The New Zealanders have been furiously opposed by the Jafa enemy.
All one day too at Ayun Kara they were fighting with the bayonet charging and being charged
Ayun Kara is the place where Samson fought with the jawbone of an ass
I'll bet the En Zeds found the cold steel a deadlier weapon
Following the Battles of Beersheba and Gaza, the Allies began pursuing the Ottoman forces north
With the Ottoman 7th and 8th army withdrawing
cutting the communications between the two became the next objective
And the New Zealanders role in this was to capture the village of Ayun Kara
Having encountered no resistance for last few days the New Zealand troops believed
Ayun Karas capture would be uneventful.
We were not expecting anything much
But what we actually got into was our best scrap
We were outnumbered 10 to 1
We were pretty tired by this period
and in front of our lines were 400 odd dead counted
Ayun Kara
that would be our best scrap
Not far from here is where the Kiwis ran into the rear guard of the Ottoman forces
They had twice our numbers
They held the high ground and took the Kiwis by surprise
By rights it should have been a slaughter
And in many ways it was, with 49 Kiwis now buried here in Ramlah cemetery
But despite the odds the New Zealanders still managed to turn the tide
The enemy were not more than two chains in front of us
Three lines of them and we could see the buttons on the uniforms the casualties
The casualties were something awful and the most astounding thing is that any of us are left to tell the tale
when we got a view of the enemy retreating we fully realised what we were up against
and I don't think I'm exaggerating a bit
when I say there were eight of them to every man of us
Through a series of daring actions the New Zealanders managed to win high
ground of their own, but only after throwing every available
soldier be they trooper, cook or batman into the battle
and even though they balanced the scales the battle was far from won.
That deciding moment came in one of the most remarkable assaults of the campaign
on a tiny out crop
known as Red Knoll
Red Knoll was a machine-gun strong point
preventing the New Zealanders from advancing
with nothing left in reserve
the brigade commander called upon his old regiment the Wellington Mounted Rifles
to do what they could do. And that call was answered by this man, Captain Arthur Herrick
Captain Herrick mounted his horse and charged his men across 2.5km of open ground towards Red Knoll
and remarkably, despite coming under heavy fire, lost no men during the crossing
The Kiwis then rushed the position on foot
and after more fierce hand to hand fighting, took the knoll
and turned the Ottomans own machine guns on their enemy
Thus turning the tide of the battle
the exact number of losses we suffered during the Battle of Ayun Kara is not known
but as the fighting was conducted at close range and in the open it was high
for me to be here to walk amongst the fallen and knowing the men that fought
over this ground there's a huge huge honor and privilege. words can't describe
Words cant describe how it feels
A lot of people don't even know what happened over here
what these men went through that's what's often said this is the
Thats why its often said its the 'Forgotten War'
But i'm here today to let them know they haven't been forgotten
To pay our respects to every single one of them that fought over here
and to honour the sacrifices they made for our country.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
we will remember them