File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎210v] (429/834)

240 —
THE LOSS OF LOHEIYA.
The diaries o£ Major Tippetts and Captain Nasr ed-Din
Ahmed, Politicial Liaison Officer, have come to hand, for the period
June 7 to June 15, and contain an account of the events leading
to the evacuation of Loheiya by Tdrisi s troops, and ot the
evacuation itself.
It all began with a Turkish feint on Beit Mokhai, which drew
out the Idrissian troops from Beit Husein for a fight lasting far
into the night of June 7. The next morning, while the tired
men were drawing their rations, eating and sleeping, the Turks
came suddenly upon them, causing a stampede of all arms to Atn
(Atan), except for a small party of hill-Arabs and others, wdio
fought with the two guns till these were put out of action and
abandoned. Then they retired with a loss of sixty dead to Atan,
where, and at Kumri'ah, nearly 1,600 fighting men were now
collected. Major Tippetts rode out to Atan, but though he found
Seyyid Mustapha doing his best, the general morale was bad and
there was utter lack of organisation. Diversions (unauthorised)
by the garrisons of Abu Halik and Jebel Juda against Rassas
proved fruitless, and no counter-attack on Beit Husein could be
organised.
The next day the hostages and prisoners kept at Loheiya
were embarked for Midi. Early in the morning of June 10 the
Atan garrison retired on Lohei} 7 a without warning and without
firing a shot, after some 1,200 paid troops had deserted from there
and from Kumriah, together with all the Beni Marwan irregulars.
The Turks opposed were about 600 regulars and many Arab
irregulars ; but more were reported to be on their way down
from the Abs country. The influx raised an acute water
difficulty in Loheiya, and during the night of the 10th there
were two deaths from thirst—not surprising since sea water had to
be mixed with sweet water for the troops ! Some water came in
by dhows in the afternoon of the 11th, and for a time, on the
promise of water sufficient for next day from H.M. Ships, a plan
of attacking Atan again was favoured and the hills round Loheiya
were manned, but, for lack of water-supply, insufficiently.
Finally, about 5 p.m., evacuation was decided upon on grounds of
the impossibility of getting water-supply or defence works
organized in any satisfactory manner. A British landing party
removed the breaches of two 15-pounders and one 5-inch howitzer
just before dark ; all ammunition and stores possible were
removed in dhows, but some 200 cases and some flour had to be
left; and at 5 a.m. on the 12th the Arab troops were embarked.
Many of them had scattered and only some 400 were actually
evacuated. Arab auxiliaries of the Turks entered the town that
afternoon, about 5 p.m. and looted what they could, most of the
inhabitants having got away into the interior or to Murk Island.
The wounded Arabs had been embarked and sent up to Jeizan by
dhows, and many refugees, after being supplied with water from