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Chapter XIX
The Jordan Valley

At midday on Monday, April 1, the Fourth Battalion I.C.C. left its camping ground amongst the thorny thickets of scrub at the mouth of the Wadi Shaib in the foothills on the east side of the Jordan, and moved down the sloping plain towards the river. All that forenoon, Christian and Jewish refugees from Es Salt, a town situated in the mountains of Gilead, 2,000 feet above sea-level and twenty miles from the Jordan River, poured down the road past the camp in an unbroken stream—men, women, and children, some well dressed, many evidently of the poorer class, all carrying whatever they could of their worldly possessions, in bundles in their hands, or on their shoulders; little children in their mothers’ arms, or carried on the backs of their older brothers or sisters; all fleeing from the treatment they knew would be meted out to them when the Turks regained possession of Es Salt on the retirement of the British forces. One could notice the feeling of confidence they had in British protection, when, some miles from the river, they were met by our limbers and waggons, and when the women and children were loaded into these, they sank down contentedly on the bottom of the vehicles, worn out but satisfied that they were in safety. At the Ghoraniyeh Bridge over the Jordan all weapons were taken from the men, and a rare collection of arms of all kinds, ancient and modern, was gathered into heaps by the roadside. The refugees were given a meal of bully-beef and biscuits, and were taken later on to suitable camps in various parts of the country until after the armistice.

We crossed the plain on the west side of the river, and camped that night close to the historic town of page 177Jericho (native name Eriha), which is situated 1,100 feet below sea-level, and is the lowest situated city on the face of the earth. Immediately behind us was a flat-topped hill called Jebel Kuruntal, or the Mount of Temptation.

As were were standing by in the morning, a trooper asked his mate what the hill was, and he was told that Kuruntal was the native form of the Latin word quadraginta, meaning "forty," and that Christ, after fasting for forty days, was there tempted by the Devil to worship him, the latter offering Him all the country He could see if He did so. The trooper whose biblical knowledge was rather vague, asked if the offer was accepted, and on being told that it was not, remarked in all sincerity, "I’m d—d if I would have done it myself if the country was the same then as it is now." We had, during the last ten days, made a fairly thorough survey of the wilderness round Jericho and it certainly possessed few attractions for a New Zealand farmer.

The known history of Jericho extends as far back as the time of the invasion by the Children of Israel some 3,300 years ago. In those days it was a walled city, which, built near the mouth of a gorge leading directly to the plateau of the Canaanites, commanded the most direct route from the east to the Promised Land, and it was necessary that the Israelites should capture it so as to give them access to the higher country. This was accomplished with a musical accompaniment in the dramatic manner described in the Book of Joshua.

Jericho must have been a much more prosperous place in those olden times that it was when captured by our mounted forces in February, 1918, as in the former times it had a king and government of its own, and it evidently was a place of some wealth, judging by the booty taken by one individual in the army of the Israelites, and retained by him in spite of the strict orders of page 178Joshua to the contrary. This man, Achan, appears to have secured a fair amount of loot, as, when accused by Joshua, he confessed, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, I coveted them and took them, and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent."

In our case we were not warring against the inhabitants of the cities, but against their oppressors, the Turks, and so the property of the residents was respected. But history repeats itself; 3,300 years after Achan’s time, our Company, on its way to carry out a reconnaissance on our flank, camped at nightfall near an army dump where there was a supply of poles for telephone lines. We were out of firewood, and had not the wherewithal to boil up, and in less than ten minutes after we had halted, there was a procession of telephone poles moving into our lines. There was only one axe in the outfit, and it worked overtime that night. Next morning, leaving the bulk of our equipment in our lines under the guard of two men, we moved off to our allotted task. Not a sign of a stick was to be seen, either on our saddles, or amongst our baggage, or along our lines, for "behold they were hid in the earth in the midst of our tents," but when we returned at night, a stab with a bayonet in the sand under each bivvy brought to light a supply of firewood. We were more successful in using this method of concealing our booty than Achan was, but in our case we had not plundered private individuals, and we had not received specific instructions that we were not to use telephone poles for firewood. The ordinary Camelier, under such circumstances, did not feel he was committing a crime; he was merely keeping himself fit for further active service in the face of an enemy (which is a good soldier’s first duty) by judiciously transferring the use of an article (in this page 179case, telephone poles) from one arm of His Majesty’s service (the Engineers), to that of another (the I.C.C.).

