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Remembered Today:

Ayun Kara revisited


michaeldr

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On 19th December 2014, I joined Eran (GWF Pal) and other members of The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel to try and improve my knowledge of Great War events in this part of the theatre [it is seven years since my post here https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/85514-the-new-zealanders-at-nahr-el-auja-24-november-1917/

but then, it's never too late to learn.................!]

 

 

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We began our tour with a visit to New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade Hill, in the street of that same name, today found in the town of Nes Ziona. The monument there commemorates the action of Ayun Kara on 14th November 1917 by briefly describing the battle and naming the 50 New Zealanders who died in or as a result of this action.

 

 

 

 

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The morning's tour followed the advance of the Wellington Mounted Rifles and a short climb to the crest of a sand hill showed how well the Ottomans had prepared to meet the NZ force. Despite gaining all the height available, we still could not see the low area where their force gathered for their counter attack. Truly, no matter how many good maps you study, battlefield topography is only fully appreciated by visits such as this.

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/etexts/WH1-Sina/WH1-SinaP010a.jpg

We now switched flanks and made our way to the point where the Auckland Mounted Rifles met the Turkish counter attack. This point is also recognised by the local government authority with a map and description in Hebrew,

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as well as an illustration in tiles of a mounted rifleman and a further summary of the action.

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The day concluded with a visit to the site of the surrender of Jaffa, and a then tour around the some of the preserved buildings of the German colony of Sarona, in today's Tel Aviv

The New Zealand Brigade took up a protective line covering Jaffa, just south of the river Auja

This is how it is described by Lt-Col C Guy Powles [see http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Sina-t1-body-d5-d2.html] however, as well as protecting Jaffa, the New Zealanders seem to have much appreciated the vintages produced by the German winemakers, so their task was not too onerous.

My thanks to the aforementioned society for organising this tour and to Eran who acted as our principle guide.

It is also worthy of note that several times during the day the guides mentioned how important a part was played by the efforts of our GWF Pal 'Wroclaw,' in the erection of the modern monuments.

regards

Michael

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  • 1 year later...

Hello Michael,

The account of your visit to the site of the NZMR Brigade action at Ayun Kara was extremely interesting. As a New Zealander researching the encounter with the Turkish retreat this battle site is of particular interest, especially since we are approaching the centenary in 2017. I had a great deal of difficulty even finding the site on Google Earth. While Richon LeZion is mentioned in Guy Powles account of " How the Brigade rode through to Jaffa" there was never any mention of Ness Ziona where the memorial is located. My poor Hebrew eventually enabled me to locate the memorial in the North West of the town. Apparently Ness Ziona existed at the time of the battle but perhaps it was a very small village settlement. I am trying to educate the New Zealand community in their  understanding of the Anzac role within General Allenby's army in Palestine during 1917-1918. While the NZMR Brigade had a significant involvement in Beersheba, Ayun Kara was, I think, our most significant and most costly engagement. I do not think the New Zealand Government has made any particular plans to be represented in Israel apart from at Beersheba with the Australians on October 31st. The British war cemetery at Ramla is another significant New Zealand memorial site and, again, I do not think we are officially to be represented there, either. I hope I am wrong because it would be a serious oversight if it were true.  I would like to contact anybody who is planning commemorations in November, 2017. Finally, do you, or does anybody else, know the history of the memorial site. Who sponsored it? When was it established? Who visits it? 

Edited by ChrisWA
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Hi Chris,

 

First – welcome to the forum! My name is Eran, I am the chairman of The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel and dealt a lot with the activities of The NZMR Brigade in this theatre of war.

 

I agree with you that Ayun Kara was the “most significant and most costly engagement” of the New-Zealanders in this campaign. Most of the battle-field is within the jurisdiction of Gan Raveh Regional Council (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gan_Raveh_Regional_Council), on the grounds of today’s villages Beit Hanan, Beit Oved, Irus & Netaim. The last phase of this battle took place on grounds today under jurisdiction of Rishon Le-Zion. The battle involved mostly the Auckland & Wellington regiments, while the Canterbury regiment entered Nes Ziona. The casualties were buried in a temporary cemetery (Quite impressive one, including a wooden obelisk), later to be transferred to Ramleh War Cemetery that you mentioned.

