Auja Crossing Centenary Military Conference

[michaeldr]

Thursday this week saw the marking of the centenary of the crossings of the Auja: the first attempt by New Zealand mounted troops and British infantry on 24th/25th November 1917 
and the second, successful attempt, on the night of 20th/21st December 1917 by the 52nd (Lowland) Division. The centenary was marked by a conference hosted by the IDF at their Camp Aviv which is sited not far from where the Turkish forces were in 1917, at Muwannis. 

 

Speakers included our GWF Pal, Eran Tearosh, who as the chairman of the Society for the Heritage of WWI in Israel, worked closely with the IDF to organise this event. Eran gave an outline to the events of 1917 leading up to the crossing of the Auja. Other lectures included topics covering the role of the Ottoman forces here, on the involvement of the Aaronsohn brothers in EEF intelligence, and on the later 1918 actions where the 38th & 39th Royal Fusiliers took part.

 

Following the lectures, an information board at the gate of the camp, briefly describing the events of November/December 1917, was unveiled by the German and Austrian Military Attachés. The assembly was then coached to the banks of the Auja [today's River Yarkon] where Eran led a short guided walk. 

 

The conference concluded at the memorial column marking the December crossing point of the 157th Brigade (which was also where the New Zealanders forded the river during the first attempt). 

 

The conference was a great success and very well attended by members of the military attachés' association [AMAI].

 

Eran standing next to the new information board

 

 

Eran and part of the group during the walking tour

 

 

The IDF host, Brigadier E. D. Maisel

[copyright Barry Levinson]

 

The British representative, Lieut-Colonel Matthew W. Whitchurch MBE, MInstRE

[copyrite Barry Levinson]

 

The memorial column to the Crossing by the 157th Brigade

 

Edited 3 December , 2017 by michaeldr

[Guest]

Mate,

 

Of cause my interest lay to the east of this action where the Ottoman 22nd Corps attacked along the line around Mulebbis and Wilhelma and the main fighting there between 27 Nov to 5 Dec 1917, and continued for some time until the Bald Hill was retaken.

 

Also at this time was the fight at El Burj by the Australian Mounted Div 1 Dec 1917.

 

All part of the actions by the 8th Army to draw the British away from the 7th Army and Jerusalem.

 

S.B

[michaeldr]

The principle reason for Crossing the Auja was to put the Jaffa roadstead out of range of the Turkish Artillery.

With the winter rains already making transport communications very difficult indeed it was imperative that the EEF secured another landing place for its essential stores.

Col. Beadon writing in the second of his two volume history of the ASC describes

“The work of supply over this period was the most difficult of the campaign ............. a succession of rainy days however reduced the country to a morass and for a time all wheeled traffic except that on the Beersheba-Hebron-Jerusalem road came to a standstill. …......

...the capture of Jaffa and its subsequent clearance to the north opened up another landing place [after Sukerieh] Thus by combining every possible means of transport the British troops were enabled to march and fight almost continuously. Every requirement for doing so had to be brought from behind, for the country was itself bare [still not recovered after the devastating plague of locusts in 1915] and the enemy had destroyed what supplies he could not remove. Had the army not been served by so comprehensive a system it would have been impossible to have gathered the fruits of the victory on the Beersheva-Gaza front.”

 

Notwithstanding the above, the action also conferred wider benefits to the EEF's campaign;

“In a single night the Division had crossed what seemed to the Turkish Higher Command an almost impassable natural obstacle. It had thrust the enemy coastal flank back about two and a half miles on a three mile front, threatening the communications of the Mulebbis and Bald Hill positions....” (from the 52^nd Divisional history)

[Gareth Davies]

It's very interesting to see Matthew Whitchurch dressed as a Lt Col when he is in fact a Major.

[michaeldr]

Gareth,

 

I cannot comment on that, except to say that there's a 2006 reference to Matthew with the rank of Lt-Col in 'Master of None' by Douglas Goddard

see https://books.google.co.il/books?id=Gqcs-swNEQoC&pg=PA363&lpg=PA363&dq=matthew+whitchurch+mbe+re&source=bl&ots=nsgsmAw6qC&sig=RcWrd0aYY4IwpVBH072Ls3ksD-c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiux97Gv-3XAhWBI8AKHdCTDRwQ6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q=matthew whitchurch mbe re&f=false

 

regards

Michael

 

 

 

[Gareth Davies]

He was a Lt Col in the Regular Army. He then took a post as a Major as a Reservist. 

[michaeldr]

Ah......

Now you mention it, I recollect someone else telling me of a similar move happening to them recently

Be that as may, Matthew did very well bearing in mind that he had just got off the overnight flight

[Guest]

Mates,

 

Last night the Camel Bde and 2 LH Bde carried out a raid on Bald Hill, where they suffered a large number of losses. What I found interesting was the captured Turks taken here.

