100 years ago
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/first-world-war/article4698463.ece
Armed car raid in Egypt
March 20, 1916
In three weeks General Peyton’s force has captured the hostile commander, and killed or captured quite 50 per cent of the Turkish subordinate commanders
The Secretary of the War Office issues the following account of the brilliant part played by our armed motor-cars in the pursuit of the enemy after the capture of the Western Egyptian frontier post of Sollum on March 14:
Reports have been received from officers who have returned from Sollum which show that the armoured cars action on March 14 under the Duke of Westminster was a very dashing affair. Aeroplane reconnaissance discovered early in the morning that the camp at Birwar was empty. Orders were at once given to push forward in pursuit “with reasonable boldness”.
The going was bad for the first eight miles. After that, however, the cars then struck the Derna road and the pace was increased, reaching nearly 40 miles an hour. The cars passed some hundreds of Beduin flying westward, many of them being armed, but no notice was taken of them. The main camp was seen about a mile south of the road 25 miles west of Sollum. Direction was immediately changed, and all but two of the cars advanced in iine. These latter went about two miles farther along the road before turning south, acting on a preconcerted plan.
As the cars approached, one gun and two machine-guns came into action. These were smartly handled by the enemy, but the whole gun teams were shot down while the cars were 400 yards away.
The cars then dashed into the camp. The hostile forces scattered in every direction, and the pursuit was carried on. After about 10 miles there was danger of the petrol supply giving out. It was found when the cars were again concentrated that all the enemy artillery had fallen into our hands. This amounted to three guns and nine machine-guns with 24 spare barrels, and some 40 revolvers and a large quantity of ammunition.
Ninety-one prisoners, who formed part of shipwrecked crews who had landed on the Cyrenaica coast and had been seized by the Senussi, were rescued. Our force consisted of eight officers and 32 other ranks, casualties being one officer slightly wounded. The enemy’s casualties have been already reported as 50 killed.
A very skilful little campaign has thus been brought to a successful conclusion by this action. In three weeks General Peyton’s force has captured the hostile commander, and killed or captured quite 50 per cent of the Turkish subordinate commanders, has driven the scattered remnant of his force far beyond the Egyptian border, and has taken all his artillery and machine-guns.
During the operation the force has advanced 150 miles. The work of the infantry was rendered supremely arduous by lack of water, but all difficulties were met and overcome with splendid spirit.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/first-world-war/article4698466.ece
The Senussi sect
March 20, 1916
The novice must renounce the world. He must wear no ornaments of gold or silver. He must eschew not only wine, but also coffee and tobacco, and even European sugar, on account of its having been refined by passing through bone dust
The sect of the Senussiya, or followers of Senussi, is of recent foundation. The founder was an Algerian, Sid Muhammed ben Ali es-Senussi, who betook himself to Morocco and apparently studied religion at the Kairuin Mosque and University at Fez. There he fell under the influence of the Chadeliya fraternity. After a time he quarrelled with his professors and sought new quarters at-Wazan, the centre of the Taiebiya brotherhood, or devotees of Mulai-Taieb. Here he became a professor of theology, but the scope which Morocco offered him was too small and he wandered through all North Africa, teaching as he went.
He had apparently at this period founded no school of thought of his own, and it was not until his arrival at the Holy City of Mecca that he initiated the cult of the “Tariqa Muhammediya”. This name he changed to “Tariqa Senussiya” in 1840, a proof that by that date he had founded his school of belief. His leisure hours at Mecca had been spent in writing books, which culminated in a general survey of his doctrines in the volume called “Esshems-es-Charkiya”, or “The Rising Sun”.
The main features of es-Senussi’s doctrine were that worship must be given to God alone, but living saints might be venerated on account of their inspiration. He waged war, however, on the almost universal practice of Islam of the veneration of dead saints, on the ground that their sanctity had ceased in the hour of death, when inspiration could no longer be claimed.
