CHAPTER II.

THE CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN EGYPT.

(January-April 1916.)

The Position in Egypt at the close of 1915—The Western Frontier—Trouble with the Senussi—General Wallace’s attack on Christmas Day—The Arrival of the South African Brigade at Alexandria—The Battle of Halazin—The Battle of Agagia—The March upon Sollum—The exploit of the Armoured Cars—The Brigade leaves for Europe.

At the close of 1915 the main British force in Egypt was concerned with the defence of the Suez Canal against a threatened attack by the Turks from their Syrian bases. The Canal, as Moltke had long before told his countrymen, was for Britain a vital artery, and Egypt was the key of all her activities in the Near and Middle East. Suddenly, as is the fashion in the Orient, a new trouble blew up like a sandstorm in the desert. The Western frontier, some 700 miles long, adjoined the Italian possessions in Tripoli; but, though the Treaty of Lausanne had given Italy the suzerainty of that province, her writ ran feebly in the interior and her occupation had never been effective beyond the coast-line. When she declared war on Austria, she was compelled to leave the inland tribes to their own devices, and, stirred up by German and Turkish agents, they prepared for mischief. The chief of the Turkish agents was Nuri Bey, a half-brother of Enver, and about April 1915 a certain Gaafer arrived from Constantinople with large supplies of money and arms. His instructions were to mobilize the Arab and Berber tribes of the Libyan plateau for a dash upon Egypt from the west.

The hope of the Turks in that region lay in the support of the great Senussi brotherhood. The Senussi form one of those strange religious fraternities familiar to the student of Northern Africa. Their founder had been a friend of Britain and had refused to cast in his lot with the Mahdi. He had preached a spiritual creed which orthodox Islam repudiated, and his followers had stood outside the main currents of Moslem life, holding apart from all secular politics, and declining any share in the propaganda of Pan-Islamism. Their headquarters were the oases of the Northern Libyan desert, and they looked without disfavour upon the rule of Britain in Egypt. Their Grand Sheikh, Sidi Ahmed, had at the outbreak of the war given assurance of friendliness to the Anglo-Egyptian authorities, and his official representatives dwelt on the banks of the Nile in good relations with the Government of Cairo.

[Illustration: OPERATIONS ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER OF EGYPT.]

But the overtures of Nuri and Gaafer proved too much for the loosely organized tribesmen of the Senussi, and ultimately for the Grand Senussi himself. The Egyptian littoral as far as the Tripoli frontier was sparsely populated, consisting only of a few coastguard stations and the strip of flat land between the Libyan plateau and the sea. The Khedival highway, a rough unmacadamized road cut as a relief work during famine, ran to Sollum on the border, and a railway ran west from Alexandria to Dabaa. It was only at the north end that the frontier had to be guarded, where were many little oases linked up by caravan-tracks, for to the south lay the impassable wastes of the Libyan desert. The possibility of trouble was suspected in May 1915, but it was not till August that the first hostile incident took place, when two British submarines, sheltering from bad weather on the Tripoli coast, were treacherously fired upon by Arabs, under a white officer. In the first week of November the crews of the _Tara_ and the _Moorina_, torpedoed by enemy submarines, landed in Cyrenaica, and were taken captive by the Senussi. On the 6th of that month, the little port of Sollum was shelled by U-boats, and an Egyptian coastguard cruiser sunk. After that Sollum and Sidi Barrani were subjected to repeated attacks by land, and it became necessary to admit a state of war.

[Sidenote: _Dec. 25, 1915._]

The frontier posts were drawn in to Mersa Matruh, which, with a railway eighty miles distant and the sea at its door, was well-equipped as a base to defend the marches. On 11th December Major-General Wallace, in command of the hastily-collected Western Frontier Force, moved out from Mersa Matruh and drove the enemy from the Wadi Senaab. On the 13th his column dispersed with considerable losses some 1,200 Arabs near Beit Hussein. Towards the end of the month an enemy force of some 5,000, under Gaafer, concentrated eight miles south-west of Matruh, and on Christmas Day General Wallace marched against it with two columns, one composed of English Yeomanry and Australian Light Horse, and the other of the 15th Sikhs, a battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and a territorial battalion of the Middlesex. The action was of the familiar type—a frontal attack by the infantry, and a wide circling movement by the horse, and it resulted in a substantial check to the enemy. He lost nearly 500 killed and prisoners, and most of his transport and supplies, and the Grand Senussi and his staff retired to Unjeila and Bir Tunis.