In any case there was little temptation to indulge in looting in modern Jericho, as the houses were poor hovels, and the inhabitants, a few hundred in number, were a sorry looking lot. The Wadi Kelt, a narrow ravine with precipitous sides, issues from the Judaean Mountains at Jericho, and provides a permanent supply of water to the town, but the country showed almost no signs of cultivation, and the vegetation was mostly thorns. Most of the pests connected with the plagues of Egypt at the time of the Exodus of the Israelites were to be found in the valley. Ashes and dust as of old, produced boils and blains wherever the skin was broken; flies, fleas, lice, and mosquitoes (of the deadly malaria-carrying type) made air raids or night attacks with deadly persistence, while spiders, snakes, and scorpions appeared to be well dug in under stones, etc., and one never knew when he would experience a surprise attack from these pests. Jericho is the only village in the deepest depression on the land surface of the globe, with a hot, humid, unhealthy atmosphere, and is the nearest inhabited place to the centre of the earth. The troops who were there during the summer of 1918 now understand exactly what is meant when they are told to "Go to Jericho."

Yet in the time of the Romans, Jericho was a prosperous city, situated in the midst of large groves of date-palms, plantations of bananas, and cornfields, and was celebrated for the spices produced there. Mark Antony made a present of the city to the fair Cleopatra, who afterwards sold it to Herod the Great. It became a place of residence of the latter, and he died here about the year 4 B.C. Remains of old stone walls, dumb witnesses of its former prosperity, are still standing in the vicinity.

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On the evening of the day after our crossing the Jordan River, our force pushed on some twelve miles up the Jordan Valley to relieve some British infantry in the front line. It was rumoured that it was to be for only forty-eight hours—it turned out to be forty days before we were relieved. We did not exactly fast for forty days in the Wilderness, but it could not be said that we lived on the fat of the land—if so, it was a very lean land.

The Camel Brigade occupied the front line from the foot of the Judaean Range on its left flank, to the west bank of the Jordan River on its right, a distance of some six or seven miles. The slopes of the mountains on the left were so steep and so cut into by impassable gorges, that they did not require to be held by either force. From the foot of the slopes with the exception of an outstanding hill or two, the ground sloped gradually down towards the river, in places overgrown with thorny scrub, in other places perfectly bare, and crossed at intervals by dry beds of vanished streams, some narrow, some broadening out into wider wadis with bulrushes growing in their lower portions, but all with steep banks, so that there were few crossing-places in them, except where the wadis ran out up on the plain, or where they joined a larger channel near the river itself. The First Battalion occupied the left of our line, with its left flank resting on the steep eastern slopes of the mountains. Included in its sector was a prominent steep-sided hill called Musallabeh, jutting out on the plain, and dominating the whole of the flat country adjacent to it, and also commanding the approaches to several fords in the lower Jordan Valley. The right of the front line was held by the Fourth Battalion, with its right flank held by the 16th N.Z. Company, resting on the west bank of the river. At first the Company held outposts in advance of the Wadi Auja, the only one page 181containing a running stream of water, but later they advanced to the Mellaha Wadi, two miles farther forward. Observation posts with Lewis guns in each were manned in the day time, and the presence of some of our Scottish friends from the Machine-gun Squadron with their guns gave us a feeling of confidence. At night parties went out on outpost on exposed parts of the plain, dug trenches, and erected barbed wire protection. Our artillery, including some six inch guns, were placed in the Wadi Auja in our rear, and there opened out on the enemy positions at fairly regular intervals, observers usually coming up to the front line to observe the results, and direct the fire. As all hands became used to this routine, things became rather casual. Once, instead of sending an observer forward to our post, the artillery officer rang up the latter, and said our guns were going to open up on a Turkish redoubt ahead of us, and asked the occupant of the outpost to record the result. Bang went the gun. "About a mile and a half to the right," was the report. "But we want the correction in yards," came back over the wire. "Well, multiply the blinking number by 1,760, and you’ll get it for yourself," was the reply as the telephone rang off. After that we were not asked again to act as deputy forward observation officers.

