Military and Police Camels

What an excuse for extraordinary photos! In the Middle East, South Asia, and parts of Africa, camels have long served in terrain where a horse could not perform. In fact camels still serve a useful role in strategic army and policing commands.

Probably the most exciting and popular part of India's annual Republic Day parade is the Border Security Forces contingent. You would scarcely believe a 36-piece brass band is included in the camel brigade. True! Even Google did this:[1]

Photo: NPR

Just as incredible is the mounted military pipe band of the Pakistan Desert Rangers. The old Empire has a long echo! In daily life the riders and their steeds are in far less colourful attire, musical instruments safely stowed elsewhere we presume.

Photo: Aamir Qureshi

But wait. Not to be outdone, how about the Royal Oman Police Mounted Pipe Band!?? Purely ceremonial, the band along with its camel cavalry exists to promote cultural traditions. Sultan Qaboos clearly has respect for his educational days at Sandhurst Military Academy and subsequent service in a Scottish regiment of the British Army.

Photo: sickchirpse.com

A photo of the Saudi National Guard eludes me. Qatar has a mounted camel unit, and probably so do several more countries of the same climate and traditions.

Qatar Heritage Police. Photo: www.news.CN

Of course what you are seeing are ceremonial dress uniforms and displays. Everyday routine requires their appearance to be much more suited to their desert surroundings. While some camel units have been replaced by tanks, others have transitioned to public law and order duties with high visibility as tourist attractions.

Jordan Royal Desert Forces. Photo: Warrick Page, NY Times

Photo: camelphotos.com

Photo: BDM

Placing Egypt's mounted police in tourist areas was a smart move. A quiet job, perhaps a bit boring?

Historically, army camels have been known since ancient times, at least from Hannibal's crossing of southern Europe. They were far superior to horses as pack animals in terms of cargo weight and distance coverage. As cavalry, they were equally fast and when couched would serve their riders as gun placements or shade from an unforgiving sun.

Recently a Bactrian camel skelton was uncovered in Austria, believed to be part of the Ottoman army besieging Vienna in 1683.[2]

Photo: BBC

The British became accustomed to using camels in their historic campaigns in Africa, India, and the Middle East. Australian troops formed the first companies.

Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, First World War. Photo: Capt. Douglas G. Pearman

Here is the Imperial Camel Corps's ambulance transport, an amazing photo from http://australiancamels.com/camels-in-war/:

The United States Army imported camels to be pack animals in southwest desert areas, a previous post here. Compare the results to Australia's importation of camels in the same nineteenth century period for similar purposes: Oz now has an explosion of feral camels whereas the American southwest has none. 

US Army Camel Experiment reenactment. Photo: Texas Camel Corps

Interestingly, one Australian police force is bringing camels back for desert patrols after a sixty year hiatus.[3] New South Wales has come full circle.

Camels are familiar to United Nations troops who now serve in missions in countries with demanding equatorial terrain, for instance Sudan and Eritrea.

Photo: http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/camels-at-war/

It seems unlikely that the stolid beasts will be completely replaced by tanks.

[1] http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/google-doodle-celebrates-indias-67th-republic-day-with-bsf-camel-contingent-296624.html.

[2] Jonathan Webb, "Intact Ottoman 'War Camel' found in Austrian cellar," BBC News, Science and Environment (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32145248).

[3] NSW Police Force, https://www.facebook.com/nswpoliceforce/?fref=nf.

© 2016 Brenda Dougall Merriman

Queen of the Desert

You heard it here. Release date September 15th.

The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2015. That's how long I've been waiting.

Official blurb:
Queen of the Desert is a 2015 epic biographical drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog and is based on the life of British traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer and cartographer Gertrude Bell.

Starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Damian Lewis.

So why is his head bigger than hers in the poster, eh? Eh?!

Better?

Early reviews of the movie are mixed although all seem to agree it's stunningly filmed in grand proportions.

Some say Kidman "completely embodies" Gertrude Bell.[1] 

Others are underwhelmed by some "regrettable dialogue" finding it all "the tiniest dull."[2] 

"What drives her is never really illuminated."[3]

Not to denigrate Kidman's acting skills, but she seems miscast to me. Apparently she replaced Herzog's first choice, Naomi Watts. What? Who? (How about someone not conventionally beautiful? Laura Dern? Tilda Swinton?) There was talk for some time of Angelina Jolie producing and starring in a Gertrude Bell movie but perhaps she came to her senses.

