THE GREAT WARTHE GREAT WAR||MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN
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about a dozen Turks jump in the
next fire bay to ours and we only
had our bayonets to fight them
with.” It was the signal for a frenzied
struggle that could have only one
outcome. “Someone managed to find
a bomber’s coat full of bombs and we
kept them off for a short time,” wrote
Emms, “and then our officer shouted
out that [we] should either have to
give in or run for it, so we decided to
make a dash for it...”.
In those breathless final moments
inside the body-strewn trench, all
bar Blyth, Emms and six others
were either killed or captured as the
position later dubbed Tank Redoubt
passed back into Turkish hands.“Criminal Neglect”
The attack having almost everywhere
stalled, the only movement on the
163rd Brigade’s front was rearwards
as those who could move sought to
escape the slaughter. Shortly before
9am when staff officer Murray
Buxton crested the second of three
rises, some 400 yards from the
Turkish lines, the only men he could
see were “lying out in lines, killed
or wounded”. It was plain that the
attack had failed so, as soon as thingsquietened, he crept back to where a
mixed group of stragglers were trying
to dig in.
“The fire was tremendous,” wrote
Buxton. “Any movement brought
fresh outbursts. After a bit I crawled
out with another officer to some
wounded.” Binding up their injuries
under fire, they dragged some in.
He added: “It was a miracle I was not
hit, as men were hit all around.”Among those beyond hope or reach
were no fewer than 17 officers from
the two Norfolk battalions, including
Capt Sydney Page and his close friend
Major Harry Jewson, who despite
being hit twice had struggled on until
felled by a third wound.
Such selfless courage was not
unique. Jewson’s nephew, Jack, a
subaltern in the 4th, recalled how
“one of our fellows was hit five“Someone suddenly shouted, ‘they are in’, and we saw about a dozen Turks jump
in the next ire bay to ours and we only had our bayonets to ight them with”
MIDDLE
Major Harry
Jewson of the
4th Norfolks.
Twice wounded,
he pressed on
until hit a third
time. He was
never seen alive
again.LEFT
Lt Jack Jewson
of the 4th
Norfolks was
awarded the
Military Cross
for his actions
at Gaza.