The living conditions were very unpleasant in these wadis, the sides and floors of which were quite devoid of vegetation of any sort, and day after day the rays of the burning sun poured down unmercifully. Lieut.-Colonel Preston in his book, The Desert Mounted Corps, states: "The average maximum daily temperature during July, as taken at the R.A. Headquarters on the top of the Tel el Sultan-Abu Tellul Ridge, was 113.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. The highest reading recorded during the month was 122 degrees and the lowest, 107. At the foot of the ridge the temperature was about three page 182degrees higher, and at Ghoraniyeh it reached 130 degrees on several occasions. During August the temperature rose still higher, but no daily record was then kept of the thermometer readings. The tremendous evaporation from the Dead Sea keeps the atmosphere moist, and adds to the discomfort caused by the great heal, while the increased air pressure, due to the depth of the valley floor below sea-level, induces a feeling of lassitude against which it is difficult to fight."

The only shelter one could get from the sun by day was by propping up an overcoat or blanket, and crawling underneath it, but the small flies which were present in clouds also watched the erection of these shelters and immediately swarmed into them, and gave the occupant no peace. At night as the flies settled down the mosquitoes became active, the adjacent swamps being natural breeding grounds for these pests. One could not leave any part of one’s body exposed, or the mosquitoes discovered it, and so, muffled up over the head in a blanket in the close humid atmosphere, one was soon bathed in perspiration, so that sleep at night was far from restful. The Turks did not believe that white troops could exist in the valley through the summer of 1918, and a Turkish aeroplane dropped a note behind our lines to say that they would come along and bury our bodies when we were dead. It is very interesting to receive an assurance while you are still alive, that your funeral will be well attended, and our men were so interested that they decided that they would wait and see the ceremony themselves, but as it happened, it was the Turks that had to be buried.

As all supplies for the forces in this district, two Mounted and one Infantry Divisions, and the Imperial Camel Brigade, with numerous extras, had to be trans-ported by road from the nearest railhead some forty or fifty miles away, and then distributed by limbers or pack page 183camels to the various units, it was not surprising that everything except bare necessities were a minus quantity, but although rations were simple in the extreme, we were never without something for a meal. Even our mails were delivered to us in the front line with as much regularity as we could expect. It was wonderful how both letters and parcels found us, no matter in what directions we or they had been wandering, as evidently the mail bags had their adventures also. One trooper received two parcels which had been posted on the same day in December, 1917, at a country post office in New Zealand, and on April 16, 1918, both parcels were delivered to him in the wadi Auja, but one had stamped on it, in addition to the address which was still quite legible, the words, "Salved from torpedoed ship." The parcels had evidently been despatched by different vessels, one of which had been sunk by the enemy, but the mails had been afterwards salvaged, the contents of course of this parcel being spoilt. Little things like this let us know that war was being carried on below sea-level elsewhere than in the Jordan Valley.

During the month of April, 1918, General Allenby’s army suffered a severe loss by the transferring of the 52nd and 74th Divisions, nine Yeomanry regiments, ten British battalions of infantry, five and a half siege batteries, and five machine-gun companies for service in France, while in May fourteen more battalions of British infantry were also withdrawn for the same purpose. Their places were partly supplied by Indian forces, which in many cases had not seen active service, and were therefore of less value than the hard-fighting experienced forces they replaced.

Some of these Indian companies were attached to the I.C.C. in the Jordan Valley during the hot months of 1918, but the men did not seem very happy, as they were unable to carry out many of their usual customs.

