Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1918 - Part 3

Conflict:
First World War, 1914–18
Subject:
  • Documents and letters
Status:
Finalised
Accession number:
RCDIG0000963
Difficulty:

Page 1 / 10

Letter Salt 20 Mr dear mother know how many dayout do guit busy & execting had a very 9 asnve fast Tabe wrote since intervening perwd. By the way, a mait annosd timeduring the received theee very elcome letters from you yesterday. hald of them before I post this & suefat get Imust a ew days agos on We startedof to thereors to e the hills which you will bedition away. into anen to Es Salt. Starting and do before this douttlens heave ll might manhy near tt Sda ordan me it moming of the all & along the af the treme don's brangsof ll attacked the toot have Younerl desuled ther which side hills n the hild. fig whic 2 to you 2 as at to the tank getti Forn nitt th Ge. h Sir in the foothill The 8 town tan t hesis te an towards eveninge ofee fine asil ar was Such a Sal track Jor. 20 set ot at before or Binee Into meve done It dve march 4000 ascend to have to to 4 9a wi dan over a track the alle if the fut at for s orsitle to ide discribably hm wthe 0 ch i lead our horses. ount to dism we ad w seraggy cocks. shar with se d MORI
2 the whie over progrers tim de im which the tumbed lacs terribt In hors C poor old hundreds pacifitous In the dio track edges ventable nightmare. the emnie was a ix fut 5 your very far & had before we or darkness came As hells. in the anding huge never on up we stumlled Fwere groom vay period Atme hours darkness fir had front which cohin from the in separated in one no darkness & had vanished in the track. d macke went alon il near &re the ave possibl that then thought for sometime had letter wait till wrll or had misse took us. It was rather Dr some of the others seatedin a guill we were exferience a horrid as sumunded da line th alone almost we were whether knowing & on hills huge the native or some the th hish lines near Inr in that part inhapted. which are villages ofle general armed unserfulous had we that dended minutes then fir He wated for mitt some we till Dur retrace steps to letter went Lacka we nron case we were so folkn our Regient meta relie Fi great to couple off miles Camealon So we waited ck on the tra halted night wel halted for the Eventual with them in the hill. was cold i horses. very pickited
Loddly but hadd mountost then the o we himbe a hour or two. ma Snatch an aged to monin we wire West the fuvious me ht. mont had atowhi h had fen taken ppusbed into ar n BrgadeI belonged to the pueviousnight once the the chayed had They dashing way very in them gallfd fove the town inder on the hill to le about 300 prisoners bagg into the ptet it kept thin as don't know fut How their horses into the town rock descent tent ptee is to way D on made or entered together Col full which was ospital as usual Tuckish th the a Synan doctor mamed in charge of sick woun did& left bhind at his own request Shedian who had Sen hach the anxious to uscafe tou Ass as he was vere Besnt back to Sun educlated in come America & when was hoke a year or two before the way just Turks into Serice, the but ad hin ed feen assistance to The English well & was of great oke 2 headgunter Ed Turkish the divided take us. to Gemn Il whence Horrap hospital next from Hefore You minute haid on escapd a ash Thans beautiful there were some apiva our ther the tatte Yarrs lacias apfets We mext ment to headquate 00 8 de ry lean hospital & forfen guard anran neinsa over f 4l N0
to i hih we in the ite 26 thes si 60 use anuy to from inf 0 the one down sent ounded Iwent N lawthen for ha receive turned to Dycon re flar look after this in to stans which of the form headquarters. our trin we stef Tupish beadquarter to the ut led Ina houn cast woun so did camingu locatted small level street on suitable 2 a used as grain hadd been whic one near Thunch containin R an was At the Tack store th are a de We am o ntitiso Laye Gua pital Goon 5 hos started place w a seanct to amoe Eegan worm Segan ded we as for wounded for transport round the town whecled whichs p hing any unatle to been had been able to few camils ad &on with uis rather stumped3 were so that i struggle up Hinhilance in workin Turkish motor discovered a motordin fom Genman hirsed a order in C it under guard to dime prisoners the amon to run the tank in trot frient sn had the main down it I sen while Sir a D into the wacuate wour ded orin to road fight d wire Buga where the from Thou sherch little a draw had better d main o there A to how in d o
l h thie a o tha po in 2 salt mitalle of Road man Gosttrack dan R udting fsatio on li d marke the tack We wentn tthe out right w O the road on lled as mitto man the cutin on to tronglhel we Turks d so con dhisn no hut in ther doing 20 rea Ns motertiampot which with had They wheled down to the Salt from Homman to E rumnn on then railive however 2 mman indan hid is salt nsey Hedfan the 30 wthin run ap whiled to wchicls some wanted so A also alon the other was to Himman the 3 Salt to him to wwounded in & motor Hmhilanc goin ls foind i the So g0 sevvian for them which Turk sh wayons & hamers Tackhoser four oun we to some attached got a tounn of them Later on use In the of moto lorie as working on some 100 ear w going in them had which they left Sehind 9 dis working o could hard was we the next question As ood d which we rov n si hs arong the hing main road hill Turks the the come had 1ORIA