 

Nes Ziona is mentioned many times as “Wadi Hanin” (Or Hanien/Hunyan). At that stage, there was no Arab village by this name (An Arab village by that name was founded in the mid 20’s), as can be seen in the EEF’s maps of 1917-8, referring there to Wadi Hanin as a “Jewish Colony”. To make things even more confusing, at that time there were two tiny neighboring colonies, one called “Wadi Hanin” (Or “Nachalat Reuven/Lerer”) and the other, “Nes Ziona” (Later they merged). The entrance to the Jewish Colony is mentioned in the regimental books. There’s a fascinating story about the encounter there with an English-speaking lady who turned out to be the mother of a soldier from the Auckland regiment. At one stage, the NZ flag was raised at the top of the dominating hill of Nes Ziona – there’s a photo of that event and I received a request from people from Nes-Ziona to try to co-ordinate an event to react & commemorate the 1917 event.

 

A year ago I took the NZ Ambassador on a field-tour to some of the NZMR brigade battle sites (The full list is quite long) and we discussed a few ideas of commemoration of the New-Zealanders (A official NZ delegation is due here about a week from now, and this topic is one of the things that will be discussed). As far as I know, it seems that a memorial (I don’t know yet what type of memorial) will be set in Tel Sheba National Park (Tel el-Saba), which means bridging with the Australians and the commemoration of The Battle of Beer Sheba. I hope to discuss next week a few more ideas of commemoration, mostly around Ayun Kara.

 

As to the existing monuments – Several people were involved in that, including Gal, “Wroclaw” that Michael mentioned, who’s (unfortunately!!) a bit less active these days. The Nes Ziona one is in an Educational Center – Go to Google Earth and find Giva’t Mikhael (beats me why K instead of a C…) in Ness Ziyyona (That’s how its spelled there). The monument is a bit above the letter V. This monument was dedicated in 2009. The Rishon le-Zion one was dedicated in 2012.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Eran

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you Eran. This fills in quite a number of holes in the story. I am speaking tomorrow at a seminar on the Middle East and have been particularly asked to discuss the NZMR Brigade involvement in Palestine. I have a determination to do what I can to draw the attention of my fellow New Zealanders to these historic events. It seems very strange that so little is known or appreciated about the Anzac role in WW1 in this area. Apart from the work done by Kelvin Crombie in Western Australia and Terry Kinloch's "Devils on Horses," there is very little contemporary material in circulation. I have been compiling a reference library of e-books and pdfs from the post WW1 originals which help to put the puzzle pieces together. I am ready to lobby Government Ministers with respect to Ayun Kara and Ramleh in 1917 commemorations if we can make a good case. I feel, as a proud New Zealander, that we must have a sizable representation at these commemorations to honour the men who served on our behalf- particularly we need to take young people- and I intend to do my best to be there myself. This would be my first trip to Israel. Beersheba is, as you have said, is definitely a legitimate place for Kiwis to be as well - it was not all an Australian victory. Even Chetwode's 21st Corp played a significant part and I think that the 4th and 12th ALH would not have made it across the plains without the work of the AMR and 2 ALH in dislodging the Turkish machine gun company from Tel Saba.

 

One further question. From the Israeli perspective, do you have an opinion about the incident in November, 1918, when a group of Anzac and Scottish troopers burned the village of Surfend and killed some 36 Arab men in retaliation for the murder of the Kiwi trooper, Pvt. Lowry? In 2009 a New Zealand TV documentary tried to present the Arab perspective, without any historical context, and I think the affair has left some politicians very nervous about publicly acknowledging the many heroes in case more mud is thrown in their directio.

Thanks, again, for your reply. I would appreciate hearing of any further plans that you might  have knowledge about,

 Chris

Edited by ChrisWA
spelling correction
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Possibly the following is slightly useful. Repeated mention above is made of "Ayun Kara", seemingly a geographic point. "Kara" is Turkish for "black", I believe. Serbian has two words for black; one, from the Turkish, is "kara", as in Kara Georjie, or "Black George", a Serbian national leader and hero (and bandit, naturally) of the early 19th Century. The second Serb word for "black" is "cerno" (pronounced in English "cherno", a soft "c") which is from the Slavic, probably from Old Church Slavonic.

