VICTORY OF MAGDHABA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145754, 13 February 1917, Page 5

VICTORY OF MAGDHABA.

IRRESISTIBLE BIITISH ATTACK. NIGHT DASH ACROSS THE DESERT. (From W. T. Massey.) EL ARISH, Dec. 24. By a brilliant stroke, under extraordinarily arduous conditions, the mounted troops of our desert column have inflicted an overwhelming defeat on the Turkish garrison of Magdhaba, and scored a victory much more larreaching than the capture of 13UU prisoners indicates. . . This swift, fierce, and irresistible attack has produced one of the most important effects of the campaign in Egypt, for the sudden rush of our mounted troops 25 miles from El Arish —a distance which all previous experience of desert warfare suggested was impossible of accomplishment iu a single night—has had an immense moral influence on the Turks. The enemy are hurriedly leaving such strong garrison posts as Kossaima, and trekking east. The enemy’s calculations in Northern Sinai have been completely upset. By their evacuation of El Arisly they thought they would yield ms an important strategic point with no loss of men —a great consideration to-day: but thev never counted on the remarkable mobility of our fiesert column or that the British General Commanding would so soon follow up the occupation of the coast town. The Turks have become very nervous about their lines of communication. Reports indicate that nearly all their forces are now facing towards the Beersheha base. Thus the victory of Magdhaba, which has added to the fame of the Anzac Mounted Division, and has proved the sterling value of our Camel Corps, composed of men drawn from the British Yeomanry and Colonial regiments, may he regarded as one of the most important battles of the campaign in Eastern Egypt. When the troops left on Wednesday to concentrate at railhead an immediate advance on El Arish was not in contemplation, but the news received at 7 p.m. that the Turks had evacuated the town determined our General to press on. Ei Arish was surrounded at dawn next morning. Some infantry followed the mounted troops with appallingly heavy going Thursday night the troops spent in bivouac after their 25-miles march on the previous night. Three hours after sunset on Friday the General commanding the Anzac Mounted Division assembled his brigades and Camel Corps in the wadi south of El Arish. where the troops wore rationed, the horses fed and watered ready to move off to attack Magdhaba early next morning. The difficulties of provisioning the troops were enormous, but were overcome by the strenuous labours of the supply branch. THE MARCH TO MAGDHABA. The troops had only been at El Arish 36 hours. The slow-moving camel convoy had to bring supplies from railhead. One convoy was late in arriving owing to losing its way in the darkness, but soon after midnight the provisioning was complete and the force moved off at 1 o’clock at a sharp tiot and covered over twenty miles ox what they describe as an uneventful march in under four hours. The night was very dark, the surface of the ground often broken. 'The guns were hauled by teams of animals, but the going through the wadi was not nearly so heavy as was experienced in the march from railhead on Wednesday. At 4.50 the column reached a point 23 miles from El Arish. Tho General and his brigadiers went forward to reconnoitre the enemy’s portion. The task was ono of great difficulty, because the light from tho dawn was immediately behind Magdhaba, which was also obscured by smoke of many bivouac is a convex position, but looks absolutely flat. It lies almost in the wadi itself. As wo now know, there were five redoubts very cunningly placed so as to cover not merely the approaches to the position, but to support one another in every possible way. The siting of the redoubts was done so well that only ono could be seen from tho artillery observation post, though the guns got on this and blew it to pieces in a very short time. The others were extremely difficult to locate, and the Turks fought in them eight hours. THE ATTACK BEGUN. At 8 o’clock brigades moved north of the enemy’s position under cover of the sand dunes to east and south-east or Magdhaba to cut off tho enemy s retreat. . , , . The Camel Corps, with a mountain battery, began the frontal attack. Batteries of Territorial Horse Artillery supported the attack throughout the day with splendid gunnery, and the Anzac troops, who had the assistance of some of these batteries in the battle of Romani, are loud in their praise of tho accurate work of the gunners. Shortly after the troops moved off aeroplane messages indicated that some ot the enemy were retiring. The brigades on the east of Magdhaba pushed on quickly to complete tho enevelopment, find a reserve brigade wont forward _ at tho trot to prevent the enemy getting away. However, it was found that only small patties of the enemy were retiring and the main position _ was very strongly held, tho reserve brigade coming under heavy machine-gun fire, while the enveloping brigades were also observed and shelled by Krupp mountain guns. Tho Camel Corps likewise received attention from the enemy’s guns while moving across tho wide plain between the point of assembly and the redoubt. This track afforded not a vestige of cover, but the camelry advanced with magnificent steadiness. The reserve brigade, unable to got farther without serious losses among the horses, swung to the right to assist the Camel Corps’ attack and to complete the envelopment from the_ west. . The lack of cover prevented rapid progress, but the advance was everywhere : substantial when the redoubt, destroyed by gunfire, showed white flags; but as j heavy fire continued from other parts of the enemy’s position, no notice was taken of them. DESPERATE FINAL RESISTANCE. Except in one portion of the line, the advance was checked about noon, and as it seemed that the enemy were determined to hold on, supports were brought up for a further effort. The last stage of the fighting was heavier than the first. The aeroplanes, which were under constant machine-gun and artillery fire, circled over tho redoubts

