soldiers

[peter blackwell]

What Roll if any, did the 13th western division play at the Suez Canal, in the short time they were at Egypt please?

Edited 17 April , 2019 by peter blackwell

[kenf48]

On 15/04/2019 at 17:04, peter blackwell said:

What Roll if any, did the 13th western division play at the Suez Canal, in the short time they were at Egypt please?

 

They played little or no role in Egypt.   There is incidentally a section on the Suez Canal Defences on the LLT

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/battles/the-campaign-in-egypt-and-palestine/the-defence-of-the-suez-canal/

 

The concentration area for the 13th Division was Port Said, the 4th SWB, after evacuation from Cape Helles remained at Mudros for two weeks embarking on the 26th January 1916 and rejoining the Division four days later.  The Battalion was just 320 strong, though reinforcements did join them in Egypt and by the time they were warned for Mesopatamia most Battalions in the Division, with the exception of the 4th SWB, numbered an average of 800.  The Battalions needed to refit and train after evacuation from the Dardanelles.

 

The Division was allocated to the Northern Sector of the Suez Canal Defences which considering its concentration at Port Said was not surprising.   However, within a week of its arrival in Egypt it was placed under orders for Mesopatamia and the relief of Kut and certainly the 4th SWB were never deployed to the Canal Defences, though I don't know if any other Battalions were.  One soldier described the climate as very like an 'English summer' and many officers, who were recalled at Marseilles, had left on leave. 

 

Definite orders for Mesopatamia were issued on February 7th.  The 4th SWB embarked on February 15th, and disembarked at Basra March 4th when they went into camp 'beside the Tigris at Magil'.

 

Ken

 

[peter blackwell]

thanks Pete