Devils on Horses by Terry Kinloch

Author:Terry Kinloch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Exisle Publishing

It was one of the liveliest gallops [the] horse holders ever had. Speed was the one chance of getting the horses out of the closing vice, and speed was secured, notwithstanding the fact that some of the men were leading six horses. Although under fire for most of the way, the horsemen, with their arms almost out of the sockets, reached the ford without serious loss, and plunged through to safety.38

According to Charles Nicol, heavy casualties were avoided because the advancing Turks fired as they ran, instead of stopping to take aimed shots.39

At 6.10 a.m. the other two squadrons of the Wellington regiment were ordered up to the Hadra bridge to protect the infantry but they were held up by Turkish artillery fire. Some of the British soldiers were killed by enemy machine gun and artillery fire as they crossed the bridge; others who tried to swim the river drowned under the weight of their packs and ammunition.40

Once the infantry were clear, the 3rd (Auckland) Squadron crossed the bridge to the south bank on foot. The 11th (North Auckland) Squadron and two Vickers guns from the machine gun squadron covered them from a position immediately north of the bridge. The commander of the machine gunners, Captain Robin Harper, was wounded three times and a section of his guns was knocked out. Harper was carried back across the river by two men. Major Magnus Johnston described how one of Harper’s rescuers, Sergeant Sydney Emmerson, ‘worked his machine gun until it was disabled, then picked up his wounded officer, ran down the hill and swam with his officer across the river to safety. It was worth a VC, but he got nothing for it. Things like that made me feel pretty sick.’41

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