and scored many hits with bombs. The artillery fire increased in intensity, the dismounted troops added to the volume of their attack, and the resistance, which had been most determined, collapsed at 4 o’clock. The Turks did not all surrender then, for individual firing from west of the wadi went on till dark.

Throughout, the afternoon the question of water was always a pressing problem. Most of the men suffered agonies of thirst, but their fighting spirit was unaffected. The difficulty was solved as regarded the horses when the position with the wells was taken, and the men had not to wait long, for the general in the early hours had water convovs dispatched from El Arish to the battlefield. Other water rations reached the force ns it was returning, and the men got back to-day, having their hearts’ desire to spend Christmas in reoccupied El Arish satisfied, and very little the worse for having had three night marches and a long day’s heavy fighting in four days. . ■ The flying column had dealt with the enemy very thoroughly. Out of a force of about 2000 they captured 1350 officers and men,, and four mountain guns—all the enemy had—and killed and wounded formed a high proportion of the remainder of the garrison. The prisoners include Khabr Bey, Commandant, and Kress von Kressenstein is said to hqvo left his post in a motor-car for Jerusalem at 3 o’clock on the morning of the attack. . Most of the prisoners are Syrians, big built and well nourished as for as I could see, but not well clothed, y.iey seem glad to be in captivity, but they ppt up a. fight which disgraced neither officers nor men. Our artillery fire they described as very deadly. One gun while being limbered up to get away was observed by our gunners, and the team was blown to pieces before it could be hitched in. ANZACS’ UNBROKEN SUCCESS. The feeling of camaraderie already existing between the Anzacs and the Camel Corps has been strongly cemented by the action. They had fought together before, but not in such close touch. The whole force is a band of brothers. It is difficult not to talk in superlatives of this force. The Anzao Mounted Division had never had a failure. Their resourcefulness, courage, and endurance are all known by this time, but no one understands the military qualities of the Anzacs better than the enemy. They are invaluable m Egypt. Their endurance has never been put to a more severe test tluTi during the swift desert column advance. Every man was dog-tired when he reached his bivouac to-day ,_ but they are not only willing but anxious to make another move to keep “the old Turk on the run.” Nothing would give them greater satisfaction than to move in the same company of gunners, camelry, and, if possible, the infantry of the column whom they regard as having had cruel luck. The Territorial Division has, indeed, had bad luck. They fought well in Gallipoli and have done much spade-work here. They proved their gallantry by their heroic defence of Dueidar against odds of eight to one. They were denied the opportunity of getting at the Turks in the retreat from Romani because the nature of the ground made it impossible for infantry to catch the Turk with a long start. The evacuation of El Arish prevented their making the main attack on the town. The way the brigades of those hardy Scots foot slogged' through the soft sand to here shows them to bo marvels of fitness. For three months the division has had no tents, has lived in the open, and has suffered the discomforts of extreme variations of temperature, with days very hot, and nights, especially during the last week, exceedingly cold. Other old comrades working together at El Arish are the Australian Naval Bridging Train.