed and robbed by these desert marauders, if left unprotected. One' batch of New Zealanders. including a well-known Canterbury officer, were all done to death in a night. The Bedouin's hand is. against every man, and no man is his friend. They are a people with two objects in life—to kill and to steal. With their little flocks of fat-tailed sheep and goats, they move from village to village, ami from place to place, as in the time of Abraham. Their virions tribes prey one upon the other. The young men 'steal their wives- from the neighbouring tribe. In these Eastern theatres of war there was ;i regrettable lack of a. desire on Ihe part of ihe Army authorities to maintain the prestige of the soldiers. To quote one example: When on leave in Cairo, soldiers were debarred from travelling first-class on the tramears. That was reserved "for officers only," and for any native who desired to' use it. but not for private soldiers. They were herded, in with the natives of the lower classes. To-day. Egypt seethes with sedition and revolt, and largely this may be attributed to the whittling away of the respect the Kgvptinns had for' the British Army in Kitchener's day. For that loss of respect the present-day Armv authorities are responsible- The thinly-veiled contempt for the troops I that this treatment bred spread to the tribes of the desert. It was a heinous offence for any soldier to administer a little personal correction to any native. When set I led at Surafend all manner |o'' army material and personal propertv was pilfered by these silent figures that maraud and molest the Jew and the inhabitants, whoever they may he. The euliniivating point came in the murder of a young New Zealand machine gunner. Briefly, the circumstances were that, in the dead of night, this man felt his kit being pulled from under his bivouac. He jumped out. and was shot dead by a native, who presumably escaped to the nearby village. That was the last straw. A large section' of the men felt that something- must be done to avenge that young man so foullv murdered, by a human not one whit better than a beast of the field.

tot mo emphasise nno thinjr. When thh incident occurred, Major-Oon'oral Sir ; Edward Chaytor was temporarily absent from his command, and was in no way blameworthy for what occurred. A number of men met together, and a rejrulnr committed was set up. 'which formulated a request to Divisional Headquarters to take prompt action to avoaga

the death of this young New Zealawder, and to put a stop to Bedouin thieving. The meetings held were thoroughly representative of the whole division. The men of the A.I.F. were even more emphatic than our men that prompt action should he taken.

It must have been apparent to every officer who met his committee that the men were in no mood to be trifled with. Had they taken the committee into their confidence, and explained what they were doing to remedy matters, all would have been well. They were mostly Imperial men or Imperially-trained men who cherished traditions which made their rule very irksome to colonials. They would not step from the pedestal that the military machine deems necessary for the maintenance of discipline, The time went by that the men gave for action to he taken. Nothing happened. The committee received no satisfaction. A mass meeting was held, and a course of action decided upon. Briefly, it was that the village was to be burned. Much less than half the members of the New Zealand Brigade participated in the reprisal. It was agreed that no firearms should be taken. The men armed themselves with pick handles and wooden sticks, the idea being to get the women and children out and thrash every male Arab in that village and, if necessary, hold the Sheikh to ran'soin until the murderer was given up. Unfortunately, the news travelled round, and instead of a few hundred colonials there were thousands of troops representing the three countries of the United Kingdom and the two countries of the Antipodes. The women and children were removed, and the barley straw that serves the Bedouin for thatch on' the rude mud shacks was fired. The Bedouins resented the treatment, and small knots of them made attempts to defend themselves. Then there was another example of the unwisdom of mob rule. Some of the wilder spirits saw red, and tike natives suffered. In the melec something like 30 male. natives were killed.

Some, (lays later General Allenby had the Division paraded, and, in a few words, addressed the men in this strain,

"Thero was a time when I w-is proud of you men of the Anzac Mounted Division. To-day 1 think you- are nothing but a. lot of cowards and murderers.'' And slowly the count was taken rip—"One—two—three—four—five. . . ." The Commander-in-Chief, without waiting to acknowledge the Divisional Commander's salute, wheeled his mount and galloped off the parade ground. That is why Die Australasian troops are ignored iu Allenby's account of the campaign.