Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine Gun Squadron Part 14

"THE BRIGADE RACE MEETING.

"In February the 14th Cavalry Brigade held a Race Meeting on a short gra.s.s track of two and a half furlongs, discovered hiding among the rocks. A 'totalisator' run by an Australian in the interest of the Brigade, was run on sound lines, and if your horse won you got your money back and a little over, which isn't the case with some totalisators that we know of! Several 'scurries' and mule races took place, and everyone enjoyed the fun thoroughly, especially the mules. The machine-gun element sprung a surprise on all by winning the Grand Prix, open to the 5th Cavalry Division, with 'n.o.bbler,' a horse which was to have run at Gaza in 1918, but was 'scratched' owing to lameness. 'Lion,' a mobilisation horse of the Sherwood Rangers, and a prime favourite, came in second, and both horses were ridden at 11-7.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Aleppo.

Squadron camp in the town.]

"THE FIRST ALEPPO MEETING.

"In March the 14th Cavalry Brigade took over its Aleppo quarters from the 13th, and the latter were moved many miles to the north, where they also held a local meeting. Capt. Fraser of the R.H.A.

was now given the task of turning a waste piece of ground on the western side of the town into a racecourse, and, by dint of much hard work and begging of materials, he completed a quite good course of four furlongs. The Royal Engineers erected a grand stand of sandbags, and a totalisator. The first Aleppo Race Meeting was held on March 8th, and a goodly representative gathering of the army and civilian inhabitants of Aleppo a.s.sembled. After this, race meetings were held regularly every alternate Sat.u.r.day throughout the summer. The course was laid on fairly level ground, and at the start of the season had a thin covering of gra.s.s, which, unfortunately, soon was burnt up by the fierce sun and worn bare by frequent use, being replaced afterwards by litter. Though at first only a four furlong 'scurry,' the course has now been extended to eight furlongs, and laid much in the same fas.h.i.+on as Kempton Park with a 'straight' of four furlongs and the remainder an oval. One drawback to this course is that it crosses a high road in two places. On race days mounted military police are stationed outside the rails to keep order, and British troops are on duty in the enclosures keeping the gates, serving refreshments, and a.s.sisting in the totalisator. The latest attraction has been the admirable rendering of popular music by the Band of the Queen's Bays.

"INCIDENTS AT THE RACES.

"Of amateur jockeys and gentlemen riders there have been plenty; among the most successful being Lieut.-Col. Vincent, R.A.S.C., Major Walker, R.A., Capt. Sir Robin Paul, Lieut. Dowling. We much missed Lieut. Stanley Wooten, of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, who has. .h.i.therto been such a popular rider in the E.E.F. Major-Gen. Sir Harry MacAndrew, C.B., D.S.O., Lieut.-Gen. Sir H.G. Chauvel, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., have all, in turn, shown much interest in the races, and Gen. Geaffar Pasha, the Military Governor of Aleppo, and successor to Gen. Shukri Pasha (generally known to us as 'Sugary Parsnips'), often enters one of his beautiful Arab chargers in the Arab cla.s.s races, and is often successful. His jockey rides in the colours of the Hedjaz Army, red, white, black and green.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"But the horses are now paraded in the paddock, and we must go and inspect them. This is an Arab race, and all sorts of conditions of men and horses are in the ring, and a terrific hubbub is going on.

Some of the ponies are well groomed, and fit, others thin and badly cared for. Some have long unkempt manes and tails, others are bedecked with beads and sh.e.l.ls and long scarlet ta.s.sels. Saddle cloths of brilliant hue are numerous, while the riders are a curious and a motley a.s.sembly. Some bare-foot, some booted and spurred (and a spur is a spur with an Arab, something after the implement mother marks the pastry with). Others are in long flowing robes with the burnous and kafeia of the Bedouin flying in the wind, some with knives, some with swords, some with pistols, and some with sticks, and lastly two are dressed like real jockeys, and they know it, and show it too! Just now there is a little of chaos as half the compet.i.tors are evidently of the opinion that they should go round the paddock in one direction, while the other half wishes to go the reverse. Wherefore there is loud shouting and much gesticulating, with many 'Waheds' and 'Achmeds' and 'Macknoons'.

