The Desert Mounted Corps / An Account of the Cavalry Operations in Palestine and Syria 1917-1918

by R. M. P. Preston

Meanwhile the artillery officer with this section of the defence, who had had both his signallers wounded, succeeded in getting a runner back to one of the Horse Artillery batteries, with news of the state of affairs. An officer at once set out from his battery with two signallers, and, riding as far as the foot of Abu Tellul, under very heavy shell fire, dismounted, and set to work repairing the telephone wires. Having got into communication with the battery, the officer went forward on foot with his signallers, running out a fresh wire, and reached the top of Abu Tellul just after daylight. Here he found two officers and twelve men of the reserve regiment of the 1st A.L.H. Brigade, who were on their way to counter-attack the Bluff, a strongly entrenched position in which there were, at the time, some eighty German infantry! The party moved forward cautiously, taking advantage of the cover afforded by the numerous rocks, but had not gone far when an enemy shell burst among them, killing and wounding six. One of the officers thereupon went back for reinforcements, and the remaining nine, including the gunners, continued their advance. After going a short distance farther, they observed a number of the enemy near the Bluff, some 200 yards distant. Fortunately the telephone line still held, so the fire of the battery was directed on the enemy. The little 13-pounder H.E. shell burst with excellent effect among the rocks of the position, and the Germans very soon had enough of them, and surrendered. They were collected, to the number of forty, disarmed, and put in charge of two of the Australians, while the 'counter-attack,' now reduced to seven, moved forward again. Another body of the enemy was soon discovered occupying the end part of Abu Tellul. The battery opened fire on these, and after a few minutes, believing that they were cut off, they too put up a white flag and laid down their arms. There were six officers and eighty men here, and their chagrin was great on discovering that they had surrendered to seven men. However, they were told that the rest of their force had been repulsed, and that our battery was quite ready to open fire again, if need arose. The two parties were quickly hustled away to the rear, being liberally shelled by their own gunners on the way.

While this little comedy was being enacted at the end of the Abu Tellul Ridge, daylight had come, and the enemy's only chance of capturing the position had passed. Our outer posts, though surrounded, had all held out, and turned the fire of their machine guns with good effect on the enemy on the southern end of Abu Tellul. Some of these worked south to the part of the ridge overlooking the Wadi el Auja, and suddenly found themselves looking down on a battery of mountain howitzers that were firing in the opposite direction, at some Turks who were attempting to cross the wadi. The howitzers were immediately turned end for end in their pits, and fired up the hill straight into the faces of the astonished Germans, who retired discomfited, to hide among the rocks and trenches farther north till gathered in by our troops later on.

By now the 5th A.L.H. regiment and the New Zealand Mounted Brigade, which had been sent up in support, had arrived on the scene. Pushing along both sides of the Abu Tellul Ridge, they quickly drove out the rest of the enemy, and restored the position.

The two Turkish divisions, which were to have attacked on each side of the German troops, had waited for daylight to make their assault, with the result that they were easily driven off. The southern force, indeed, only attacked once, and that but half-heartedly, but the division on the enemy's left made three attempts on Musallabeh, only to be driven back each time with heavy loss by a murderous machine-gun fire. The Turks left about 200 dead on the positions.

By ten o'clock in the morning the whole position was completely restored, and our prisoners (380 Germans and about 200 Turks) were on their way back to headquarters.

At this juncture there occurred an incident so typical of the Hun that it is worth recording. As they were marching back, a number of the German officers and men commenced to show evident signs of distress, and presently began to drop insensible by the wayside. As they had only light field service caps on their heads, it was thought that they had been overcome by the sun. Ambulance carts were sent for, and the sufferers were conveyed to a field hospital near by, attended on the way with the most solicitous care by their Australian escort. On arrival at the hospital, however, it was discovered that they were merely speechlessly drunk, whereupon the incensed Australians soused them unceremoniously with water, and sent them on their way to the prisoners' compounds without more ado. It transpired afterwards that several small parties of Germans had been detailed to cut our telephone wires as soon as they had penetrated our lines. While engaged on this work they had stumbled on a tent, pitched in a little gully, in which were stored several cases of beer and one or two of whisky, which had been brought up at very great trouble for the men of the 2nd A.L.H. regiment. Unable to resist this liquor, the Germans, officers and men, abandoning their task of wire cutting, fell upon the cases, and, knocking off the heads of the bottles, poured the contents down their throats. When they had drunk all they could hold, they smashed the rest of the bottles, and staggered away, to be captured disgracefully by our troops. Had any of them been on the scene when the thirsty Australians repaired to the tent after being relieved from the trenches, they would undoubtedly have shared the fate of the bottles!

During the attack on Musallabeh and Abu Tellul the enemy was observed to be massing for an attack east of the river Jordan, opposite El Henu ford, about half-way between Makhadet Hajlah and the Dead Sea. The Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade immediately moved out from Ghoraniyeh to attack. Taking advantage of the cover afforded by the broken ground and scrub on the east bank, the cavalry arrived within charging distance before they were observed. They charged at once, and routed the Turks, killing ninety with the spear, and taking about 100 prisoners and several machine guns.

During the remainder of the period spent in the Jordan Valley, action on both sides was confined to artillery activity, in which the enemy, owing to the freedom of movement he enjoyed, had the advantage of us, and to patrol work, in which our troops, more especially the Indian Cavalry, had it all their own way. The only sources of water, other than the Jordan, were the Wadi el Auja, which was used by the troops and horses in the left sector, and the Wadi Nueiameh, which arose at Ain el Duk, and flowed into the Jordan at El Ghoraniyeh. The latter wadi was used by the Headquarters of the Valley Defences and by the field ambulances and supply and ordnance troops. The east side of the Tel el Sultan-Abu Tellul Ridge, which was only about 7000 yards from the Jordan, was occupied by horse lines, ammunition column camps, and field hospitals. Early in July the enemy, who had received considerable artillery reinforcements, pushed a number of field guns and heavy howitzers southwards, east of the Jordan, and commenced a systematic shelling of these troops. Camps and horse lines had to be moved, and scattered about in sections, in most inconvenient situations, along the bottoms of small wadis running down from the ridge into the plain. Some protection was obtained by these measures, but there was not sufficient room in the wadis for all the units, and those which had to remain in the open suffered under a constant, galling shell fire, and had to shift their camps every few days.

The whole of the Wadis el Auja and Nueiameh was under the enemy's observation either from Red Hill and other high ground east of the Jordan, or from the foothills west and north-west of Abu Tellul. The Turks took full advantage of this to shell our watering parties almost every day. The drinking-places were frequently changed, and every effort was made to distract the enemy's attention, during the hours when horses were being watered, by shelling his positions vigorously. But the dense clouds of dust raised by even the smallest parties of horses on the move, generally gave the game away, and we had constant trouble and numerous casualties among men and horses.