CLOSING IN
The story of that night's achievement, told with the usual oriental
exaggeration by the Arabs who had accompanied Burnet, evoked an
extraordinary burst of enthusiasm among Rejeb's people. The capture of
one of the terrible Germans filled them with a childish pleasure and
satisfaction. Major Burckhardt, it is true, did not look very
terrible. Without his uniform he was just a fat little man; without
his spectacles he looked out dreamily upon a disappointing world.
Clothed in Arab dress, his appearance drew many a smile from Jackson
and Sturge, the machine-gunners, who, however, with the Tommy's
accustomed kindliness, did what they could for his comfort. They gave
him half the small supply of tobacco they had with them, and one of
their pipes, smoking the other in turn.
For three or four days the Turks left the garrison in peace, except for
occasional sniping. The non-appearance of guns seemed pretty
conclusive proof that Burnet's work had been effectual. He wondered
whether they would send for others before resuming their attack. That
would give probably more than a week's respite. Would the British
relief force arrive during that time? If not, he foresaw a very
critical situation. The defences could not long withstand a
bombardment; moreover, the food question was always an anxiety. Still,
he must hope for the best, and employ the quiet period in doing what he
could to strengthen the defences.
In this task the machine-gunners did yeoman service. Acting for the
time as foremen of the works, so to speak, they assisted him in
directing the building of small redoubts along the edge of the
embankment from which he could command the stretch of water between the
island and the firm land beyond. That an attack by water, or at any
rate supported from the water, had been contemplated was clear from the
inclusion of a motor-boat among the enemy's impedimenta. The
destruction of the boat had rendered that for the moment impossible,
and it was unlikely, perhaps, that the Turks would have another boat to
spare.
In addition to the redoubts, he erected a long, slightly curved
breastwork behind the embankment, at such a distance from the latter
that it was concealed from the view of the enemy. Without experience
in this sort of work himself, he relied on Sturge and Jackson, who were
learned in all that pertained to parados, traverses, and so on, and
took a great pride in the fortification which the Arabs constructed to
their plans, and still more in the fact that, though they had picked up
only a word or two of Arabic, they were able to dispense with Burnet's
assistance as interpreter after the first day.
The Turks, meanwhile, though they refrained from attacking, were not
idle. They strengthened their bridgehead half-way along the causeway,
fencing the latter on both sides with a mud wall just high enough to
cover their movements up and down. The wall was no doubt easily
penetrable by rifle or machine-gun bullets, but, as the Turks must have
guessed, the garrison's supply of ammunition was not sufficient to
allow them to pepper the wall at random on the chance of hitting the
men behind it. Burnet hindered their work as much as possible by
employing some of the best marksmen among the Arabs as snipers; the
vegetation, however, that fringed the causeway formed in itself a very
effective screen to the enemy, and he feared that a good proportion of
the snipers' bullets were wasted.
Remembering the old adage that it is lawful to learn from the enemy,
Burnet was inclined to raise similar walls on his own side of the
central gap. But he saw on reflection that if the Turks succeeded in
bridging the gap--and that was always to be reckoned with--such walls
would give them invaluable cover right up to the shore of the island.
He therefore abandoned the idea.
It was Sturge who suggested the employment of listening patrols by
night, to discover any new movement on the part of the enemy. His
crude idea was merely to send a few picked men along the causeway as
far as the gap. Burnet improved on this. With Rejeb's consent he
sent, nightly, a swimmer on an inflated skin from the kelak to worm his
way under cover of the reeds as near to the enemy's walls as possible.
For three nights the scout's report was of no great value, but on the
fourth, just before dawn, he came back with the news that there was
considerable movement at the bridgehead and along the causeway, and a
good deal of bustle on shore.
Not a little surprised that the enemy, after waiting so long for guns,
had apparently decided to attack without them, Burnet at once
reinforced the small body of picked men on duty at the outwork at his
end of the gap, and sent word to the garrisons of the redoubts to be on
the alert. The two English gunners were eager to take a part at once,
but Burnet, with wise forethought, declined to let them use their guns
or even enter the firing-line. The enemy's intentions were not yet
disclosed.
It turned out that the warning had reached him only just in time. When
he joined the Arabs at the outwork he saw, in the grey light of dawn,
several dim shapes on the water on both sides of the causeway, slowly
approaching the island. In a minute or two he made them out to be
small kelaks crowded with men. Some of them were converging on the
gap, the others were keeping a straight course for the island.
Before he had time even to conjecture what the enemy's aims might be, a
hot fusillade, no doubt intended to cover the approach of the kelaks,
broke out from behind the breastwork on the further side of the gap.