But the enemy was checked and not routed, and early in January 1916 he reappeared in force some twenty-five miles south-west of Matruh. It was clear that to safeguard the frontier he must be driven westward out of Egyptian soil and south into the desert, and General Wallace had not at his command the troops for such an operation. It was at this time that the South African Brigade arrived in Alexandria.

The contingent had had a fair voyage after the first few days at sea. Submarines were active in the Mediterranean, and stringent precautions had to be taken in the way of guards and boat drills, which, combined with the congestion of the ship, made life on board a Spartan business. At Malta the Governor, Lord Methuen, was prevented by illness from greeting his old friends, but he wrote to General Lukin: “South Africa has been a second home to me. Fourteen years of my life have been spent there, and you know the love we bear for each other. I look back as the proudest and happiest time of my life on the helping hand I gave to General Botha and General Smuts in the formation of your great citizen army, that true bond of union between Englishmen and Dutchmen. We little thought how soon and how splendidly you would be called upon to show its value.” On 10th January the _Saxonia_ reached Alexandria, and the _Corsican_, bringing the 4th South African Regiment and the Field Ambulance, arrived three days later. The Brigade encamped under canvas at Mex Camp, six miles west of the city, where they spent some days in training and in perfecting the local defences. On 18th January they were inspected by the G.O.C. of the Forces in Egypt, Lieutenant-General Sir John Maxwell, who years before had been Military Governor of Pretoria. “The South African Brigade,” he wrote, “is evidently fit to take its place alongside the best troops in the army,” and he expressed the hope that it might soon have the chance of meeting the enemy. His hope was speedily realized, for next day came orders for part of the Brigade to move towards the western marches.

[Sidenote: _Jan. 21, 1916._]

An infantry battalion was required at once to reinforce General Wallace for his attack upon the enemy concentration south-west of Matruh. The 2nd South African Regiment was chosen, and two companies, under Major Christian, embarked on the afternoon of the 19th on their sixteen-hours voyage.[6] Next day the remainder of the regiment followed, and by the evening of the 21st, after a weary time in bucketing little coasters, the 2nd South Africans, under Lieutenant-Colonel Tanner, were at Matruh awaiting orders. The whole force moved out next afternoon to Bir Shola, eighteen miles distant, and the South Africans, still fagged from their journey, found their first day in the field a high test of endurance. They bivouacked for the night at Bir Shola, and at six o’clock on the morning of the 23rd, General Wallace began his preparations for attack. He disposed his troops in two columns. One on the right, consisting mainly of infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. R. Gordon, included the 2nd South Africans, the 15th Sikhs, the 1st Battalion New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and a squadron of the Duke of Lancaster’s Yeomanry; the second, echeloned on its left front and moving parallel with it, consisted of squadrons of the Dorset and Herts Yeomanry, the Royal Bucks Hussars, and the Australian Light Horse, under Brigadier-General Tyndale Biscoe.

[Sidenote: _Jan. 23._]

About 8.30, when the infantry were some seven miles from Bir Shola, the mounted column became engaged with the enemy, who was occupying as his advanced position a half-moon of ridge, on which he had prepared trenches not easy to locate. The ground, except for the undulations, was utterly featureless and treeless, and a morning mirage increased its difficulty. The mounted column found itself checked, and the infantry were ordered to attack the enemy centre and left, while the cavalry covered its left flank and worked round the enemy right. There followed a stubborn battle, the ground traversed being often no better than a swamp, owing to the abnormal rains. The 15th Sikhs led, with the 2nd South Africans in support, and the attack, spread over a mile and a half of ground destitute of any cover, gave a fine target to the enemy artillery and machine guns. There were many casualties, and, since the hostile positions were in the shape of a semicircle, it was impossible to avoid flanking fire. But the infantry steadily pressed on, and after the first three-quarters of a mile had been covered, the South Africans, hitherto in support of the Sikhs, were ordered to extend the attack to the right. The Senussi were forced back from their forward lines, and retreated slowly and with much skill the three miles to their main camp at Halazin, resisting all our efforts to get to close quarters. About two in the afternoon the Sikhs in the centre, the South Africans on the right, and the New Zealanders on the left, were close on the main enemy position, but their flanks were in jeopardy, for the Senussi still kept their semicircular formation, and their horns threatened envelopment. Tanner was obliged to leave a company to protect his right flank, and the reserve battalion of the column, the 1/6th Royal Scots, had to be put in to avert danger from the same quarter.

[Illustration: SCENE OF EARLIER OPERATIONS NEAR MERSA MATRUH.]

