THE DESERT MOUNTED CORPS.* Loan Ats.arnav's brilliant campaign in Palestine
and Syria in 1917-18 was mainly decided by the cavalry, and forms the best instance of the uses of the mounted arm in modern war.
It is particularly interesting, therefore, to have a full and accurate account of the work of the cavalry, organized as the Desert Mounted Corps, by an officer who was actively engaged in the operations. Colonel Preston, who commanded the guns with the Australian Mounted Division, is a capital writer and has a keen sense of humour, so that his book is very readable At the same time ho throws much new light on the campaign. Indeed, next to the semi-official Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, this is the most important book on the subject that has yet appeared. The special value of cavalry was well shown in the capture of Beersheba, with which Lord Allenby opened his offensive at the end of October, 1917. The place had to be rapidly enveloped and taken as a preliminary to the main attack on the Turkish positions farther west and nearer to Gaza. Speed was essential lest the Turks should transfer their reserves from Gaza, where they expected attack, to their eastern flank ; it was essential, too, because the cavalry, in order to water their horses, must either be in Beersheba the same night or retire many miles to the rear. The daring plan succeeded, thanks to the spirited action of the New Zealand Brigade and the 4th Auitralian Light Horse Brigade. The New Zealanders galloped to within a mile of the chief Turkish position, Tel el Saba, and, there dismounting and watching their opportunity, took the hill with a rush. The Australians, " with bayonets drawn and extended in front of them like swords," then charged the Turkish trenches, leapt over the two lines and flung themselves on the defenders from the rear. " Thr whole position was in our hands in ten minutes," just as darknesi was coming on. The two Australian regiments lost thirty-two killed and as many wounded in this charge, which decided the fate of Beersheba and enabled Lord Allenby to proceed with his main attack. Colonel Preston says that the Arabs who came into Beersheba were not at all impressed by our modern engines of war, but that when they heard that our transport had 30,000 camels they were " quite convinced that the Ingilizi were certainly the greatest tribe in the world."
The 20,000 men of the Desert Mounted Corps played a great part in harrying the Turks, who, it seems, offered a stubborn resistance as they retreated northward from Gaza. The cavalry charge at Huj has been described before. Colonel Gray-Cheapea with ten squadrons of the Warwick and the Worcester yeomanry, charged three enemy batteries supported by maehine.guns on a low hill. He had half a mile to ride over the open, and the Turks swung their guns round, firing point-Wank, and fought to
• The Desert Mountsd,Oorps .•....tbs Account Ogles Cavalry Operations in Palatine and Syria, 1917-1918. By Lieut.-Col. the Hon. B. H. Preston. With sa intro: duction by Lleut.-General Bit H. O. Chauvel. London : Constable. Mts. not4 the last. But the charge was irresistible. The gunners were wiped out and their escorts scattered within ten minutes.
Seventy-five of the 170 Yeomanry who charged were killed or wounded, but the enemy lost far more and their retreat was disorganized. The author tells us that the German commander, General Kress, narrowly escaped capture at Huj and left behind all his papers, including his wireless code, which enabled the British staff to decipher all the Turkish wireless messages for weeks afterwards. Huj was the first of a series of brilliant episodes of the kind. Such was the action at El Mughar, in the Judaean foothills, on November 13th, 1917. The infantry were unable to advance over the bare open country stretching for two miles up to the Turkish trenches on a ridge. The Bucks and the Dorset Yeomanry, with the Berkshire Yeomanry in support, were ordered to charge the enemy positions, under cover of artillery and machine-gun fire :-
" The regiments trotted quietly across the open till they were some half a mile from the enemy position, when they shook out into a fast canter and swung up the rocky slope at the Turks. A hundred yards from the top the order to charge was given, and the mon sat down and rode.
The leading squadron of the Bucks went through the Turks with the sword in ton seconds, killing many of them, and galloped right over the ridge before they could pull up. Ere the enemy troops had time to rally, the second and third squadrons dashed into them, completing the rout. In a few minutes from the time when the order to charge was given, the Bucks Yeomanry had secured their objective and com- menced to consolidate on the position.
