Surafend massacre

During the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I, Allied forces gradually pushed the Ottoman military out of the Middle East. In 1918, the ANZAC Mounted Division, consisting of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the Australian 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades set camp near the village of Sarafand al-Amar in Palestine. The proximity of the village, coupled with a perceived general British Army acceptance and dismissal of petty crime by the local Arabs, meant that thefts and even murders took place regularly with minimal to no redress from the Imperial forces. The reluctance of the British to punish or avenge such crimes led to a build-up of resentment among the occupying forces towards both local residents and their own British commanders. ==Massacre==

On the night of 9 December 1918, a New Zealand soldier, Trooper Leslie Lowry, was woken around midnight when his kitbag, which he was using as a pillow, was stolen from his tent. Lowry pursued the thief outside of the camp, where he was apparently shot. Lowry was found by Corporal C.H. Carr, who had heard the sound of a struggle and a cry for help, lying in the sand about 40 metres from the tent lines, bleeding from a bullet wound to the chest. Soldiers set up a cordon around the village, and ordered the sheikhs of the village to surrender the murderer, but they denied any knowledge of the incident or its perpetrator. The death was brought to the attention of the staff of the division the following day, and a court of inquiry was conducted at first light by Major Magnus Johnson. Plaster casts of the footprints were taken, and the bullet that killed Lowry was determined to have been fired by a Colt .45 pistol, which was not on general issue to NZMR troops, but was common amongst Turkish and Arab forces. while others remained. Armed with heavy sticks and bayonets, the soldiers then set upon the remaining villagers whilst also burning the houses. There were also unknown numbers of injured villagers who were tended to by the field ambulance units. ==Aftermath==

The massacre at Surafend was both visible and audible to the nearby division headquarters, and the division's Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Edmund Allenby, was ordered by General Headquarters to find and discipline those who took part in the killings, in particular those who led and organised the attack. The New Zealanders stood firm in solidarity and refused to name any individual soldiers responsible, and thus no-one could be definitively charged and disciplined for the massacre. According to Gullett's Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, the division was fully expecting harsh military discipline for the massacre, and would have accepted this without resentment. However, Allenby's abusive outburst, while leaving them unpunished, fueled a great amount of resentment and bitterness that their commanding officer would speak of the brigades in such a manner. No one was charged for the massacre, but £2060.11.3d (£ in ) was paid to authorities in Palestine to rebuild the village. The British government contributed £686, due to a small number of Scottish soldiers who had participated, and, in 1921, requested that Australia and New Zealand contribute the remaining two-thirds. Australia did not contest its liability and quickly paid £515.2.9d to Britain. New Zealand objected, but eventually under British pressure paid £858.11.5d in May 1921. ==Australian involvement==

At the time the destruction of Surafend was occurring, the YMCA was screening a movie which was watched by many men of the Anzac Mounted Division. On hearing reports about the fighting, the Anzac Mounted Division Headquarters ordered the division to "stand to" with an immediate roll call to be taken and every man's location accounted for at that moment. The result of this roll call was that the location of most Australians were accounted for. In addition to the rolls, police pickets surrounded the village, finding many Australians viewing the burning houses. These were ordered back to their units. No police report indicated the presence of Australian soldiers in the village. That being so, involvement of Australian soldiers in the massacre at Surafend had been assumed, but never proven. Historian Henry Gullett's volume of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 mentioned that New Zealand troops had conducted the massacre and the destruction of the village, but with the "hearty support" and "full sympathy" of the Australians. In 2009, journalist Paul Daley while undertaking research for his book, Beersheba discovered an audio recording in the archives of the Australian War Memorial in which Australian former Light Horseman Ted O'Brien described how he and his comrades had "had a good issue of rum" and "went through [the village] with a bayonet." O'Brien described the actions he and his fellow Australians took as "ungodly" and "a real bad thing". ==See also==