 

I have long been looking for confirmation that the Turks used part of there Storm Bn to over the NZ defences on Bald Hill when they took it on the 27 Nov 1917, as the tactic's described like the use of many bombs with outflanking, and MG fire with Air support sounded like a Storm Troop attack.

 

But since the 20th Div had the storm Bn with the 19th Div at El Burj could part of this unit help in the attack?

 

But this raid shows that elements of the 19th Div, were with the 20th Div, why I don't known as both Div's now were in different Corps?

 

Here is an account I wrote;

 

On the 3 December after stand to, another raid was ordered to take place that night, Lieutenant Colonel Lee alerted the 17^th company, being the strongest company remaining in the Battalion, to move up to post 9, situated in the 3^rd Battalion trenches, that afternoon, and the 18^th company was alerted to support if needed. The plan was for the company to discover how strongly the enemies position were held, and three officers were attached to inspect the defences and report on them, as the force was only to be in the enemies trenches for 10 minutes before returning. The attached officers were Lieutenant Richard Camm, sent to see how many men could be held in the Turkish trenches, Lieutenant Vic Adolph, to see at what stage the Turks were at in their construction and Lieutenant Edward O’Keefe 18^th Company, to check their observation posts.

 

The attacking company could muster six officers and 100 other ranks (with the three attached officers) to carry out the raid, the foray was to attack from the south, the same direction used on the 29 November, and a similar raid was once more planned by the 6^th Light Horse to support, this raid, it was composed from A and C Squadron under Captain Doug Close with five officers and 100 men. Lieutenant Adolph the 4^th Anzac Battalion intelligence officer carried out a reconnaissance of the Turkish position in the afternoon and at 7.40 pm the 17^th company left its trench moving up a small nullah from post 9 to a form up point within 300 yards of the Turkish line allowing the troops to line the nullah till the artillery fell at H Hour.

 

At 7.55 pm after a 10 minute bombardment, Captain John Hampton signalled the attack allowing the men time to reach the trenches before the guns would be switched to cut off the Turks escape to the rear, while the Brigades machine guns would support the main attack. The 17^th company started to advance in line on a section front in three waves, the Battalion Padre Captain Ignatius Bossence joined with the attacking force setting a fine example to the men, however again things began to go wrong from the start.

 

The Turks quickly recognized that an attack was coming, and moved out of their trenches into no mans land to escape the worst of the shell fire, which allowed them time to prepare for the attack. The attacking company ran straight into a prepared Turkish defence and a bayonet fight ensued as a line of spider holes were found 50 metres from their front line containing a skirmish line of Turks, they showered the men with bombs inflicting a large number of casualties before they were all killed, still not before disorganizing and delaying the assault. Meanwhile on the left flank the 6^th Light Horse found they had been blasted out of their positions by what they believed to be a defective gun, which was short shooting, they lost about 23 men wounded before the barrage lifted disorganizing their attack.

 

The main Turkish line was then attacked, only the Turks opened with shell fire onto their own position and the cameleers could make no head way against a stiffening Turkish line, which by chance, had missed the intended point of entry and so lost the full benefit of supporting artillery and machine gun fire. The cameleers tried moving along the outer line to find a weak spot to break in and capture the Turkish posts still no where they could gain a foot hold.

 

 

Adding to their problems that night were two of the three officers attached to look at the Turkish defences, now found themselves wounded during the wild fight along the outer trenches and two sections of the 18^th company were committed until they at last gained entry into the objective, which allowed only a brief inspection before the whistle was blown to order the retirement.

 

With the raid now completed Captain Hampton ordered all troops back to the start point, with the 10 minutes allowed for the raid long passed. When the troops retired machine guns from the 3^rd Battalion opened on the enemies defences which prevented the recovery of all the wounded. Captain Hampton stayed to help and his direction of the withdrawal enabled all of the wounded to be recovered with the help of Sergeant Lionel Towner who rescued a number of men in front of the Turkish trenches, they were the last men to return with the Padre who went among the troops and wounded keeping their spirits up, and by 9.40 pm all had returned other then Lieutenant Adolph who stayed to complete a final check on the enemies works before arriving back carrying a wounded man. Only one man (Trooper James Fairbairn) was believed left in the Turkish’s trenches, as he had been killed, and could not be recovered. The Turks still alarmed by the raid continued to shell the area till 10 pm when all fell silent.

 

The 6^th Light Horse to the north had still advanced at H hour plus 10 and reached their objective bayoneting 20 Turks from the 2^nd Battalion 57^th Regiment (19th Division), where they stayed long enough in the Turkish’s trenches to capture three prisoners from the 57^th Regiment and one prisoner from the 1st Battalion 52^nd  Regiment (possibly 62^nd Regiment) and some rifles before returning with the required information with the loss of one officer (Owen Tooth) and one other rank (Brian Barton) killed and one officer (Norman Dickson) and 22 men wounded.       

