OUR MEN IN EGYPT

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144664, 26 April 1915, Page 4

OUR MEN IN EGYPT

TRAINING WITH LIVE AMMUNITION. Mr. A. IL G oss, of Now Plymouth, has just received from his brother, who "is a member of the. Australian Expeditionary Force now (or until recently) in Egypt, a letter dated Heliopolis,. March 14,' in which the writer says: —'‘The New Zealanders who are attached to our division are a fine body of men and splendidly equipped. We Imvo done a lot of hard work since wo got _ here, and have had a number of fine divisional field days. These are great, and it is a grand' sight to see such big bodies of troops manoeuvring and sham-lighting. Our first field day was done with ball ammunition, and wo advanced to the. attack under the support of shrapnel fire from the. New Zealand Artillery. It was novel to hoar the shells whizzing over our heads and sec them bursting ahead over the targets on the position we were attacking; and when the firing lino was formed and fully developed one got a good idea of what it is like in the real thing. The firing line was about two miles long, and when wo and the. machine-guns were all banging away there was some noise, believe me. The. poor old targets had a very had time, and were simply shot to pieces. That was the only time' we have used ball ammunition, all the other times have been witli blank, as there has been both an attacking and defending party in these affairs. The day before yesterday, I think, was about the biggest operation. Our whole division, about 20,000 men all told, attacked a lot of Territorials, and as they had taken up a very strong position we had a very strenuous engagement. Wc are ready for service now and expect to go at any time, and, believe me, we won’t he sorry to leave this. Tramping about tho desert is very heavy going, and gets very monotonous, aiid the dust and sandstorms are far from a delight.”