Zeitoun
11/3/1915
Dear Everybody,
When I wrote last I did not expect to be able to write from the same place, again, but on this game circumstances alter so quickly that one never knows what he is going to do next day or where he might be. I yet believe, & know that when I wrote 11 days ago we were on the eve of a move, that would not have landed us many miles across the water from here, but now I think the plans have changed & we must be going for a longer shift, & that within a fortnight. Mind this is not by any means official but purely my own deductions, when out on parade a couple of days ago General Godley told the officers that it would be a fortnight yet before we got away from here. It was rather a set back for we were all getting ready for to shift in a day or two, & then the weather is getting so frightfully hot, the flies worse than ever & altogether we are fed up of the desert. If we could only get camping on turf we would be satisfied, for out here a bit of a wind strikes up & you cannot see anything for dust. Hot winds are very frequent here, in fact there is one today, one of the worst we have had since we came to Egypt. They are a dar’nd sight worse than the hot winds we
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used to get in N.Z. Of course they are not nearly so strong, but they carry more dust & are very hot & tiring. If we stay in our tents, in about an hour’s time everything has a fine coating of dust, & it penetrates everywhere, right through your clothes so that when you take them off at night you would think you were a brown man instead of a white one, because of the amount of dust there is sticking to your skin. We have been having quite a busy time lately, it almost appears that the hotter the weather gets the more they intend to give us to do. Last week we had two field operations, one on the Wed. lasting about 12 hours, & a good deal of hard riding. Then on the Friday night the Division 15,000 men in all went out on a night march, took up a position & put it in a state of defence. Altogether there were 6,000 yards of trenches dug, & the troops stood to arms & occupied them on hour before dawn. They left camp on Friday night at 9.30 PM amid the noted black Egyptian night, & returned to camp at 8. AM. Sat. morn. I was not able to go out on this expedition on account of having a boil, which hindered me from riding, also from sitting down, & I was rather annoyed, because I thought it might be the last opportunity we would have of getting the whole division out again at night. However I believe we are going for another such trip on Friday night again, so that will not be so bad. One does not like to miss these chances of taking part in what are one of the most difficult things to do, namely, to shift a division like this out of a camp like this, & that on a pitch black night. It is perhaps one of the most instructive & interesting pieces of work we have had.
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Here it is Sat. afternoon, 3.15. & as my troop is the troop for duty I have perforce to stay in camp. The weather is a little cooler today, but not too cool yet. The field operations I spoke of on page No 2 came off all right, but they resolved themselves into day operations. We left camp at 7.30 AM. & we fought an engagement against the home Ferries, returning to camp 5.30. PM. This is I think the biggest operation we have had yet there being about 30,000 troops engaged. As a demonstration of the use of our particular arm of the force, it was very good. Today we are taking things very easy, nothing doing but the cleaning & inspection of saddlery. By the way, we have none of our old saddlery left now, we have been issued with the proper cavalry turn out, & by jove it is good stuff, it puts to shame the material we left N.Z. with. As a matter of fact we simply could not have carried on the old saddles all the gear we have got, it would open your eyes if you could see the horses when they are saddled with the full equipment on. I got another big batch of mail on Thursday, a letter from Ruth dated 31/1/15 one from Kate 31st one from Annie & Lottie from Queenstown 31st one from Jack 31st & one from Charl. from Invercargill dated 24th all the same day, then the next I got three Witnesses & a Western Star. “Oh my!” what a grand kick out our Percy got, his boots will not be able to hold him now. The bachelors ball will die a natural death now I suppose; by the way, I do not remember if you ever told me how the last one came off, yet you must have, or was it over before I left, to tell the truth I forget. Anyhow it would be totally eclpsed by the little flare up at Flints Bush.