 

The casualties in the 17^th company were reported as two other ranks killed (Albert Cox and James Fairbairn) while Corporal Henry Johnson died of wounds on the battlefield and four officers and 32 men were wounded, in the 18^th company Sergeant Albert Chard was killed when hit in the head by a piece of shell fragment while waiting in support and 16 men wounded. Captain Graham Shipway the Battalion medical officer worked tirelessly throughout the night dispatching the casualties back to the rear, clearing all the wounded, by 2 am a further four men died of their wounds that night or over the next few days (Bill Bryce, Archie Duncan, Elias Pryor and Harry Punshon).

 

Defending Bald Hill at this time was the 62^nd Turkish Infantry Regiment under Major Nazmi Bey, who reported coming under heavy artillery and machine gun fire around 8.30 pm, when an ambush attack was conducted on them, which they controlled the battle after a counterattack was sent in by the reserves of the Regiment. Facing the 6^th Light Horse Regiment were elements of the 2^nd Battalion 57^th Regiment (19^th Div) under Ali Bey to the north of Bald Hill, when their posts were attacked. Post 1 (containing 18 men) was hit hard by shell fire, and post 2 (with 20 men and two machine guns) was to the right near the road, while post 3 was held by 20 men from the 52^nd Regiment (possibly 62^nd Regiment (20^th Div). Ali Bey was in post 1 when the attack began and he at once sent a messenger for the reserves in post 4, however the messenger was killed. Ali Bey then requested help from post 2, who sent half there strength (10 men) to post 1, which now contained around 28 men. The garrison of post 1 was taken by surprise, when the Light Horse found the Turks with there heads down due to the artillery fire, killing or capturing all including Ali Bey, who was reported killed, being shot be a rifle bullet. A reinforcement of 90 men under a Sergeant were dispatch to retake post 1, only to be hit by artillery fire which killed or wounded many of the men and broke up this move allowing the Light Horse to retire with there prisoners.

 

British Intelligence reports say, the Camel Brigade captured three men from the 57th Turkish Regiment and one from the 62nd Regiment, while the 2nd Light Horse Brigade reported 5 prisoners of the 57th Regiment and 20 men bayoneted. 

 

Cheers

S.B

[emrezmen]

16 hours ago, stevebecker said:

Mates,

 

Last night the Camel Bde and 2 LH Bde carried out a raid on Bald Hill, where they suffered a large number of losses. What I found interesting was the captured Turks taken here.

 

I have long been looking for confirmation that the Turks used part of there Storm Bn to over the NZ defences on Bald Hill when they took it on the 27 Nov 1917, as the tactic's described like the use of many bombs with outflanking, and MG fire with Air support sounded like a Storm Troop attack.

 

But since the 20th Div had the storm Bn with the 19th Div at El Burj could part of this unit help in the attack?

 

But this raid shows that elements of the 19th Div, were with the 20th Div, why I don't known as both Div's now were in different Corps?

 

Both divisions were at disposal of 22th Corps (8th Army's one and only corps at that time). 19th Div sent 57th Rgt to the 7th Div and 57th supported the attack of 20th Div (61st, 62nd and 63rd Rgts) along with the regiments of 7th Div. Each two divisions (19th & 20th) had spec assault detachment in their formations since Galicia but Turkish official history doesn't mention about any Stormtrooper action on 8th Army front during that day. 19th Div's assault detachment was probably used in the vicinity of Beit ur el Tahta.

 

 

And thanks for the account, it contains some interesting details indeed.
 

 

 

 

Edited 4 December , 2017 by emrezmen
Map added

[Guest]

Mate,

 

Thanks I should have seen that.

 

with the 20th Corps (26th Div (1160 men) 27th Div (4400 men) 53rd Div (3500 men) in the 7th Army at Jerusalem

 

The 57th Regt (900 men) is reported detached by British Intell reports, but I didn't known where it went?

 

Interesting the British Intell reports show these Regts with the 7th Div;

 

20th Regt (600 men)

134th Regt (500 men) 134th Regt replaced 19th Regt early 1917 

21st Regt less 3Bn/21st Regt to Hejez

 

I notice the map shows the 72nd Regt at Jerusalem, but I can find not account of its move there?

 

The 19th Div shows these units

 

72nd Regt (800 men)

77th Regt (600 men)

57th Regt (900 men) detached

att 158th Regt (600 men) from 50th Div (TBC) but the 50th Div does not show on OrBat after that date.

att 61st Regt (600 men) from 20th Div

 

The 61st Regt (20th Div) had been used in the early fights at Mulebbis - Bald Hill, and had been replaced in the line by the 62nd Regt a few days before this raid.

So it must have went to the 19th Div, possibly for a rest from heavy losses during the Nov 1917 battles?

 

Cheers

S.B

Edited 5 December , 2017 by stevebecker