"ALL THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE THERE.

"But there, the bell goes, and the starters begin to file out of the gate as they struggle out of the seething ma.s.s. Away down the course to the starting point; and here the starter will no doubt have his work cut out. A variegated crowd is lining the rails on the opposite side of the track. Turbaned Abduls and Yussefs, boys and little girls, men and donkeys, fruit-sellers, arabiyehs, camels, all in brightest colours and a pandemonium of noise. Stray pi-dogs are continually being warned off the course, and venerable Arab Sheiks who don't understand, and start for a nice walk along the wide gra.s.s track. Yes, there is plenty for the smart military policemen to do, and their burnished swords and bright shoulder epaulets flash in the sun as they 'chivvy' the crowd out of danger.

In the officers' enclosure there are many strange types. Abdul Achmed Yussef is there with a scimitar in one hand like the Sultan of Turkey, and a huge white umbrella in the other hand, and on his head he wears a red tarbush. _Iskanderianabedian_ is there with his fat wife, and two fat daughters, all the latter in black silk gowns and white silk stockings, and if the girls' ankles aren't as thick as my calves, call me a liar, but this is the Turkish style of beauty you know. The better bred the fatter is their standard, and very nice too. Arab troops and Arab gendarmerie in their quaint spiked head-gear; while hundreds of British staff officers (where they come from, or what they do I don't know), with tabs of all colours (and as one officer remarked to me only the other day, 'When the blue and green tabs appear it's time to capture another town'!) And a sprinkling of combatant officers, English sisters, French attaches, and American Red Cross workers, represent the western world.

"THE RACING.

"Now we go and place our solitary 10 pt. on a promising pony ridden by one of the two 'real' jockeys. It is all we can spare, as the Field Cas.h.i.+er happens to be away (as usual). Suddenly a bugle blows, and we hear the usual cry 'They're off!' But they aren't; at least two are and there's no stopping those two. No, they mean to carry on now; neck and neck they go, and soon they are round the distant corner, and thundering past the four furlong point. On they come shouting for Allah and Mohammed, and standing high in their stirrups they wave their sticks madly in the air, yelling at each other with all the frenzy of the faithful followers of El Islam! A dead heat they reach the post and gallop wildly on, to end up somewhere on the banks of the Kuwaik Su!

"Now, the bugle goes again, and the start has really begun this time, the field getting away something like a compact lump. But soon they string out, and we notice our two orthodox men well in rear. This time the race is even more exciting, and as the post is neared the yells of defiance, the flowing robes, the waving arms and the b.u.mp, b.u.mp, b.u.mp of the riders brings pictures to the mind of the fiery followers of Saladin, or an attack by the Arabs in the 'Tragedy of the Korosko'.

"HOME AGAIN!

"Well, it's over at last, and our 'choice' and the other smartly dressed jockey are miles behind. But that doesn't matter as I hear the winner is only paying out 5 pt. Oh! that 'Tote'! Six races are the usual number run; and then the sun sinks behind the Taurus Mountains, the shadows fall long and blue, and the high-up Citadel, flanked by mosques and minarets, becomes bathed in the orange light of the setting rays. As the last horse is led in, the crowd flows back towards the town, and then the arabiyehs crack their whips, the camels grunt, the staff start up their motor cars, and the combatant officers with light hearts and lighter pockets mount their chargers, and wend their way back to camp.

"Such is an Aleppo Race Meeting, and so do we attempt to pa.s.s the monotony of an enforced exile in a barren and a dreamy land.

"Very soon the rain will come, and then the mud, and then we shall look for the Christmas parcels, British books, local papers, and more than all--that long-promised holiday for the Army-of-Occupation-Volunteer!!".

