The air attacks at Wadi Fara

[centurion]

Looking at "The Destruction of the Turkish Transports in the Gorge of the Wadi Fara" (a reproduction is on the cover of Osprey's The First World War - the Mediterranean Front) one is struck by the incredible scenery - however just how incredible is it? The aircraft shown involved in this depiction of the destruction of the best part of the Turkish 6th Army look like the result of an illicit affair betwen the Royal Aircraft Factory and SPAD. I asume that they are meant to be SE5a.s (they have inline engines and a gun on the top wing). However all that I have read about this action sugests that all the attacks were carried out by Camels of the RAF and the AFC. looking at maps of the battle site it does not look as extemely mountainous as the painting depicts. Just how much of what Carline painted is representative of the actual even and how much is his imagination and a desire to produce a spectacular painting?

[Stebie9173]

A link to the painting ....

http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/texte/059text.html

Steve.

[Martin Bennitt]

Drawing your attention to the text accompanying the picture in that link which suggests that Carline was there. That said, while very dramatic the actual style of the painting does not seem to be aiming at photographic realism.

Sydney Carline (1884-1929) served as a pilot and his brother, Richard, also a painter, was a machine-gunner. Both fought in flight squadrons in France and the Far East. The painting, one of the most spectacular of the aerial genre, describes one of the attacks launched against Turkish troops during their retreat towards the valley of the Jordan in September 1918. The location is Wadi Fara gorge, the machines are SE5s and the episode is dated and situated; the painting belongs to the tradition of battle painting in the most immediate sense of the term. It bases its account on the memories of an eye-witness, the painter-pilot himself.

cheers Martin B

[centurion]

Interesting as I can find no other reference to SE5s being used in action outside of Europe. Does anyone out there have any details of SE5s in Palestine?

[centurion]

No sooner do you say something than you prove yourself wrong 111 did indeed have SE5as in Palestine. I'll go and get some sack cloth and ashes. However can anyone confirm exactly which squadrons and aircraft took part at Wadi Fara as the only accounts I can find still talk about Camels

[michaeldr]

Quote: "All available machines were at once mobilized for this attack"

Looks like every one who could get off the ground was there

See 'Brief Record of the work of the Royal Air Force' in 'The Advance of the E. E. F.' HMSO 1919

"On Sept. 20and 21, every available machine was used for bombing the retreating enemy. Of these, the column retreating on the Nablus-Kh. Ferweh road on the 21st sustained the greatest losses. Early on the morning of the 21st a column of enemy troops and transport was reported by a strategical reconnaissance machine moving along the Nablus-Wadi Fara road, just south of Kh. Ferweh. It was of the utmost importance that this movement should be stopped, as, although the cavalry had blocked the enemy retreat at Beisan, the road to the bridge over the Jordan, at Jisr ed Damieh could not possibly be closed by our troops for some hours; nor could the crossings over the Jordan between that place and Beisan be guarded in time. All available machines were at once mobilized for this attack, and departures were so timed that two machines should arrive over the objective every three minutes, and that additional formations of six machines should come into action every half hour. These attacks were maintained from 0800 till noon, by which time our troops were in touch with the column. The road was completely blocked and was strewn with a mass of debris of wrecked wagons, guns and motor lorries, totalling in all eighty-seven guns, fifty-five motor lorries, four motor cars and 932 wagons."

Put 'Wadi Fara' into the forum search engine and you will find a couple of pics of the aftermath of this 'battle'. I agree that the country is actually not quite as dramatic as that given us by the artist

Regards

Michael

[centurion]

I have read that the impact on the Turkish infantry column was horrific as there was effectively no cover and the way out of the wadi was blocked by the wreckage of the transport. Towards the end Turkish soldiers had given up trying to escape and were just sitting fatalistically on the hill side waiting to be straffed. I've also seen a report that one Australian squadron were so sickened by the slaughter that its pilots refused to fly any further missions against Wadi Fara - does anyone know if this is true?

[michaeldr]

Chapter XII 'The Battle of Armageddon' of Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918 (11th edition, 1941) F M Cutlack - See http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/9/chapters/12.pdf

page 151: "The 40th (Army) Wing had been strengthened for this battle by two more squadrons-No. 14 of D.H.9’s (bombers) and No. 145 of S.E.5.a’s (fighting scouts). This wing was the British striking force in the air. The plan of action for September 19th was as follows:-

S.E.5.a’s (Nos. 111 and 145 Squadrons), to patrol

over Jenin aerodrome all day, prevent any attempted

enemy air action from that quarter, and to attack with

bombs and machine-guns all targets in the vicinity.

D.H.9’s (NO. 14 Squadron), to maintain bombing of

El Afule railway station and Turkish headquarters at

Nablus.

Bristol Fighters (No. I Australian Squadron),

strategical reconnaissance and bombing."

pages 159-161 describe the Wadi Fara action with 6 tons of bombs dropped and 44,000 rounds fired

"The panic and the slaughter beggared all description. The long, winding, hopeless column of traffic was so broken and wrecked, so utterly unable to escape from the barriers of hill and precipice, that the bombing machines gave up all attempt to estimate the losses under the attack, and were sickened of the slaughter. In all the history of war there can be few more striking records of wholesale destruction."

Quote from Cent; "I've also seen a report that one Australian squadron were so sickened by the slaughter that its pilots refused to fly any further missions against Wadi Fara - does anyone know if this is true?"

I can't find mention of that but perhaps someone else knows more

[centurion]

Thanks - I'm still having difficulty determining exactly what squadrons did what at Wadi Fara itself. I have a history of the Australian Flying Corps and a History of the RAAF both of whose accounts can be summarised as ' The Australian Flying Corps assisted by some British squadrons destroyed the Turkish 7th Army' which doesn't take me much further.