 

I do not know if black in Arabic is also "kara" or something of the sort. I only have fragmentary Arabic.

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks for the information you have written one of my great uncles Sgt Alfred Chilton Carter fell in the battle at Ayun Kara attached to the Auckland Mounted Rifles. I have read a few articles on the action previously but have never come across anything in depth. I was only aware of the fighting there due to my uncles involvement with the battle.

I hope you have had a good response from the authorities in gaining recognition of the actions that were carried out for what the men deserve and the enlightenment to others.

Brian  

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Brian

 

Interesting coincidence that you posted this now. We (The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel) had a field tour today that included a few sites connected and honoring the battle of Ayun Kara. 

 

I guess it will be fair to say that after the last October-November events (2017), Beersheba & Ayun Kara are the best commemorated battles of the Palestine Campaign. In the case of Beersheba, only the Australian Light Horse's charge is commemorated, while the British Infantry major role in this battle is sadly ignored so far. 

 

The Ayun Kara action is commemorated now by 3 information/memorial signs at both flanks of the battlefield itself (2 at Ness-Ziyona and 1 at Rishon le-Zion). Another special sign, honoring the arrival of NZMR to Rishon le-Zion and the special relationship that was formed between the New-Zealanders and the local community has been placed in Rishon's center. An exhibition about Rishon le-Zion during the Great War period (including Ayun Kara) is now on display at the local museum, including Rabecca Holden's excellent visual arts project Sand in the Apricot Jam

 

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A moving evening was on October 30th (The evening before Beersheba events), when the reveal of the NZ - Rishon le-Zion friendship sign and the official opening of the exhibition at the museum took place. The Governor-General of NZ participated in this event, as did the NZ military-cultural delegation that was in Israel for the late-October events. They were wonderful (Yes, including the traditional Haka...). Here a few photos from the event on October 30th:

 

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About Rabecca Holden's project: https://ww100.govt.nz/sand-in-the-apricot-jam 

 

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This part (Above) of Rabecca's work is dedicated to the battle of Ayun kara.

 

Eran

Edited by Eran Tearosh
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On November 14th 2017, we commemorated the centennial of the Battle of Ayun Kara. A few hundred people assembled at a park in Ness-Ziona for a commemoration event, that included the reveal of a beautiful NZ info/commemoration signpost/plaque, dedicated to the NZMR an the Battle of Ayun Kara, overlooking the battlefield. The NZ ambassador attended this event, as did a few NZ groups, including our GWF member - Chris (Post #6). Of course,  many Israelis, local  people (Ness-Ziona) and members of The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel also attended this moving event   

 

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Here a few photos from that event:

 

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Eran

 

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As I mentioned above, The Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel had a field-tour yesterday (January 11th) to several sites, including Rishon le-Zion and Ness-Ziona, both connected to the Ayun Kara battle.  Here are a few photos from Ness-Ziona:

 

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Eran

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The new plaque/information board seen in the second photograph above is an excellent aid to understanding this battlefield and is very well positioned to give a view of the main topographical features.

The men who fell here were originally buried close by (their graves were later transferred to Ramleh) and their comrades erected a memorial seen below

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This photograph comes from an album held at New Zealand's National Army Museum. It is also on line with c.26 pages of photographs - well worth seeing 

http://nam.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/7380#idx11388

*EDIT - this link may be better http://nam.recollect.co.nz/nodes/index/q:ELVN

 

regards

Michael

 

 

 

 


 

Edited by michaeldr
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Hi Michael, the name on the top of the list of the men who fell is my great uncle Sgt Alfred Chilton Carter. I have a few copies of various things from him and he had 3 of his brothers who all fought in the war. It would have been very hard for the family back home on the farm

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Thanks Eran, for your post and the photos, something must have been calling me to join in on this forum, and as you said eerily enough on the day you were doing a bit of a tour to some sites.

Brian

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