With regard to the succession to the Khalifate, the title adopted by the successors of the Prophet, es’Senussi confirmed the theory already existing in many parts of the Islamic world, that the Khalifa must be an Imam, and must fulfil in every detail the duties of the Koranic law. Revolution was legitimate in cases in which he might fail to carry out these duties. The novice must renounce the world. He must wear no ornaments of gold or silver. He must eschew not only wine, but also coffee and tobacco, and even European sugar, on account of its having been refined by passing through bone dust. He must have no dealings with Christians or Jews, must never, shake hands with them, in fact even killing them was not a crime. At the same time the devotee of the sect must wear no outward sign of belonging to the fraternity, and his membership must be kept secret except to other followers.
Hand in hand with these doctrines went a policy that was far more practical. Offerings were expected from all the devotees, and they were often persuaded to make over their entire properties to the Order. The “fraternity” became rich in lands and in kind.
In 1848 es-Senussi had adopted the title of Khalifa, successor or representative of the Prophet, and as such was accepted by all his followers. At the same tirne he took to veiling his face, as being too holy for mortal eyes, and the belief was general that the effulgence of his countenance would strike blind anyone who looked upon it.
It was not until two years after his death, in 1859, that his son and successor removed his headquarters to Jerabub, situated on Tripolitan territory near the frontier of Egypt.
The father on his deathbed had passed on to the son the Baraka, or holy birthright, bestowing upon him at the same time the title of Mehdi, or Mahdi. In order to increase his son’s prestige in the eyes of the people es-Senussi quoted a prophecy that the great holy man of the sect would he he who had different coloured eyes and one arm slightly longer than the other, and whose name would be Mehdi. His son fulfilled all these requirements, and was immediately accepted, as more holy even than his predecessor.
Yet in spite of the widespread success of the Senussi movement, there is no ‘doubt that its political importance has been much exaggerated in the past. There has never been, and probably never will be, any real cohesion among the members of the sect.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/first-world-war/article4698458.ece
Desert hardships
April 24, 1916
A Turkish surgeon amputated our wounded comrade’s leg with a pair of scissors, the only surgical instrument they possessed, and the only anaesthetic he gave the man was a drop of whisky
The survivors of the Tara, who were rescued by the Duke of Westminster’s expedition, have just arrived in the naval hospitals at home, where they are under treatment. The men are suffering from malnutrition and exposure. Mr JL Swaine, one of the survivors, whose home is in Holyhead, gave yesterday The Times representative the following narrative of their experiences:
We were all Holyhead men. The Tara, previous to being taken over for patrol purposes, was the Hibernia, which plied cross channel on the Dublin-Holyhead route. At the end of last October we were sent on patrol duty. While off the Senussi coast about 10.30am on November 5 last, our look-out saw a submarine, and a little later a torpedo from this struck us amidships and killed 11 men who were in the engine room. The stokehold staff escaped by ladders. For about five minutes after this the ship remained afloat, and during this time we got out our three boats. Some of the crew had jumped into the water, and from there were pulled into the boats. The submarine came up about half a mile astern of us, and towed the boats to Port Sulieman. We were landed at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and taken by the Senussi. One of our party had died in the boat and we buried him ashore making a cross for his grave out of two oars which we broke for the purpose.
There were 92 alive when we landed and the Senussi gave us one small goat which we had to share among all of us. That night we slept in the open. It was bitterly cold. Some of us were wet through, and none of us had much clothing, while the Senussi gave us no covering to sleep under. Next morning we were given rice which we had to cook as best we could in a bully tin, and eat with our fingers. There was only about four spoonfuls, or rather four fingers’ full, for each man, even of this poor food. By this time we were all very cold and hungry, and so we remained the whole time the Senussi held us.
The day after we were moved further up the gully in which we had been landed; they kept us there two days. One of our men had broken his leg and was suffering great pain, but we could get no proper treatment for him. From the gully we were moved up into the country to a kind of village, the houses of which were some dug-outs in the rocks. In this goats and donkeys had been kept. The places had not been cleaned out and the stench in them was awful. Only 40 of us could get into them, and the remainder had to be kept out in the open with no clothing but their own. All the time we were getting more cold and more hungry.
For a week we were kept here, and while here a Turkish surgeon amputated our wounded comrade’s leg with a pair of scissors, the only surgical instrument they possessed; and the only anaesthetic he gave the man was a drop of whisky before he started the operation. But the man was almost exhausted, and he died on the Sunday following. We buried him the same evening.