I would not be surprised if the magnificent scenery of Jordan and Morocco overpowers Gertrude's extraordinary career. Hoping they don't overdo the T.E. Lawrence association.

[1] Justin Harp, 8 July 2015,"Nicole Kidman journeys across the Middle East in breathtaking Queen of the Desert trailer," Digital Spy (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a657019/nicole-kidman-journeys-across-the-middle-east-in-breathtaking-queen-of-the-desert-trailer.html#~pjc4LBUoPvGUJQ). 

[2] Peter Bradshaw, 7 February 2015, "Berlin 2015: Queen of the Desert review – a towering Nicole Kidman goes there and back again," the guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/06/queen-of-the-desert-film-review-berlin-nicole-kidman-werner-herzog).

[3] "'Queen of the Desert,' Berlin Film Review," 6 February 2015, The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/nicole-kidman-werner-herzogs-queen-770806).

Friends Send Me ... camel things (2)

A First World War buff, I am also a longtime admirer of contemporaneous Gertrude Bell, the fearless desert adventurer and tribal negotiator, turned British intelligence officer and kingmaker. With expertise in antiquities and architecture, she located countless ancient sites for archaeologists to uncover; she founded the great Baghdad Museum. The Gertrude Bell Archive at Newcastle University Library includes thousands of priceless photographs of her explorations, nomadic encounters, and historical artifacts. Many of those same subjects have disappeared or are in great danger of destruction as we speak.

Iraq (Mesopotamia) 1914; photo by Gertrude Bell

Why mention Gertrude? In the nature of Friends Send Me ... camel things, imagine my delight when Mike shared his grandfather's story with me. It is a story of military perseverance in the same time period and unforgiving climate. The First World War was fought not only in Europe. British Forces were in the Middle East alongside Arab allies to drive the Ottoman Empire out of the storied Euphrates lands called Mesopotamia. We have to remember that one hundred years ago there was no Iraq, Iran, Israel, or another half-dozen Middle Eastern countries we hear about today. 

Arthur James Knowles, Mike's grandfather, served in that theatre with the 1/4 Hampshire Regiment from March 1915 to the end of November 1919. Arthur's service records are gone, destroyed with so many others during the bombings of the Second World War. But using the published regimental history, Mike could reconstruct the actions of Arthur's unit.[1] The Brits encountered unfamiliar terrain and the inevitable battles but were unprepared for the climate's deleterious health consequences.

[quote] The climate and moist heat of Mesopotamia were having a detrimental effect on the battalion. By June 1915, 180 were sick in the hospital and six had already died. Only 16 officers and 300 men were available.[2]

And that was just a few months after arrival!

During his service, Arthur took numerous photographs that did survive, although not in good shape, with Mike doing his best at restoration. What unique treasures! These two photos are of Sudanese allies. Camels were the natural choice for cavalry. 

  

Mike wrote about Arthur in the newsletter of the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society (see footnote). Clearly Arthur survived the Great War and I'm more than pleased to add that he came to Canada to settle in 1921.

Ancestor envy!

[1] C.T. Atkinson, The Royal Hampshire Regiment, Volume Two 1914-1918, Glasgow: Robert Maclehose & Company Limited, 1952

[2] Mike More, "The 1/4th Hampshires in Mesopotamia," The Ottawa Genealogist, Vol. 47, No. 4, October – December 2014.

© 2015 Brenda Dougall Merriman

Gertrude

My clever brother introduced me to the extraordinary Gertrude Bell (1868-1926). I met her too late to see her as any kind of role model, but my admiration for this woman is boundless. We have few real-life similarities except certain landscape yearnings. We do (did) share red hair which is important only to red-headed people.

