223274 David Hewitson British Army 5th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers from:Dalmellington 100 Gallant Fusiliers repulsed 2000 Turks - Dalmellington man’s war experiences recalled:
"David Hewitson 10 Cathcartson, Dalmellington, has been awarded a prize by a Glasgow Sunday newspaper for a contribution to the paper. Readers were invited to give details of agonising moments in their lives.
The story was reproduced in the paper last Sunday in abbreviated form. It was also told to an ‘Advertiser’ representative and is of such interest in a general way and to the Royal Scots Fusiliers in particular that, although it relates to a period over 20 years ago it is well worth giving here.
Hewitson was one of those who never smoked cigarettes during the war, nor now for that matter, and he never took the rum ration allowed to troops under certain conditions; he suffered the loss of a leg as a result of one of the simplest incidents.
Though unscathed from one of the tightest corners he was ever in. When the war was over he came home to Dalmellington and resumed his employment but had his hand so badly crushed that he could not continue work.
He joined the 5th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers on September 26 1914 landed at Gallipoli in June 1915 and was on Gallipoli till the evacuation when the Battalion went to Egypt.
Egypt reached, the Battalion lay at Kantara and outposts had to be put out and it was when this done that Hewitson experienced perhaps his most agonising moments. He was in A Company which was sent to the outpost of Duiedar in April 1916. There were several redoubts on the sand dunes round Duiedar and there were about 30 men in Hewitsons lot who formed the main redoubt.
One morning there was a particularly heavy mist and as a result the men had an unusually long stand-to. The battalion dog Spot was with the men. Suddenly Spot became restive and commenced to bark. The men became interested in what was the cause of the dog’s tongue but he was told to be quiet. The dog continued restive. However and made to jump out the redoubt in the direction of a big hill which was about half a mile from the redoubt. The mist remained very thick, but the dog’s actions indicated that something was wrong and all nerved up the men skinned their eyes to see what was taking place. Their first indication of anything untoward was when a black mass was seen coming towards them. As Mr Hewitson said ‘it looked like a big black cloud approaching.’
The machine gun was ordered to fire at the mass but still the men were not sure of what the mass was composed of.
Whenever the machine gun commenced firing the mass commenced to disperse. Then the men realised that the mass was Johnny Turk and they opened fire. Apparently the Turks had mistaken the camel lines in which there were about 30 or 40 camels, for the main compound a heavy fire was directed on the camel lines by the Turks. During this fire the men in another redoubt nearer the camel lines than the redoubt in which Hewitson was were all killed or wounded, and this left the 30 men of Hewitson’s company to face the brunt of the attack. They suffered very heavily, and both officers were wounded. Reinforcements had to be sent for to the main camp and these came up under Lieutenant (afterwards Captain)David Paton, Ayr who died recently.
There were very few of the 30 left standing when the reinforcements arrived ultimately the small band of Fusiliers reached the point where their ammunition was nearly exhausted.
They then began to fear the worst and Lieutenant Paton (who was a very brave soldier, according to those who soldiered with him) shouted out that the Royal Scots Fusiliers would never be taken prisoners and pulling out a Testament, one of which was carried by nearly every man, said he would put up a short prayer. Just then a British plane, known to the men at Kantara as the Kantara bus arrived overhead and dropped a note. The paper fluttered away a bit from where Hewitson and his companions were, to another redoubt and one of the men had to dash for it under heavy fire. The note was retrieved. It told them to hang on and that more reinforcements were on the way. With their ammunition almost gone, this gave the Fusiliers new hope and heart.
By this time the plane had ascended but came down again at a very low altitude, and trained it’s machine gun on the enemy. That proved to be the turning point. The machine gun fire apparently demoralised the Turks, whose fire became less severe.
Prior to this the Fusiliers had been almost at their last ebb. As men were wounded or killed they dropped their rifles, and their companions after allowing them to lie for a short space of time to cool, picked them up and used them. They could not bear the heat of their own rifles. The whole company, with the reinforcements which had arrived, numbered about 100 and they had repulsed Turks numbering about 2000! The brave band of fusiliers took 87 prisoners and the Turks left 78 dead.
At Elarish, farther on in the desert Hewitson was the witness of an interesting incident. The men were bathing one day, when one of them, idly playing with the sand scooped out a small hole, and being very thirsty, placed some of the wet sand against his lips. When he did so he ejaculated My God, this is fresh water!
His comrades could scarcely believe that there was fresh water on the seashore, but tests proved that the finder’s statement was correct. Orders were issued for a well to be dug, and it was sand-bagged all round. The well subsequently formed the main supply for the camp.
Mr Hewiston, prior to going to Egypt was twice wounded on Gallipoli and later sustained a wound while crossing the river Auja, in front of Jaffa, which resulted in his losing a leg.
After the war, he returned to Dalmellington, and commenced work with the Dalmellington Iron Company, but a year past in February, he sustained, in Pennyvennie mine, the hurt to his hand which in-capacitated him. And he is now in receipt of compensation."
Printed in the Ayr Advertiser 24th of June 1937.
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