Topic: AIF - 2B - 7 LHR
el Qatiya
Sinai, 23 April 1916
Snow Account
Snow report of the 7th LHR, AIF.
The Transcription:
Qatia Patrol Report, 25 April 1915.
As instructed, I proceeded to Qatia at 0430, which was reached without opposition. I found 6 wounded men, 2 of whom have since died, there are 23 dead. The whole Camp is gutted and 60 horses and 30 camels are dead also, several of the Native Camel Transport drivers are dead, I could only find (1) Identification Disc, the bodies had all been stripped of clothing and Identity Discs (the Soldiers I brought in, state that it was the Bedouins and NOT the Turks who stripped the bodies.) I left Qatia at 0910 and reached the Brigade Bivouac at 1145 without seeing any Enemy.
Notes:
Enemy
When leaving Qatia a Bedouin that had just come in from north east of Qatia states that he had seen Turks in that direction, I could not find out how many or how far away they were.
Soldiers' information
The wounded soldiers state that they had expected an attack, and had stood to arms all night of 22/23 inst., they were shelled for an hour and attacked about 0900 on 23rd inst., the Turks had 4 or 5 Machine Guns and were about (800) Eight Hundred strong, they seem to think that (2) Officers and a number of men and also some wounded were taken prisoner.
Aerial
They state that our own Aeroplanes bombed the Qatia Camp on Monday morning when unoccupied by the Enemy.
Water
There are (2) two wells, 1 of which is quite good drinking water and the other Brackish, supply good.
Soldiers' Information (later)
Colonel Coventry and Lieutenant Gooch of the Worcestershire Yeomanry and another officer of same Regiment surrendered to Enemy. Lord Elcko of Gloucester Yeomanry also surrendered, he was wounded, also Lieutenant Strickland.
The Officer in Command of Enemy was German, there were also Turkish Officers, the force marched away about 350 Infantry and 100 mounted men strong, seemingly regular Troops, they were very keen to get the boots from our dead and wounded.
I hand Identification Disc labelled Lt GH Fox, RFA.
Bir Etmaler
George Snow, Lieutenant, 7th Light Horse Regiment.
Further Reading:
7th Australian Light Horse Regiment, AIF
7th Australian Light Horse Regiment, Roll of Honour
el Qatiya, Sinai, 23 April 1916
el Qatiya, Sinai, 23 April 1916, Roll of Honour
Battles where Australians fought, 1899-1920
Citation: el Qatiya, Sinai, 23 April 1916, Snow Account
Posted by Project Leader
at 12:01 AM EADT
Updated: Monday, 30 November 2009 2:27 PM EAST
