THE GREAT WARTHE GREAT WAR||MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN THE GREAT WAR|MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN
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men continued to press forward in
the face of a relentless enfilading fire
from both flanks.
In one instance, an officer of the
4th Norfolks made it to within 200
yards of the enemy’s all but ‘invisible’
trenches only to discover he was
alone, the rest of his men having
been killed or wounded.
However, the furthest advance was
achieved on the right where, against
the odds, a portion of 'B' Company,
5th Norfolks battled their way into
the enemy’s eastern redoubt and
came within an ace of pulling off the
day’s most improbable coup.Run For It
Among the small number of
men under Captain Arthur Blyth
who reached the barbed wire
entanglements guarding the
horseshoe-shaped position was
Private Joseph Emms, whose survival
thus far had been little short of
miraculous.
The men either side of him had
both been felled by shrapnel, butsomehow with the help of a surfeit
of luck he had managed to get as far
as any man in the battalion. From
where he lay he could plainly see the
Turks blazing away from two lines of
trenches, but what was unclear was
how so small a force could take them.
At that moment, just as he was
wondering what to do next, he heard
a tremendous rattling noise coming
up from behind. Keeping his head
as low as possible, he chanced a look
back to see a tank barely a hundred
yards away, clattering forward with
all guns firing. According to Blyth,
the tank, which went by the name of
‘Nutty’ and was commanded by 2nd
Lt Frank Carr, sprayed friend and foe
alike before flattening a path through
the wire.
Emms and those who escaped
the random assault quickly rose up
to follow ‘Nutty’ into the redoubt
where it made short work of the men
manning the first trench. “I managed
to get into the second trench,” wrote
Emms, “and then a very lucky shot
for the Turks hit one of the ‘tank's’wheels and put her out of action
which made a great difference to
us...”.
Having set the tank on fire, four
or five wounded crewmembers,
including 2nd Lt Carr, took shelter
near Emms. They were soon joined
by Captain Blyth who, despite a
wound to the groin, was intent on
holding on to the ground won at
such a high cost.
But the outlook looked bleak. By
then there were just two officers and
17 men left and, with no sign of any
support, it was not long before
scores of Turks were swarming
around the position. Emms was
convinced “it was all up for us”, but
Blyth was determined to make a fight
of it. Emptying their pouches to fill
the drums for two Lewis guns, they
kept the enemy at bay for as long as
their ammunition lasted – which was
not long.
Then, “when it was all done”, added
Emms, “we sat down on the dead
Turks who were in the trench... and
waited for the worst to happen”.
As it was, the Turks, perhaps
surprised by the ferocity of their
resistance, were in no hurry to make
their move and it was only after a lull
lasting nearly two hours that they
struck.
Emms wrote: “Someone suddenly
shouted, ‘they are in’, and we sawRIGHT
Eustace Cubitt’s
grave at Gaza.RIGHT
Turkish troops
pose alongside
some of the 266
British soldiers
reported captured
at Gaza in April
1917.