th doe the e throug an H so kce 8 the toun hee No D Ox the akin ad start for him to 0 anaw ta we had on two nowever that four A next was so that the ppo ground flour lou into to whea to get a gund wull working the quite oftan bil bur engineers dme i hreay th throu Sinzene Beanhn pnt the town had wha native who had lundered the hlll getting prechded in behind ty the Tunks wagonst a goul going mith the aid19 Tunk ppam it Dur Shoris c0 convey had soon so we takens milt the ftom from the for ourselves & the hread & excllent Su an cons requisitioned some wounded Turkist meat grom t ft ahitan tt in from Flese eoch ange were daughtend to rece fir them Tinkith hospira idecti some wayousas 6 Turkish ran Yset pome alsoo mean as horses worn ns de for traction anwalen after nive soon to Hounded gan had which acolito some & am torn the difficul hill a witth Siin n thes 4 wayon Amnilance or our captuned Home busy took y hospital th was very IAN 0096
at 22 in bnt hights to e marter. my Sime to Pasha Turkes doctor The the ro Loster a Your had tolted St. who thad lasd, & all complete ookin Sedstead with infardrote town rather heavily on two Whelled the Tulkt Th wounded some of killed asions D or three houses Some o distroued inhabtants some the hustean Chirstin there two inhaptants iver th were thate Hth fom Protestant 88 oman chrrictig Ca one most brautiful vistment some of had othe huicth cnt The Frunk har h m that ave seen I iver much & killed ar Saat treated the very D to tthat po they te last haid our a them X sent away from time were ptered indeed Dery Ir to who were ridiion th nding all the men fit to time Brgades that was the onl mean sent from the as horses piupitous goattrack along omr dis oral at Turksw the this time ha During come we as we were holding attacks on us making peguent ht magnificent son fellows our then le ume but outmutereda them fitle all time re alo d entia 3000 an ther case baaged on in had at first addition to th they 300 prisoners an wer also sent back strayh The prisoners trn bn the third the way but to him away Gett to orders received ou send awar at fer at 009
oises Inder nl mean to possit are win at the Famils let H all don sant Sern were not have Hlean would sunt that we at th time thought accommodation on Canil had on 240 lhind as we 30 get every to orders had to lyik ases fin fira otie dinided Wle fom th possible caseaw ay also INCO. leave an ave had to o that w Sukr the to when hem ifter to Gook t yoner wa quite ition that a to st over sunounded almost ver as the long unterall fr Going to ance + very Turk ha 8 long one fory had Gon 2 see Constantionof timback wasou out which manon track fur heft ofen. which was fle e with our our Hen Adition just D very our then 0 lave ad Tuck th will the the here this thad withen Gone atta I strong a ber Ariven in case t h S i. i of cutten XI an an To p and in round bottled So ir out time t thon lt evident heads the lodd Ao amils and horser The reding found th an dl d as cont them as a on did all Sir ti X al we Jiw that no could w a two dying sav Yoard ouight we t the lo n survine leave tir i Hmhelany vr away all
hir wanted 2 ir nat none 2n thon wewoul hit d is yr th 2 two ay at the tim e him as w on fne they Sixond St tayed practical ion is n & then guided away re last man until saw the a devion nanon y out th town com our Ce thought that we would staint never a te did safet down the il then woun get the etween n the lay hills whit rcfitton eky 0 t town to be th eted tee le Jordan haptant hat i Bido Doth ome in ked lttac the hill outside 8p go will allowen wrtit ony gonvoy from on toun wheh th ened fre the by hit e 4 aroun sidis the hill three woun did the Bnl en X fance fillows wh all then lon continue onwards hit way o horses One over a fuupin th yur Gam rightened wventuall thet fut W with t two d our 5 mndwellou com hought 5 dX resen mshap another without led the near ate am he Cantimagine how i did thy amilo hit came Jur 8 i he that X to my Kant on the plain The onhast from the nthehills the a tremendons. the hills was as tsle was hish the charseod count th esunded into autiful when we but NY 1009
th ar sta hear a alle X ndan ont as learant was Country very un W died Yesterday other steade has groun sincethen it dempecature when + te ee that 14p reached hwonae made of water il son ones protection is a walley dust in the The Yok sheetis no pros ment homes o the traffe descrption as hyond all flons Howder which to a fine chums everything It was ver senn everything 8 clouds huge in agreeat thought an that has wind today + that we ar there so the atin into coolchange came doctor The Seman tonight pleased ver away from is nn 5 le with ans full on Mr d men more 0 Tunks from lo hy Close 3 with Co ✓ RIA

