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The Spike: or, Victoria College Review, June 1915

With the Main Body

page 51

With the Main Body.

Dear Spike,

The following are extracts from a number of interesting letters received from F. G. Hall-Jones, who is serving with the Main Expeditionary Force. The glimpses they give of the surroundings of the troops in Egypt may be of interest to your readers.—G.G.G.W.

"We have had a pretty decent time since leaving New Zealand's shores, Hobart and Albany we saw as per route march; just missed the Emden by an hour or so owing to having all lights out; had two days at Colombo; enjoyed greatly the Suez Canal, with the moonlight and the searchlight revealing hordes of soldiers on the right bank, who cheered as we passed. Saw Alexandria every night for a week, where we took our "little Marys" ashore for a holiday (or rather for fatigue duty) after their long course of ship's tucker. Then came Cairo, with its suburbs of Zeitoun and Heliopolis. Now you know what Sydney is so I cannot teach you much fresh; suffice it to say that the said Cairo is one of the biggest eye-openers on earth. . . .

Ten miles from the City (2 ½d is the train fare) are the Pyramids. You can imagine how we clambered in, over, and around them. Beneath their shadow is the Australian Camp; if a new Napoleon were to say to those same Australians "From yonder Pyramids 20 centuries behold your actions," it might bring a blush of shame to their cheeks. They have a reputation among the Cairenes of being a pretty rough lot, the N.Z. boys being more popular. . . .

Dominating the town of Cairo is the Citadelle (now used as a Barracks) and inside it is the Mosque of Mahomet Ali, a magnificent structure of white alabaster, incredibly rich with decorations. In turn dominating the Citadelle is a large fort, supposed to have been built in 22 hours by Napoleon, enabling him to capture the heart of the town. . . . South of Cairo is the ruin of old Memphis, one of the oldest towns in Egypt, page 52 and Sakkara, replete with old pyramids. Tom Seddon, Malthus, and I went there on Christmas Day. We had our Christmas dinner in the shade of the Step Pyramid, the oldest stone building of any kind in Egypt; saw the tombs of Ti and others, each containg some twenty chambers covered with most magnificent decorations; went through the tombs of the Sacred Bulls (the Serapeum) about 200 yards long, filled with huge granite coffins each big enough to hold twenty or more men; watched a gorgeous sunset from the top of the Teti Pyramid, and then on returning in the evening got lost and had supper by moonlight under palm trees with the sheikh of a native village! . . .

We have experienced all the mysteries of the desert. We have seen castellated mirages, towers and battlements, huge shimmering lakes, hills with their bases cut off, and their peaks floating like balloons in the sky. Another peculiar sight was that of a column of sand rising into the air like a waterspout or whirlwind. There was only a very light breeze, but the column spun round and round, and spreading its dust broadcast in the sky two hundred feet high. . . .

As regards work, we don't loaf. Work commences at 5.30 a.m., and except for meal time is pretty continuous till 4 p.m. From then there is general leave until 10 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday there is a general half-holiday—the only chance we have of seeing Cairo in the daylight. . . For a fortnight or more we were doing company drill, digging three-foot trenches, attacking and defending—this in the dusty desert in a hot sun, albeit it is allegedly midwinter. We have just concluded a two night Battalion bivouac; marched about 8 miles, attacked and defended, got lost among the eternal sand hills, found our bivouacking place at nightfall, had a meagre meal on service rations, dug trenches round the camp, got into bed, and were promptly roused out for a beastly night attack. Next night, after a day's skirmishing it was the same thing, except that our blankets did not arrive until eight p.m. when we had made up our minds to sleep" on the bare sand. . . .

page 53

As you may guess we are a very happy family, and manage to make things merry. West is our platoon commander, Holden our sergeant; Tom Seddon, McKenzie and I are in the same section, which also contains a lot of Auckland 'Varsity men. Delamore, Inder, Batten, Shortt, Randrup, L. Hall, V. Hall, Mills, Mothes and hosts of others are also here. From Canterbury I have seen Malthus, Livingstone, Pratt, Maunsell, Burnett, and Professor Stewart. Otago has John Ross, Christie, Redpath, Withers, Fisher, Gillies and others. The University is doing pretty well in sending so many of its scapegoats to fight for ye goode olde cause, and incidentally to have a very good time while it lasts. . . .

Our little fling at Ismailia, disappointing as it was, was a welcome relief to the monotony of the desert. We rushed off at a moment's notice, and were informed by the Colonel that we should be fighting for our lives within a few hours. The closest acquaintance we had with the real thing was when after staying at Ismailia for over a week, we were called out to reinforce El Ferdan, which had been shelled in the night. We arrived at noon, dug trenches on the Canal bank all the afternoon, and into the dusk, while H.M.S. Clio fired salvoes at Turkish guns some 3000 yards away. Our section stood on guard all night expecting the enemy to come as he had come the night before. But he had had enough and disappeared into the darkness and the desert. One of the boys in a trench near by let his nerves run away with him; he stared so long at a mile post across the canal that he saw it move and aim at him, so he fired; it fell down, got up and aimed again, so he fired again; the fact that his second shot hit the water n front of him brought him to his senses. . . .

Of Turks we have seen but few; a few dead ones floating in the canal when we visited the battlefield of Toussoum, and some prisoners. One of the latter was rather amusing. He had surrendered himself, and was being interrogated by a Major when a dozen or so of us under arms, arrived with shovels to dig a shelter pit. Seeing our rifles and shovels, he not unnaturally thought that we were a firing and burial party, and bursting in page 54 to tears, begged plaintively for his life. . . . Only after some time were his fears allayed by the Major, whose hands and boots were then vigorously kissed. I later had to take this same Turk down to Ismailia, and had an interesting first-hand talk with him. . . .

We expect to be off at any moment now for the Dardanelles. It is just as well we are leaving, as the hot winds, and the intense heat of the sun, together with the desert and the monotony of the work have put everyone into a fractious mood. The point is that we are now an over-trained, over-fit, blood-thirsty crowd, intensely desirous of a few hefty Turks to bayonet, and if we can't get Turks to fight, some of us will be fighting among ourselves. It seems quite on the cards, however, that our sinews will soon "be slackened with slaying" in the Dardanelles.