The Imperial Camel Corps in World War IFrom the diaries of a Bay of Plenty camelier

Treasure in a tan plastic suitcase?

Camel Corps on the moveImage: Robertson, With the Cameliers in Palestine

The Imperial Camel Corps

What was it?• Part of the EEF, or Egyptian

Expeditionary Force• An international unit • Formed early 1916• Brigade status late 1916• 2,800 men and 3,000+ camels• 4 companies to a battalion, each

with 6 officers, 169 ‘other ranks’• 4 battalions 1st & 3rd from

Australian Light Horse, 2nd from British regiments, 4th from ALH & New Zealand Mounted Rifles (15th & 16th Coys).

• Disbanded mid 1918.

And what was it for?

• Formed initially to clobber the Senussi (a camel-mounted, Ottoman-sympathising tribe)

• To help protect the Suez Canal for British interests

• To help scotch the ambitions of the Ottoman Empire once and for all, first in Sinai and then in Palestine.

Arnold Henfrey Watson, 19161882-1960

Image: Tauranga City Libraries, thanks to Watson family

Troop Transport 70, the WaihoraLeft Wellington at 9 pm on Tuesday 5 December 1916

Image: http://www.flotilla-australia.com/hmnzt.htm#41

Arnold Henfrey Watson on his camel, c. 1917Image: Tauranga City Libraries, thanks to Watson family

• Camel care• Hard physical labour• Being bombed and shelled• Battles, e.g. the 3 battles of Gaza, and many

skirmishes• Sickness• Consolations: friends – art – and the Aotea

Home.

What was it like to be a camelier?

James McBey, ‘The Long Patrol: Drifting Sands’Imperial War Museum. © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1438)

Camelier’s equipmentImage: Robertson, With the Cameliers in Palestine

“A beast of burden”Kia Ora Coo-ee, 15th July 1918, page 13

Watering camelsImage: Robertson, With the Cameliers in Palestine

Washing camels, 1917Image: www.delcampe.net

“Prepare to mount.”Image: Robertson, With the Cameliers in Palestine

“I’ll hit you on the nose, if you don’t put your head down.”Kia Ora Coo-ee, 15th June 1918, page 19

After the air raid, Sheikh Nuran, June 1917Image: National Army Museum of New Zealand

Cactus hedge, GazaFrom Powles, The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine

Friends and contactsContacts with:• Men in the same unit• Men in other NZ units• Men in Australian or British

units• Men from the same Troop

Transport• Men from the same district• Editorial staff of Kia Ora

Coo-ee• Patients/staff of hospitals• Patients/staff of Aotea

Home

Letters and parcels to and from:• Friends and family at

home in New Zealand

• The Paengaroa & Pongakawa Patriotic Society

General ChauvelImage: Australia in Palestine

Mick Barker looking down old wellArnold’s diary, 7-8 October 1917

Kia Ora Coo-ee cover, 15th June 1918By G. W. Lambert

“Kangs” (Australians)Sketch by Arnold Watson. Courtesy of Watson family

Flowers of PalestineArnold’s diary, 7-11 January 1919

Flowers of PalestineArnold’s diary, 12-15 February 1919

Beetles of PalestineArnold’s diary, 16-19 February 1919

Beetles of PalestineArnold’s diary, 20-23 February 1919

Locust or grasshopper Arnold’s diary, 29 April-2 May 1919

GrasshopperArnold’s diary, 19-22 May 1919

Butterflies and insects Arnold’s diary, 8-11 June 1919

Moth and butterflyArnold’s diary, 12-15 June 1919

James Neil McCarrollC.O., Auckland Mounted Rifles

Image: Powles, The New Zealanders in Sinai and Palestine

Aotea Convalescent HomeImage: Bowerbank, The War Effort of New Zealand

Nurses, Aotea Convalescent HomeImage: Kate Booth collection, courtesy S. Arabin

Tennis at the Aotea HomeImage: Kate Booth collection, courtesy S. Arabin

UlimaroaLeft Suez at 6 pm on 30 June 1919

Image: http://www.flotilla-australia.com/hmnzt.htm#41

And what happened to the 3,000 camels?The End

Links• Imperial War Museum film of the Camel Corps

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022564

• Tauranga Memories summary http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/remembering_war/topics/show/1274-arnold-henfrey-watson-1882-1960

• E-books of the diaries, and other related documents, including transcripts, on Tauranga Memories http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/en/site/all/documents/related_to/topic/1274-arnold-henfrey-watson-1882-1960/