1
Es. Salt Letter.
7.5.18

My dear mother,
I don't quite know how many days it is 
since I last wrote as we have had a very busy & exciting  
time during the intervening period.  By the way, a mail arrived  
yesterday & I received three very welcome letters from you 
- I must get hold of them before I post this & see what
there is to reply to. We started off a few days ago on 
an expedition away up into the hills which you will 
doubtless have read of before this to Es Salt. Starting 
off one evening we marched nearly all night marching 
up along the valley of the Jordan & next morning 
attacked the foothills of the tremendous range of 
hills on the other side which I have formerly described 
to you at a spot which was only lightly held by 
Turks with the object of getting round to the flank 
& rear of the town. The resistance in the foothills 
was overcome fairly easily & towards evening we 
set out up a goat track for Es Salt. Such a 
march I have never done before or since & never 
wish to do again. We had to ascend 4000 
feet above the valley of the Jordan over a track 
which is indescribable. It is impossible to ride 
up so we had to dismount & lead our horses 
& it is covered with sharp scraggy rocks

 

2
which impede progress terribly & over which the
poor old horses stumbled terribly. In places the
edges of the track drop precipitously for hundreds
of feet. The experience was a veritable nightmare,
as darkness came on before we had gone very far &
we stumbled on up huge never ending hills in the
darkness for hours. At one period my groom & I were
separated from the column in front which had
vanished in the darkness & had no one in
rear & we went along the ill marked track
for some time & then thought that possibly we
had missed our way & had better wait till
some of the others overtook us. It was rather
a horrid experience as we were seated in a gully
almost alone in the darkness surrounded by
the huge hills & not knowing whether we were
near the Turkish lines or some of the native
villages which are inhabited in that part by
unscrupulous & generally armed people.
We waited for a few minutes & then decided that we had
better try & retrace our steps till we met some of
our folk in case we were wrong, so we went back a
couple of miles & to our great relief met a Regiment
halted on the track. So we waited & came along
with them. Eventually we halted for the night &
picketed the horses. It was very cold in the hills

