G. T. Birkbeck account of Egyptian and Palestine campaigns, 1916-1918
MLMSS 810/Item 2

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[Note: Pages of the original diary have been bound together out of order, and some pages, after page 13, are missing]

G. T. Birkbeck
Accounts of Egyptian and Palestine campaigns, 1916-1918
MLMSS 810 Item 2

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NAME: - Gordon Tunstall Birkbeck.
RANK: - Trooper.
REGIMENT: - First Australian machine Gun Squadron; Anzac Division
DATE & PLACE OF ENLISTMENT: - Moree, N.S.W., June 30th, 1915.
DATE OF DISCHARGE: - August 17th, 1919.
HONORS & WOUNDS; - Nil.
MILITARY ENGAGEMENTS; - Gallipoli campaign; Upper Egypt Senussi campaign; Sinai Peninsula & throughout the Palestine campaign until January 31st 1919

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Dear Mum: -

This is just a little account of our scrap that I thought would interest you & if possible would like Ruby to see it, as I cannot spare time to pen her a duplicate.

I am answering your letter of July 2nd under seperate cover.

Give love to tell, Kit & all at home, & accept the best of love & kisses from your loving son

Birk

Keep this account in sight as much as possible, so I can give you more details when I come back & compare with my diary.

GB

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Romani, Katia & Bir-el-Abd Actions, from July 23rd to August 13th 1916

After many weary months of walking & waiting for the appearance of the enemy, our boys were at last rewarded for their patience on the 21st July, when an official report came through to the effect that a force of Germans & Turks, numbering at least fifteen thousand, were marching on to Ograhtina, sixteen miles east of our base, which is situated at Romani, twenty seven miles east of the Suez Canal.

From the 23rd July until the 1st August we were trekking to & from Katia by night & frequently came in contact with Turkish outposts, who invariably were either killed or captured by our patrols. On the morning of August 1st one of our monitors bombarded enemy positions with her fifteen inch guns, causing much damage.

It was fully expected that Johnny would attack at the conclusion of the "Feast of Bairam", & we were not dissappointed, for at daylight on the fourth of August his forces threw their weight upon our weakest point, "Kathei-Gannek", two miles south of Romani. It was here that the First L.H. Brigade made their name famous, as from 4 a.m. till 6.30 a.m. they held up the enemy numbering fully

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eight thousand, themselves only two thousand strong, on a frontage extending over three miles. Thrice did our boys have to retire owing to Johnny’s superiority in number & artillery, but it was just as our staff officers wished, for they were enticing the enemy closer to our redoubts. On arrival of the Second L.H. Brigade & the English Infantry who were busily engaged entrenching themselves, things commenced in real earnest The air was literally choked with shrapnel, high explosives, machine gun & rifle fire, but nothing would stop our boys from sending their, missiles of death into the enemy’s lines.

The most exciting moments were when a taube hovered around, dropping twenty pounders the while, but only succeeded in killing one man & a score or so of horses. It was after our third retirement that the tabue kindly handed out two of the best to our ambulance waggons & bearers, which proves that Johnny does not respect the red cross, as most people surmise. Luckily the bombs landed about twenty yards at our rear & the sand seemed to stop it from spreading, hence our lives were spared. As the light horse were retiring from their position on the left flank our O.C.,

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who is the "gamest" man who ever walked, gave orders for bearers & waggons to advance to the regiments late position & collect wounded. I shall never forget those twenty minutes that we spent collecting those men, as we were in the hottest region of the scrap with strays & shrapnel bursting like fun overhead. It was here that one of our boys was shot in the back & who has since been recommended for the D.C.M., not that he stood above others in his work, for only one could be mentioned & naturally it fell to the wounded man & none will begrudge him the honor. Our wounded were quickly evacuated to our base at Romani, but it was just as bad here as in the firing line; for Johnny was sending over high explosives from his six inch howitzer & our hospital was in constant danger for over twenty four hours while the bombardment lasted. Here I must mention the wonderful work that was being done by our Doctors in charge of the base. Over two hundred wounded passed through their hands in about nine hours & while some of them were busily engaged operating & amputating limbs, the others were dressing & consoling wounded.