By 2.30 our infantry had broken into the main position, but the mounted troops on their left were less happily fated. They had been compelled to give ground, and were now nearly a thousand yards behind, so that Colonel Gordon had to detach two companies of the New Zealanders to assist the cavalry and protect his left rear. This proved sufficient, and by 4.30 the Senussi were in retreat, and their camp given to the flames. But the sun was now low in the west, our horses were too exhausted to pursue, and the baggage camels of the enemy were allowed to retire unmolested. Our troops were compelled to bivouac on the ground won—a comfortless bivouac, for it rained in sheets, and they had no supplies or blankets, seeing that the transport was bogged in the mud three miles west of Bir Shola. Mud, indeed, had been the trouble of the day. It had hindered the cavalry from giving due support to the infantry, and it had deprived the latter of the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division, which had been detailed to defend their right flank. The following morning the troops struggled through the quagmires to Bir Shola, and on the 25th, in better weather, returned to Matruh.

[Sidenote: _Jan. 25._]

The South Africans had come well out of their baptism of fire. They had lost in killed, one officer (Captain J. D. Walsh) and seven other ranks; one officer (Lieutenant W. G. Strannock) and two other ranks died of wounds; four officers and 102 other ranks were wounded. It must be remembered that no time to rest had been given them after a fatiguing voyage, and that they were already weary before the battle began. Yet all observers bore testimony to the “invincible dash and resolution of their attack.”[7] In that desert fighting we relied much upon the work of our airmen, and it is interesting to note that among the most brilliant members of the Royal Flying Corps attached to the Western Frontier Force was a South African, Lieutenant van Ryneveld.

* * * * *

The Western Frontier Force was now completely reconstituted. General Wallace’s health did not permit him to continue in the command, and his place was taken by Major-General W. E. Peyton, who had commanded the 2nd Mounted Division at Suvla Bay. The 2nd Mounted Brigade replaced the composite Yeomanry Brigade, and the place of the Sikhs and New Zealanders was filled by the South African Brigade, which by the middle of February had arrived in its entirety at Matruh. Sufficient camel transport had now been provided to make the columns really mobile, and to enable them to follow up any success.

[Sidenote: _Feb. 20._]

Early in February it became clear that the main Senussi forces were near Barrani, with a smaller body at Sollum, and that to pacify the country these forces must be beaten and dispersed. It was difficult to land troops at Sollum, for the place was commanded by encircling ridges, and, since it would be necessary to sweep the mines at the entrance to the harbour, a surprise was impossible. General Peyton accordingly resolved to attack by land. His object was to occupy Barrani and Sollum, after which supplies would be available by sea. The problem before him was largely one of physical difficulties, for the land was almost devoid of water. An advance depot was established at Unjeila on the 16th of February, and on 20th February a column under General Lukin moved out from Matruh with orders to occupy Barrani, as the first stage on the road to Sollum.

The column consisted of the 3rd South African Regiment, the Dorset Yeomanry, the Notts Battery, R.H.A., one squadron of the Royal Bucks Hussars, the 1/6th Royal Scots, and two field ambulances. Its course lay north of the Khedival highway, practically along the line of an old Roman road. The scanty wells were as often as not the ruins of Roman cisterns, so that the new defenders of civilization followed in the steps of the greatest empire of the past. The weather had changed since the January fighting at Halazin. Scorching winds and a glaring sun made the march arduous, but since the route ran close to the sea the men could refresh themselves with sea-bathing at the different halting places. Bir Abdih was reached on the afternoon of the 21st, and Unjeila, 32 miles from Matruh, on the 22nd. Here the 1st South Africans, who had gone on ahead on the 16th, joined the column, and the greater part of the Royal Scots remained as garrison. On the 24th Lukin was at Maktil, where his column rested for a day. The Senussi had been located at Agagia, 14 miles south-east of Barrani, and it was ascertained from captured Bedouin that both Nuri and Gaafer were with them.

[Sidenote: _Feb. 25._]

During the 25th, while the troops rested in camp, the enemy was observed in considerable numbers about three miles to the south, and a good deal of sniping followed. Lukin had decided to make a night attack, moving off at 7 p.m.; but Gaafer anticipated him, for about half-past five he opened on our camp with two field guns and at least one machine gun. Lukin at once moved forward the Royal Scots on his right, and the 1st South Africans on his left, with the 3rd South Africans in reserve. The enemy guns had been located, and were quickly silenced by our artillery, and in half an hour, with the loss of one man killed and one man wounded, the threatened assault was frustrated. The incident compelled Lukin to cancel the orders for the night march, and he resolved to advance against the enemy at daybreak.

