Couple of Middle East Photos

[cahoehler]

Michael

An image of the famous Long Cecil designed and built during the Siege.

The story is here http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol041dp.html

Carl

[wroclaw]

Carl,

First of all, many thanks for the wonderful photograph from Kimberley.

If you can get hold of it, then see 'The Story of the 1st Cape Corps (1915-1919)' by Captain I. D. Difford

There is a photograph of the gun(s) on page 203

see also the text pages 210/211

"On the same night at Square Hill Lance-Corporal Thimm (3713) and the Lewis gun sections of " C " and " D " Companies captured an enemy field gun. They were on the flank and saw the gun moving down a road. They at once got into action at three hundred yards range and shot down all the mules except one. The gun team were all killed, except one sergeant who escaped.

This gun was brought into camp the following evening and was the first gun captured on the Palestine front during Allenby's great push. It is now in Pretoria, with another one mentioned below, until such time as it can be placed with the 1st Cape Corps Memorial which is to be erected at Cape Town in due course. For this bit of good work Lance-Corporal Thimm was promoted Corporal.

Another gun was put out of action on the northern slopes of Square Hill about the same time, and we got it when we advanced towards Kh Jibeit next day."

Yet another photograph of the two guns, this time in Pretoria, appears on page 220 (Presumably taken in the early 1920s)

There is also a photograph of Square Hill on page 205

and an aerial photograph of the terrain on page 206 which seems to be dated 1-9-18 (?) and may have been used/issued together with the orders

"The Brigade will make a night march and break through the enemy

works on Wye Hill and advance along the watershed east of the Wady

Samieh to Dhib and Square Hills with the object of entering the enemy's

main line defences at Valley View and about El Mugheir from the rear

of those works."

To get back to your request for a map…

Pages 208 & 9 have a good sketch map including Square Hill

Similarly, pages 224 & 5 have a sketched plan of the positions of 'C' and 'D' Companies on Square Hill as at 10.00 hrs on 19/09/18

I am afraid that I have nothing in detail re Square Hill other than the above and what you have seen already in my previous posts here on the GWF

[in one case the area is under the title tablet of the map and in the second it is just off the map's eastern border]

I can show you the general area in relation to the Jordan (Rift) Valley [note; this map does not relate to Sept.1918]

And I can point you in the direction of the PEF's 1880 maps

see http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/maps/pal/htm...al002368494.htm

you need map No. XV

These PEF maps were the basis for those used by Allenby's staff in 1918

and note that one of the RE officers who did the original survey was one, Lt. H. H. Kitchener

Best regards

Michael

Hi Michael

Now that I look at this map section, I noticed I worked on some other issue sometime in the passing years, for which I took some pictures of a certain location on this map (was not related to any military history topic, though...): will give some additional clue about the terrain:

Kh. el Beyudat, and a look to the East (General direction of Amman). Picture taken about April.

[wroclaw]

3 more looks (from Kh. Beyudat) towards "The Bluff" (=looking west):

[wroclaw]