The Turkish Attack on the Suez Canal.
Budrum on the southwest coast of Asia Minor in the Gulf of Halicarnassus was bombarded for a serious act of Turkish treachery. The captain of the Dupleix had sent two boat crews to parley with the authorities, when they were fired upon by armed Turkish civilians and some soldiers. About twenty French soldiers were killed or captured as a result of this treacherous act, concerning which the Ottoman authorities published a communiqué in which they described the incident as the repulse of a landing force. The French losses were quickly avenged, for the Dupleix at once began a bombardment of the Moslem quarter of the town, and continued firing for three hours during which great damage was done.
Armed Turkish inhabitants perpetrated a similar outrage on boat parties on May 18, 1915, at Banias, near Latakia; a tug and a boat belonging to the D'Estrées were fired on from roofs and landing places while chasing a merchantman belonging to the enemy that was seeking refuge in the port. As a punishment for the treachery of the civilians, who had posed as peaceable inhabitants until the French boats came into port, part of the town was destroyed by the shells of the D'Estrées.
In February, 1915, toward the close of the month, in the Red Sea, the French armored cruiser Desaix landed a reconnoitering party near Akaba, and found the Turks occupying a neighboring village. After receiving reenforcements from the cruiser, the French sailors drove out the fifty or sixty Turks hiding among the houses of the village, killing and wounding a dozen of them, their only casualty being one man, who was slightly wounded. The Red Sea was now patrolled by vessels of the Indian Marine, which were frequently successful in making captures, and in removing mines from the Gulf of Akaba.
On March 21, 1915, H.M.S. Dufferin at Mutweilah on coast of Midian, where an old Turkish fort is located, was the victim of the white-flag trick. Through this treacherous act one British sailor was killed, and an officer and nine other men were wounded. In the middle of May, H.M.S. Northbrook captured a dhow, having on board six German officers belonging to the merchant marine, and ten men who were trying to reach one of the Turkish Red Sea ports to the north. In these waters and in the Levant there were many incidents of this character, insignificant in themselves, but important in the aggregate, since they kept the enemy worried, and created a wholesome fear of allied vigilance.
In the last week of January, 1915, the three Turkish columns advancing on Egypt, the northern marching toward Kantara, the central and main advance headed for Ismailia, and the southern, whose objective was Suez, had been located, and were under surveillance of allied aeroplanes. By January 26 advanced guards of the central and southern columns were discovered near the canal. The central column was at Moia Harab, and some thousand men were also discovered at Wadi Um Muksheib. The southern column was found to be located at Bir Mabeiuk. On this same date British troops engaged the northern Turkish column a few miles east of El Kantara, losing in the skirmish five men and one officer. It was now evident to the British that the Turks were about to begin the main attack on the canal. Consequently the Auckland and Canterbury Battalions were dispatched to Ismailia; the Otago and Wellington Battalions were sent to El Kubri, and the New Zealand Infantry Brigade was sent up by rail from Cairo.
While this was transpiring on land, H.M.S. Ocean, Swiftsure, Clio, and Minerva joined the French warship D'Entrecasteaux and H.M.S. Hardinge and two torpedo boats already stationed in the canal. For three or four days following there were numerous skirmishes between enemy outposts and British patrols, the most effective work being wrought by allied aeroplanes and hydroplanes, which dropped bombs on the Turks as they swept over them and killed many camels and men. Lieutenant Patridge of the Indian Army Reserve of Officers and a French pilot lost their machine outside the British lines through the engine breaking down, and on returning to camp at night were shot and killed by a British picket.
On February 1, 1915, Djemel Pasha's main force occupied Katayib el Kheil, some low hills east of the southern end of Lake Timsah. The Turkish commander had every reason to feel satisfied with the progress he made in bringing his army across the desert in good condition, and with only the loss of a few deserters from among the irregulars. As many Tripolitan, Algerian, and Indian pilgrims had been forced to join the army by the persuasion of the leaders of the irregular troops, the Turkish force had increased in numbers.