Among her first accomplishments were her extensive camel treks in Arabia, acquiring knowledge of the desert tribes and fluency in their languages. Odd as it may seem, this lone traveling woman (with a loyal paid servant) was, for the most part, accepted by local desert leaders (unlike some of her own society) for her unorthodox interests and her unquestioned love of the ancient Mesopotamian lands. It was a natural fit for British Intelligence to recruit her as a political officer for the region during the First World War. During that time, she had as much influence on the success of the Arab Revolt as her colleague and friend, T.E. Lawrence.

Wikipedia

 From Christopher Hitchens’ book review of Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations:[1]

Reading about Bell, one is struck not just by her ability to master the Arabic language and to revere and appreciate the history and culture of the Arabs, but by her political acuity. Where others saw only squabbles between nomads, she was able to discern the emergence of two great rival forces—the Wahabbis of Ibn Saud and the Hashemites of Faisal—and she stored away the knowledge for future reference.

Before the war ended, she was appointed Oriental Secretary to the High Commissioner in Baghdad, a position of power unequalled by a woman of her time. She hoped and planned fiercely for post-war reorganization, a stable future for the Middle East. The ultimate profound effect was the creation of Jordan as the Hashemite dynasty and the modern state of Iraq.

A life devoted to peacemaking and politics had its downside with bureaucratic infighting and financial challenges. But her personal life was not devoid of fleeting pleasures. Gertrude loved to dress as fashionably as she could and hold court among international figures visiting Iraq, preferring the company of men to what she considered the trivial interests of Foreign Office wives. Sadly, two blossoming love affairs ended with the premature death of each man. Depression was difficult to cope with later in life; some say her overdose of sleeping pills was deliberate.

D.R. Hogarth said of her:[2]

No woman in recent time has combined her qualities – her taste for arduous and dangerous adventure with her scientific interest and knowledge, her competence in archaeology and art, her distinguished literary gift, her sympathy for all sorts and condition of men, her political insight and appreciation of human values, her masculine vigour, hard common sense and practical efficiency – all tempered by feminine charm and a most romantic spirit.

Mesopotamia Exhibit, 2013, Royal Ontario Museum

Bell left thousands of rare photographs of Middle East antiquities, as an expert on archaeology and architecture. Her enduring love for the region led her to found the famed Baghdad Archaeological Museum, now known as the National Museum of Iraq — the institution notoriously looted during the Iraq invasion of 2003 (although many pieces have been recovered). Her photos can be seen at the site of the GertrudeBell Project. Numerous editions of her letters and diaries have been published.[3] One of her own classic writings is Syria: The Desert and the Sown (London: William Heinneman, 1907).

More than one book has been written about her life.[4] The lower photograph for this book cover was taken at the Cairo Conference in 1921; Bell is between Winston Churchill and T.E. Lawrence.

New York Times, 2006

Bell is buried in Baghdad.

[1] Christopher Hitchens, "The Woman Who Made Iraq," 1 June 2007, The Atlantic (www.theatlantic.com/doc/2007/06/the-woman-who-made-iraq/305893 : accessed 25 April 2014).

[2] David R. Hogarth, "Obituary: Gertrude Lowthian Bell," The Geographical Journal, Vol.68, No.4 (1926), pp 363-368; as cited and quoted in "Gertrude Bell," Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell : accessed 23 April 2014).

[3] Bell, Florence, ed. The Letters of Gertrude Bell. London: Ernest Benn, 1927.

Burgoyne, Elizabeth. Gertrude Bell from her Personal Papers. London: Ernest Benn, 1958-61.

O'Brien, Rosemary, ed. Gertrude Bell: the Arabian diaries, 1913-1914. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000.

Richmond, Elsa, ed. The earlier letters of Gertrude Bell. London: Ernest Benn, 1937.

[4] Bodley, R. and Hearst, L. Gertrude Bell. New York: Macmillan, 1940.

Goodman, Susan. Gertrude Bell. Leamington Spa: Berg, 1985.

Howell, Georgina. Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

Kamm, J. Daughter of the desert : the story of Gertrude Bell. London: Bodley Head, 1956.

Lukitz, Liora. A Quest in the Middle East: Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006.

Ridley, M.R. Gertrude Bell. London: Blackie and Son, 1941.

Wallach, Janet. Desert Queen : the Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell. New York: Anchor Books, 1996.

Winstone, H.V.F. Gertrude Bell. London: Constable, 1978.