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Special transport was brought into use, the cases being evacuated to Railhead, comfortably seated in cachelots (a form of stretcher) mounted on camels & thence to Port Said & Cairo hospitals. Now to get back to the "scrap": –

As the infantry & artillery were holding the enemy, the first & second brigades & New Zealand Mounteds were ordered to attack the right flank at 3 p.m., & so successful was it that the boys put them to rout, completely demoralizing the enemy. I shall never forget their frantic cries of "Allah" as they rushed down the ridges with our boys in hot pursuit. The 5th Mounted Brigade consisting of English cavalry did fine work here, capturing a ridge which was afterwards named "Royston’s Hill" in honor of the way Col. Royston & his men fought. He was shot through the leg on this ridge, but he heeded it not & would not even have a dressing on it, as he said he would not possibly spare time to have it bandaged. Night was fastly approaching, & the enemy was well on his way to Katia, but nevertheless our lads returned with over three thousand prisoners, a machine gun section & four

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guns, besides a dozen Hun officers. At 7 p.m. we were withdrawn (to the west of Romani) to Polusium, lately occupied by the Turks & only two miles from our railway line. Here we rested till daylight, when our unit was sent to scour the desert for wounded light horsemen, but not one was found, which speaks volumes for the way in which the ambulances carried out their duties. We were then ordered to proceed to Katia – this occurred the following day, Aug. 5th as the Mounted Division were to launch an attack at 3.30 p.m. on the enemy’s rearguard. To the tick did our boys gallop across open, treacherous country, with no protection for man or horse, & hurl themselves upon the retreating enemy, again causing him much damage & loss of men. This swamp where the charge was brought to such a successful issue was being swept the while with shrapnel & machine gun fire from Johnny’s lines, but still the bravest boys who ever shouldered a gun went into it as though it was merely a snowstorm. By dusk he had made Oghratina with the handful of men left, & our boys were withdrawn to Romani, after

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a glorious victory. Our prizes from this scrap included over two hundred camels, ammunition convoys, cachelots & another two thousand prisoners. We then rested from the night of the fifth & it was well deserved, for we had been in the saddle for sixteen consecutive nights & just snatching an hour or so sleep in the daytime. On the 6th August four taubes flew over our redoubts, dropping twenty odd bombs, killing fifteen & wounding thirty odd of our infantry.

Two days following, the 8th August, we were ordered to proceed to De Babbas, about eighteen miles east of our base to join up with the second light horse brigade, who continued trek to Bur el Abd & once more became engaged with the enemy. Here the fighting was quite as hot as we had at Romani & too much praise cannot be given to the second brigade, New Zealanders & the Ayrshire artillery for their work, under difficulties, when the enemy had the most advantageous position & also had our ranges to a nicety. The "C" squadron of the 6th regt. on the left flank held in check a battallion of Turks who were "sparring for an opening" & I saw them advancing with my own eyes marching on in three waves, about fifteen hundred all told,

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but the boys hung on till the artillery found the range & then, what a transformation! four guns boomed out simultaneously, bursting over their wretched carcases, completely annihilating seventy-five percent of the troops; thus a fine climax to the boys wonderful effort. By dusk we had the enemy once more on the retreat & we were then ordered to retire from our position, but the wounded had to be collected & it fell to our lot to be the last to leave the ridge. We were extremely fortunate in getting clear without one of us being hit, for the enemy guns put seven shells fair on the ridge we had only left two minutes previously. It was a perfect hell in this region & our transport sergeant was recommended for supervising affairs in connection with evacuation of the wounded. Eight of us were in this tornado of shells & fire for over three hours & running about carrying men on stretchers to our waggons & I can assure you I don’t wish to see it any warmer than it was there. After getting wounded clear of our dressing station at De Babbas, we retraced our steps to Oghratina, when we slept till daylight the following day. On the 9th August we

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returned to a position known as Hod-el-Khirba, where a supply depot, left by the enemy during his hasty retreat, was commandeered by the boys. The stores therein were very useful as there were hundreds of bushels of barley, meal & rice, besides their iron rations & preserved olives & dates, which we hungry troops soon "hit to leg", & gave our horses a fine feed of barley & they earned it, as the poor beasts had been without water for two days & nights. We camped here till August 12th in case any of the enemy may come to light, but nothing occured & we pushed on to the Turks late base at Bir-el-Abd, reaching there at 3 p.m. the same day. Here we struck water melons & figs, which were a luxury after bully & biscuits & they were not long in existence I tell you. In the wells here our Medicos found traces of cholera germs so we were extremely short of water, having had only a quart in twenty eight hours & over 109 in the whisky bottle. The Turks were seen by our patrols six miles east of Bir-el-Abd making in the direction of El Arish it was decided to withdraw all troops to Romani, which camp we reached at 4 p.m. on the 13th, the following afternoon.

