Sinai Palestine Campaign 100 year Memorial October 2017

A posed photograph of Australian, British, New Zealand and Indian camel troops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Camel_Corps

In earth, once trodden by the master’s feet,
They lie, their bodies now at rest.
They came from far, —the sea-girt isles.
The crowded mart, the hills wind-swept,
But now they sleep in hallowed ground
O’erlooking where, of yore, the Master slept.

 Their bodies, worn by toils of war, —

The midnight march, the dawn’s swift, fierce attack,
Or scorched by desert’s sun, or chilled by rain,
By fiery bullet scarred, or naked, sword, —
Repose in dust, their souls, set free,
Are called to higher service by their Lord.

Today - 31 October 2017 marks 100 years since the Battle of Beer Sheba  -  vital to  and the beginning of the Sinai Palestine Campaign.  Yet is one of the least known campaigns of World War One. The campaign involved troopers from Australia and New Zealand   and those of both the Camel Corps and Mounted Rifles.

The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB) was raised by the British Empire in December 1916 during the First World War for service in the Middle East. The unit eventually grew to a brigade of four battalions, one battalion each from Great Britain and New Zealand and two battalions from Australia. Support troops included a mountain artillery battery, a machine gun squadron, Royal Engineers, a field ambulance, and an administrative train. At its height there were 4,150 men and 4,800 camels.  3 of the 4 battalions were disbanded in were disbanded in mid-1918. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in May 1919.

The Imperial Camel Corps, which included two New Zealand companies - 16th and 17th Company- were a vital link in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns. It is said between 400 and 450 New Zealanders fought in the Camel Corps. There were also those from the New Zealand Mounted Rifles – Auckland Mounted Rifles, Wellington Mounted Rifles, and Canterbury Mounted Rifles. Research has found that a number of those from both the Camel Corps and Mounted Rifles  also were in the Gallipoli Campaign. 

Horses being embarked at Wellington courtesy http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d9-d4.html

Reakes wrote on New Zealand horses endurance:-

"When the big Palestine push came in February, 1917, the New Zealand horses' endurance was severely tested. The pace left the camel transport far behind. At one stage the horses had to go 72 hours without water, and their sole allowance of food was 12 lbs. of barley each per day, and each had to carry a three- days' ration. This restriction to barley, with a shortage of water, brought on diarrhoea, and horses began to die. At this time the Brigade was at Jaffa. Fortunately some stacks of barley straw were found, the Quarter-Master General supplied petrol for a chaff cutter, and soon the horses had barley chaff, which helped to check the trouble. " (Reakes, 1923, p157)

Horses and Camels were an integral part of this campaign. The New Zealand Veterinary Corps played a very relevant role in this in the transport and care of the animals. The active service personnel of the veterinary corps comprised the following twenty-four officers:—

Lieut.-Colonel A. R. Young. A.D.V.S.;

Lieut.-Colonel H. A. Reid;
Major J. Stafford;
Major P. M. Edgar;
Major C. R. Neale;

Captains-

T. A. Blake,

E. C. Howard,
R. H. Meade,
W. C. Ring,
E. L. Siddall,
C. S. Simpson,
A. Taylor,
W. C. Barry,
W. P. Begg,
F. Crossley,
E. E. Elphick,
A. A. Johnson,
T. G. Lillico,
D. H. Rait,
W. G. Taylor,
J. Danskin,
D. H. McHattie,
J. H. Primer,
and G. N. Waugh.

W.C Ring was William Charles Ring - grandson of Charles Ring originally from Coromandel and whose father also William Charles Ring was from Hinuera. ( see Ring - three generations in Auckland Province)

TCDC (Thames Coromandel District Council) has designated one of the Memorial Forests on the Coromandel Peninsula – for those who died in Sinai Palestine – to be near Tangitaroria Lane, Pauanui. Trees have been planted for those New Zealanders who died in WW1 in the eight Memorial Forests on the Coromandel Peninsula organised by TCDC ( Thames Coromandel District Council) including the Memorial Forest near Pauanui.   

Tairua Valley Hills Coromandel Peninsula –   Photo Courtesy Chris Ball 2015

Several of the Troopers in the Sinai Palestine Campaign had family links to the Tairua Valley. 

Reference Source:

•    Reakes, C J. 1923. The War Effort of New Zealand. Auckland: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited Chapter IX The New Zealand  Veterinary Corp http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d9-d4.html

• Moore, A. Briscoe. n.d. The Mounted Riflemen in Sinai and Pales􀆟ne: The Story of New Zealand’s Crusaders. Auckland: Whitcombe and Tombs Limited. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1MRif-t1-body-d1.html
•  Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph

• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Beersheba_(1917) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Camel_Corps

• TCDC ( Thames Coromandel District Council) https://www.tcdc.govt.nz/Your-Council/Council-Projects/Current-Projects/WWI-Memorial-Forest-Project/