[Sidenote: _Feb. 26._]

A Yeomanry reconnaissance sent out at dawn on the 26th, reported that Gaafer had evacuated his position of the previous night; and presently we learned from our aircraft that he was back on his old ground near Agagia. At 9.30 Lukin moved out his whole force, leaving 300 Royal Scots to guard his camp. He had now with him six armoured cars, under Major the Duke of Westminster, which had just arrived. Three-quarters of an hour later the Yeomanry seized a little hill rather more than two miles north of the enemy’s position. This enabled us to reconnoitre the field, and at eleven it was possible to join battle. In the centre the 3rd South Africans, under Lieutenant-Colonel Thackeray, advanced on a front of about 1,700 yards, with Yeomanry and armoured cars on either flank. The 1st South Africans formed the general reserve. The guns were brought up to a point about 4,500 yards from the enemy, but were outranged, and played little part in the beginning of the action. Presently Lukin moved them to 3,500 yards range, where their shrapnel was more effective.

[Illustration: THE ADVANCE TO AGAGIA AND BARRANI.]

The battle which followed was a model of a successful desert action. Lukin had his main strength in mounted troops on his right, and it was his plan that these, when the infantry had broken the enemy, should swing round his flank and rear, prevent him breaking west, and round up his retreat. As the 3rd South Africans advanced with admirable steadiness the enemy opened a heavy fire upon them with rifle and machine gun and more than one field piece. Then, following his old practice, Gaafer attempted an encircling movement against our left. Lukin ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson to send a company of the 1st South Africans to that flank, and so checked the enemy manœuvre. As soon as this danger was past he withdrew the squadron of Yeomanry on his left to augment the mounted troops on his right. The firing line was now within 300 yards of Gaafer’s posts. In order to gain fire superiority at once, Lukin brought the greater part of his reserves into the fight, and sent a message to Colonel Souter, commanding the Yeomanry on his right, that now was the time to push forward. In a few minutes the company of the 1st South Africans on the left flank broke into the enemy position, the 3rd South Africans followed immediately, and presently the whole enemy lines were in our hands.

It was now the turn of the Yeomanry. When Colonel Souter received Lukin’s message about one o’clock, he resolved to let the enemy retreat get clear of the sandhills, and then attack it in the open. His pursuit, therefore, took a line parallel to the enemy’s retirement, and about a thousand yards to the west of it. The rest is best told in Colonel Souter’s own words: “About 2 p.m. I saw for the first time the whole retreating force extend for about a mile, with a depth of 300 to 400 yards. In front were the camels and baggage, escorted by irregulars, with their proper fighting force (Mahafizia) and maxims forming their rear and flank guard. I decided to attack mounted. About 3 p.m. I dismounted for the last time to give my horses a breather and to make a careful examination of the ground over which I was about to move. By this time the Dorset Regiment was complete, and, as the squadron of the Bucks Yeomanry had gone ahead and could not be found, I attacked with Dorsets alone. The attack was made in two lines, the horses galloping steadily and well in hand. Three maxims were brought into action against us, but the men were splendidly led by their squadron and troop leaders, and their behaviour was admirable. About 50 yards from the position I gave the order to charge, and with one yell the Dorsets hurled themselves upon the enemy, who immediately broke. In the middle of the enemy’s lines my horse was killed under me, and, by a curious chance, his dying strides brought me to the ground within a few yards of the Senussi General, Gaafer Pasha.”

This very complete success, due to the perfect co-ordination of infantry and yeomanry, and General Lukin’s power of prompt decision after the action had begun, was not gained without severe losses. These were chiefly among the mounted troops, for when their officers were killed the men were apt to carry on too far. The infantry casualties—almost all incurred by the 3rd South Africans—were 1 officer (Lieutenant Bliss) and 13 other ranks killed, and 5 officers and 98 other ranks wounded. The capture of Gaafer and his staff deprived the enemy of his principal general, and two days later Barrani was occupied by us without a blow.