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One & all were pleased to return after our strenuous time & consequently made a rush for our canteens, who had already well stocked their tents with foods for our return. All is peaceful once more & now we may sit in comfort & enjoy a tin of sardines & one of fruit, which is just about enough for a soldiers lunch. Brigadier Meredith & General Cheval had the boys paraded & heartily thanked then on their splendid achievement & informed us that on evidence received from the prisoners they left Bir-el-Abd with only four thousand men out of their original number.

The grand total of the Turks captured & the wounded we have treated, exceeds seven thousand, exclusive of the dead they have buried & wounded whom they transported during their retreat. Our casualities amounted to about forty killed, six hundred wounded & fourteen missing, so you see we had the best end of the stick from beginning to end. Thus ends a battle & victory that should have a prominent position in Australia’s history & I am proud to be a soldier in one of the finest divisions in the world, viz:-

"The Anzac Mounted Division,"

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Operations on the eastern front – Suez Canal, Dec. 23rd to Jan 12th

Following our successful action with an enemy force at Magdhaba, on Dec. 23rd, we settled down to general camp routine till the 28th when the first L.H. Brigade carried out a reconnoitre at Shiek Zowaiid sixteen miles from our base, El Arish. Nothing sensational occurred so we returned to camp at daybreak on the 29th, this time not to be disturbed till January 6th when three taubes paid us a visit at 9 p.m. & carried out an unsuccessful night raid. Seventeen bombs were dropped & their machine guns were spitting fire the while, but not a man or beast were injured. These hostile machines have dropped over a hundred bombs on us since our occupation of El Arish & the total casualities to date are four troops wounded & about fifteen Arabs killed. Believe me, it is not at all pleasant to

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an instant that our boys were up against a stiff proposition, for though the enemy was only two thousand odd strong, he was well entrenched & was supported by several ingenious redoubts – well supplied with machine guns at the rear. A heavy fire rang out when our boys began to advance & though not even a blade of grass for cover, our lads replied with a volley along the whole line. It was too much to expect our boys to advance on such flat, open country, so they laid flat on the ground a plugged away at anything that emerged from the trenches. Slowly but surely they crept towards the enemy & five hours after hostilities commenced were within five hundred yards of their goal.

During some heavy fire & shelling we noticed scores of Bedouin women & children with sheep & cattle scampering across the field of battle & it was a

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boys retreat & were easily a match for Abdul & his strong positions, which they proved in the end. At three o’clock three taubes flew over & our led horses were scattered in case a bomb should land in their midst, but after dropping fourteen bombs, the only damage they caused was seven Bedouins & three troopers killed. Still our boys held their position, not giving Abdul breathing time & at 4 p.m. word came from the New Zealanders that a force numbering three thousand Turkish reinforcements were advancing from Gaza to the relief of Raffa & were only six miles from our rear line. Here was a nice predicament, for all our reserves with were in the firing line, & it seemed impossible to keep at the Turks here & to send a party out to keep the reinforcements at bay also. At 4.30 p.m. a general retirement was ordered & we were instructed to collect all wounded possible & retreat to Zowaiid. The Yeomanry received the

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to send the New Zealanders & the 8th light horse regt. to make a raid on the approaching reinforcements, but they found that these also had begun to retreat in the direction whence they came. Our boys were collecting the prisoners when this raid was in progress & it proved a good haul for them. A German staff major, three non-commissioned officers & twenty other ranks of the German army, thirty odd Turkish officers & fifteen hundred unwounded Turks, besides one hundred & sixty wounded that we had evacuated to our station. The body consisted of a mountain battery of four guns, five Krupps machine guns; three thousand rifles & camel convoys of ammunition & equipment. A sergt major of the German machine gun section wore the colors of the iron cross & that of a medal granted him for bravery at Romani & he informed us that the machine gunners operations

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with the Turks were specially selected from the Kaiser’s army. When all was over, & a decisive victory had been gained by our boys, the staff officers were highly pleased & said that they anticipated defeat after seeing the Turks strong position & had come to the conclusion that they were impregnable, but the boys showed what they were made of & proved their theory incorrect. When Gen. Birdwood spoke of the Colonials, he said they were fighters, not soldiers & they have proved his words not only at Romani, & Magdhaba, but at Raffa, the hottest "scrap" our boys said they had ever taken part in. The fighting men of this division – the Anzac Mounteds – are the most fearless that God ever created & the only thing that grieved them was that some of their pals had "crossed the border" whilst doing their duty to King & Country

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During the past seventeen days, our Division has travelled about two hundred miles per horse, come in contact with the enemy on two occasions & have captured over four thousand prisoners, besides a large quantity of guns; ammunition, etc.