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The officers of the O.M.R. have had their photos taken along with Mr & Mrs Anthony, owners of the house in which we have our mess. If they are a success I intend to send some of them home. George Menzies was over again the other day, & I was telling him about it, & he wants me to send one to his mother, & I think I will do so. He is looking splendid, as fit as a fiddle & much fatter than I ever saw him in N.Z. He like the rest of us thinks it is high time we were away from here. My word it is wonderful where you meet people, or at at least hear of them. I hear there is one of the young Webb’s from Thornbury here with the Wellington infantry. Then you will all Leslie Jurd that used to drive Foster’s cart, well he is here with the Australian forces, amongst the Queensland force I think. I have not seen them myself, but Sam Hoare, was over at the infectious diseases hospital with the measles for a fortnight, & he met both of them. Young Webb is all right, but Jurd had a relapse & was pretty bad the last I heard of him. What a fine time you must have had Charlie at your camp in Ingill. With the crowd you mention in charge, I can well imagine what it would be like & with what swing everything would go. I wonder what sort of an Adjutant the new man is, not better than Bill I do not think. We would give worlds to have Bill as our Adjutant here, the one we have is worse now than he ever was in N.Z. He is absolutely the limit, he openly admits he does not want to go to the front, & I believe he will do his best to keep us back also. However the Colonel is very keen, & we are looking to his keeness to counter-balance the others ______. I wonder if you had any rifles
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I do not suppose you would, all yours will have been called in, for the reinforcements. Webber will make a pretty slow old O.C. Squadron after the like of Gilkinson. Gilkinson I suppose will either be Major in charge of Regt. or they have promoted him to Colonel. Sgt. Major Thomas is he the same as ever or has his head cooled down a bit. It would be a bit better going to McKenzies for your meals, then camping in the hall out to have been very pleasant. One thing certain, you would have plenty of accommodation should it have been wet. I wonder what the nature of your training would be, more than likely revising the old work, & should that have been the case I can well imagine how sick of it you would be. However there is nothing like keeping at it, fire direction, fire control, & fire discipline are the greatest factors in this war. We can safely say that we have this force worked up to a pretty good standard of efficiency & goodness knows they were green enough. In notes we have received from the front, the above points have been very forcibly spoken about. They are the lines along which the British forces have been trained for some years, & they are points which the Germans never considered worth while. The consequence is their fires is very erratic, while the short bursts of well armed rapid fire of the British forces has a tremendous moral effect. The German fire at all times is independent. The German prisoners have freely commented on the accuracy of the British rifle fire, & do not hesitate to say they cannot stand up to it. In these notes it says that it is the one wish of our infantry, to get in touch with them
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Have just finished mess, & am going to spend the evening writing. We had rather a good time at mess tonight only subs. all the senior officers were out, but old G. When he came in we quitened down, for a few minutes but we soon grew bold again, & high ginks were the order for the rest of the meal. He, sat there & never said a word & of course we got worse, until finally he got up & left us. However he got one on to us before he cleared the building, just after he went out one of the subs. Mr. McKay was going to Cairo, so he got up, & as he was going out, remarks were flying, & Howie sent an orange flying after him. It struck a post on the verandah & burst backwards, & just landed at G. feet. Up he jumps stalked into the mess, instantly there was silence, you could have heard a pin drop. “You can be hillarious if you like gentleman, but remember you are in an officers mess & to throw oranges about is not the action of a getleman, ” & he turned & walked out & over to his den. We did not waite until he was out of hearing but just let go again. Really it is the best bit of sport we have had for a while. He rarely ever speaks to any of the subs in the Regt. I have another good joke to till of two of the subs. who were in the hub-bub. tonight, Mr Scott & Mr Finalyson, you will know Finalyson Lottie, he is young Huttons boss now. Anyhow they were dow in Cairo all afternoon looking round the various curio shops, when they came across a very pretty what they thought was a carpet. “By jove! says Scott we will price that,” so in they went, & started dealing with the native. The price was marked 200 L.S.T.