 

3
& I had only a thin macintosh on the saddle but
managed to snatch an hour or twos slumber as we
had none the previous night. Next morning we were
up early & pushed into Es Salt which had been taken
by the Brigade I once belonged to  x the previous night
in a very dashing way, They had charged the
defenders on the hill tops above the town & then galloped
into the streets & bagged about 300 prisoners.
How their horses kept their feet I don't know as it
is a terribly steep rocky descent into the town.
Col Dixon & I entered together & made our way to
the Turkish hospital which was as usual full of
sick & wounded & in charge of a Syrian doctor named
Shediac who had been left behind at his own request
as he was very anxious to escape to us as he had
been educated in America & come back to Beirut 
just a year or two before the war & when war broke
out had been impressed by the Turks into service.
He spoke English well & was of great assistance to
us. We decided to take over the old Turkish headquarters
next door as our hospital, from whence Gemel
Pasha had only escaped a few minutes before
our arrival.  There were some beautiful chairs
carpets & tables there & the place was fairly
clean & in good order. We next went to headquarters
& arranged for necessary guards over hospital & for permission

 

4
to use food supplies Etc which were in the town,
& sent down one of the Ambulances to form a
pla receiving place there for wounded. I went
in to look after this & Col Dixon returned to
our own headquarters. I found the stairs which
led up to the Turkish headquarters very steep for
carrying up wounded so cast round for a
suitable spot on street level & finally located
one near by which had been used as a grain
store. At the back was an R C church containing
large quantities of grain. We cleaned the
place up & started our hospital, & soon
wounded began to arrive. I began a search
round the town for transport for wounded, as we 
had been unable to bring any wheeled vehicles up
with us & only few camels had been able to
struggle up, so that we were rather stumped. I
discovered a Turkish motor Ambulance in working
order & impressed a German motor driver from
among the prisoners to drive it under a guard.
It had sufficient petrol in the tank to run
it for a while & I sent it off down the main
road to evacuate wounded into the town
from where the Brigades were fighting.
I had better draw a little sketch to show
you how there happened to be a main road

 

5
at that point. It was like this

We went up the goat track marked on the left
as the main metalled road on the right was
strongly held by Turks & so we cut in on to
their rear but in doing so could bring no
wheeled vehicles with us. They had motor transport
running from Amman to Es Salt & down to the
Jordan however & Amman is on their railway 
to the Hedjaz. So when we reached Es Salt
I wanted some wheeled vehicles to run up
the road to Amman & also along the other way
to bring in wounded to Es Salt.
So we got the motor Ambulance going & I also found
several Turkish wagons & harness for them which
we attached to some of our own pack horses &
used them for the job. Later on I got a touring
car going too & was working on some motor lorries
which they had left behind to get them in
working order.
Food was the next question as we could hardly
bring up supplies along the road which we 
had come & the Turks held the main road

 

6
so through the agency of the Syrian doctor
I got hold of the chief town baker &
arranged for him to start baking bread
I found however that we had only two bags
of flour ground so that the next problem was
to get a mill working to grind the wheat into flour.
Our engineers helped me & we obtained quite a lot of
benzene in the town by searching through the houses of
the natives who had plundered what had been left
behind by the Turks. We succeeded in getting the mill
going & with the aid of a Turkish wagon & a couple
of our horses conveyed flour grain to it & wood to
flour from the mill to the bakers. So we soon had
an excellent supply of bread for ourselves & the
Turkish wounded & I requisitioned some cows
from the inhabitants for fresh meat, giving
them receipts in exchange. These were slaughtered
by some of the Turkish hospital orderlies.
We also used some Turkish wagons as transport
for wounded using our own horses as means of
traction.
Wounded began to arrive soon after our arrival in
the town some by camel cacolets which had
been got up the hills with great difficulty
& some on our captured Ambulance & wagon &
soon the hospital was very busy. I took up

