History of the World War, Volume 2 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War, Volume 2 (of 7) : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
Supported by land and naval artillery the Indian troops took the
offensive, the Serapeum garrison, which had stopped the enemy
three-quarters of a mile from the position, cleared its front, and the
Tussum garrison, by a brilliant counter-attack, drove the enemy back.
Two battalions of Anatolians of the Twenty-eighth regiment were thrown
into the fight, but the artillery gave them no chance, and by 3.30 in
the afternoon a third of the enemy, with the exception of a force that
lay hid in bushy hollows on the east bank between the two posts, were
in full retreat, leaving many dead, a large proportion of whom had been
killed by shrapnel. Meanwhile the warships on the lake had been in
action, a salvo from a battleship woke up Ismailia early, and crowds
of soldiers and some civilians climbed every available sand hill to see
what was doing, till the Turkish guns sent shells sufficiently near to
convince them that it was safer to watch from cover.
At about eleven in the morning two six-inch shells hit the Hardinge
near the southern entrance of the lake. They first damaged the funnel,
and the second burst inboard. Pilot Carew, a gallant old merchant
seaman, refused to go below when the firing opened and lost a leg. Nine
others were wounded, one or two merchantmen were hit but no lives were
lost. A British gunboat was struck. Then came a dramatic duel between
the Turkish big gun, or guns, and a warship. The Turks fired just over,
and then just short, at 9,000 yards. The warship sent in a salvo of
more six-inch shells than had been fired that day.
Late in the afternoon of the 3d there was sniping from the east bank
between Tussum and Serapeum, and a man was killed on the tops of a
British battleship. Next morning the sniping was renewed and the Indian
troops, moving out to search the ground, found several hundred of
the enemy in the hollow previously mentioned. During the fight some
of the enemy, either by accident or design, held up their hands,
while others fired on the Punjabis, who were advancing to take the
surrender, and killed a British officer. A sharp fight with the cold
steel followed, and a British officer killed a Turkish officer with a
sword thrust in single combat. A body of a German officer with a white
flag was afterward found here, but there is no proof that the white
flag was used. Finally all the enemy were killed, captured or put to
flight. With this the fighting ended, and the subsequent operations
were confined to the rounding up of prisoners, and the capture of a
considerable amount of military material left behind. The Turks, who
departed with their guns and baggage during the night of the 3d, still
seemed to be moving eastward.
So ended the battle of the Suez Canal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account