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For one thing the scarcity of water was irksome to them; as they were unable in their spare time to indulge in the practice of washing their long hair and winding it carefully round their heads, with a turban encircling the whole. On one occasion the writer was able to shake a party of these Indians out of their phlegmatic state, and get a cheerful smiling response from them, but what was the reason he did not fully realize at the time. Early in 1917, when the 16th Company I.C.C. was returning from a week’s raiding in Turkish territory in the south of Palestine, the writer had to go with a group of four Cameliers to relieve, just as darkness fell, an outpost of Patialla troops who were helping to guard our lines of communication. The Subadar in charge was a cheerful, hefty Indian who could speak English fairly well. He was in high spirits at being relieved, and as he was leaving us he said in farewell, "Sut, sree akal." On being asked what that meant he replied, "All the same as good-bye, good luck." "All right then," I replied, "Sut sree akal to you." "You no English, you say that. You Indian," he said. "All right, Sut sree akal." I retorted, as he disappeared in the darkness, but the phrase remained in my memory.

Some months later, when returning from a class of instruction at Zeitoun, I had to wait for the night train up the line at Kantara where the Suez Canal is crossed. While wandering about the large military camp there in search of cigarettes of which there seemed to be a shortage in the canteens, I came to the area set apart for the Indian troops. Seeing a canteen open, and hering voices within, I entered, but immediately the voices stopped, their owners who were sitting on the sand playing some native game, became like Buddhist idols, and the attendant behind the counter assumed the expression of the Sphinx. I sensed opposition immediately, and felt that any business transaction was out of page 185the question, but an inspiration came. "Sut sree akal," I remarked blandly. Instantly the Sphinx became an animated being, and the idols came to life. "Sut sree akal," was responded on all sides. "Have you any cigarettes, Johnny?" I asked. "Yes, plenty," was the ready reply, and the deal being completed to the satisfaction of all, I retired with honours, to the accompaniment of "Sut sree akal."

In April, 1918, when a party of Indians attached to the I.C.C. in the Jordan Valley was moodily proceeding up the Wadi Mellaha on its way to outpost duty, it had to pass immediately in front of the writer’s bivvy. "Sut sree akal," he remarked, when instantly all faces turned towards him with expressions of pleasure in every feature, and a united response of the same refrain, "Sut sree akal." After that he seemed to be the most popular white trooper in the Wadi with these Indians, but why, he knew not.

Years afterwards when he was settled down once more in civil life in his native land, the writer read in a New Zealand daily paper a cable from India which stated that a tribe on the North-west frontier, called the Akali, had raided a town in the lower country, had looted the bazaars, and had marched in force through the main streets, firing their rifles, and shouting their war-cry, "Sut sree akal." Evidently the cry was the password of an unfriendly society on the border of India, and the writer had been passing this on as if he was one of the initiated, and he had evidently been accepted as a member without further test. A little knowledge is sometimes a dangerous thing, but in this case he had if anything the better of the deal.

But life in the valley was not allowed to pass along in this uneventful manner. The Turks had their programme to keep us busy, and the British had plans also to stir up the Turks, and both of these affected us.

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During the night of April 10, a sudden burst of enemy fire was heard across the river and farther down its course, and in the early morning the Turks advanced against the British positions guarding the bridgeheads on the eastern side of the river. The Infantry and the Australian Light Horse held up this attack, and the enemy had to retire. At the same time a determined attack by the Turks was made on Musallabeh, the hill on the left of our front line. Artillery, machine-guns, bombs and rifle fire were brought to bear on the position held by the First Battalion I.C.C. (Australian), but the men hung grimly to the post. All day long the attack was hotly pressed with heavy casualties on both sides. The Turks tried to outflank the position, and got so near that they were able to throw bombs into the lines of the Cameliers. The latter responded in the same manner, and with the arrival of reinforcements of men and munitions were able to drive off the enemy. Military Operations, the Official History of the War, states: "At Musallabeh the Turks were only prevented from taking that invaluable hill by the coolness and steadiness of the Camel Corps."

Trooper Bluegum sums the result of this fight as follows:

"Oh! Allenby came smiling o’er the hills of Palestine,
And victory came hot upon his track.
He sent congratulations to the Camels—said ’twas fine;
Said he knew that we could keep the blighters back.
And to celebrate the battle, lest the world forget the deed,
And the day we gave the foeman such a bump,
‘Now and henceforth and for ever,’ he solemnly decreed,
‘Musallabeh should be called The Camel’s Hump.’"