 

7 
my quarters for the two nights we spent in Es Salt in
the room of the chief Turkish doctor to Gemel Pasha
who had bolted. So I had a four poster
bedstead, wardrobe with looking glass & all complete.
The Turks shelled the town rather heavily on two
or three occasions & killed & wounded some of
the inhabitants & destroyed some houses. Some of
the inhabitants were Christian & there were two Christian
churches one Roman Catholic & one Protestant & the
R C church had some of the most beautiful vestments
in it that I have ever seen. We sent  The Turks
ill treated the inhabitants very much & killed a lot of
them not after our last raid to that place so they
were very frightened indeed. We sent away from time
to time all the men who were fit to ride, on thei riding
horses sent from the Brigades as that was the only means
at our disposal along the precipitous goat track
we had come. During this time the Turks were
making frequent attacks on us as we were holding
a long thin line, but our fellows fought magnificently
& repelled them all along the line, outnumbered as
they were, & in one case bagged an extra 300
prisoners in addition to the 300 they had at first
taken. These prisoners were also sent back straight
away to get them out of the way. On the third
day after our entry I received orders to send away

 

8 
every case I possibly could by means of riding horses
which were being sent down & all the cacolet camels. I
thought at the time that we would surely have to leave
30 or 40 behind as we only had accommodation on camels
for a few lying cases, & we had orders to get every
possible case away & then come ourselves. We decided
that if we had to leave anyone to leave also 1 NCO &
2 men to look after them and when the Turks took
over. Our position at that spot was quite
untenable for long as we were almost surrounded
by Turks & had a very good chance of going to
Constantinople. You see we had gone along one very
narrow track which was our only connection back
with our own people & which was being kept open
by a very thin line of our folk, & in addition just
where this band left the hills the Turks had
driven in a very strong attack & gone within
an ace of cutting off the exit in which case
we were bottled & bound for Turkey land. So
the heads evidently thought it time to get out.
The riding horses & camels arrived & we loaded
them as rapidly as we could & in the end found
that we were able to get all our wounded on
board save two dying cases who could not
survive long & these were left, & we brought
away all the Ambulance personnel leaving

 

9 
none behind though one corporal badly wanted to
stay with the two dying fellows, but we would
not permit him as they were at the time
practically unconscious. Col Dixon & I stayed
until we saw the last man away & then guided
our convoy out of the town by a devious narrow
steep path. I certainly never thought that we would
get the camels & their wounded safely down the
precipitous rocky hills which lay between us & the
Jordan. I expected before leaving the town to be
attacked by some of the Bedouin inhabitants but
all went well until we got on to the hills outside
the town when they opened fire on our convoy from
the hill sides around. They hit one of the
Ambulance fellows in the knee & wounded three
horses but all continued their slow way onwards.
One camel frightened by the firing fell over a precipice 
with its two wounded but they were eventually
rescued and brought on The convoy marvellous to
relate reached the plain without another mishap
but how those camels did it I can't imagine &
I'll take my off my hat to a camel in future
The contrast on the plain from the fresh air of
the hills was tremendous as on the hills the air
was fresh & clear & cool, the country green & 
beautiful, but when we descended into the

 

10 
Jordan valley the heavy stagnant hot air 
& dried up country was a very unpleasant contrast
& since then it has grown steadily hotter & yesterday
reached 110o, & that degree of temperature when
one's protection is a small bivouac made of water
proof sheet is no joke. The dust in the valley is
beyond all description as the traffic of men & horses
churns everything to a fine powder which blows
in huge clouds, obscuring everything. It was very
windy today & that has brought an agreeably
cool change into the atmosphere so that we are
very pleased tonight. The Syrian doctor came
back with us & is now safely away from the
Turks. No more news now my dear so will
close with best of love & hugs from
Your loving son,
Wilf.

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