Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess- 8 June-16 August -1917 - Part 1

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Cairo 8^thJune 1917

What HQ! in CairO! and this is how

it came about.  I paraded to the old

Major for leave, and my excuse was

that I had a practical idea to vastly

improve the rapid fire of our rifles,

and I wanted very much to lay the

idea before military ideas engineers

in Cairo.  The Major could not

give me leave, but he laid the

matter before the Colonel, the result

being that I was suddenly told off

for special duty in Cairo yesterday.

Another man and I, with an

officer in charge, had to take some

kit bags from Rafa to Port Said.

So yesterday afternoon, behold

us riding through the narrow,

prickly pear hedges of Khan

Yunus, with whistling fragments

of bombs whizzing close by, the

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parting farewell of a taube flying

overhead, and the rattle of our

own hidden machine guns firing

from the hedges.  But what cared

I about taubes or their bombs.

Was I not going to Cairo? after

so many months in the Wilderness.

Even if it was only for a

few hours, would not those

hours be free from the accursed

military monotony?

So we entrained about six

O'Clock yesterday afternoon, in a

long open truck tightly filled

mostly with Tommies, nearly 

all of us going to Cairo, either

on duty or a few days precious

leave.  And yet no one would

have taken us for men who

felt exceedingly pleased, nay

happy.  This war has knocked

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a great deal of the knack of

light heartedness out of us all.

In the old days that truck 

load of men would have

sung far through the night in

an excess of happy spirits.

Not now, though.  As the

darkness fell down, and the

train rattled on through the

everlasting open hills, the men

crouc just crouched down

on the hard boards of the

truck, I do not believe there

were thirty words spoken

between the lot of us all

through the trip.  And for

me, I could not help it, I

lived all that lone trip

over again, the Desert

Column pushing the Turk

before them across the desert.

How many dreary months?

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Was it twelve, or was it sixteen?

And now I was going

back over that same country

again in twelve short hours.

I could not help myself, if

ever a man lived over his

life again I lived through

those months again last night.

How familiar the desert was

as the train rushed through.

Those very bright twinkling

stars, the cool air, the grey

desert hills of sand, the low

stunted bushes, how mercifully

the darkness hid the

blazing sands of day, the

waterless, waterless dunes of

sand.  We passed through El

Arish, what a paradise it

must have seemed to the

retreating Turkish army as

they struggled across the

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Cairo................191....

pitiless sands from El Abd

those months ago.  What

memories of long marches, of

suffering of men and horses, of

growlings, of fighting, of the joy

of victory, as familiar stretches

of the desert whirled by.  Through

the night we passed Mazar,

but I shut my eyes, the last

time the regiment was there the

light hearted little Welshmen

camped there gave us a concert,

a ripping ^sing song, and now so

many of the poor lads lie on

the slope of Ali Mentar.

Then on to El Abd, where the

remnant of the Turkish army

put up their desperate rearguard

battle, and were so

nearly annihilated and captured

to the last man.  What a

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days of alternating hope and

despair and determined energy it

they must have been for the

Turkish officers.  Prisoners told us

afterwards that the Turks were

lying in hundreds on the burning

sands exhausted, the spirits

utterly knocked out of them by

the persistency of our pursuit.

The prisoners assure us that

had we completely surrounded

them during those last days the

men would simply have laid 

on the sand, and not moved a

rifle bolt.  And we so nearly 

did it.  And then on through

the night, past Oghratina, more

memories of the stubborness of

the Turkish rear guard.  And

then on to Quatia.  Just dimly

seeing that broad belt of palms

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through the night, I rode again

in that great old charge of ours

so many months ago.  Yes, and

imagined it was broad daylight

the morning after, and could see

the Tommy infantry from

Romani struggling to keep up

with us, lying in little heaps

under the bushes where they had

crawled, and could feel the

pity again as we gave the

thirst burnt wretches our water

bottles.  So many of the poor chaps

seemed only to be boys.

Just at daylight the train 

stopped at Romani.  Yes, all

through that blooming night I

lay in that damned old train

and lived through the old hard

times again, and thought what a

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hard used poor little beggar I

was.  And yet, from the

beginning of the ages, millions of

men have perished in that

same desert track.  The Roman

legions fought and lived and

died there, Alexanders swarthy

hordes marched through, the

Assyrian hosts bled on the

sands, Cleopatra brought her

foreign hosts through that

desert and once more stained

the sands red at Pelesium, 

smashing her brother and

snatching the throne of Egypt

at the same time.  And quite 

recently a little chap called

Napoleon brought his army

through, and what terror and

pain and death followed his

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armys footsteps;  for friend and

foe alike.  And now the

Youngest nation in the world,

mingled with British troops,

have fought their way across

the sands that must be made of

the dust of men who have

perished there in millions since

the ages began.  And the

greatest of all who marched through

was Christ.  If He had only been

a soldier, what an army he would

have led.  Would to God he would

come to earth again, and lead

us through the world.  9^th June.

And here I am in Cairo, though as

far as that goes I've been here

since two O'Clock yesterday afternoon.

And this sinful city with

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its few good people, its host of

debilitated men, its harlots and

nigger boot cleaners, is just the

same, except that it is deadly

dull with the soldiers gone.  I

wonder how the swarms of

native parasites live now that

the soldiers have gone.  But

most of them made a fortune

while the sun shone.

I've had great good fortune 

so far with this rifle improving

invention of mine.  All  morning

I've been walking through

military offices getting the idea

to the right people.  To my

surprise it has been quite simple,

and I have been helped along

a lot.  I've even had an

inteerview with a major with