Letters From the Front

Dated: February 21, 1918

The following letter was received by Mrs. W. H. Walker from her son Montgomery. Though somewhat old, having been written over two months ago, he will read with interest. Monty is serving with the Australian cavalry in the expedition to Palestine

I've often wondered what you thought of my letters. None of them ever contained much about being in action, and being able to write from a track and other camps where little or nothing was doing, you must have thought we were picnicking or touring Egypt. Well I could never let you know in my letters what we were really doing. We were simply holding the line and that was then taken and it did not require all the men that were here. Divisions at a time would be at the front, others in support, and the others in reserve, and they usually camped along the track, to give the man every possible chance to keep in good condition and free from septic sores. During all of that time we knew that preparations were being made for this most successful attack that we had just made, and wondered during that time just where it was to be, but finally came on the first of the month. We have a wonderful commander in General Allenby, and of course all success is due to him. In a letter shortly after I joined the regiment, I mentioned about being in action. Well what action I was in then was hardly worth mentioning compared to what I have experienced since this last move, but the glorious part of it was that we were continually advancing and making captures. I have been under the heaviest of shell fire, amid a rain of bullets, shrapnel scattered about me, have seen horses blown from under their riders, men blown off their horses, wounded, dead and dying lying about, and strange to say none of these affected me, nor did I realize the horribleness of it until I got away from it all and started on my way to the hospital, where I was then only among the wounded, but I suppose it was merely the fact of not having something to think about that made me think more about the poor unfortunates. I could write pages but I shall have to limit myself to this sheet for this time, as paper is a very scarce commodity and this is all I'm allowed for one letter. It is needless for me to give details on our movements from the beginning of our move until the time I evacuated the regiment. I might say that our division covered more miles during the stunt up to date than any other part of the Army. We had many thrilling experiences and narrow escapes. I am now referring particularly to our troop. One hears and read so much about the war, and I am sure you have no desire to hear more nor have I the least desire to tell more. Our ride certainly was an interesting one, as we've covered so much of Palestine. In another letter I might describe the country and its extent which we traveled over. It was bad enough on the man, but my sympathy was continually for the poor unfortunate horses. They were about one quarter fed and were always between 24 and 50 hours without water. Twelve days and nights they were under the saddle, with the exception of about 15 hours. I could not have believed horses would withstand so much hardship. The second last day I was with the regiment it rained torrents on that afternoon and evening; we were in it all and camped that night in an olive orchard. The soil was clay, you can imagine what that was for both horse and man to camp on. I never saw such a spectacle in the horse flesh line as I did the following morning.

It will be 12 months on the 4th since I enlisted. In a way it seems so very long ago and in others it seems only weeks. When I think of the different camps I have been in, the distances traveled and different experiences, I can realize the length of time which has elapsed, of course the most thrilling and interesting has been during the past month. The thrillingness of it I shall not touch upon, only I might say that it was so thrilling at times that I consider myself most fortunate to be able to be here and writing. Little idea I ever had that I should have an opportunity of seeing Palestine the way I have. To use names of places I suppose would only mean erasure, but you will have some idea of the country we covered when I say, that one particular unit made the attack on the extreme eastern flank and from there our operations were along the whole line to the coast and then north to the positions were I left my regiment. Our first operations were among exceedingly rough hills for about three days, then as we moved towards the coast going was much easier, the land of the very fertile nature. When we changed our direction towards the north, things became much more interesting. Almost daily we would have little encounters with the enemy, although our heavy guns did the most of it for us. Every day we found ourselves in new positions. During the day Jacho (that is the name the Turk commonly goes by) would hold a position, but in the morning we would find the way clear for a good long advance and at the same time opportunities for rounding up large numbers of the enemy. As we gradually advanced north we found ourselves getting into a much better country and more thickly populated. The population is all localized to villages, and that part in which I left, no matter what direction one looked, he saw the country dotted with villages. Those in the north had the appearance of much more thrift than those in the south, but all presented those quite typical to the eastern life and habits. There are many details I could go into describing these Eastern people, their homes and ways of living, but I shall leave it until some future time. One thing I might say is, that I had no idea people living in this present century could be so ancient and apparently have little or no desire to be otherwise. Their dress, places of abode, ways of living, cultivation of soil, cultivating implements, are quite as they described in Biblical history. In uncivilized parts conditions could not be in a much worse state than what I have witnessed going through these villages, particularly those in the south. There is no system of sanitation, and we have ridden through parts that were absolutely putrid. As I said before, those in the north had an aspect of much more thrift and the villages were more of the European style. These improvements of conditions undoubtedly are due to a more fertile part of the country, caused by more frequent rains. Orange and olive groves and vineyards are numerous. The orange season is just coming in, and those grown in this part of the country are known as one of the world's best varieties; so needless to say, after the days of bully beef and biscuits, the oranges were a very acceptable treat.

In the last mail received there were two of the good old Huntingdon Gleaner, the first I've received for nearly 12 months. In one of those there was an article from Cairo, Egypt, under the heading "State of Affairs in Palestine". It described the attitude of the Turks towards the unfortunate non-Turkish races within their empire as being harsh and oppressive. I am in a position and could personally endorse any statement made or article written about the treatment these poor people have been enduring. Harsh and oppressive are indeed mild words to use. Looting, plundering, ill treating and killing the natives has been going on for some time. I too believe, as the article read, that the Turk's motives for such actions were, that should he be forced to evacuate he would leave behind him a desert country. As we have captured the country and have talked to the more fortunate of these races who were left unharmed, to some extent, and that extent was due to their age and poverty, their tales were certainly pitiful. One particular instance is an Armenian family that paid $500 to relieve their son from being put into arms, but that son is now a prisoner in Damascus. It is needless to say that those who were in these parts that have already been taken over by the British have been greatly relieved.