File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎23v] (55/834)

— 444 —
W e have had no indication of any fresh interruption of the
railway or of telegraphic communication during the week. the
Turks for their part, have been redistributing their L. cd O.
troops’on a more systematic plan, the chief changes involving
strengthening of the garrison in the Hish-Aneiza district,
strengthening of machine-gun sections and establishment ot
some additional intermediate posts, <?.//., between Hill Post four
and Bir Hurmas. The 161st Regiment has made another appear
ance in this area, its 2 nd battalion now having its H.Q. at
Demirbash and the duty of guarding the Hish light railway and
forest. The strength of the 2 nd Composite force is repoited
officiallv at the end of October to be 1,722 rifles on the battle
front. 'This total includes 2/152nd Regiment which has been
reduced to 197 rifles only. Reports, which we are not able to
confirm, have come to us, via Mecca, that Fakhri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. has
declared Medina in a state of siege, and has commandeered all
dates and stopped all supplies of cooked food. Also he is said
to have withdrawn to Medina all L. of C. troops from Hadiyah
and south of it, while those north of that point have_ been
concentrated at Medain Salih. I he capture and consolidation of
Bir Saba by our troops will render communications between the
E.E.F. and Feisal’s army more easy and secure and it should
now be possible to open up a route via, I afileh to Kerak.
Sherifial Mission to Sinai.
Bir Saba affects also the mission of Sherif Abdullah ibn Hamza
to the Sinai Bedouins, which was arranged, in concert with King
Husein, and sent out, via Auja, to Asluj about the middle of last
month. It seems now hardly worth while to maintain such a
mission. The patent fact that Bir Saba, the administrative
centre for these Bedouins, has passed under our power will be
of far greater avail in Sinai than Sherifial propaganda. The
emissary, therefore, will be withdrawn shortly.
Prisoner s Information.
A Cadet officer of the 2 nd Camel Battalion, captured in the
Bir esh-Shediyah raid (see p. 412), states that Lieut.-Col. Kemal
F >ey, C.G.S., Ylllth A.C., with two or three staff officers, was
on the train. It was doubtless one of this party who leaned out
of a window and fell back again on receiving the pointblank
fire of a Bedouin. Being in the hinder part of the train, which
ran backwards down the gradient, these staff officers were not
captured. The cadet officer’s account of the contents of the train
is fairly accurate ; but either designedly or ignorantly he has
mistaken the locality of the affair, and reports it to have taken
place south of Akabat el-Hejazia. He states that a reserve of
wood fuel is kept at Maan for military emergencies only.