Part 7 (2/2)

Our transfer to the 60th Division did not, for the time at least, result in any change in our position in the line, but, almost from the moment we joined the new Brigade, we felt the hostility shown towards all things Jewish by the Brigade Commander. I endeavoured to counter his prejudice against the battalion, during a friendly after-dinner chat, by pointing out the immense debt we owed to the ”People of the Book” for all they have done towards civilising and humanizing the world for thousands of years. During their struggle for existence through centuries of exile, in countries where every form of torture and repression had been in vogue against them, they never lost their age-long Hope of a Restoration. The General seemed, like many others, to have a very vague idea as to the aim of the Zionists, which is simply to establish a National Home in Palestine where Jewish life, rooted in its own soil, would have an opportunity of developing on modern lines, in accordance with its own ideals. I gave the Brigadier some new ideas on Jews, but all my eloquence was in vain, for I failed to convert him, and he hinted that I was only wasting my time by being mixed up with a Jewish unit!

But although the Brigadier was right in one way when he said ”You will get nothing out of it,” yet in another way he was altogether wrong, for I have got a very great deal out of my service with this Jewish Battalion. I have had the satisfaction of proving that, in spite of all obstacles placed in its path, this new unit showed that it was worthy of the best traditions of the Maccabaeans, those doughty Jewish soldiers who, on many a well-fought field, defeated the legions of Antiochus and freed Judaea from a foreign yoke.

But it is not by fighting alone that a good battalion is proved, and the Jewish unit was tested in many ways as this record will show.

There was no respite from such work as digging trenches, building stone sangars, and constructing roads along the hill-sides, by day and by night; nevertheless, every soldierly duty allotted was carried out cheerfully and promptly.

The rumour which had got abroad about the attack on the Turkish trenches opposite our front now crystallised into definite shape, and the actual date of the attack was often hinted at.

A few days before the a.s.sault was to take place our Brigadier gave us the special job of making stone emplacements, almost within sight of the Turks, just above the village of Jiljilia, and as we fondly hoped we would have a place in the a.s.saulting column, all hands worked with a will, especially our two Christian Lithuanians, Stenelus and Sterilitis; these men amazed the British gunners by the ease with which they placed huge blocks of stone in position--all done by sheer strength of muscle combined with hearty good will.

This particular piece of work was under the supervision of Major Neill, and, as it had to be done in record time, his task was no easy one, but, fortunately for him and his Company, the Turks never spotted what was going on, and before we left these parts Major Neill saw the guns safely emplaced without suffering a single casualty.

All this stone work on the steep sides of a hill, coupled with heavy marching to and fro, and scrambling up and down, was not good for the men's clothing, which soon got worn, ragged and dirty. A false step on a slippery slope meant that the seat of a man's flimsy shorts was rent asunder, and it was quite usual to see the tail of a s.h.i.+rt hanging out!

Yet, no matter how ragged and disreputable-looking the men were, I found it impossible to get any renewal of clothing, although it was freely handed out to other units.

It seemed as if it were a joy to some people to be able to withhold necessary articles of clothing, such as s.h.i.+rts, boots, socks, shorts, etc., and keep the men working on dirty jobs, and then say with glee, ”Look at the ragged dirty Jews.”

It must be remembered that we could not obtain enough water even to wash our faces, for every drop had to be carried up the precipitous sides of the hills on camels as far as they could clamber, and then by mules and donkeys up the steeper parts. Often there was a shortage of the precious fluid even for tea-making.

I wrote urgent letters again and again, and protested that the men were unfit to march for want of shoes, and that many of them were actually exposing their nakedness for want of clothing. I sent my Quartermaster, Lieutenant Smythe, day after day, to the Ordnance Stores trying to extract necessary articles, but all in vain! We were n.o.body's children, and consequently we could get nothing. I saw the Brigadier, and represented to him that in many cases our men were ragged, s.h.i.+rtless, sockless, and bootless, but if he made any representations on our behalf there was no result.

Had we belonged to a Brigade instead of being merely ”attached” most of our troubles would never have arisen, but the policy adopted by the local Staff was to keep us as ”wandering Jews,” pitched from one Brigade to another, in a continuous round of General Post.

It was a heart-breaking experience as any soldier will understand.

At last I rode over to my old Gallipoli friend, Colonel O'Hara, who was on the Staff of the 10th Division, and he, like the good soldier that he is, helped me out of my difficulty as far as it lay in his power.

What a difference it makes when one meets a good Staff Officer! Not nearly enough care is given to the task of selecting the right men for this all-important branch of the Army. They are too often selected for any reason except the right one, viz., efficiency.

The Brigade to which we were attached was fortunate in having at least one good Staff Officer. The Brigade Major was a thoroughly capable soldier, and always out to help in every way in his power.

The Brigadier often caused me much inward amus.e.m.e.nt by pointedly appealing in my presence to the judgment of a certain Colonel X, an officer junior to me, who was in command of a section on our right. If I had a sangar built which commanded a good field of fire, it was sure to be found fault with, and another had to be built in a site chosen by their joint wisdom.

One night the gallant Brigadier came across the spot where I had my outlook post established; he thought it was in the wrong place, of course, and consulted his friend, Colonel X, as to where it should be.

”Don't you think it ought to be on the top of this house?” said the General. The Colonel climbed to the top of the house, gazed round in the inky darkness, came down again, and said he quite agreed with the General, as all good, well-trained Colonels, with an eye to the main chance, invariably do!

I was then ordered to put the outlook on the top of the house, which had a flat roof, where a man would be seen by every Turk for miles round!

Needless to say, I never placed an observer in this absurd position.

Just about this time one of my men, quite a youth, was found asleep at his post, and as this is about the most serious crime of which a sentry can be guilty, he was tried by General Court Martial and sentenced to death.

A few days later a telegram came from the Provost Marshal ordering me to send the condemned man under strong escort, with two senior non-commissioned officers, to the prisoners' compound some distance away. I feared that the unfortunate lad would be shot at dawn, and as I knew he had been working exceedingly hard, day and night, for 48 hours before he was found asleep at his post, and was of good character and very young, I determined to try to save him. I therefore sent a private wire to General Allenby asking him on these grounds to reprieve him.

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