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They thought that was not so bad, but as usual tried to beat the man down, & offered him 300 piastres = £3 for two fo them. The native did not quite understand so he went out for his boss. The boss came bouncing, & they are all full of business here, “can I sell you gentleman anything to-day” “yes,” says Scott, “we will give you 300 piastres for these two carpets.” “Three hundred piastres; why one of those cost £200 pound each.” Scott & Finalyson bust, turned & walked out, & the last they saw of the man he was two double also. They have been so used to dealing in piastres that they had forgotten about pounds altogether. I am sitting writing this in the mess, & the Colonel has just come in for some tea. There is no mistake he is a good soldier, he has just been speaking about the condition of the troops, & he thinks they are doing very well, but that they are getting stale, & as a consequence they have changed the work, & the hours of doing it. Now we have revellie at I do not yet know what hour, but we have to parade at 5.30 A.M. stay out until 9.30, by so doing, we have our mounted parade over before the heat of the day comes on. What other parades they intend to have I do not know, for they have made no provisions in orders for any more, but they will not have any before the cool of the evening at anyrate. Tomorrow afternoon I am going out to visit the “Tombs of the Mamelakes” which date back to (1250 – 1376 AD). These are only one of the many famous tombs, & one of the many places yet to be seen. One place we did strike quite unconsciously while out on operations one day, was the
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Petrified Forest. We rode right over the top of it, & really it was wonderful, the trees in many many cases retained their shape, but were absolutely nothing but rock. There was no mistaking it one could almost tell at a glance that it had been a forest of some kind. A funny thing in regard to that, about six weeks ago George Menzies said he had hunted all over the map for this Petrified Forest & could not find it. He was very keen to find it, for it was the only place in the guide book he had not been able to find. So the other day when I told him we had ridden over it he was all eyes & very curious, & wanted to know where it was. When I told him where, & he realized it was about 15 miles from camp, his enthusiasm cooled down, & he passed the remark that it could stop there. Having been within a couple of miles of it one day, on a field operation & having to walk back again, he had no desire to repeat the operation. I must congratulate Jack & Jean on having another son, it is quite splendid having a couple of bushranging nephews, & should he be anything like his little brother he will be a fine boy indeed. I was very glad to hear that Rollie was going to Gladstone School now, he will make a mark or two for himself if he keeps his toes in, he is just the one to do it if he gets the chance. Eileen, got on very well at the High School, & I hope will continue to do so. It only remains for Norman to keep plugging away now, & he will come out also. Remember me to the kiddies & tell them that when time permits I will scribble them a line also.
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I am sorry to say that the box of cakes has not arrived yet, but I must say I have not yet given up hope, should it have gone right home to England it will hardly have had time to be back here yet. Of course there is the chance that it has gone to the bottom with that shipment of Belgian Relief stuff that went down. I suppose you will all be watching the Dardanells with interest & wondering what affect they will have on our future movements. At anyrate I think their fate will be known to you before this reaches you & where we have been shifted also. I presume you would notice where the Queen Elizabeth effectively shelled the forts there at a range of 12 miles. She is the latest in Dreadnoughts & is an extremely fine boat. She has heavier guns than any boat in the German fleet, or the British either for that matter. Hope you & Lottie had the time of your lives at the Lakes Annie, & that you returned home a great deal fatter. What little you had seen when you wrote me, seemed to be agreeing with you all-right. All the lads are in tip-top form including self. Trusting you will remember me to all whom I might concern,
I remain
Your Sincere Brother
E.S. McI.
P.S. I meant to ask if my allotments were turning up all right?
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Here it is Monday morn, 11.15 A.M. & we are just back from the daily parade. We had revellie at 4.30 & returned to camp at 10.15, this is going to be our daily routine, that is so long as it is Regt.ial training. The idea is to get the parades over before the heat of the day comes on, & a right royal good idea it is. It was just splendid this morn, made one think of the beautiful spring morns in N.Z. I spent a most interesting afternoon yesterday, Mr Howie Stewart, & I spent a good deal of the afternoon in the Mousky, & without a doubt it is a wonderful place, & it is an education to go there. You can manage to pick up pretty nearly anything you want, & of the best quality. We were looking at a carpet the value of which was only £300, not much is it, some of the rich Southlanders would not mind getting hold of one like it for a bit of show. I got back, after going to church & then had tea at the Turf Club, at about 10. P.M. when I entered the tent the other lads were lying in all directions reading letter that had come in during the evening. Was pleased to find no less than five waiting for me, not a little bit. I had 1 from Kate dated 7th Feb. one from Jeanie, one from Mr Diack, a PC from Annie & Lottie from Queenstown & a letter card from Jessie from Riverton. In the whole lot there was the query as to whether I was getting any of your mail or not, but now you can cease to wonder. Well now these letters are getting away to be posted so I must stop again. Hoping I will get time to write you before we leave here,
I am Your
Loving Brother
E.S. McI.
Please post on to Lottie