The Dorset Yeomanry on the left encountered more broken ground, and the leading squadron dismounted and attacked with the bayonet.. The other two squadrons, however, stuck to their horses and reached the top first. There was not much momentum left in the charge by the time the cavalry met the enemy, but the long swords do not need much pace behind them to do their work properly, and the issue of the fight was never in doubt. Before the dismounted squadron had gained the summit of the ridge, the other two had cleared the position, and the surviving Turks were in flight or had surrendered. Incidentally, it may be remarked that the squadron on foot lost more heavily, both in men and horses, than the two that had gone in with the sword."
The two regiments lost 129 killed and wounded ; the Turkish losses included perhaps a thousand killed, 1,500 prisoners, and three guns, and their• right was broken so that they had to retreat in confusion.
But the cavalry had their greatest opportunity in the final advance, when on September 19th, 1918, they were suddenly launched through a gap in the Turkish right flank and rode up into the Plain of Esdraelon to attack the enemy's rear and cut off his retreat to the north and north-east. That master-stroke is admirably described by Colonel Preston, from personal observation and from the reports of fellow-officers. The 5th Division had the honour of pushing farthest north, right into Nazareth, where at dawn on September 20th the enemy G.H.Q. was completely surprised, and Marshal Liman von Sanders, rushing from his bed into a motor-car, had barely time to escape. The 4th Division, crossing the hills by a more southerly route through the Musmus Pass to Lejjun, began to enter the plain
just as a Turkish battalion was deploying:— "The 2nd Lancers were leading, accompanied by the armoured cars. Taking in the situation at a glance, Captain Davison, commanding the regiment, ordered the cars to engage the onoray in front with their machine-guns, supported by one squadron of his regiment. Taking the other two squadrons with him, he galloped along a slight-depression to the right and charged the Turks on their left flank. The two squadrons went right through the enemy from left to right, killing forty-six with the lance. The survivors of the battalion, about 500 in all, were taken prisoners. Tho Turks fought well, firing steadily till they wore ridden down, but the rapid work of the cavalry gave thorn no chance. The whole action did not take more than five minutes and furnished a perfect little example of sound shock tactics—movement and fire at right angles to one another. Had our cavalry been a few hours later, this battalion would have been at the defile at the top of the pass, and might have caused a delay that would have been fatal to the success of the operations."
This was one small episode in a superb concerted movement, which ended in the complete annihilation of the Seventh and Eighth Turkish Armies. Meanwhile, General Chaytor had dealt with the rearguard of the Fourth Army east of the Jordan, and the Desert Mounted Corps was then sent to pursue the remnant to Damascus. Colonel Preston describes a despelate action at Semakh, to the south of the Lake of Tiberias, where a
Turco-German force held a fort. Twioe did the German machine- gunners pretend to surrender and then open fire, killing our
suspecting men. The Australian Light Horse then stormed the Place and bayoneted the defenders. Comparatively few of
the enemy reached Damascus, and those who did were caught in the defiles to the north of the city. The 5th Brigade of the Australian Mounted Division on September 30th, 1918, came to the cliffs overlooking the gorge of the Baratta, through which the road and railway run from Damascus to Beirut. The gorge was completely blocked with Germans and Turks struggling to escape. Machine-guns were turned on the head of the column, with the idea of inducing the fugitives to stop and surrender. But the panic-stricken masses behind pushed on, so that those in front could not turn back or even stand still, until at last the way was barred by a wall of dead men and shattered vehicles. It took German prisoners ten days to dispose of the corpses. The cavalry advance wee never stayed until the 5th Division occupied Aleppo on October 26th, five days before the Turkish armistice. In thirty-eight days the Desert Mounted Corps had captured 83,700 prisoners and about 160 guns, and Turkey as a military power had ceased to be. Colonel Preston concludes with a brief account of the British occupation of Syria, which was wholly uneventful. He pays a high tribute not only to the Australian horseman but also to the Australian horse. The well-bred " Waler " is, he says, the finest cavalry mount in the world. It was found in Palestine that a " VValer " would carry a heavy Australian and his kit, averaging over twenty-one stone, " all day and every day for seventeen days, on lees than half the normal ration of forage and with only one drink in every thirty-six hours." The weight-carrying English hunter took a long time to recover from such hard work, whereas the little Australian horse was soon ready for another bout. Every ono interested in cavalry ought to read this remarkably interesting book, which contains some good maps and many photographs.
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