On April 29 the 16th Company I.C.C. advanced from the Mellaha Wadi for a distance of a mile, and took up a position with one half company on its right flank on the high terrace immediately overlooking the Umm esh Shert ford over the Jordan, the other half company occupying a position on the tableland about half a mile page 187to its left, the space between consisting of dry wadis with almost perpendicular sides of soft crumbling bluish-gray clay, up which it was quite impossible to climb. The party on the right were in the front seats in the dress circle for the next act that was just going to be staged, and before they were withdrawn were to attract the attention of some of the actors at some cost to themselves. The road from the Umm esh Shert ford led directly across the flat ground which rises gradually to the foot of the Mountains of Gilead to a leading ridge up which lay the direct road to the town of Es Salt, some ten miles away. This level piece of ground immediately across the river from us, and directly under our observation, was to be the scene of a fight on the result of which depended the safety of a large part of Desert Mounted Corps. If the Turks were successful General Allenby might not have had at his disposal the whole of the efficient cavalry force which finally swept the Turks out of palestine and Syria in September and October, 1918. The Turkish army held a strong position at Shunet Nimrin in the range of hills lying east and parallel to the Jordan River northward from the Dead Sea. The lines of communication to its base and the railway at Amman, consisted of two roads, one a partly metalled road passing up the Wadi Shaib through the town of Es Salt, and thence over the tableland to Amman, the southern and unformed one passing through Ain es Sir, lay open to attack from the adjoining territory of the Beni Sakhr tribe of Arabs. If the Desert Mounted Corps could force its way up the east side of the Jordan and up the mountain road to Es Salt, and gain a commanding position in the rear of the Turkish Infantry, one line of communication of the Turks would be cut, While if the Arabs blocked the Ain es Sir road there was a chance of capturing the whole Turkish force so strongly entrenched at Shunet Nimrin.

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In his despatch describing the British operations east of the Jordan, General Allenby states that a deputation from the Beni Sakhr tribe waited on him, saying that the tribe was concentrated near Madeba, within striking distance of the Turks, and was ready to co-operate with him if an advance was made at an early date. Everything seemed to promise success in the undertaking, if only promises could be relied on, especially Arabs’ promises.

On the night of April 29 our artillery bombarded the enemy’s trenches at Shunet Nimrin, and the infantry attacked this position at the same time. This attack was continued day and night till May 4. On the same night the mounted forces crossed the Jordan at Ghoraniyeh and moved up the valley as far as Umm esh Shert, where the Fourth Light Horse Brigade pushed on as far as Jisr ed Damie, some fifteen miles from Ghoraniyeh, while the main force turned at right angles to the valley, moved up the mountain road to Es Salt, and seized the road beyond it to Amman.

Colonel Lawrence, in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom, tells that at this time he visited General Allenby’s camp, and learned to his amazement that some chiefs of the Beni Sakhr had offered the immediate co-operation of twenty thousand tribesmen at Themed. Lawrence knew that there were not four hundred men, and at the moment there was not a tent at Themed, as the tribe had moved south. The expected help from the Arabs came to naught, and the Turkish line of communication through Ain es Sir remained open for reinforcements and supplies to be hurried in to Shunet Nimrin.

Meanwhile up the Jordan Valley misfortune had befallen the Fourth Brigade. It had been unable to reach the bridge at Jisr ed Damie, owing to strong machine-gun fire, and Turkish reinforcements of cavalry and infantry crossed the bridge to the eastern side of the page 189river, and forced the Brigade to retire into the foothills. The teams of two batteries of artillery attached to it were shot down, and the guns had to be abandoned, along with limbers, waggons, ambulance and water carts. The retirement of the Brigade through the hills was of an extremely difficult and dangerous nature, owing to the broken and precipitous country traversed. At one spot four camels loaded with fantassis of water, toppled backwards owing to the steepness of the hill they were attempting to scale, and fell three hundred feet to the bottom and were killed. Wounded troopers were rescued by their comrades with difficulty, and it was only by the coolness and bravery of the troops that the Brigade was saved from being cut off altogether. The position of the four Mounted Brigades in the mountains, the First, Second, and Third A.L. Horse, and the Fifth Mounted Brigades, now became serious, and two regiments of the N.Z. Mounted Rifles and a regiment of the Sixth Mounted Brigade were placed under the command of Major-General Chaytor, and hurried up the valley to keep open the line of the retirement of the forces from Es Salt.

