4 August 1916: Turning the flank
By this time, the Ottoman forces on the extreme British right were threatening to swing around the edge of the line and cut them off. General Lawrence, who was directing the action from Kantara back on the Suez Canal, had begun to mobilise various forces at dawn to start moving in on the open flank. The remnants of the 5th Mounted Brigade (still severely understrength after the fighting in April) and the NZMR Brigade moved up to cover the routes towards the British railway line, while infantry from the 42nd Division began to be moved up by train to Pelusium Station. It was a close run race, and only the quick thinking of Major Charles Turner with ‘D’ Squadron, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH), posted at Pelusium Station, saved the day. He rushed his unit forward to block the Ottoman advance, checking them just long enough for the reinforcements to arrive and stiffen his line at a safe distance from the station itself.
By mid-morning the Ottoman attack had stalled, with the Mehmetçik exhausted from their night march and morning of fighting, all without food or much water. The British forces were in a similar condition, although at least they were falling back into their camp and so had ready access to supplies. Both sides paused to take stock.
At around 11.30am the British counter-attack began, swinging out from the positions south of Pelusium Station to push the Ottomans back the way they had come. The 5th Mounted and NZMR Brigades began a long advance over open ground towards Mount Royston. It a slow, careful process until 5pm, when Colonel Ralph Yorke led one squadron of the RGH and two of the Worcester Yeomanry in a final mounted dash up and onto the southern slopes, from where they covered the advance of the New Zealanders as they cleared the rest of the ridge.
By this time, the Ottoman forces on the extreme British right were threatening to swing around the edge of the line and cut them off. General Lawrence, who was directing the action from Kantara back on the Suez Canal, had begun to mobilise various forces at dawn to start moving in on the open flank. The remnants of the 5th Mounted Brigade (still severely understrength after the fighting in April) and the NZMR Brigade moved up to cover the routes towards the British railway line, while infantry from the 42nd Division began to be moved up by train to Pelusium Station. It was a close run race, and only the quick thinking of Major Charles Turner with ‘D’ Squadron, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (RGH), posted at Pelusium Station, saved the day. He rushed his unit forward to block the Ottoman advance, checking them just long enough for the reinforcements to arrive and stiffen his line at a safe distance from the station itself.
By mid-morning the Ottoman attack had stalled, with the Mehmetçik exhausted from their night march and morning of fighting, all without food or much water. The British forces were in a similar condition, although at least they were falling back into their camp and so had ready access to supplies. Both sides paused to take stock.
At around 11.30am the British counter-attack began, swinging out from the positions south of Pelusium Station to push the Ottomans back the way they had come. The 5th Mounted and NZMR Brigades began a long advance over open ground towards Mount Royston. It a slow, careful process until 5pm, when Colonel Ralph Yorke led one squadron of the RGH and two of the Worcester Yeomanry in a final mounted dash up and onto the southern slopes, from where they covered the advance of the New Zealanders as they cleared the rest of the ridge.
Australian Light Horse dug-in, later British Yeomanry resting on the
in the war. march.
For ‘D’ Squadron RGH it had been a trying day, from their first deployment to hold the line under the direct view of the Ottomans on Mount Royston to the last dash to recapture that dune. Lieutenant E. T. Cripps was one of them:
“I and three other troops were told to hold a line of sand, which we did from 9 till 3 [sic] in the blazing sun – fired at the whole time and no target to shoot at within range. We lay in the boiling hot sand and every now and then fired volleys at a stump where there was a sniper… I hated it – nothing to do and being shot at the whole time. But after that we had the show of the war! We were called in, allowed a suck at our bottles, and then off to a flank, to a high sky line. Got shrapnelled on the way… We got on the ridge, which was like a razor back and which the Turks evacuated as we advanced. And down below us in the plain such a scene!... We gave them hell! About 500 surrendered and four guns to us. It was brilliant.”
At around the time that Mount Royston fell, the fighting restarted on Wellington Ridge as well, although this time it was the Ottomans attacking. Steady artillery fire broke up the attack, and Chauvel launched his own counter-attack at 6.45pm, using the Scottish infantry of the 156th Brigade. However, this assault also ran into heavy enemy fire, and the Scots went to ground just short of the crest of the ridge, digging in for the night.
Overnight, the troops who had endured all day regrouped, ate, drank, replenished their ammunition and rested. For the Australians, this meant collapsing into their camp at Et Maler, which was now:
“In a terrible mess, blankets and mess tins and dirty dishes all over the place, the tents were full of bullet holes and bomb holes on the ground. On the horse lines there were still a few horses, some dead from shell fire, the others done from the work they’d been doing.”
On the British side, water was strictly rationed, just in case the Ottomans managed to cut the supply lines back the Canal, but on the Ottoman side, the water supply appears to have been almost non-existent. The battle had started sooner and lasted longer than the Ottomans had expected, and their supply lines, at least as far as the fighting troops were concerned, had effectively broken down. This would have a significant impact the following morning. Overnight the British used their railway to evacuate the wounded – over 350 from the Australian brigades alone, who had also lost over sixty men killed – and bring up more infantry of the 42nd Division.
in the war. march.
For ‘D’ Squadron RGH it had been a trying day, from their first deployment to hold the line under the direct view of the Ottomans on Mount Royston to the last dash to recapture that dune. Lieutenant E. T. Cripps was one of them:
“I and three other troops were told to hold a line of sand, which we did from 9 till 3 [sic] in the blazing sun – fired at the whole time and no target to shoot at within range. We lay in the boiling hot sand and every now and then fired volleys at a stump where there was a sniper… I hated it – nothing to do and being shot at the whole time. But after that we had the show of the war! We were called in, allowed a suck at our bottles, and then off to a flank, to a high sky line. Got shrapnelled on the way… We got on the ridge, which was like a razor back and which the Turks evacuated as we advanced. And down below us in the plain such a scene!... We gave them hell! About 500 surrendered and four guns to us. It was brilliant.”
At around the time that Mount Royston fell, the fighting restarted on Wellington Ridge as well, although this time it was the Ottomans attacking. Steady artillery fire broke up the attack, and Chauvel launched his own counter-attack at 6.45pm, using the Scottish infantry of the 156th Brigade. However, this assault also ran into heavy enemy fire, and the Scots went to ground just short of the crest of the ridge, digging in for the night.
Overnight, the troops who had endured all day regrouped, ate, drank, replenished their ammunition and rested. For the Australians, this meant collapsing into their camp at Et Maler, which was now:
“In a terrible mess, blankets and mess tins and dirty dishes all over the place, the tents were full of bullet holes and bomb holes on the ground. On the horse lines there were still a few horses, some dead from shell fire, the others done from the work they’d been doing.”
On the British side, water was strictly rationed, just in case the Ottomans managed to cut the supply lines back the Canal, but on the Ottoman side, the water supply appears to have been almost non-existent. The battle had started sooner and lasted longer than the Ottomans had expected, and their supply lines, at least as far as the fighting troops were concerned, had effectively broken down. This would have a significant impact the following morning. Overnight the British used their railway to evacuate the wounded – over 350 from the Australian brigades alone, who had also lost over sixty men killed – and bring up more infantry of the 42nd Division.