Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess-1917- Part 1

couple of miles away from the main body. To our

left, about a mile away, was a square stone

building. Suddenly a horseman appeared from 

nowhere, and at for full gallop went straight 

for the stone building. He was a Turkish

cavalryman. We pulled our horses into a walk, 

and turned slightly away from the building.

After a while ^another horseman galloped in

plain view of us straight for us. As we got 

further away another man came at the same game.

But it was no good. They were simply decoys, and 

we knew it. If we had chased those horsemen

immediately we got to the building a machine gun

would have opened on us at short range and

then good-bye to us. These Turkish cavalry

will have to come at shrewder games than that

to catch us. About a mile further on, among

some trees, there looked to be seen horsemen or

camels. M^r Radcliffe sent Sergt Solling and Bert and

another chap to see what they were while the

rest of us turned away to the right. About

half an hour after, Stan and I saw our

three chaps coming at a swinging canter over
the flat towards us, while behind them, coming

hell for leather, were three galloping horsemen. 
As we looked, the leading horseman

leaned over his horses neck, and puff-puff

the smoke from his revolver. Stan and I 

burst out laughing. There was old Bert

being chased by [[?]] [[?]] cavalrymen. And

Bert was wasting no time getting away,

either. The Turks gained a fair bit, shooting

every now and then. Suddenly the second Turk

jumped off his horse very quickly, and kneeling 

down, crack, crack, went his rifle. He

must have been a mighty poor shot when

he didn't hit either the three men or horses in

front of him. Our chaps didn't increase their

pace much, just came on at the canter, but

it was a mighty lively canter all the same.

About 1600 yards away the Turks stopped

and hovered around a bit seemingly

anxious for a few more shots. They would

have got what they wanted, lively, only

word then reached us that the reconnaissance

was over, the Heads had found out what

they wanted to, whatever that was, and we 

were to retire back to camp. So back we

went, linked up with the squadron the squadron 
with the regiment, the regiment with the

Brigade, the Brigade with the New Zealand

Brigade, and all the rest of it and away

back we started. The New Zealanders had

lost one man killed and eight wounded. It 

seemed an awful shame that a man should

lose his life over an affair like that, In an 

out and out fight, where there is something

to be gained, loss of life is all in the game.

Though a lot of information was gained in this

reconnaissance work. But for a man to lose his

life in a skirmish is pretty miserable. Away

we started back, some Turkish horsemen

hanging on our flanks and rear. Soon we 

passed Raffa (we knew we had passed it

in the night, by the smell of dead men). Raffa

was a grand fight. Not a blade of cover, 

not a pebble, not a leaf, and the Turks in

log lines of trenches on the tops of the low

rises. One hill commanded all the surrounding ground, 
and was criss crossed through and

through with trenches. And our men had taken 

these positions under an awful fire, with the 

bayonet. Some of the trenches were still half

full of dead Turks, and shrapnel cases, while in

places the sand had blown away and exposed

some of our own dead. After Raffa still

green country, right back to Sheik Zowaid.

We had crossed the boundary to day, and at

least put  foot in the Holy Land, in the Turks

country, and how much more we liked it

than the accursed sands of Egypt. We got to 

camp late, found we had to shift camp four

miles over the sand hills to the sea beach,

watered our very thirsty horses, fed them,

formed our new camp, cooked our own tea

for ourselves, and the lucky ones who were

not on night duty turned in for a few hours

sleep. You can form a poor idea of how much

we were in need of that sleep, 28^th. We

have been out again twice to Khan Younis on

reconnaissance duty. Yesterday we went a 

little to the south, and struck a large

Bedouin encampment of over a hundred

Bedouin "tents". Great long sheets made

with infinite labour from the hair of goats

camels and sheep. These big sheets are 

supported by a few small sticks, and whole 

families camp in them, always with a company 

of young goats, sheep, and at times a young

camel or two. The shepherds live simply in

holes in the ground. These people are 

evidently "very" prosperous for bedouins, they 

have their flocks of sheep, goats, camels and a 

few cattle. They plough the ground a few 

inches deep with the assistance of a camel

and a pointed stick. All their few rude 

implements are the same as their forefathers

used thousands of years ago. They are very 

treacherous, and are cunning enough to hide

their arms except when we come on them 

suddenly. 30^th. The New Zealanders were out to

Khan Younis yesterday, and the Turks fired a 

few shells at them from a long range. 2^nd

March Our chaps were through Khan Younis

yesterday, but our own squadron kept along

the sea beach as left flank guard and saw nothing

but sand hills and sea. Th Small bodies of the

Turks scouting cavalry hang around the flanks, 

and exchange long distance shots with our 

own patrols. Our patrols chase them, and when

our patrols get too far in their country the

Turkish patrols turn around and chase them

out again. So far no patrols on either side 
have been caught, though on every reconnaissance

we capture a few infantry prisoners. One of the

prisoners said yesterday that their cavalry was

only a regiment strong, and used mostly for 

patrol work. If this is true it will be a 

great joke. Our officers have been to Cairo

to go through a course of Cavalry instruction, 

and the whole mounted division is on pins

and needles against this famous Turkish

cavalry. What a joke if there is only a 

regiment of them. The Bedouins dug up 

the New Zealander who fell in the skirmish

and stripped him. The brutes do that with

all our dead that we have to leave behind. 