After that the Senussi started to march us to where they said we should find a beautiful flowing river with plenty of fish in it and delicious dates growing in abundance by the river side. They marched us for 12 days and nights in the clothing that we came ashore in. We reached this so-called beautiful place, and found there none of the things that the Arabs had promised us. We were, however, given some linen clothing such as the Arabs themselves wear and some blankets so thin that one could see through them.
Then we were taken to a place called “The White and Red Doctor’s Well”. Our daily rations now consisted of about eight spoonfuls of rice per man, and occasionally a wine-glassful of tea. At the end of a month the rations became smaller. I was the tailor to the party, and made up some clothing for them out of old rice and date bags, which they begged from the Senussi. Having no needles to sew with, I looked about the desert until I found some camels’ bones and a bit of glass, and out of these I fashioned some make-shift needles.
Although we were getting weaker every day, the Senussi now made us work for them. We had to clean out wells, walking four miles from the desert to our work and four miles back again. As the Arabs did not understand English, and we did not know Arabic, we sometimes found difficulty in understanding their orders, whereupon they used to beat us with whips of hide until we did what they wanted.
Our food still consisted of only a few spoonfuls of rice daily, and we manufactured a sort of coffee by grinding up date stones. We were literally starving, and also suffering greatly from dysentery. Four of our men died from this disease, as we had no medicine or any sort of treatment.
By way of cheering us up the Turkish commandant promised that on Christmas Day we should have a most enjoyable feast of all sorts of good things, but all we got for our Christmas dinner was some snails and herbs. Thus, cold, starving, beaten, and hopeless, we went along until March 17. About 2.30 in the afternoon of that day we saw some motor-cars in the distance, but could not make out what they were. Our chief officer and the interpreter had gone to the Italian frontier to try to get some food for us, and we thought that the cars might be them returning. But when we saw the Red Cross we knew the cars were English, and our feelings overwhelmed us.
After attacking and killing our guards, who numbered about 30, the Duke of Westminster and his party picked us up and took us off to the British camp. So overjoyed were we that we shed tears and put our arms round the necks of our deliverers and kissed them.
Armed car raid in Egypt
March 20, 1916
In three weeks General Peyton’s force has captured the hostile commander, and killed or captured quite 50 per cent of the Turkish subordinate commanders
The Secretary of the War Office issues the following account of the brilliant part played by our armed motor-cars in the pursuit of the enemy after the capture of the Western Egyptian frontier post of Sollum on March 14:
Reports have been received from officers who have returned from Sollum which show that the armoured cars action on March 14 under the Duke of Westminster was a very dashing affair. Aeroplane reconnaissance discovered early in the morning that the camp at Birwar was empty. Orders were at once given to push forward in pursuit “with reasonable boldness”.
The going was bad for the first eight miles. After that, however, the cars then struck the Derna road and the pace was increased, reaching nearly 40 miles an hour. The cars passed some hundreds of Beduin flying westward, many of them being armed, but no notice was taken of them. The main camp was seen about a mile south of the road 25 miles west of Sollum. Direction was immediately changed, and all but two of the cars advanced in iine. These latter went about two miles farther along the road before turning south, acting on a preconcerted plan.
As the cars approached, one gun and two machine-guns came into action. These were smartly handled by the enemy, but the whole gun teams were shot down while the cars were 400 yards away.
The cars then dashed into the camp. The hostile forces scattered in every direction, and the pursuit was carried on. After about 10 miles there was danger of the petrol supply giving out. It was found when the cars were again concentrated that all the enemy artillery had fallen into our hands. This amounted to three guns and nine machine-guns with 24 spare barrels, and some 40 revolvers and a large quantity of ammunition.
Ninety-one prisoners, who formed part of shipwrecked crews who had landed on the Cyrenaica coast and had been seized by the Senussi, were rescued. Our force consisted of eight officers and 32 other ranks, casualties being one officer slightly wounded. The enemy’s casualties have been already reported as 50 killed.
A very skilful little campaign has thus been brought to a successful conclusion by this action. In three weeks General Peyton’s force has captured the hostile commander, and killed or captured quite 50 per cent of the Turkish subordinate commanders, has driven the scattered remnant of his force far beyond the Egyptian border, and has taken all his artillery and machine-guns.