When one considers that after a ride throughout the night without rest & then sees action at daylight the following day, it only proves what a fine healthy body of troops they are & the way they play with the enemy is an eye-opener, I assure you. On the Magdhaba "stunt" on Dec. 23rd we covered twenty five miles in four hours & a half, but the journey from El Arish to Raffa occupied fourteen hours & still they seemed as fresh as daisies & anxious to "mix it" with the Turks as soon as we arrived. Now to get back to the work of the ambulances & cleaning stations.
OVER [in margin]

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Now that the Turkish reinforcements had been driven back we set to work to clear the field of any wounded that may have been left during the fight. At 7 p.m. the column moved off, with the exception of a New Zealand regiment & the 8th light horse, who were left as escort to our ambulances & the 3rd L.H.F.A. dressing station. We searched the trenches & redouts & what a gruesome sight they presented. Turks lying in dozens, the result of our heavy fire & it could easily be seen that our artillery had played havoc with them, for some had holes in their head large enough to places one’s fist in, the result of shrapnel & high explosives. Fully three hundred Turks were killed & seven died of wounds after we had carried them to our dressing station. By 9.30 p.m. our work on the field was completed

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than Romani & Magdhaba combined & it proved what brilliant fighters these boy are. The fiercer the "scrap" the more devil our boys seem to put into their actions & charges, which I hope they shall keep up to the end of this titanic struggle.

The work of the stretcher bearers had been arduous & might mention that our ponies & ambulance waggons had to be taken to within a couple of hundred yards of the firing line. Consequently we were frequently fired on, & it is a wonder we did not suffer heavily in the way of casualities. One of our bearers were killed & another seriously wounded whilst conveying men from the field. We carried for our own Brigade, the first – each Brigade has an ambulance – and brought in over one hundred men, which kept us on the move, as our full complement was twenty bearers

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and one M.O. (Capt. Parry, who did fine work) and our warrant officer. The Turk as a rule is a fair, hard fighter & am convinced that the Germans were to blame re firing on our Red Cross waggons. We arrived at Shiek Zowaiid at 7 a.m. on the morning of the 10th & all hands at once set to work in feeding & re-dressing the wounded. How those Turks "hogged" into bully; bread; onions & figs which we provided for them & one would have thought it was the first time they had seen food for months. The Turks were exceedingly clean, but as a rule they are alive with vermin, but since the outbreak of cholera amongst them after the Romani fight, they were issued with white calico undergarments, which seem to have had the desired effect & not one of them appeared to be "chatty".

After seeing to the patients wants

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till evacuated to the base hospital.

Our casualities were far in excess of anticipations & we found that medical stores and comforts were quickly diminishing, but one of the officers put forward a novel idea, which was carried to effect. Word was sent per field telephone to send foods by aeroplane & another bearer & myself were told to saddle up & proceed to the landing ground about two miles from Zowaiid. In the course of ninety minutes we sighted the plane & he had covered sixty miles, so you can imagine no time was lost on the journey. We went to the plane when he landed & the pilot asked me to stand on the lower plane & remove the stores which were strapped to the observer’s seat. I found this a difficult task, as he had not stopped the engine & the suction from the propeller made it hard for me to keep on my feet, however, the stores were removed & he was away

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following morning. We then laid on the sand & had a good seven hours sleep – though the camel licks had a good meal off my face & blackened my eyes – but it was rather chilly & our "nap" consisted of a water proof sheet & one blanket. We were up again at 6 a.m. the following morning (the 11th) and after placing the balance of our wounded in sandcarts & the Turks in cacolets, struck camp & set off at noon for El Arish a distance of sixteen miles.

Just as we were making our departure, word came through that the 8th regt,. had come in contact with Turkish cavalry & a camel regt. inflicting heavy losses & capturing fourteen of the enemy. The planes also reported catching enemy troops on the march & caused considerable damage by dropping fourteen

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"The troops undertook a task that no other fighting force under the sun would look at & I am the proudest man in the world to be the commander of such a fine body of fighters, which comprise the Anzac Mounted Division.

Well I must now close, for I think every detail possible has been given you & am pleased to say I came through without a scratch. I also hope that I am spared to stay with the old Brigade till this struggle has come to an end, when German militarism shall be crushed for ever.

Gordon T. Birbeck

[Transcribed by Allison O'Sullivan and Peter Mayo for the State Library of New South Wales]