“It was the Battle of Agagia,” General Peyton subsequently wrote, “which sealed the fate of the combined Turks and Senussi who had contemplated an attack on Egypt.” The possession of Barrani enabled us to bring to that port supplies by sea and to make of it a new advanced base. After the action at Halazin the 2nd South African Regiment had been employed in furnishing escorts for convoys between Matruh and Unjeila. This task was now accomplished, and by 8th March the 2nd and 4th Regiments had joined Lukin at Barrani, together with the rest of the 2nd Mounted Brigade and two sections of the Hong-Kong and Singapore Mountain Battery. After their defeat the Senussi had retreated westward towards Sollum, and the Egyptian Bedouin, notably the Aulad Ali tribes, began to desert in large numbers and sue for pardon. The time had not yet come, however, for negotiations. The enemy had occupied his old camp near Sollum, which had been the Grand Senussi’s headquarters before the campaign began, and there was the danger that he might receive reinforcements from Tripoli. It therefore behoved General Peyton to strike again without delay, and to clear Egyptian soil up to the frontier.

* * * * *

To Sollum there were two routes: one by the Khedival road along the coast, the other inland by the high ground of the plateau. For military purposes the latter was to be preferred, for the ridges rise steeply behind Sollum, and to attack the enemy’s camp from the coast would have been no light undertaking. It was better to move inland and come upon the Senussi from the south and south-east. The main problem, as in all desert warfare, was that of the water supply; but General Peyton’s intelligence led him to believe that there were sufficient wells by the inland route to supply his force if it moved in two parts and made careful use of its reserve water park.

[Illustration: BARRANI TO SOLLUM.]

[Sidenote: _Mar. 9._]

On 9th March a column, under Lukin, left Barrani to secure the plateau by way of the pass called the Nagb Medean. The troops were the whole South African Brigade, a squadron of the Dorset Yeomanry, the Hong-Kong and Singapore Mountain Battery, and a Camel Supply column and train, and it was arranged that they should be joined later by the Armoured Car Battery and a company of the Australian Camel Corps. Sollum lay 50 miles off along the coast, and to turn its encircling escarpment the plan was to march to Bagbag, and then strike south-west for Bir-el-Augerin, after which an attempt would be made to seize the passes which led from the south-east to the Sollum tableland, notably the Nagb Medean and the Erajib. These passes could not be used by the armoured cars, so it was arranged that they should go further south by a practicable route, and join the column when the Medean pass had been taken by the infantry. General Peyton had planned that the second column, consisting of mounted troops and camel transport, should leave Barrani two days later than Lukin, and reach Augerin after the Medean pass had been secured. This would have concentrated the whole force at Augerin, with its outposts on the south-eastern scarp of the Sollum plateau, ready to make its final attack on the enemy’s camp.

[Sidenote: _Mar. 12._]

The water difficulty became serious for Lukin as soon as he left Barrani. The first night a Roman cistern was found, which gave a fair supply. On the night of the 10th the column bivouacked on the seashore, where the Roman wells were found to be silted up with sand, and had to be opened up by the engineers. On the 11th Bagbag was reached, but the water proved scanty and infamous, much of it being too sulphurous to be drunk by men or beasts. The best that could be done was to dig new wells in the sand. On the morning of the 12th Lukin was at Augerin, and that afternoon the 1st and 4th South Africans made good the Medean pass without opposition, and were presently joined by the armoured cars.

Now appeared an unexpected difficulty. The Roman cistern at the top of the Medean pass, which it had been hoped would provide water for the whole column, proved to be dry, as were the wells at Siwiat further along the ridge. This compelled General Peyton to revise his plan. Clearly, he could not send the second column by the same route as the first; indeed, the water supply made it impossible for the first column in its entirety to continue on its original line. He therefore made a new disposition of his forces. Lukin was ordered to push along the top of the escarpment with the 1st and 4th South Africans, the armoured cars, the Hong-Kong and Singapore Battery, and a company of the Australian Camel Corps. The rest of the infantry and the mounted troops were directed to proceed from Augerin along the coast to the foot of the Halfaia pass. Lukin’s force carried their water in “fantasies” on camels, and their total supply, which had to last for forty-eight hours, was limited to eight pints per man.

[Sidenote: _Mar. 15._]

The movement began on the 13th. At midnight Lukin was four miles from the Halfaia, the rest of the infantry at Alim Tejdid, and the cavalry at Bagbag. At daybreak on the 14th the armoured cars moved forward to the Halfaia pass, which they occupied without opposition. At 9 a.m. we learned that the enemy had evacuated Sollum the previous evening and was retiring to the south-west. There was now no obstacle in front of the two columns, and the mounted troops joined Lukin on the high ground. Next day, 15th March, General Peyton entered Sollum.

