The 8th Battalion recruited from Ballarat,
central and Western Victoria. Lieutenant
Colonel William Bolton, of Ballarat, originally led the Battalion, and there
are many Ballarat names in the Battalion’s rolls. The 7th and the 5th
Battalions also carried recruits from Ballarat and district.
The Battalions were encamped at Mena in Egypt and “enjoying”
their desert training (things had become monotonous) when news was received at
headquarters of a large Turkish force advancing across the Sinai Desert, aiming
to capture the Suez Canal and threaten Cairo.
British commanders called up reinforcements to protect the canal around
Ismailia, and the reinforcements selected were the two country battalions of
the 2nd Brigade – the 8th and the 7th.
Colonel Bolton wrote of the excitement aroused by news
received at midnight on 3rd February of the move to the Suez Canal:
…[the Battalions were] to be
ready to march out of camp in one hour…Talk about excitement in the camp…long
before the hour was up these two battalions were out on parade and ready to
move off…men delighted with prospect of change…whole camp turned out of bed and
lined the road to wish us luck and express envy and regret at not going with us
1
But the excitement was short lived. The Turkish forces were
withdrawing by the time the Battalions arrived. Despite being detailed for a
pursuit across the Western Sinai Desert, the orders were soon cancelled, and
there were “plenty of disappointed faces” as one soldier noted in his diary.
In fact the Turkish advance across the Sinai was disastrous
for them, with thousands of casualties, and the ease with which the Turks were
repulsed influenced the thinking of senior British commanders, who felt the
fighting value of the Turkish soldier was very low. This thinking was to have profound
consequences, when the two armies next met – at the Dardanelles.
1. Austin, Ron. Cobbers
in Khaki: the history of the 8th Battalion 1914-1918.
Slouch Hat
Publications, 1997 p. 29 (available in the Australiana Room if you’d
like to read more)