Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess-Oct 1916-Part 3

on their heels the 
xx far reaching regiments
of Light horse, horses,
horses, horsemen everywhere;
sun burnt, hard
faced, laughing, joking
growling, cursing,
smoking, thirsty, rough
men on rough work.
And the camels, camels,
camels, camels of the
fighting corps, half
Australians, half Englishmen.
What a motley
tough looking lot,
stretching across the
brown hills as far as
the eye could see. We
started cursing the
Heads. With this lot
we could eat mazar,

[*11*]
as he is, would never
have stood the charge
of berserk Australian
steel. I grinned quietly
as I watched the hesitating
movements of the men
below, how they clung
behind the sand mounds
that was their last effective
cover. I was very far
from feeling brave
myself, but I knew so
well that if the Turk
ever reached the top,
he would wither
completely away under
the steel of the drawn
faced, angry men who
crouched in the bushes
all around me. But
the Turks sullenly
with drew a little 

11

distance, and from    
behind good cover
kept up a heavy rifle
and machine gun fire.
And then the Turkish
batteries, seemingly in
vengeance, rained
shells on the hill to our
left, which a New
Zealand regiment
occupied. They covered
the top of the hill with
the fleecy cloud wreaths
of shrapnel, then the
high explosives came,
first in twos, an
ear-splitting. rending
Crash! Crash! a great
tall cloud of sand and
dense, evil smelling
volume of black
smoke. "Crash! Crash! 

We should have
knocked hell out of
El Arish itself. So we
all thought, and spoke
what we thought,
though the truth of
things the heads _^themselves only
know. About mil

nine miles on we met 

a camel corps come out

to meet us with many

phantasies of water. Some

few of us could give

our horses a drink 

Just a few. The horses

went mad at the sight
of water, we couldn't

hold them. Two of us

would hold two horses

while two others scrambled 

with lots more

men for a bucket of

[*12*]

The screaming whine

of flying fragments

of shell. Then, as they

got the range, a battery

at a time. Crash Crash

Crash Crash! a pause

Crash Crash Crash

Crash! a pause, Crash

Crash! Crash Crash!

the whole hill covered

with drifting clouds

of smoke and sand.

And so it wore on

and they paid their

attention to us. Crash!

Crash. Then the whole 

battery Crash Crash

Crash Crash! and the

ground we were

lying _^on shuddered and

[*12*]

shook, and drifting          

thick black smoke 

momentarily hid the 

Turks down below from

our rifle sights. But 

myself, was in such 

a state I didn't care

a damn. Looking over

my shoulder, I saw

how near the shells

could really burst to

a man without killing

him and anyway I knew

if a man was to be 

killed he was to be

killed. And there was

no getting out of it.

But it was the

New Zealanders who

got the high explosives

most. Then we suddenly

found we were almost

of water from the

phantasy. But immediately 

the horses smelt

the water there was a 

mad struggle. The circle

of water of horses

round each phantasy

would draw straight 

in, heads stretched out,

mouths eagerly open,

dragglin dragging the

struggling horse

holders with them, and

then would be a mixture 

of cursing men,

scrambling horses and

spilling of precious

water. The water soon

gave out, a few

very lucky horses

had had a drink.

[*13*]

out of ammunition and

there was a great rushing 

about for more

for the camels with

the ammunition. Then 

suddenly, the Turks came 

on again. From half 

way across the flat they

came, three long lines

of them. And their 

covering fire from

many machine guns

and rifles ripped

the sand and air

around us again. We 

had taken our bayonets

off, for it is hard to

aim steadily at a man

with a long, heavy

bayonet on the end of 

your rifle. It was 

grand shooting, those

 

[*13*]

men who came on and

on. Our machine guns 

fired with a furious,

ever ascending rattle as

surely they had never

fired before. I only saw

one line of Turks reach 

the sand mounds at the

foot of the hill, and

they never came any 

further. So the fight

went on for a while

and then ^^we got the order

to retire. It was a 

long time before we

really understood

that the order was to retire.

We looked round for

Major Johnson, but 

could see him nowhere.

Lieutenant Patrick

walked all over the

The regiment pushed 

rapidly on, passing

the slower going camel 

men. We were making

for Salmand, the

nearest oasis where

there was water. What

a blessed thankfulness

I felt f when at last

across the desert I 

could see the campfires 

of Salmand

twinkling through the

night. We reached

there at last. The water

troughs were full, though

the water was brackish.

The water horses

drank until it seemed

[*14*]

hill under fire

searching for him, but

in vain. We did not

know until next day

that the old major had

been wounded and

carried in by the New

Zealanders. The old

Major made a great

name for himself xxxx

that day. No man dare

say a word against

him now to any A

Squadron men. But

the persistent order was

to retire, retire, and

yet we could not 

make out for certain

where the order came 

from. Very unwillingly, 

very sullenly,

we began to retire,

[*14*]

little groups running

back, lying down                

and firing, then another 

little group running

back, turning round and

firing again. We do not

know now, correctly,

just why we retired.

We learned next day

that the New Zealanders

had been enfiladed,

lost heavily, and had to

retire, but our position

it we still believe we

could have held, though

of course there were very

few men, and were

now in danger of being

outflanked. But we 

had the Turks badly

beaten, and could 

not understand it at

they must surely

burst, and still we

could not drag them

away. At last we 

pulled away, linked

up the horses, and gave 

them what tiny meal

we had left. There 

was no rations or

water for us but we

simply fell straight

down in front of our

horses and went fast

asleep. Except the poor

devils who were on

picquet duty. At two

O'clock next morning

we were roused. Some

rations were issued to 

us, but no water. We

straight away saddled

[*15*]

all. After a long time 

we gave way went        

down the hill to our

horses. I had a spare 

water bottle on the

saddle and I made a

rush for that bottle. It 

is impossible to describe

the strength that drink 

gave me. And some of

the precious dates were

on the saddle. Then the

Colonel came along. I 

fancy he was furious

at our retirement or

the mix up of orders 

whatever it was. Anyway 

he took us all

back to the next hill,

only a couple of 

hundred yards away

and planked us

[*15*]

down under cover to

wait for the Turks            

to come over the skyline

of the hill we had just

left. Old Bert was

dead puffed, so he took

over the horses while

Morry came along with

Stan and I. But we

had only gone a short

distance when they

were both wanted to

carry away a wounded

man, so I climbed the

dreary hill into cover,

not caring much for

the hissing bullets, too

intent of _^on the pleasure

of cramming those

dates down my

neck. And so we lay,

watching, waiting for