One or two of the Arabs were hit before they had obeyed his order to
lie low and hold their fire until he gave the word. At the same moment
he sent a man back to the shore with instructions to their comrades
there not to fire until they could be sure of hitting.
As soon as the individual forms of the men on the kelaks could be
distinguished Burnet gave the order to open fire. The range where he
stood was almost point blank, and the first volley all but cleared two
or three of the kelaks of their crews, the vessels drifting idly for a
few moments and getting in the way of the rest. But the others crowded
on, and in spite of their losses under the continuous fire of the Arabs
they pushed into the gap, where they were partly protected by the
broken edge of the causeway.
Now Burnet seized their intention. The kelaks jostling each other in
the gap formed a sort of pontoon, not so much below the surface of the
causeway but that the enemy could easily reach it. The enemy's fire
suddenly ceased; then a stream of men passed from the outwork at their
side of the gap, leapt from kelak to kelak, and tried to spring over
the parapet on the nearer side. Many of them fell before they reached
it, but their places were instantly filled, and the fight became a
hand-to-hand grapple.
Dawn had increased to almost full daylight with the rapidity
characteristic of this latitude. Meanwhile the Arabs on shore had
already been directing a hot fire upon the crews of the kelaks
approaching them. And now, from behind the enemy's outwork, through
embrasures suddenly opened in the mud walls, two machine-guns, one on
each side, began to play upon the shore. The Arabs' position there
being considerably higher than the level of the water, the Turks were
able to shoot without danger of hitting their own men. The fire from
the machine-guns and a hurricane fusillade from the opposite shore of
the channel kept down the Arabs' fire, and the kelaks drew slowly
nearer to their goal.
When the fighting at the gap became close, Burnet seized the rifle of a
fallen Arab and did strenuous work in holding the enemy at bay. Such
of them as succeeded in clambering upon the parapet were hurled back
upon their comrades in the kelaks beneath. But the assailants were all
sturdy Turks and stern fighters. Fresh men were continually pouring
across the gap, and the Arabs, fight as gallantly as they might, would
sooner or later yield to the enemy from sheer weariness. The
breastwork could not be held much longer. Indeed, the inevitable
moment came earlier than Burnet expected, for two kelaks, propelled by
stout polemen, pushed beyond the gap, and ran close in on the side of
the causeway, the Turks upon them opening fire upon the defenders from
the flank and rear.
Burnet's little band was thrown into momentary confusion by this
unexpected attack, and several Turks gained a footing on the
breastwork. A final effort was necessary before the position could be
safely abandoned. Telling off a number of the men to return the fire
from the kelaks, Burnet called on the rest to support him. With a
shrill cry they rallied, and threw themselves upon the enemy with an
impetuosity that nothing could withstand. The Turks were forced back,
some falling upon the kelaks in the gap, others into the water. Once
more the breastwork was clear.
Then Burnet gave the order for retirement. The flank attack had been
beaten off; the causeway was open. One by one at intervals of a few
yards the Arabs dashed back towards the shore. Burnet kept a few men
with him to act as rearguard, and waited until the wounded had almost
reached the end of the causeway before he followed them up. It seemed
that the enemy was hardly aware of what was happening, for the
retirement was not harassed until the last few men had almost reached
the bridgehead. Then, however, the fusillade broke out again, answered
by the Arabs on shore, and one or two men, including Burnet himself,
were hit before they had gained shelter. Burnet had already seen that
the kelaks which had headed for the shore had been driven back, in
spite of the support of the machine-guns. The Arabs at the bridgehead
and in the redoubts had suffered very little loss, and he felt that the
honours of this first encounter were with the defence. The Turks,
seeing that their opponents had made good their retreat, ceased fire.
They had captured the gap, but it was clear that they had to master a
further line of defences before they gained access to the island. What
would be their next move? Their success at the gap might give them
sufficient encouragement to push on after a breathing space and finish
the job while their blood was up and the tide seemed to have turned in
their favour. It might prove a somewhat desperate undertaking unless
they had more artillery at their disposal than the two machine-guns
which had already been in action; but they in their turn would not
suspect that they had to face machine-guns, and they would probably
conclude that the Arabs' retirement after a short action was an earnest
of further retreat as soon as they were hard pressed.
It seemed to Burnet that a serious attack in force along the causeway
was to be expected and provided against. Like many another subaltern
in the heroic annals of British warfare, he found himself alone, at the
head of an alien force, badly provided, and, what was worse, totally
inexperienced. But it is in such circumstances as these that British
valour has shone forth most brightly, and British ingenuity most
thoroughly proved itself, and Burnet was to show forth those sterling
qualities which hundreds before him had evinced.