Major-General Hodgson, who was in command of these Brigades, received orders to retire, and early on the morning of May 4 the town was evacuated. The Turks made a determined effort to break through the defending forces, but Chaytor’s defence held. On the opposite side of the river from their high terrace overlooking this position, the New Zealand Cameliers saw the artillery duel being waged continuously for fortyeight hours, and at daylight on May 4 saw the head of the long column of mounted troops winding its way down the leading ridge directly opposite us, and in full view of the Turks, who began to land shells amongst the leading troops who were spread out in open order, but the route was soon altered to dead ground, and the page 190column moved down the valley in safety. It was one of the few occasions during our campaign when a whole mounted division could be seen in full view on the move under fire.

By midnight that night the artillery duel had ceased, and when day broke on the 5th there was not a sign of our troops on the other side of the river, but the Turks could be seen feeling their way down the valley. They worked their way as if on parade, and took no risks of surprises. Gradually they approached the river opposite us, and seemed surprised when we let them know we were still there. It was quite interesting to watch through a strong field glass, the drill movements of our enemy, especially as we knew it was only a matter of hours when their attention would be transferred to ourselves. As daylight broke next morning increased numbers could be seen in the position in front of us, and as the ground was very broken and gave good cover they soon worked forward to a ridge about five hundred yards away. Our observation post occupied the crest of a prominent projection overlooking the ford, and soon it was the target of a rapid and very accurate fire. Spraying the top of the opposing ridge with a Lewis gun made the enemy keep within cover, but as there was scrub and low trees growing along the banks of the river, the position was rather awkward as if the Turks reached this cover the could have worked their way unobserved to our rear, and cut off our retreat. While this point was receiving attention from our Lewis gun, voices were heard in our rear, and a troop of Yeomanry appeared to relieve us. The other half of our Company on the left meanwhile had beaten back an attack by the Turks, but at a heavier cost in casualties than we had.

That night we retired to the reserve line, not knowing at the time that this fight was to be the last we would take part in as members of the Camel Brigade, as it had page 191already been decided by the C.-in-C. that as the camels had outrun their sphere of usefulness, and as horses would be more effective in the campaign ahead, the Camel Brigade was to be reorganized into a cavalry force.

The Es Salt raid had great possibilities. If the scheme of the British had been carried out as planned, the greater part of the Turkish Fourth Army might have been captured, which would have affected materially the future campaign of General Allenby. Whereas if the attempt of the Turks to break through opposite the Umm esh Shert ford had been successful, five British Mounted Brigades might have been cut off, which would have given an equal advantage to the other side. No territorial advantage was gained by either army. The British casualties in killed and wounded amounted to 1,512, while 137 were posted as missing. Most of these losses were incurred by the infantry in their frontal attacks on Shunet Nimrin. The Turks must have suffered fairly heavily, and in addition lost 942 of all ranks as prisoners, while twenty-nine machine-guns were also captured by the British.

A mistake on the part of the Turks on May 1 prevented them from gaining the full advantage of their position. The Turkish Second Regiment had marched to Mafid Jozele, between Umm esh Shert and Jisr ed Damie, and had crossed the Jordan by a pontoon bridge there when its commanding officer received an order that his force should cross at Jisr ed Damie. This officer evidently believed in literally obeying orders, so he led his regiment back across the river, marched five miles up the stream to ed Damie, and then crossed again according to his instructions. If this regiment had advanced direct from Mafid Jozele and strengthened the attack on the Fourth A.L.H. Brigade before reinforcements for the latter arrived, it would have made matters much more serious for the Light Horsemen.

