Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess-Oct 1916-Part 1

42,320
Charles Williams
Morgan Street
Mount Morgan
Ensign Films
1  Scotties entering Deuidar
2
3  Oily Sand
4  Samara Oasis
5  Sunrise
6  Riding down slope
7  Marry
8  Jack
9  Meiklejohn
10 Stan
11  Myself
12  Turkish prisoners
13
14
15
16
17
18

1
7  To Eai 10.
8  Mahony Spy, fresh beef;
dead horses mail leaving
Gunyah, camels, aeroplanes
camels & regiment 2 Oasis

2
And the day wore
on, and the sun was
very hot. We chewed
a few biscuits, and
saved our precious water.
Then C Squadron went
into action, and left
us there, but not for long.
The order came, we
mounted, galloped over
the skyline down the
long slope and under
cover very close to
the Turks. "Dismount
for Action". We dismounted,

gave our horses
over to the horse holders,
and lined up in front
of them, a single thin
line of men. The Colonel
told us that the New

2
Zealanders were on our
left, and we had to
link up with them.  A
New Zealand machine
gun was to cover our
advance. She started
blazing away beside us,
and during our long
advance, her hundreds
of bullets whizzed
over our heads towards
the Turks in one continuous

stream. Major
Johnson took command,
and gave the order to
advance. Around the
corner of the hill we
walked in single file,
turning to the right as
we got into open
country, until we

We pushed on further
about two miles, and a
very, very wary lookout

we kept. Then,
right away high in
the air "Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!" and
looking up, we saw
all around one of our
aeroplanes, the shrapnel
puffs from the Turks
anti aircraft guns.
Our planes were
reconnoitring over 
the Turkish camp.
They had a very busy
morning, and the
Turks filled the air
with their shrapnel
clouds, until they were
3
finally faced left;
and advanced straight
for the big hills where
somewhere the Turks
were firing. That was a
great advance, we would
never have got to the
firing line had we not
been led the way we were,
"Lie down, men: Lie down"
and take it easy. Let
no man hurry", the old
major shouted. And
the long line of men,
plugging through the
fearful sand, sank
gratefully down on its
blazing surface,
getting their wind in
deep breaths, and

3
wishing and wishing
and wishing we had
more water. Then on
again a couple of
hundred yards, the
major gradually edging
the stray line of men
up until each man
was marching directly
for his position. Then
down again, another
welcome spell. Then
down on once more, while
the weight of our
ammunition seemed
to bend our shoulders,
and the sand seemed
to grip our feet. And
all the time the hiss
and the spurt of sand,

very suddenly shut up.
But we could not find
the redoubt with the
Turks in, they must
have cleared out, so
we turned back. On a
bit of a hill we could
see, nearly two miles
away, a little smoke,
and flash, flash, the
flashes from the Turks
anti air craft guns.
Then b near by, "Bang|
"Bang|' Silence, Bang|"
"Bang' "Bang|' "Bang|"
Our own little Somerset

shire battery had
opened up, and the
Turkish anti aircraft
4

[[?]] of some hidden
snipers bullet. Then
spell again, until
gradually we got our
second wind, and
marched better on
towards the darh skyline

that seemed so far
away. Then suddenly
the major ordered us
all down, and lying
xx flat, watching, waiting
for the order to fire,
we looked ahead on
the skyline, where there
were a lot of men.
Standing up and firing,
running back, firing
again. We could
not make them out.

4
Were they Turks? and
yet they were on the same
position the Z New
Zealanders were holding,
But what on earth were
they doing. And then
the major put down his
glasses and called out
that they were New
Zealanders, and gave the
order to advance again.
The men on the skyline
had settled down
again, and slowly we
drew nearer to the thick
of the rattling rifle fire
and bursting shells.
Then we came across
some dead Turks, and
a New Zealander, face
down in the sand.

guns shut up very
suddenly. We thought
the ball had been started

rolling in dead earnest
Then, some distance
away, came the Crack!
Crack! Plop| Plop| of
isolated rifle firing.
Gradually the firing
would break out in
volume, only to die
out again, once more
to come to life, harsher
this time, then fall
away into isolated
firing. We had
been away a long
time, but finally
struck some of our
led horses under
5
and soon we were
on top of the skyline
and looking down on
the fight. Here we were
joined for a while by
the Colonel. The bullets
were whistling viciously
now, and we advanced
still further, in short
sharp rushes, from
cover to cover, little
groups of men all here
and there. Until we
were just over the crest
of a big hill, so looking

straight down
into the Turkish Position.
Straight ahead, a little
to our right, but nearly
three miles away, was
the oasis of EL Ab, and

5
a little to the left of
the oasis, was the Turkish
red cross. In a circle
semi circle around
their camp were a ring
of big hills, from which
we had driven them in
the morning, and which
our forces were now
occupying. Below us
was all one great
flat, extending right
to EL Ab, and covered
with mounds of sand
thick with bushes, ideal
cover, except near E'L Ab
itself, which was bare
a sand. Into this
big flat the Turks
were now driven, and
we seemed to have them
considerably beaten.  All
all the flat where the