During the operation the force has advanced 150 miles. The work of the infantry was rendered supremely arduous by lack of water, but all difficulties were met and overcome with splendid spirit.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/first-world-war/article4698466.ece
The Senussi sect
March 20, 1916
The novice must renounce the world. He must wear no ornaments of gold or silver. He must eschew not only wine, but also coffee and tobacco, and even European sugar, on account of its having been refined by passing through bone dust
The sect of the Senussiya, or followers of Senussi, is of recent foundation. The founder was an Algerian, Sid Muhammed ben Ali es-Senussi, who betook himself to Morocco and apparently studied religion at the Kairuin Mosque and University at Fez. There he fell under the influence of the Chadeliya fraternity. After a time he quarrelled with his professors and sought new quarters at-Wazan, the centre of the Taiebiya brotherhood, or devotees of Mulai-Taieb. Here he became a professor of theology, but the scope which Morocco offered him was too small and he wandered through all North Africa, teaching as he went.
He had apparently at this period founded no school of thought of his own, and it was not until his arrival at the Holy City of Mecca that he initiated the cult of the “Tariqa Muhammediya”. This name he changed to “Tariqa Senussiya” in 1840, a proof that by that date he had founded his school of belief. His leisure hours at Mecca had been spent in writing books, which culminated in a general survey of his doctrines in the volume called “Esshems-es-Charkiya”, or “The Rising Sun”.
The main features of es-Senussi’s doctrine were that worship must be given to God alone, but living saints might be venerated on account of their inspiration. He waged war, however, on the almost universal practice of Islam of the veneration of dead saints, on the ground that their sanctity had ceased in the hour of death, when inspiration could no longer be claimed.
With regard to the succession to the Khalifate, the title adopted by the successors of the Prophet, es’Senussi confirmed the theory already existing in many parts of the Islamic world, that the Khalifa must be an Imam, and must fulfil in every detail the duties of the Koranic law. Revolution was legitimate in cases in which he might fail to carry out these duties. The novice must renounce the world. He must wear no ornaments of gold or silver. He must eschew not only wine, but also coffee and tobacco, and even European sugar, on account of its having been refined by passing through bone dust. He must have no dealings with Christians or Jews, must never, shake hands with them, in fact even killing them was not a crime. At the same time the devotee of the sect must wear no outward sign of belonging to the fraternity, and his membership must be kept secret except to other followers.
Hand in hand with these doctrines went a policy that was far more practical. Offerings were expected from all the devotees, and they were often persuaded to make over their entire properties to the Order. The “fraternity” became rich in lands and in kind.
In 1848 es-Senussi had adopted the title of Khalifa, successor or representative of the Prophet, and as such was accepted by all his followers. At the same tirne he took to veiling his face, as being too holy for mortal eyes, and the belief was general that the effulgence of his countenance would strike blind anyone who looked upon it.
It was not until two years after his death, in 1859, that his son and successor removed his headquarters to Jerabub, situated on Tripolitan territory near the frontier of Egypt.
The father on his deathbed had passed on to the son the Baraka, or holy birthright, bestowing upon him at the same time the title of Mehdi, or Mahdi. In order to increase his son’s prestige in the eyes of the people es-Senussi quoted a prophecy that the great holy man of the sect would he he who had different coloured eyes and one arm slightly longer than the other, and whose name would be Mehdi. His son fulfilled all these requirements, and was immediately accepted, as more holy even than his predecessor.
