Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-12-15
PUSHED HARD TASK
TURKS DESPERATE EFFORT TO
CROSS THE DESERT.
Really Wonderful Work Accomplished
in the Face of Almost Incredible
Difficulties, Though Success
Was Not to Be.

III H4ltlh5 VI q lN\ShI u ~ iiACoSoAI
the Suez canal, in Harper's Magazine
William Ashley Anderson tells the
story Of how the Turks brought pom
toon boats across the desert in their
effort to force crossing Of the canal,
as an English officer told him.
"'We'l be at Kantarah soon,' said
a young gray-eyed officer of the In
dian marine.
Il looked forward. The canal wound
away to the southwark,
fringed on the Egyptian side by Il re-
freshing growth of green palms and
drab acacias, broken at long intervals
by tiny bungalows, where employees Of
the canal company kept eternal watch
over the company's interests, much as
the armed SentrieS across the way
stood guard for the empire. On the
Arabian side was nothing but the bill
lowing sand, crowding itself to the
very waters edge, and seeping into the
channel, despite the revetments of
stone brought in ballast from far coun-
tries to hold the tiny particles in check,
despite the great dredges that prowl
up and down, sucking at the invading
streams like monstrOus anteaters fac
ing a migratory tide of insects.
'Kantarah?'
"'Yes. There it is nOw' His face be-
came animated. Leaning far forward,
he fixed his gaze on the approaching
spot, and there, sure enough, was Kan
tarah, the point nearest Port Said,
where the Turks had attempted to
cross.
"'Not far He grinned. I was in
charge of a couple of armed tugs.
We kept running up and down from
here to Ismailia, banging away in the
DARK
But they reached the canal?'
"tOh, yes. They launched some
pontoons-tWo. There's one now. The
others down at Ismailia.'
| There, just swinging into the Kan
tarah bank at the end of cable, fol
all the world like a Chinese ferry Oh
the Grand canal, loaded with India1
| troops, horses and fodder, was barge
| like iron pontoon. I recognized it's Ger
man origin; for 1 had seen such be
| fore. But this was the first vessel
had ever known to cross a desert tina
tries the stamina of Bedouins and thu
endurance of dromedaries. 1t was no
| the last. There was another at Is
MALTA And at Pork Tewfik ther
was a long row of them, punctured b,
shrapnel and bullets, filed with SAM
and used as causeway.
''It was in my heart to feel sympath
for the wasted efforts of these surpris
ing Turks. It will be a long Will
before we understand the organiza
ton of the army that crossed the des
ert, dragging pontoons and heavy guns
effecting simultaneous attacks at thre
main points on front extending
y hundred miles along a barren shor
with a salt desert as base; and pei
sisting in the attacks to the point c
launching several pontoons-siN {
which, probably, could have supper
ed a bridge and afforded sufficient az
commodation for a strong advanC
guard. There was one thing, howeve
that aroused equal admiration ;; it Wa
the appalling neatness with which tt
attack was smashed. 1t was as thoug
three serpents, having craWled acroS
the desert, reared their heads simu
taneously only to have them complet
ly crushed by several very large al
very determined hobnailed boots.
'It was all explained to me in d
tail, but L cannot explain it to you.
Nevertheless, should like to ha'
picked Kantarah camp up bodi
and deposited it somewhere ne;
Plattsburg."