Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-28
BRITISH In WEST
EGYPT ATTACKED
BY THE SENUSSI
Mysterious Order of Mos
lem Tribesmen Out in
Force on Tripoli Border
FOE LOSES, LONDON SAYS
But Indian Army Is Withdrawn
From West Front for "Ser-
vice Elsewhere"

Official announcement of the with
arawal Of the Indian army from
france took first place in the news of
military operations today. While the
war Office gave no intimation of the
destination of the Indian troops, the
belief was general that they were
{ being sent into Egypt to guard the
. suez Canal.
I Turkish reports of fighting on the
], Sinai Peninsula are minimized by the
pritish War Office, but, notwithstand-
ing this fact, dispatches from Ger
man sources indicate that operations
against the British in Egypt have been
under way for some time, being chiefly
carried on by Arabs.
In the Balkan situation the out
standing feature was the report from
Bucharest of increasing military
activity along the Danube with the
possibility of a Russian attempt to
invade Bulgaria, and also the official
announcement in Petrograd that the
Bulgarian coast has again been shelled.
d dispatch to the Exchange Tele-
graph Company from Bucharest states
that 10000 Bulgarian soldiers have
been withdrawn from Serbia and are
being massed around Varna.
New defensive works have been
erected at Varna. Five German sub
marines are said to have arrived there.
The Austro- Hungarian invasion of
Montenegro has met with n serious
check according to the Montenegrin
War Office. The Austrians that
crossed the Tara River are reported
TO have been thrown back to the east
bank with the loss of 900 prisoners.
LONDON. Dec. %.
Public attention. already turning to tho
Near East. has been even more strik-
ingly attracted to that region by the
news today that the Indian troops, which
for a year past have been serving i'm
France, have been withdrawn and sent
elsewhere that there has been hard
fighting in Mesopotamia, and that the
mysterious religious order of the Arabs
OF the Senussi, led by Turkish and Ger
man officers, are out in force along the
Egypt-Tripoli border thus adding at
tacks in west Egypt to those launched
recently at El Arlsh, east of Suez, with
the canal as objective.
SENUSSI CLEAR OASIS.
An official Turkish statement telling
OF an advance by the Senussi well be-
yond the Egyptian frontier has been sent
out by wireless from Berlin. 1t says
Several detaChments of Senussi have
continued successful attacks against the
British in Egypt. They have cleared the
siwah district of British. (Swah is an
oasis in the Libyan Desert, about 800
miles southwest of Alexandria.)
"one detachment advancing along the
coast attacked the town of Materuh, 24O
Kilometres about $50 miles, east of Sol
lum. (Sollum is on the Tripoli-Egypt bor-
der, on the seaCoast, and this locates
Materuh about 100 miles west of Alex
andria) In the engagement the British
commander and 300 soldiers were killed
and the others fed.
Two field guns and large quantities OF
ammunition and ten automobiles three of
them armored, were taken from the Brit
ish"
The main Arab force which had been
operating near Materuh (western frontier
OF Egypt was attacked Christmas Day
and dispersed by the British who suf-
fered small losses. it was officially an
nounced last nightR
The statement says:
with reference to the Turkish official
communique of the 27th, he War Office
states that from the 18th to the 2ith
there was no fighting between our troops
and the Arabs on the western frontier
Of Egypt.
"On the 25th, the principal Arab force
which was located some eight miles from
Mersa Matru (Materuh) was attacked
ana dispersed with trifiing loss to our
troops"
Tine foregoing evidently refers to a
Turkish official statement received in
america from Constantinople by way
OF Berlin, and which was sent by
wireless, bearing Constantlnople date
OF December 26l
BERLIN. Dec. 2S. - SenussI trlbesmen
adVancinB along the Egyptian coast near
me border of Tripoli have driven the
british out of Materuh, to which they
ieured late in November after a strong
Arao force had compelled their retreat
ron ron sollum, according 10 a Turkish Of
neiai report of Sunday received here to-
aAy from Constantinople.