Coming along the beach yesterday we passed

over the sites of what once were cities. In

places old coins can be found, but so 

corroded by weather and age as to break in

pieces when bent. There are great wells in

places, some of them over two hundred feet

deep, splendidly built, circular stone wells

No doubt the Romans had a lot to do 

with building them. Around the edges of the 

wells the stones are cut into by the Bedouins

hauling water up with ropes, attached to

little donkeys. It must have taken

centuries to cut into the stones so. 3^rd March

A great little joke of these Bedouins is the lighting 
of fires immediately they see our troops. The

smoke can be seen for miles, and gives instant

warning to the Turks. 5^th March One of our 'planes

was shot down at Beersheba yesterday. The airmen

set fire to the machine, and ran for it. They

managed to escape the Turks and Bedouins, and

to day one of our armoured cars picked them up.

About 7^th March. We moved to Rafa to day. Our

planes have given us a great surprise. The

Turks have evacuated their great positions

at Waddy, Nurdn, and Shellail, and retired

on Beersheba. There were 49 redoubts in this

position, a position of great strength....

There is a rumour that the Turks are

evacuating Beersheba and blowing up their 

railway line. We have got the Turk properly

bluffed, without a doubt, and are now on 

the heels of their beaten and retreating army.

As Our planes are playing the very

deuce with their morale, bombing them

night and day...... Word has just come in that

the Turks have blown up the wells at Gaza

and are evacuating the town. Gaza I think is

the third biggest town in Palestine, a population 

of 40,000, and is only about eighteen miles 

from here. Some of our engineers had a 

very narrow escape yesterday while cleaning 
out one of the big stone wells the Turks

had blown in at Rafa. One of the men

put his pick clean through a plug of

gelignite. On examination 140 plugs of

gelignite and dynamite were found packed

tightly between the stones of the well, together

with some percussion caps. If the mans

pick had hit one of the percussion caps

instead, the whole well would have fallen

in and engineers and all would have been

blown to glory. Sunday March something or

other. Yesterday the whole brigade was out,

away out past Khan Younis, and some of 

our advance patrols were within seven

miles of Gaza, The main body halted at

E L Belah, but we who were in the 

screen, went further. The country about

Belah is very fertile, groves of orchards,

mostly fig trees, and much intense
population. The native population is

very numerous, many of them being big

bearded fellows, a lot of them armed, 

mostly with revolvers and belts full of

bullets. We got from old time horse pistols

up to the latest German and American

automatic revolvers. In one house was a 

New Zealand rifle, loaded. The village 

of Belah is all green, because the people

have thatched their houses over with

earth, on x which the grass is growing.

Their three domed praying houses are

white, and look out from the dull

huts around them very distinctly. Our

troop was sent out on a patrol a long

way ahead. We expected rifle fire at

any moment, but all through the day 

not a shot was fired at us. In the

fields were many curious ploughing

appliances, camels yoked to old wooden

plough, often calves and cattle

sometimes, a camel and cow combined,

every here and there in the fields

were fairly substantial mud and stone

houses, with stables for the beasts, 

and in the houses lots of dark eyed 

women and men. I suppose the boss

"cocky" of these parts live in these mansions.

After a few miles our troops halted, 

and seven of us were sent out on a patrol

a few miles ahead. From a long distance

we could see a small two storied house, 

with a red roof surrounded by a big 

orchard of fruit trees, the whole lot

closed in by a whole wall of ugly looking

cactus plants. This was the most modern

looking house we had yet seen since

leaving Rantara, and we determined to 

have a look at it. We went fairly

cautiously, but nothing happened at and

after riding up a lane between the

cactus plants came to the broken down

door that led up to the houses. We dismounted,
 

 
and rifles in hand, went into the 

house. But it was empty. We went right

through, and into a loop holed court

yard at the back. Here everything 

was in confusion. A great wooden

crane was lying splintered on the

ground, and everywhere was fallen

masonry and debris. There had been

a splendid well there, but it was

quite blown in and the side of the

house was blown up as well. There

were a lot of empty shot cartridges

lying about. The Turks had evidently

dynamited the place before leaving it.

Listening, I heard the sound of voices,

and on peeping through a loop hole,

saw a group of women talking under

the trees. We had a good look around, 

then cleared out. 11^th March the Bedouins

have dug up all our dead at Rafa, stripped

them. and left them lying there. We had to