Tel-el-Kebir
24/4/16
Dear Everybody,
Just a very hurried note to prove that all is very well in this quarter of the globe, & that yours truly, is very fit & well. Needless to mention how much I would like to be dumped in Riverton for today & tomorrow. At time of writing things will be very busy in & around Riverton, & if it is as good weather there as it is here, a good time should be assured to those attending the meeting. Leaving out of course, the extreme heat & the plague of flies. You will observe by the heading that we have changed our ground since writing you last. As a training ground
[Page 2]
I really do not think there is a better one in the world, namely the famous old battle ground of Tel-el-Kebir. It is of course right in the middle of the desert, bounded on the North by the Ismailia canal, & boasts of a hard sandy surface. Finest place in the world for discipline, miles away from everywhere, so that it is possible to have the men under your thumb at all times. I think I said in my last that I was acting Adjutant of the N.Z. details; if I did not I am saying so now, & have been doing so since the 14/4/16. A rare job it is, keeps one going from morn till night, with very little time to himself. Have never been so busy since I joined the force, as I have
[Page 3]
been since taking this over. Under the circumstances do not be surprised if you do not hear from me regularly. Have not had an N.Z. mail for weeks & do not expect to get one for some time, because of the upsetting of the mail arrangements caused by the division going to France. The post office people have not yet had time to decipher the whereabouts of everybody. We are expecting the 11th reinforcements to arrive shortly, & after that do not expect to remain in Egypt much longer. Most of the men will be sent straight to France, and among them possibly myself, the staff of the training Bttns will then in all probability be moved to England, where we understand arrangements have
[Page 4]
already been completed. From Kate, I have not yet heard a word, have not the slightest notion in the world where they are, & I guess she is saying the same of my whereabouts. We are just now, following very closely the doings of the Russians in Asia Minor, having just received a few days ago the news of the fall of Trebizond, which practically means the loss of the whole of Armenia to the Turks. The papers further report a Russian advance South of Bitiles, to a point only 12 miles from the Tigris, the reaching of which is practically means the cutting in half of the Turkish armies in Asia Minor, if not the actual cutting in half of the armies, the seizure of one of their most import lines of
[Page 5]
communication. The possession of which by the Russians, gives them a good route for supplies for an advance on Bagdad, the capture of which for political reasons more than military, are absolutely essential. That it is only a matter of time for this to come about is evident to the most casual observer. Well now as time presses I must cut this short. Au Rêvoir for the present.
Your
Affect. Brother
E S McI.