Yet in spite of the widespread success of the Senussi movement, there is no ‘doubt that its political importance has been much exaggerated in the past. There has never been, and probably never will be, any real cohesion among the members of the sect.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/archive/first-world-war/article4698458.ece
Desert hardships
April 24, 1916
A Turkish surgeon amputated our wounded comrade’s leg with a pair of scissors, the only surgical instrument they possessed, and the only anaesthetic he gave the man was a drop of whisky
The survivors of the Tara, who were rescued by the Duke of Westminster’s expedition, have just arrived in the naval hospitals at home, where they are under treatment. The men are suffering from malnutrition and exposure. Mr JL Swaine, one of the survivors, whose home is in Holyhead, gave yesterday The Times representative the following narrative of their experiences:
We were all Holyhead men. The Tara, previous to being taken over for patrol purposes, was the Hibernia, which plied cross channel on the Dublin-Holyhead route. At the end of last October we were sent on patrol duty. While off the Senussi coast about 10.30am on November 5 last, our look-out saw a submarine, and a little later a torpedo from this struck us amidships and killed 11 men who were in the engine room. The stokehold staff escaped by ladders. For about five minutes after this the ship remained afloat, and during this time we got out our three boats. Some of the crew had jumped into the water, and from there were pulled into the boats. The submarine came up about half a mile astern of us, and towed the boats to Port Sulieman. We were landed at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and taken by the Senussi. One of our party had died in the boat and we buried him ashore making a cross for his grave out of two oars which we broke for the purpose.
There were 92 alive when we landed and the Senussi gave us one small goat which we had to share among all of us. That night we slept in the open. It was bitterly cold. Some of us were wet through, and none of us had much clothing, while the Senussi gave us no covering to sleep under. Next morning we were given rice which we had to cook as best we could in a bully tin, and eat with our fingers. There was only about four spoonfuls, or rather four fingers’ full, for each man, even of this poor food. By this time we were all very cold and hungry, and so we remained the whole time the Senussi held us.
The day after we were moved further up the gully in which we had been landed; they kept us there two days. One of our men had broken his leg and was suffering great pain, but we could get no proper treatment for him. From the gully we were moved up into the country to a kind of village, the houses of which were some dug-outs in the rocks. In this goats and donkeys had been kept. The places had not been cleaned out and the stench in them was awful. Only 40 of us could get into them, and the remainder had to be kept out in the open with no clothing but their own. All the time we were getting more cold and more hungry.
For a week we were kept here, and while here a Turkish surgeon amputated our wounded comrade’s leg with a pair of scissors, the only surgical instrument they possessed; and the only anaesthetic he gave the man was a drop of whisky before he started the operation. But the man was almost exhausted, and he died on the Sunday following. We buried him the same evening.
After that the Senussi started to march us to where they said we should find a beautiful flowing river with plenty of fish in it and delicious dates growing in abundance by the river side. They marched us for 12 days and nights in the clothing that we came ashore in. We reached this so-called beautiful place, and found there none of the things that the Arabs had promised us. We were, however, given some linen clothing such as the Arabs themselves wear and some blankets so thin that one could see through them.
Then we were taken to a place called “The White and Red Doctor’s Well”. Our daily rations now consisted of about eight spoonfuls of rice per man, and occasionally a wine-glassful of tea. At the end of a month the rations became smaller. I was the tailor to the party, and made up some clothing for them out of old rice and date bags, which they begged from the Senussi. Having no needles to sew with, I looked about the desert until I found some camels’ bones and a bit of glass, and out of these I fashioned some make-shift needles.
Although we were getting weaker every day, the Senussi now made us work for them. We had to clean out wells, walking four miles from the desert to our work and four miles back again. As the Arabs did not understand English, and we did not know Arabic, we sometimes found difficulty in understanding their orders, whereupon they used to beat us with whips of hide until we did what they wanted.
Our food still consisted of only a few spoonfuls of rice daily, and we manufactured a sort of coffee by grinding up date stones. We were literally starving, and also suffering greatly from dysentery. Four of our men died from this disease, as we had no medicine or any sort of treatment.
By way of cheering us up the Turkish commandant promised that on Christmas Day we should have a most enjoyable feast of all sorts of good things, but all we got for our Christmas dinner was some snails and herbs. Thus, cold, starving, beaten, and hopeless, we went along until March 17. About 2.30 in the afternoon of that day we saw some motor-cars in the distance, but could not make out what they were. Our chief officer and the interpreter had gone to the Italian frontier to try to get some food for us, and we thought that the cars might be them returning. But when we saw the Red Cross we knew the cars were English, and our feelings overwhelmed us.
After attacking and killing our guards, who numbered about 30, the Duke of Westminster and his party picked us up and took us off to the British camp. So overjoyed were we that we shed tears and put our arms round the necks of our deliverers and kissed them.