“There was a time when I was proud of you men of the Anzac Mounted Division. I am proud of you no longer.” In the first of a three-part series, RNZ's Black Sheep investigates the Surafend massacre.

Read more about the story of Surafend on the RNZ website here.

“There was a time when I was proud of you men of the Anzac Mounted Division. I am proud of you no longer. Today, I think you are nothing but a lot of cowards and murderers.”
- General Edmund Allenby, reported speech to Anzac Mounted Division, 16 December 1918

These words are attributed to General Edmund Allenby, the British Commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. He was speaking to the Anzac Mounted Division in the aftermath of the Surafend massacre, where an estimated 200 members of the Division killed upwards of 40 male Arab civilians in a small village in southern Palestine in December 1918.

More than a hundred years later, much of the story of the massacre remains a mystery. Basic facts around the numbers killed, the identity of the killers, and their exact motivation are unknown.

In the first of a three part series, William Ray speaks with military historian Terry Kinloch, author of Devils on Horses, to unpick the story of the Anzac mounted Division's campaign through Sinai and Palestine, and how it might help explain the massacre.

Further sources:

• Interview with former Anzac Mounted Division soldier Edward O'Brien
• What Happened at Surafend by Terry Kinloch - WW100
• Australian Light Horse Studies Centre

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details