Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess-Aug 1916-Part 2

whirlpool of flying sand,
and the Turkish shrapnel 
has burst a good two
hundred yards behind
the battery horses. But how
marvellously all our
horses took the infernal
row. In all my ideas I
had thought our horses
would go mad when
under shrapnel, but here
they were, shrapnel fair
in amongst them, our own
guns blazing away under
their noses; and only the
lifting of a few startled
heads, a little uneasiness
as the shells screamed low
over-head, then a quiet
settling down "Bang-Crash!
Christ.” Showers of sand,
plunging horses, a gaping
 

kept ourselves very wide
awake. Then right up at our
observation post a camel
slowly sauntered across the
sky line. We were expecting
a shot every second, but none 
came. The Turks were beaten
by us not riding up the valley,
as usual, and being slaughter-

ed like  pet lambs, so they just
waited with their rifles ready,
waiting to see what our next
move would be. A little
while longer, and then up
near our observation post a
man mounted a horse, and
turning his head, casually
commenced to ride down the
valley towards us. It was
such a bare faced decoy
that we all started laugh-

ing. Glancing along the left
 

 shell hole only six yards
away. The shell had
burst  only six feet from
the xxx ground, just
dropped over the horses
backs. Had it burst but
one short second earlier,
it would have wiped
out the whole of C Troop.
I picked myself up, and
shivered as I looked at
that hole only a few feet
away. How easy it would
have been for us cluster
of mates to have been
lying just there. And so,
for the rest of the afternoon
it went on, the whole
afternoon the Turkish
shells bursting only a
hundreds yards too short
or a hundred yards too
 

side of the valley,  we saw
that it was lined with
men.  "The game is up, boys"
said Stanfield, "but I’d 
like to get a look over the
other side of the hill. There
may be a movement of troops
there. But come on and we'll
try and cut this horsy beggar
off." The two artillery officers
and two of our men stayed
there looking across at the
Turks, while  M^r Stanfield,
Sergeant Paul, another man
and xxx and myself made all
speed up the hill. Now
from where we now started
the razor back now rose
until it reached a height of
ten feet above the crest of the
hill, and about ten feet
in thickness, just a natural

far, of the regiment and
battery. Their shells search-

ed all the ground, all
around us in a circle,
but the tiny hollow in
which we were escaped
again and again. The
shells that burst directly
among us wounded a few
men, and only killed a
few horses. Marvellous luck,
marvellous. To add to our
nerve racking, being pelted
with shrapnel without
being able to fire a shot
in return, we had the
dreaded taubes to watch,
which hovered over us,
trying to locate our
exact position, and so
drop smoke bombs on us
and correct the Turkish
batteries aim. Directly one
 

barricade of sand, just
sufficiently high enough to
hide ourselves and horses
from the Turks on the
opposite side of the valley.
We soon reached the top of
the hill, which curved round
to our old observation post
which overlooked the Turkish
camp. I jumped off the horse
and up the razor back, the
bridle rein slung over my
arm. I peeped gingerly
over the razor back, and
there, all round our obser-

vation  post, were lying
Turks, their rifles at the
ready. All down along
the left side of the valley
were other Turks, ready,
waiting. The bushes near
our post were hiding
 

of our own planes flew
over the Turkish lines,
there was “Crash! Crash!,
Crash! Crash! and a
splendid battery of Turkish
anti aircraft guns would
fill the air with shrapnel
puffs all around our
plane. No wonder they
got some of our planes.
But the taubes  could
fly over us with impunity, 
never the sound of an
anti aircraft  gun of ours,
and seldom the stutter
of a machine gun. And
so the afternoon, went
on, and the sun went
down and the time
came for us to go back
to our camp at Quatia
to water the horses and
 

places for crouching Bedouins.
M^r Stanfield and Sergeant 

(1))
Paul were by my side then,
and the sight of these waiting 
Turks took xx our  breath
away. Against our observation
post were three big Turks,
standing up, I slid my rifle
sights up to 400 yards, meaning
to aim at the biggest Turk,
when thirty yards away, over
the top of the very razor-back
on which we were crouching,
appeared the black cloth elbow,
then the rifle muzzle, and
then very slowly and carefully,
rose the head of a Bedouin.
I bit my lips in taking aim to
keep steady, and Bang - Bang-
Bang Bang Bang five bullets
within three seconds, and
 
 

the Bedouin flung out his
clenched hands and bit

(2)
into the sand. "On your
horses boys quick", shouted
M^r Stanfield. One jump
and we were down the
razor-back, another and
we were in the saddle.

