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Egypt is one of the few points where I have documentary proof of where my grandfather was, from his diary, but it only covers early 1916 as the earlier pages were lost.
It would seem to have been a fairly boring routine of guard duties and fatigues.
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This photo, and others below were taken from the March 13, 1915 copy of “The War Budget” (3 old pence weekly). This photo shows Turkish POWs paraded at the Kasr-el-Nil barrack square in Cairo,
under escort of the Lancashire Fusiliers.
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I am sure that many people are like myself, tending to see the First World War as something that only happened on the Western front, and at Gallipoli.
Events in Russia, the Balkans, Palestine and Turkey are ones that spring to mind, yet large numbers of men were sent out there, many from the Indian sub-continent. With time I will expand the Egypt section, but for now a short intro. will have to suffice.
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The Suez canal was vital to Britain’s communications with its Empire, particularly India, and the thought of Turkey joining the Axis powers caused her to need to defend the Canal.
Initially this was done almost exclusively by the dispatch of Indian troops, Britain and France declared war on Turkey on the 5th November and on the 18th December, 1914 Egypt was declared a protectorate by Britain.
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In early 1915 the Turks did make some raids on the Canal, but nothing in any strength, and all were driven off, assisted by warships in the waterways. With the build up in the Dardanelles, Egypt
became a base for those operations, and when the Gallipoli campaign came to a close, large volumes of troops would pass back through Egypt, some to stay and some en-route home or to other theatres.
The end of the Gallipoli campaign presented a problem to the war planners, would Turkey now take the opportunity to move in strength against the Canal and Egypt. They had plenty of men, the Allies had suffered a defeat at their hands, and their were rail communications down through Palestine and the Sinai. To defend the Canal a large number of troops were now thought to be necessary;
for the Suez Canal, five mounted and eight infantry divisions, 19 batteries of siege and heavy
artillery, armoured cars and additional aircraft; for the Western Frontier two mounted and two infantry brigades, with proportionate field artillery; for Egypt itself one mounted brigade and 15 garrison
battalions. ( These figures from the Official History.)
Again, from the Official History “It was certain that, however successful the evacuation, the
troops from Gallipoli would not be a formidable weapon, even for passive defence, for some time to come. The formations were very weak, and thousands of men were in the trenches who would in any
other campaign have been in the hospitals. Those in better case were yet low in health from continuous strain and indifferent food. Rest, reorganization, training and complete re-equipment
were necessary before any campaign that involved marching could be undertaken. For the purpose no better situation than Egypt could have been found.
Its climate from November to March is as healthy and invigorating as any in the world. Hard work on digging trenches, in the stimulating air of Sinai, with ample food, was an excellent recipe for the restoration of troops debilitated by exposure and nervous strain.”
I’m not certain from my
grandfather’s diary that he would have agreed with the medicinal benefits
of trench digging! By the 7th of December, 1915 the ration strength was roughly 100,000 men and 50,000 animals, and some divisions had been removed from France to make up these numbers. This was prior to the pull back from Gallipoli.
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The defence of the canal would not be on its banks, but some 11,000 yards to the east, to put it outside Turkish artillery range.
In a pessimistic view the planners believed that if the Turks were to occupy the watering facilities of the Qatiya Oases, then they could bring some 200,000 - 300,000 men against the Delta. There were arguments on the British side for and against our occupying Qatiya to deny it to the Turks, but in the end it was not felt necessary.
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With the main defensive line some 11,000 yards east of the canal, and then the second and third line defences behind that, there were a large number of troops and animals that required a large engineering
enterprise to build roads, railways and most essentially, a fresh water supply. defence of the canal was a large operation.
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However, the War Committee had decided that the main theatre of war for Britain was France, and expressed this in the instructions to the commander in theatre, Lt.
Gen. Sir A. Murray, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Force as it was now known. His instructions of the 29th December, 1915;
“1. ......It is therefore important that as soon as the situation in the East is clearer, no more troops should be maintained there than are absolutely necessary, but circumstances may make it necessary
to reinforce our troops either in Mesopotamia or in India or in both. You should therefore be prepared to detach troops from Egypt when and if the situation makes this advisable.
