With the British Army in The Holy LandLock, H. O. (Henry Osmond)
History
With the British Army in The Holy Land
Lock, H. O. (Henry Osmond)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Palestine
But there were other sights that met our eyes, sad and gruesome, that
can be better imagined than described. Portions of the enemy's wire, and
of the gentle slopes in front, were littered with the remains of brave
lads that had fallen in the sad days of March and April. It was strange
that, in their own interests, the Turks had not buried these bodies.
Instead they had left them lying there for months, beneath an almost
tropical sun, and had actually fixed up their new wire entanglements
over the unburied bodies. In some cases death had evidently been
instantaneous. In others, where death had come more slowly, lads were to
be found grasping open testaments or letters from home. It seemed so sad
that these poor fellows, who had endured the hardships of the Desert and
marched victoriously across Sinai, should, like Moses, have been
privileged to see, but not to enter, the Promised Land.
After crossing No Man's Land, we marched along past pleasanter sights,
great stacks of ammunition, gas cylinders, and other interesting
captures. We enjoyed glimpses of how the enemy here had made himself
comfortable; still more did we enjoy glimpses of how we here had made
the enemy uncomfortable. Huge craters there were, made by naval guns
shelling from the sea. These guns had bombarded the enemy communications
behind his front line, and had obtained direct hits on the track and
rolling stock, causing a train or two, valuable booty, to fall into our
possession. Bomb holes were to be seen, made by our aircraft in their
efforts to destroy the bridges on the enemy's line of retreat.
We bivouacked on the night of the 10th at Deir Sineid. For the next two
days we marched forward, close upon the heels of the pursuing cavalry,
but not close enough yet to come into action or to deploy from column of
route. All along our route lay evidences of the enemy's rout. At one
time, we were passing a convoy of prisoners being shepherded along by a
few cavalry; at another, a party of refugees hurrying back with their
worldly possessions to those homes to which they knew they could now
return in safety. Here and there lay the body of some unfortunate Turk;
while all along the line lay the wreckage of vehicles and the carcases
of transport animals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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