If the defence was to have the least chance of success, the rough and
hastily contrived fort at the bridgehead must be held to the last
moment. In spite of the limited quantity of ammunition, the time had
clearly come to bring the machine-guns into action. Burnet sent for
the two gunners, who had been itching to take their part, and told them
frankly what he expected, and how he proposed to meet the attack.
"We'll give 'em what for, sir," exclaimed Sturge, rubbing his hands.
"With Bill on one side and me on the other we'll keep that Margate pier
clear of Turks for a hundred years."
"Well, you know how many rounds you have," said Burnet. "But I don't
want both guns in action at first. Both might be knocked out. We'll
keep one in reserve, in case anything happens. The one we have in the
fort is certainly pretty well protected against anything less than a
9-pounder, but we must provide against accidents. You can help each
other in working it. Open fire only if the enemy make a rush along the
causeway."
Something more than two hours passed. The enemy were seen to be
framing a practicable floating bridge from the kelaks, and Burnet
ordered some of his best marksmen to snipe them. But they were to some
extent covered by the captured outwork, and completed their task with
very little loss.
A few minutes afterwards, the kelaks which had not been required for
the bridge emerged from both sides of the gap and approached the
island, keeping close to the walls of the causeway. At the same time a
column of Turks streamed across the bridge, sprang over the abandoned
outwork, and rushed without making any attempt at regular formation
straight for the bridgehead. From the shelter of their walls on the
causeway itself, as well as from their main position at the further
end, the enemy opened a heavy covering fire, to which the Arabs replied
thinly, and chiefly for form's sake, Burnet desiring to mislead the
Turks while husbanding his ammunition.
The head of the enemy column had advanced a hundred yards along the
causeway before any attempt was made to check them. Then, however,
while they were in full career, the machine-gun suddenly rapped out its
deadly message. The effect was like that of a huge scythe sweeping
along the causeway. Within less than a minute there was scarcely a man
left erect between the bridgehead and the gap. The few who had escaped
the hail of bullets flung themselves frantically into the water, and
swam for safety, some of them falling victims to rifle fire from the
flanks of the Arabs strung out behind their breastwork near the shore.
As soon as the causeway was clear, the machine-gun ceased fire. It was
evident that the enemy was disconcerted by the check. Their plan of
operations had taken no account of the possession of a machine-gun by
the defenders. Some time elapsed before they made any further
movement. Then with their own machine-guns they directed a rain of
bullets upon the Arabs, raking their position from end to end. At the
first sound of the guns Burnet ordered his men to throw themselves
down, and all the effect produced by the enemy was the carving of
innumerable dents in the stonework, and the infliction of slight wounds
on a few men.
Trusting probably rather in the moral than in the material effect of
this miniature bombardment, the Turks launched a second attack. Their
machine-guns were now silent, for they could not fire on the Arabs
defending the bridgehead without hitting their own men. Again a column
of brave and gallant men surged along the causeway, springing over the
bodies of their fallen comrades, and encouraging one another with
strident shouts. But in face of the terrible machine of man's
invention the highest human valour availed nothing. Confined to the
narrow causeway, the Turks had no means of escape. Once more they were
mown down, and the frenzied survivors took to the water. Burnet
contrived to signal to the enemy that they might remove the wounded
without molestation, and for a time men were engaged in the grim work
of clearing away the traces of their defeat.
While a fight is in progress, a man has no time to think of anything
but the deadly work in hand. It is afterwards, in quiet moments, that
he cannot but reflect on the causes of warfare, the root ideas that
develop into so terrible a harvest of pain and misery. Burnet, with
less than a year's soldiering behind him, had not become hardened. He
was not content with knowing that killing was his duty: he felt bound
to go a step farther back, and ask himself, was his duty right? Amid
much that was puzzling his thoughts all converged to the same
conclusion: force could only be overcome by force. The Germans had
elected for military force as the efficient agent of civilisation. All
that they had done since the war began showed that German civilisation
was rotten to the core. It was a system in which lying, low cunning,
treachery and brutality were, not tolerated, but applauded. The
nations that cherished different ideals, or, to put it on the lowest
ground, desired to live their own lives unmolested, had either to
submit to material loss, moral degradation, the cowed and hopeless
existence of slaves, or to stand up defiantly against this monstrous
tyranny and fight it with its own weapons. Only thus could they save
their souls.