"Steady boys, there's plenty of
time," said Stanfield, but
xx immediately each man
was in the saddle he
spurred his horse and
yelled "Come on, boys, we'll
give these - - a ride
for it. Ride like the
Xxx hammers of hell".
With one bound the four
horses were away, we
went twenty yards, just
enough to see the bullets
from the Turks like hail
 

stones but bite the sand
around the artilley officers

(3)
and men four hundred.
yards lower down the
hill, and my horse, in
one dreadful second,
stumbled - and fell. As he
rolled over on top of me, I
thought that, if I lost my
head in the next few seconds,
I was finished. M^r Stanfield
called out "Whose horse is
down," and as the horse
floundered in the soft
sand and struggled off me,
Sergeant Paul pulled his
horse round and rode
back. I made a grab at
the rein as the horse struggled
up, and heard the sergeant
say quietly  "Catch him
 

quickly, but go steady.
There is plenty of time

(4)
boy, mount him again."  I 
dared not raise my eyes
to that razorback  where
the dead Bedouins lay, and
where his mates crouched,
but momentarily afraid to
raise their heads. The
presence of the sergeants.
horse had steadied my
own shaking horse,
and I made- deadly sure
of xx not bungling in
mounting him, knowing
that meant certain death.
I swung  into the saddle
and then the first f bullet
came, and others quickly,
the stinging zzzip - zip- zzip
whizz - whizz from point
 

blank range. And we
were off, I could feel

(5)
the horse gathering himself
up under me, as if he actually
knew the death that sped
past in lightning hisses
through the air. Straight
down the long hill, cling-

ing to the friendly razor-
back, while a bullet
clipped a hat clean from
one mans head. Then the
razor-back gave out,
and we galloped into
clear view of the Turks  on
the left side of the valleys.
From along the whole
hill grew like the
crackle of a bush fire
that ended in one continuous
stream of rifle fire, filling

feed up. We retired  a
squadron at a time,
cantering over the sky
lines, but dark as it
was, the quick Turkish
observers saw the horses,
lengthened their range,
and we retired to the
whine of their shrapnel
and the crash of their
f bursting shells. It
was quite dark when we
got to Quatia. We fed
the horses, wearily threw
our fighting gear off,
and to our surprise saw
that the other regiments
all had fires lit boiling
their quarts. The whole
of Quatia was a twinkle
with fires. Fires
 

the whole air with the
hisses of vicious insects.
And all among the horses,
and far down the hill
where the artillery officers
were galloping, the sand
among the horses was
bitten up as if by a
hail storm. That ride
was great, x though I
only had one stirrup iron,
the other and the feed bag
was doubled on the side
the horse had fallen on,
making the saddle heavier
on one  side, but I could
feel by the rapidly
increasing gallop of the
horse that he was not
likely to fall again, and
it was grand.  From a
 

under the very mouths of
the Turkish guns. And
yet if we so much as lit
a pipe after nine o'clock
at far off Denidar, the
heads would go mad. We
could not understand
it at all. It was well
for us that the Turks were
getting such a thrashing
that they thought of
nothing else but retreating
every chance they got,
every momentary respite.
So we lit our fires
too, ate our bully beef
and biscuits,  xx rolled
on the sand as we were
and fell sound asleep.
^....We were up long
before sunrise, and to
our great surprise the
 

little way in front the
wind swished back the
excited laughter of the
men, and one chaps face I
caught a glimpse of, with
the  his eyes starting from
his face in excitement.
At a range of fourteen
hundred yards, one peculiar
thing I noticed, I could
not hear a single rifle
shot, but could hear a
soft zip-zip-zip-zip as
the bullets sped past, and
see the little showers of
sand where they landed.
I think the wind rushing
past my ears blocked out
every other sound. We
were at the foot of the
hill then, at very long
 

darkness woke to the twinkle
of fires  again. Xx We could
not understand it, but said
nothing more, and lit our
own fires again. The east
was just showing a faint
light haze as the column
moved out again. The
order of our going seemed
much the same as yesterday.
The regiment moved into
about the same position,
the guns about the same.
C Troop was sent out as
right flank guard. Stan
and I were together, Bert
and Morry about a
hundred yards behind
us. We had to move on a
little after the regiment
halted, and we got
within sight of the Turks
 
range, and my horse had
caught right up to the others.
Everyone was laughing and
excited, and we steadied
down to a swift hand
canter. We were still afraid
that the Turks  would send
swift camel men to cut us
off, but they had evidently
made sure of getting us
up the valley, and it was
too late to try then. The
two staff officers were
excited like the rest of us,
and it quite broke off their
British reserve. They were
cantering alongside of the
two hardfaced, brown armed
Australian horsemen who
had stayed with them,
and laughingly exchanging
 

We were only a few men,
but they sent their shrapnel
at us immediately. Their
was not much cover for
us, and we could not move
away without orders. Some
of the Turkish shrapnel
burst right in front of
us, and I noticed that
now, when theyre were
only a few horses, and
they scattered about, the
horses were far more
frightened, and shivered
at the whine of the
oncoming shell, and
plunged violently when
it burst directly in front.
Some of the shells threw
out a great cloud of
thick black smok with
a rotten smell, and
 

notes with them as to how
quick they got on their horses
when the bullets sprayed
round them, and talking
excitedly about the great
ride. We slowed down
then to a fast walk, keeping
a sharp look out you
can be sure ^... I lived
through that ride, but
particularly through the
dreadful seconds when
the horse stumbled and
fell. Sergeant Paul did a
very generous thing. Both
our lives were worth
only a matter of seconds.
^... We got back to
Wazet, and then to Nagid.
It was the usual thing
that night, only that we