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On May 12 the Camel Brigade left the Jordan Valley, and travelling by night, retired to its former camping-ground on the hills at Talat ed Dum. Leaving there at dark the following night, it followed the road past Bethany and Jerusalem. In the grey light of the early morning our column wound its way down the slopes of the Mount of Olives, past the Garden of Gethsemane, and up the western side of the Kedron Valley, and on past the massive north wall of the ancient City of David, but we did not halt; the exigencies of war do not make provision for sight-seeing; that had to come later on. By 6 a.m. we arrived at a pleasant-looking village called Enab on the Jerusalem-Jaffa road, and there camped amongst its olive groves. Water and firewood were plentiful, and after a real wash and a good breakfast, all hands turned in and slept till well on in the afternoon. At nightfall we saddled up, and once more followed the main road down the gorge leading to the coastal plain, where we made our way to our old camp site at Ras Deran.

The campaign had now progressed past the country which was suitable for camels to operate in. The next military movements were planned to take place mostly in hilly territory where there was a better supply of water than had been available formerly, so it was decided to reorganize the Camel Brigade into a cavalry force. The ten Australian Companies were formed into the 14th and 15th Regiments, forming a new Brigade, the Fifth Australian Light Horse Brigade, under the command of Brig. General G. Macarthur-Onslow, to which was attached a French Cavalry Regiment, while the 15th and 16th N.Z. Companies of the I.C.C. were formed into the Second N.Z. Machine-gun Squadron, under the command of Major D. E. Batchelor, and attached to the same brigade.

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And so in June, 1918, the Australian and New Zealand Cameliers said good-bye to their camels which had carried them in comfort over desert and wilderness, and had even attempted to carry them up the sides of mountains, and once more the troopers returned to horses. They left behind them many advantages in the shape of extra comforts and equipment, which the camels could carry, but the restoration of their spurs gave them a sense of dignity they had missed as Cameliers. By their efforts in the campaign from 1916 to 1918 the troopers had won their spurs as deservedly as many knights-errant of old.

The six British Companies of the I.C.C. were retained for some time, and two of them were despatched in July to co-operate with the Arabs under Colonel Lawrence, in a raid on the Hedjaz railway in the vicinity of Amman.

But the camels themselves, although set free from the service of their former riders, did not yet get their discharge from the war. Colonel Lawrence, in Seven pillars of Wisdom, describes how he obtained the use of them for his Arab forces. He was on a visit to General Allenby at the latter’s camp in May, and he relates: "At tea-time, Allenby mentioned the Imperial Camel Corps in Sinai, regretting that in the new stringency he must abolish it and use its men as mounted reinforcements. I asked, ‘What are you going to do with the camels ?’ He laughed, and said, ‘Ask'Q."

"Obediently, I went across the dusty garden, broke in upon the Quartermaster-General, Sir Walter Campbell—very Scotch—and repeated my question. He answered firmly that they were earmarked as divisional transport for the second of the new Indian divisions. I explained that I wanted two thousand of them. His first reply was irrelevant; his second conveyed that I might go on wanting. I argued, but he seemed unable to see my side at all.

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"I returned to Allenby and said aloud, before his party, that there were for disposal two thousand two hundred riding camels, and thirteen hundred baggage camels. All were provisionally allotted to transport, but of course riding camels were riding camels. The staff whistled, and looked wise, as though they, too, doubted whether riding camels could carry baggage. A technicality, even a sham one, might be helpful. Every British officer understood animals, as a point of honour. So I was not astonished when Sir Walter Campbell was asked to dine with the Commander-in-Chief that night.

"We sat on the right hand and on the left, and with the soup Allenby began to talk about camels. Sir Walter broke out that the providential dispersing of the Camel Brigade brought the transport of the —th Division up to strength; a godsend, for the Orient had been vainly ransacked for camels. He over acted. Allenby looked at me with a twinkle. ‘And what do you want them for ?’ I replied hotly, ‘To put a thousand men into Deraa any day you please.’ He smiled and shook his head at Sir Walter Campbell, saying sadly, ‘Q, you lose.’ It was an immense, a regal gift, the gift of unlimited mobility. The Arabs could now win their war when and where they liked."