| Show TURKS AND HUNS REFUSE TO FIGHT FOR DAMASCUS australian tells of victory gained over superior force ENEMY MORALE SHATTERED interesting account of capture of ancient city by australian forces could have sustained siege for months sydney N S IV an interesting it if belated account of the capture of 0 damascus by australian forces last fall Is given by a returned australian soldier in the sydney morning herald the narrative starts with the australians tra tr lians advance from Tl Tib berlas erias and the subsequent encircling operations which ich resulted in the fall of damascus itself leaving Tib Tl berlas erias behind the australian division pushed on northward to lake buleh where they tried to cross the jordan but the enemy had bad blown up the big stone bridge and nests of german machine gunners lined the precipitous river banks up and flown down tile river the patrols but always they were met with a burst of fire from the eastern bank cut t the old jordan had to be crossed so BO the tenth light horse under cover of darkness forced a passage near the lake while the fourteenth light horse lid did the same further south in the rooming they converged on the enemy from either flank capturing a number of prisoners a few guns find and many machine guns the bulk of the enemy rear guard bolted so once more was continued the great race toward da in mits fiscus cus enemy rear guard routed at Kun eltra the rear guard machine gunners were again encountered find and once more at sasa at the latter place there was stilt stiff fighting find and we had some casualties but the last obstacle was removed and we pushed on to the great city away to the eastward we could see ree clouds of dust rising from the hedda road it was the remnant of the fourth turkish army from amon aman so in spite of their long iong start we had made a dead heat of it their fate was already sealed we had been in the saddle all the previous afternoon all night and all the morning but there was no chance of a halt general hodgson commanding the australian division pushed the third light horse brigade toward the south of the city while he sent general onslows On slows fifth brigade on a wide encircling sweep to the west wert find and north of dumar with nith a view to blocking the escape the battle of damascus which followed will 1011 be studied in years to come as the perfect example of the influence of morale napoleon said that morale to material Is as three to one here one found it a hundred to one A few thousand exultant horsemen hemmed in and captured an army the city was surrounded the roads to bort berthward hward were held having abundance of firms arms and munitions food and water and being in such overwhelming numbers they could have sustained a siege biege for months even if they feared to risk battle in the open but their morale was shattered there was little fight left in them A fringe of machine guns find and a few pieces of artillery held oft off the attackers tor for an hour or so then the horsemen broke through the third light clorse brigade captured some thou bands ot of the fourth turkish army from aman the fourth regiment entered the outskirts of the city found the big barracks swarming with turks and germans but they fight and the victorians rounded up of them and led them away another volumn several thousand strong fleeing from tho the arabs tried to escape cape by the northern road to honin but the third light horse brigade started in pursuit charged the rear guard of german machine gunners and captured the whole column meanwhile the fifth light horse brigade which used to be the camel corps broke through the cordon of machine guns hiding in the northern TILLMANS SUCCESSOR 4 ars A 1 N B dial of laurens S C Is the senator elected to serve uie the long iong term succeeding the late senator Til tillman linan ile he Is of course n democrat and Is a lawyer banker rind and manufacturer gardens and reached the dorado barada gorge strong streaming out along the road to beyruti in one place a house on the hill overlooks the gorge where the roll rail the alio road and the river run within it a few yards of each other and here a party of 13 men of the fourteenth regiment N S W with two officers opened ire on the big column turks find and germans fled in all directions several were killed and the horsemen then killed the horses and mules in the gun teams and blocked the road the column was cut in two and more than surrendered A mile further burthe r along the road others abers of the fifth brigade opened with mi machine lebine guns gans g ans and rifles on the lending portion of the column the enemy was absolutely nl fit their mercy find and utter titter a futile halfhearted resistance surrendered han starts destruction it was nightfall more than 20 enemy had been captured and still they came the town tow n had not yet surrendered probably there was no one there in authority to capitulate cut but the alun started on his work at t demolition suddenly we saw a huge conflagration fla near the wireless station flames leaped skyward hundreds of feet loud explosions sounded from time to time sending myrinda myriads of sparks into the air nar it provided a gorgeous gorge oui pyrotechnic display of gargantuan proportions ammunition benzine and stores all fed the fire it lighted up the city like moonlight then we knew that the germans had decided to surrender from the east the victorious arabs swarmed into the city yelling with triumph and blazing a eri evitable table feu de jole joie into the air turks and germans fought it in tile the streets then fled to the shelter of the gardens slid and surrendered at dawn back ack to the barada gorge the fifth brigade held beld the road and a small proportion was vas able to snatch dri hours sleep the first since leaving Kun eltra 42 hours before so fell the ancient city and as conr casualties were very small we called it a bloodless victory but within a fortnight the desert mounted corps had thousands of 0 men down dovin with malaria and hundreds died right on the eve of peace the pity ot di it it secretary learned ot of fobs foxs action when receiving delayed information of the property sale lie he wired C it sib sabbs bs tax tas collector of riverside county news of the sale was pub fin b in newspapers here and read by fox |
