Flemington-Kensington Church News, April 1919
Sgt. J. C. McPherson, 11th Coy., Imperial Camel Corps, left Australia for Egypt, on 2nd May, 1916, as a trooper in the 8th Light Horse. After a time he was transferred to the Camel Corps, and was first employed in the brilliant little campaign on the West of Libyan front against the Senussi Arabs. It will be remembered that the Arab General, Gaafer Pasha, was captured and his forces scattered at Sollum.
Then came the long patient fight across the desert from Egypt to Palestine. The Desert Column consisting of the Australian, New Zealand, and British mounted troops and the Camel Corps bore the brunt of the fighting. Romani, El Arish, Magdhaba and Rafa are names of places where our men overcame the desert and the Turk. The Turk was driven from Rafa in January, 1917, and took up a line from Gaza, on the coast, to Tel-el-Sheria, with Beersheba as an advanced post on his left. So East and West faced each other on the old historical battlefield of the Philestine Plain, where innumerable battles had been fought.
On March 26th was fought the first battle of Gaza, which, perhaps owing to a heavy sea fog, failed in its object. There were 4000 casualties. On April 17th, the capture of Gaza was again attempted, but failed in its main object. Gaza had stopped the British. After this time the Camel Corps and other forces raided the Turkish railway, demolishing 13 miles of it, and destroying 9 bridges. Sir Edmund Allenby took over the command from Sir Archibald Murray, and after due preparation the attack on Beersheba was made.
Sgt. McPherson was at school when he and other 15 non-com. officers were sent with rifles and ammunition to outflank and break the flight of the Turks. They were under Colonel Newcombe and a small party with 12 machine guns was organised. The Mecca Arabs were to come up and assist, and the native Arabs were to be organised as a force. The party went out ten miles beyond Hebron and were to hold the Beersheba—Jerusalem road. They had been out four days when they were attacked bv heavy forces. The Arabs failed to come up and the affair became a forlorn hope. The contest commenced at 5 a.m., and terminated at 12.30 p.m., when ten of the machine guns were out of action and the force was reduced to 60 men, four of whom were Australians. They surrendered, but would have been wiped out but for the interference of a German officer.
The surrendered men, but not the officers, were immediately stripped of boots and the better part of their clothing. With bare feet they were marched over the mountains, stopping at Hebron one night and at Jerusalem for a week. Then on to Jericho, Nabulus, Damascus and Allepo. The march was a fearful affair as the men's feet were torn and the food was poor and scant. At Allepo the Spanish Consul gave the officers and men some money, which helped for the time, but prices were very high for all foodstuffs, and the value of Turkish money had depreciated. The prisoners were then sent to work on railway construction on the great Taurus mountain range, where there are great tunnels. They were given two meals a day : the first consisting of a small loaf, the size of a yeast bun, and water, and at night each party of thirteen received a bucket of boiled wheat. The sufferings were intense from cold, hunger and sickness.
The German Civil Engineer over that part of the works was brutal in the extreme—a typical Hun, and the Doctor (Wagner) boasted that he had killed more Britishers than any soldier. Floggings were frequent for inability to do work, and the mortality was extremely high. lt is only right to say that at a camp ten miles away things were conducted quite differently under a humane German Engineer. After some time of this our soldier went down with malaria and was sent to Kara Hissar, in Anatolia. Here he was smitten with Spanish influenza. After four months he was sent to Smyrna and stayed in a college there.
Towards the end, when the Turkish authorities saw the inevitable collapse of their war dreams, the food and treatment of prisoners of war became far better. Ultimately Sgt. McPherson shipped on the "Kanowna" from Smyrna to Alexandria. Few of that little party had his good fortune, and they lie in a far distant land, the victims of organised cruelty and wrong. Sgt McPherson has now been home for some weeks, and is progressing towards the normal after his strange experiences. We wish him health and all success in the career he has in view.
|
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.