Month: May 2016

Orderly dog today, took the rough exercise at 5:15. Church parade at 9. Bathed after stables; we changed our place this time and bathed from an old derelict barge where we got great fun diving.

A mail came from home this afternoon, lots of news.

Enemy aeroplanes bombed Port Said last night and did, according to Osman, a good deal of damage in the Arab quarter.

In an intelligence report sent round to us this evening, an agent reports that at El Hassana the Turks have a force of about three thousand men, composed of Turks, Syrians, and Arab camelmen, also some Howitzer guns. They are under the command of Sami Bey.

Went out early this morning to watch the 1/3rd brigade having a practice shoot in conjunction with aircraft. When the aeroplane came down the pilot lost control of her as she was running along the ground, with the result that she ran straight into a cookhouse and smacked one wing and the propeller, but neither the pilot nor observer were hurt.

We had our usual morning bathe about midday. There has been as nice cool breeze all day.

This evening a member of the White Cross who has been given permission to come and speak to all the troops in Egypt, spoke to the brigade and I have never heard a better or stronger address.

Very little doing today except the ordinary routine. Had a bathe in the morning.

Our brigade and the 1/2nd were out early this morning doing a small practice scheme. I was orderly officer to Colonel Robertson. Bathed at midday. It was a respectably cool day for a change.

General Parker spoke to all the men of the brigade this evening and said he hoped we got a chance of getting even with the Turk here and then going to another sphere of operations. Six of our aeroplanes went out on a strafe to El Arish early this morning, and I believe one hasn’t returned, but we’ve no definite news yet.

Reveille at 4 am, exercised the horses. We are going to try and get everything done before 8 am if possible in the future. Been very hot all day thought not as bad as yesterday. I bathed at six thirty this evening; the water wasn’t smelling particularly nice and was rather greasy – small wonder with thousands of men bathing in it every day – but at any rate it was wet which is the great thing. Fifty men arrived from Railhead and Hill 70 yesterday, and thirty today, all with sunstroke.

A real scorcher today, by 9 o’clock in the morning it was 106 degrees in the shade and reached a climax at 3 pm by being 117 degrees. Tried to bathe in the morning but it was too hot to enjoy it. Osman, the native who comes down with things from Port Said, says it hasn’t been as hot for a good many years. There was a scorching hot breeze (khamseen) this afternoon which made things worse. We lay and gasped and dripped, only moving just to see the horses watered and fed. I hope we don’t get any more days as hot.

A large French trooper full of Japanese troops went down the canal this evening. I wonder if they are going to France?* Bathed about 7:30, but still felt just as hot afterwards.

*I heard officially later that they were French colonial troops from Cochin China, bound for Salonika.

From six to eight this morning General Parker had our brigade and the 1/2nd out practicing brigade together. I was doing orderly officer to Colonel Robertson. I had a lovely bathe this morning and stayed in nearly two hours!! The morning was quite as hot as yesterday, but a strongish wind got up in the afternoon and there were one or two small sandstorms.

An intelligence report sent round to us this evening from one of our agents at El Arish says that with the German forces there there are six long-bodied dogs with short legs and that they come when they are whistled for. It sounds as if the Boche was going to find some use for a Dachshund other than making sausages.

I bathed before breakfast. A “pow wow” by the Col. on brigade tactics during the morning. Too hot to bathe at midday, had to just sit and drip like a Turkish bath. I had a topping mail from home this afternoon. Bathed about six thirty. It’s been over 100 degrees in the shade again today, too much of a good thing.

Orderly dog today. I took the horses for a short early exercise to work the stiffness off. They all seem to be picking up again, and don’t look so bad as I expected to see them. Bathed at midday.

Orders came in this evening that we are to send out a party to bury the horse at Hill 40. We had tried to arrange for the camp out there to do it as they are nearest, but they weren’t having it. Being the unfortunate orderly dog, I had to go out with the party. We left here at five thirty and had a four mile ride, a two hour dig, and four miles back, and got back here about ten pm, very dozy.

It’s been a grilling day again today, over 100 degrees in the shade.

One of the sick horses died in the night and I am not surprised, as yesterday was a very long trek for the climate. We spent a very uncomfortable day on Hill 70, a broiling sun and no shade whatsoever, and clouds of flies swarming everywhere and tormenting us all day. Jeans and the Colonel rode out during the morning and said we were to march the remaining seven miles back to camp in the cool of the evening. We left just after four and got back to Kantara about six. We lost the other sick horse just before we got to Hill 40.

I had a bathe soon after seven and it was nice to get in the canal again. “Kitty” has hardly turned a hair and was as happy and gay as ever coming in tonight, but I hope the staff won’t play any more games like that with us. We hear they are going to send us to Mahamdiya when they can find more water there.