2. Both for the defence of Egypt and the creation of an effective strategical reserve, the first requirement is to reorganize the troops in Egypt, and to get the depleted and tired divisions from
Gallipoli in a condition to take the field. Efforts are now being made to despatch to Egypt as rapidly as possible everything that is required to bring these divisions up to war establishment.”
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While the build up in Egypt had been large and rapid, with troops coming from India and laso from the French theatre, once the decision was taken that France was the main focus, the movement of troops
from Egypt was equally fast, and this saw the 6th Battalion York & Lancs also moving to France. Of the 14 divisions from Gallipoli, from France and the United Kingdom, or formed in Egypt, six
were gone before the first quarter of 1916 was out and four more by the end of the first half of that year.
Divisions were sent away in the order in which they stood in military value, which meant that all the best troops were taken. Four Territorial divisions only remained, and of these the 42nd also was to be withdrawn early in 1917.
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The 6th Battalion arrived in Alexandria from Lemnos on the 2nd February, 1916, where command of the battalion was taken over by Major G.H. Wedgewood.
On the 10th they moved to Port Said, and then moved again on the 24th to El Firdan, taking over the duties of the 14th (Service) Battalion of the Yorks and Lancs.
The battalion history has very few entries between their arrival in February, and their leaving Egypt in late June. From the remaining notes of my grandfather, which cover
the period of March through to early July, it was a pretty boring period. They seem to have spent a lot of time digging trenches, patrolling the Suez canal and training.
My grandfather also seems to have succeeded in getting himself a minor Court Martial which resulted in a few days fatigues and Confined to Barracks. The photo below shows New Zealand troops digging trenches in the desert. It must have been much like this for my Grandfather.
The following short extracts are from the battalion diary in the PRO at Kew, and give some idea of how the men spent their time in Egypt. A common entry was “none to
hospital” or “3 (sick) to hospital”, followed by “garrison duties/camp routine”.
Reveille 05:30
06:00 - 06:15 physical training
06:30 breakfast
then B,C&D Coys “digging” 07:00 - 11:00
The comments above were common daily routine from the diary.
On the 23/4/16 there is an entry for “20401 Cpl H.R. Bean was found dead in rear of 35th Field Ambulance lines from the effects of a gunshot wound in the head. Ct of
Enquiry held. President 2Lt D.S Wintersgill. Court found he intentionally shot himself during temporary insanity.” A sad little entry. I also noted in the battalion history that
the President of this court of enquiry, 2Lt Wintersgill would be later wounded in action, 17th Jan 1917.
The Adjutant had much to concern himself with. An entry in Battalion Orders for the 4/3/16 “Shorts. the practice of wearing short trousers by the officers will be discontinued.” He does not say why.
My grandfather in his notes refers to diphtheria having broken out on the 24th April. An entry for the 3rd April in the battalion diary showed that such an outbreak was being
prepared for “Capt M.A. Macdonald and party of senior NCOs proceeded to ISMAILIA to visit Capt Ross’s sanitary exhibition (diphtheria).” Capt Macdonald would also be
wounded along with 2Lt Wintersgill on the 17th Jan 1917.
On the 9th May the routine was;
06:15 - 09:30 A&D Coys digging, B Coy camel loading and work on stable shelters, C Coy training under company arrangements.
16:00 - 1800 A,B&D digging, C Coy training
20:00 - 22:00 specialist night operations
The photo above shows a camel train being unloaded at a tented camp.
The everyday life of a private soldier looks to have been pretty repetitive. On the 25th June the battalion was directed to stand by ready to entrain, and on the 26th they left
El Ferdan by train for Alexandria. At Alexandria they boarded the Oriana, sailing early on the 28th “in a north-north-westerly direction” as the battalion puts it. The following
comments are from the battalion war diary at the time.
26/6 06:00 bathing parade. 08:00 issue of ammunition. 16:00 inspection of camp and huts by commanding officer. 17:00 Battalion parade in full marching order to proceed to entrain.
High Seas 28/6 physical drill every day plus lectures.
1/7/16 06:30 arrived Malta. 11:00 departed.
3/7 arrived Marseilles
4/7 03:00 Reveille. 08:45 entrain
5/7 still entrained
6/7 arrived at St Pol then marched by road to Herincourt. Companies to billets.
7/7 06:00 Reveille then kit inspection and ammunition inspection
The battalion had now arrived in France and would be moved up to the front lines.
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