As soon as the news of the enemy’s evacuation reached Lukin, he dispatched the Duke of Westminster with the armoured cars in pursuit. The battery consisted of nine cars and one open Ford car mounting a machine gun, and the total _personnel_ was only thirty-two. They made for the enemy’s camp at Bir Warr, where a straggler was captured, who was afterwards to prove a most valuable prize. Dashing along the Tabruk road, which runs westward into the Libyan desert, they came presently upon the _débris_ of the retreat. After 23 miles had been covered, the leading cars, as they turned a bend in the road, came suddenly in view of the enemy’s camp at the Bir Asisa well a few hundred yards to the south. The camels were standing loaded, one ten-pounder and two machine guns were in position, and the enemy masses were just beginning to move. The battery swung into line and charged. Their machine guns silenced the Turkish guns, and the shells from the ten-pounder burst far behind them. The Senussi were surprised and wholly demoralized. Most of them flung down their rifles and fled. To prevent the escape of the supply train some 50 camels already on the move were shot—in several cases with extraordinary results, for the unhappy beasts were laden with petrol and bombs, and blew up under our fire with terrific explosions. At least 50 of the enemy were killed, 40 prisoners were taken, including 3 Turkish officers, and all the Senussi guns and much of the supplies were captured. The British loss in this brilliant affair was one officer slightly wounded.

[Sidenote: _Mar. 17._]

The final exploit in the campaign fell also to the credit of the armoured cars, and the war has shown few more romantic incidents. It will be remembered that the previous November the survivors from the _Tara_ and _Moorina_ had been taken prisoner by Arabs and moved into the interior. By a coincidence which would scarcely be credited in a work of fiction, the man captured at Bir Warr proved to have been employed as one of the guards of the prisoners, and disclosed their whereabouts. The place was 75 miles west of Sollum, and with General Peyton’s consent, the Duke of Westminster set out on the morning of the 17th to their rescue. He had with him, besides his cars, a number of motor ambulances. The guide proved faithful, and after a journey of 120 miles over featureless desert the prisoners’ camp was found at a place called the Hidden Spring. The men were naked skeletons, and no language can describe their amazement and joy at this miraculous rescue. By the morning of the 18th the cars with the released captives were safely back at Sollum, having travelled in 24 hours some 300 miles. It was an enterprise which in normal times would have been considered to belong rather to the realms of wild romance than to the sober chances of war, and it did signal credit to the intrepidity and resource of its originator. In the words of Sir John Maxwell’s dispatch, “to lead his cars through perfectly unknown country against an enemy of unknown strength was a feat which demanded great resolution, and which should not be forgotten even in this war, where deeds of rare daring are of daily occurrence.”[8]

* * * * *

So ended the first invasion of Egypt from the west since the Fatimite attempt of the tenth century. The occupation of Sollum and the achievement of the armoured cars put an end to the menace from the Senussi. In less than a month General Peyton had driven the enemy back 150 miles, had scattered his forces beyond the frontier, had captured his commander and taken all his guns. If Germany hoped to make of the Arabs and Bedouin of the Tripoli hinterland a fanatical horde which would sweep to the gates of Cairo, she had wholly misjudged their temper. To build up armies from such material was like an attempt to make ropes of desert sand. Thereafter hostilities degenerated into frontier brigandage and police patrols. A year later the Grand Senussi, who had been living in the Siwa oasis, made an attempt to shift his quarters. Major-General Watson, who then commanded the Western Frontier Force, sent a column of armoured cars, which on February 3, 1917, broke up his camp, drove him into the outer deserts, and destroyed for good any little military prestige that remained to him. The main problem left to the British Government was that of feeding the starving tribes, for the futile war had prevented the raising of the usual barley crop. After our humane fashion we beat the enemy and fed his belongings.

[Sidenote: _April 11._]

On the afternoon of 16th March a parade of all arms was held in Sollum, and General Peyton thanked his men for the victory which they had won. On 28th March the South African Brigade began its return journey by sea to Alexandria, and on its arrival there was joined by a draft of 8 officers and 400 other ranks, under the command of Captain L. W. Tomlinson. On 10th April it was inspected by Sir Archibald Murray, the G.O.C. of the Forces in Egypt, and next day it received orders to embark for Marseilles. The three months in North Africa had given it its first field training in war, and it had emerged with increased physical and moral strength from the trial. The difficult weather, when hailstorms and great cold were diversified with long spells of scorching heat, and the weary and waterless desert marches, had toughened the fibre of every soldier. It was fortunate that the Brigade had such a preparation, for it was about to take its place in a classic division on the Western Front, and to enter one of the most desperate struggles of the campaign.