Item 06: Letters sent by Robert Christian Wilson to his family, 1918-April 1919 - Page 328
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[Page 328]
But when you are in action, if you happen to notice the camel men bringing up supplies to the front line, you begin to wonder if you if your impressions were correct. The niggers Egyptians seem better as individuals under fire than they do in mobs.
See them slowly dragging their sulking camels along, laden with water or ammunition under shell fire or see the ambulance-man bringing up his 'cacolets' for the wounded whilst a Turkish sniper is pinging away at him all the time. Then you wonder still more.
There is nothing exciting about leading a camel. None of the thril in it that a cavalry man feels in a charge, but it is true courage. I think the Gyppos show when, under hot fire, and over places devoid of cover, they quietly lead their camels along at the snail's pace of about two miles an hour.