Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-13
STORIES OF THE WAR
New Features of War in Egypt.

Unique features of warfare were de- veloped, according to military men, in
 the recent battle of Romani in Egypt in which the British defeated the
 Turks, the invaders losing some 5000
 in dead, wounded and prisoners out of
 their total of approximately 14,900
 men, as has been told in cable ad- vices. The crossing of the Sinai
 desert with big guns and other war equipment during the heat of summer was an unprecedented achievement. A | representative of The Associated Press who was permitted to travel over the entire battle ground after the conflict, 1 had been told previously, by high mili- tary authorities, that the feat could not be accomplished and tbat any force safe from attack throughout the sum mer. One of the few dissentants, how ever, was Lieutenant-Gene Sir Archibald Murray, cOmmander-in-c chief of the British forces in Egypt. Imme- diateiy upon his assumption of com ! mand here last January he began to prepare for just such an attack, and the victory at ROmani was due to his l foresight.
 The Turkish expedition undoubtedly i was engineered by German officers who l laid elaborate plans for the advance l from the direction of Fl Arish, a l Turkish post on the northern coast | ninety miles from the canal. About l half this distance is through :. wa1er- | less desert and at this time of year 1 the. heat is intolerabIe. It .-odid be | impossible for men to march for in 1 these sands one sinks to the ankles 1 at every step. and horses are not fitted l for work of this kind. The only means 1 of transporting troops and supplies was 1 on came.s and this was the method employed. About fourteen thousand of i these beasts were used.
 Unable to drag the heavy gun car riaGes through the loose, deep sands, | the Turks constructed roads by dig 1 9ing small parallel trenches which would it the Carria@e wheels and fiil- 1 ing ~A2se tracks with the scrubby | plants which represented the anly veg ] et3ble life outside the cases. These 1 wiry plants formed 9 cushion over i which sand was thrown, making. a very | practicable road for the guns. In some places where the sand was too loose | and deep for this track, blanks were ! laid lengUhWise under the wheels.
 | Progress was necessarily slow and | long before the Turks reached the | watered positions which they took up
 some miles in front of Romani the 1 British were ready and waiting for l them The defenders did not attack, l for it vase the plan to lraw the in | Vaders on to an assault if possible 1 General Murray decided that he would l wait a certain length of time and then lCICC IIle Issue Il IHG 1utKS nau not advanced. It seemed almost like a 1 fOrlorn hope that the Turks, with their 1 astute German leadership, would be i led to an attack on the Romani posi- i ton, for the whole country in this sec | tion is covered with great steep dunes some of which cannot be climbed in 1 places because of the sliding sands 1 All these dunes were well protected by | the British. However as had been 1 hoped. at midnight on August 8 the Turks began the attack which ended | in complete disaster for them on August 5.
 Just what persuaded the Turks to 1 try to take this apparently impregna- ble position is a matter of considerable | speculation. Some express the opinion | that they were misinformed as to the | nature of the battle-ground. Others l strength and hoped, despite the diff 1 culties presented, to take the" position
 and establish a base from which they l could work against the canal. How l ever, that may be, they were cleverly l drawn into the sand dune trap.
 | They fought bravely and their ar 1 tillerY shooting was very accurate and 1 effective in places. but no body of at l tacking troops could hope to fight their 1 way through these dunes when opposed ] by artillery, machine guns, cavalry and i entrenched infantry. G
 The Turks suffered from lack of water since they had to advance from 1 their base laden as lightly as possible l Both sides undoubtedly underwent al l most the limit of human endurance l from the great heat. The climax o1 ] the battle was the charge of the AnZa6 l light horse who arrayed themselves or l ridge some two miles and a, half ir | length and hurled themselves dowr | upon the Turks who were stra ggline
 i forward in the sandy trap, and were [ I IAfn al iyacf hn %n1~
 l slaught. -,
 The general opinion is that the
 | Turks must have proved to their owr
 satisfaction that while they might | bring troops across the desert. ye
 | they could hope for no success during
 | the hot season unless they had com,
 l munication railways established bacl
 | of them. For this reason, it is be.
 1 lieved. that they will not venture tt
 attack again in force during the stsc
 l ner. -.
 A Turkish prisoner of war, a majo,
 who was captured at Romani, gave 1 the correspondent. an explanation O. l the Turkish expedition. The major de.
 l clared that it was merely a reconnoit
 | ering force sent out to pave the wa!
 | for real advance which would talSt l place shortly. The 14,000 men were tc
 size up the British strength and make
 preparations along the way for tn, bigger army which was to. follow. Bu l his somewhat startling assertion los | some of It's force when a. fellow off | cer sitting beside him made an sfnef. fect11al atter7rf $n 1,;de a snf1e.