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PART VII.

Epilogue.

The following extract from a letter from an officer at Aleppo to a former "O.C." of the Squadron (now demobilized) will perhaps serve as a fitting close to the record of the service of the 20TH MACHINE-GUN SQUADRON.

"Aleppo.

"4-10-19.

"Dear.....

"Just a line to let you know how we are getting on. The 14th B'de has been abolished and several Units disbanded. The Cadre of the Sherwoods also, who are now in the 13th Brigade, is going home, but there are only a few of them to go to U.K. The 20th M.G.S. is to be disbanded, and the personnel to go to the 19th Squadron. We got orders yesterday to wind up the '20th' and send the personnel to the '19th' and I have to report to the 10th Cav. Bde. at Homs. What for I don't know yet. One consolation, all the men but five are now eligible for U.K.!! Well, well, it can't be helped, and perhaps it is as well we were broken up now as the men will perhaps be home by Xmas if the Strike is over.

"Hope you are enjoying 'Civvy' life.

"Yours, &c., ".....".

The following are extracts from THE TIMES of the 24th July 1919 and the DAILY MAIL of 28th July 1919. They will not be read without sincere regret by all those members of the 20th "M.G.S." who had previously served in the 5th Cavalry Division.

GENERAL SIR HENRY MACANDREW.

Major-General Sir Henry John Milnes Macandrew, K.C.B., D.S.O., died from heart failure, resulting from burns, on the 16th inst. in Syria, where he was serving in command of the 5th (Indian) Cavalry Division.

A son of the late Sir Henry Macandrew, of Aisthorpe, Inverness, he was born on August 7th 1866, and joined the 2nd Batt. Cameron Highlanders in 1884, being transferred to the Lincoln Regiment two years later. Entering the Indian Army in 1888, he joined the 5th Cavalry, to which regiment he belonged until his promotion to major-general in 1917, and of which he was honorary colonel when he died.

He had extensive staff experience, being a graduate of the staff college and having spent about one-third of his service in the Indian Army on the staff. He went through the Tirah Campaign as brigade transport officer in 1897-98 (dispatches and frontier medal with two clasps), and he served through the South African War in various capacities, gaining the South African medal and four clasps, the King's medal and two clasps, and the D.S.O., and being twice mentioned in dispatches. He was brigade-major to the Inspector-General of Cavalry in India in 1903-5.

He served in France on the staff of the Indian Cavalry divisions from 1914 till 1917, when he was promoted major-general and received command of the 5th Cavalry Division. His services in France secured four mentions in dispatches and the K.C.B. He proceeded to Palestine with the Indian Cavalry Corps, and served under General Allenby in his successful advance from the Egyptian border to Aleppo. The division under his command was prominent in these operations, and the general was mentioned by Sir Edmund Allenby in dispatches for his excellent services.

General Macandrew was well known as a rider across country and on flat. He earned the reputation of being one of the best and most das.h.i.+ng of our cavalry leaders in the war, and his untimely death is a severe loss to the Indian Army. He married, in 1892, the youngest daughter of Mr. H.R. Cooper, J.P., of Ballindalloch, Stirlings.h.i.+re, and leaves a young daughter.

From "The Times," July 24th 1919.

GENERAL MACANDREW.

KILLED BY PETROL ON TUNIC.

CAIRO, Friday.

Major-Gen. H.J. Macandrew, commander of the Fifth Division, stationed at Aleppo, died a tragic death last week. His tunic had been cleaned with petrol and was hanging in a room to dry when the general, wearing pyjamas, entered smoking a cigarette. The petrol vapours exploded, burning General Macandrew so severely that he died in hospital a week later.--Reuter.

It is possible that too much petrol was used or that the heat of the sun vaporised the petrol and thus rendered it so easily inflammable. An exactly similar accident is not recorded in our own climate.