File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎58r] (124/834)

us were very tired with the ride, which was a fairly fast one, of
ninety miles in twenty-two hours. The Bedu and the Sherif
wanted to do something more before returning to Azrak, and
had the Indians been fitter, we could have put in a useful raid ;
but they were tired and had only half a day’s ration left, since
all extra stuff had been placed at Azrak.
The situation was explained to the Sherif, who said it would be
enough to mine a train, without making a machine gun attack upon
it. The Bedu agreed, and we went off together. The party was
composed of Sherif Ali with ten servants, myself with one,
twenty Sukhur and thirty Serahin. None of us had any food
at all. We went to Minifir, to Kil. 172, where I mined the line
in June last. As the Bedu had lost my dynamite at the
bridge I was only able to put 30 lbs. into the mine, which
I laid on the crown of a four metre culvert (about eighteen feet
high) and took the wires as far up the hill-side toward cover as
they would reach. Owing to the shortage of cable this was only
sixty yards, and we had to leave the ends buried, for fear of
patrols. A train came down before dawn on the 10th, too fast
for me to get to the exploder from my watching place. In the
morning of the 10 th a train of refugees came up at four miles an
hour from the south. The exploder failed to work, and the whole
train crawled past me as I lay on the flat next the wires. For
some reason no one shot at me, and after it had passed 1 took
the exploder away and overhauled it, while a Turkish patrol
came up and searched the ground very carefully. That night
we slept on the head of the wires, and no train appeared, till
10 a.m. on November 11. Then a troop train of twelve coaches
and two locomotives came down from the north at twenty miles
an hour. 1 touched off under the engine and the explosion was
tremendous. Something must have happened to the boiler for
I was knocked backwards and boiler plates flew about in all
directions. One fragment smashed the exploder, which I
therefore left in place, with the wires. The first engine fell into
the valley on the east side of the line; the second up-ended into
the space where the culvert had been, and toppled over on to the
tender of the first. The frame buckled, and 1 doubt whether it
can be repaired. Its tender went down the embankment west,
and the first two coaches telescoped into the culvert site. The
next three or four were derailed. Meanwhile I made quite
creditable time across the open, up-hill towards the Arabs, who
had a fair position, and were shooting fast over me into the
coaches, which were crowded with soldiers. The Turkish losses
were obviously quite heavy. Unfortunately many of the Serahm
had no rifles, and could only throw unavailing stones the
Turks took cover behind the bank, and opened a fairly hot flic
at us. They were about 200 strong by now. Sherif Ah brought
down a party of twenty-two to meet me, but lost seven killed
and more wounded and had some narrow escapes himself before
getting back.