GAZA. 1ST MAY TO 7TH NOVEMBER, 1917.
The beginning of May found the Battalion in support, with its
Headquarters on Queen's Hill. As was usually the case, when in support
the time of all ranks was taken up with continuous fatigues and other
duties. At this time, besides supplying working parties for the Royal
Engineers and burying cable for the Brigade Signalling Officer, various
parties, usually of 200 each, were employed in constructing
communication trenches for the battalions of the Brigade in the front
line. On 3rd May the Battalion relieved the 7th H.L.I. in the front
trenches on Lees Hill. Each company held a part of the front line and
furnished its own support. The period in the line until relieved by the
7th H.L.I. on 10th May was uneventful. A considerable amount of time was
spent in improving the trenches and the occasional light shelling which
took place did not do much damage and inflicted no casualties. The Turk
it was observed was spending his time in much the same way and at first
exposed good targets for our machine-gun fire; latterly, however, as a
result of our fire his work was carried out under cover.
The only casualty during this period was Captain T.S.S. Wightman, who
was accidentally wounded by a cartridge exploding in a cook's fire.
After a week the Battalion was relieved by the 7th H.L.I. and the period
in support was taken up in night fatigues for work in the line and by
gas demonstrations carried out by the Divisional Gas Officer under
somewhat trying circumstances, as the weather was very hot and not
conducive to the wearing of a gas mask. Captain Dingwall Kennedy
unfortunately had to leave the Battalion sick and his place was filled
by Captain D.C. MacArdle.
Prior to relieving the 5th A. & S.H. the Battalion had a "night in
bed"--a most unusual occurrence. On this occasion the Battalion held
Kurd Hill, Heart Hill, Carnarvon Redoubt, Snowdon Street, Sniper's Spur
and Sniper's Post. The country was flat and rather uninteresting except
on the extreme left held by "D" Company, where the outlook was over
sandy hills studded here and there with patches of scrub. Captain A.R.
MacEwen and 2nd Lieut. T.C. Price were lent for temporary duty with a
battalion of the 155th Brigade, and as a result the former took a hand
in a successful night raid by the K.O.S.B. on "Sea Poast."
On Brigade instructions standing patrols were furnished all along the
line at night under the charge of two officers. On the night 18/19th May
the 155th Brigade made a considerable demonstration against Umbrella
Hill. In order to cover the whole front the line had to be very thinly
held, and in consequence of the drifting sand considerable difficulty
was experienced and much work required in keeping the trenches in
repair.
On 27th May the 6th H.L.I. relieved the Battalion, when some difficulty
was experienced owing to the camel transport being delayed. The
Battalion was situated in Brigade reserve with headquarters at Kurd
Hill, the only detached party being one platoon of "D" Company under
Captain Townsend, who occupied No. 6 redoubt. The whole Battalion was
soon engaged on numerous fatigues which continued to the end of the
month. On 2nd June the Battalion relieved the 7th H.L.I. in the right
sector of the Brigade line lying on Happy Valley and Lees Hill; each
company holding part of the line as before.
At this time word was received that Major J.B. Neilson had been awarded
the D.S.O. for his good work in Gallipoli.
The enemy showed very few signs of activity, an occasional patrol only
being encountered. On the night of 11th June a demonstration was taken
part in against Outpost Hill to assist a trench raid by the 5th K.O.S.B.
against Belah Post. The distance between the lines here was about 600
yards. Men were sent out with dummy figures to a nullah about 300 yards
from the Turkish line. At a fixed hour these dummies were fixed in
position on the top of the bank in imitation of a line advancing to
attack. The men took shelter in the nullah, working the figures into
position by a rope and Verey lights were fired. We then opened fire on
the Turkish line. Whether the Turk imagined he was being attacked or not
is doubtful, but he did not reply with any considerable fire until one
hour had elapsed; then he kept it up for about fifty minutes. The next
night "B" Company undertook the unenviable task of bringing in the dummy
figures and found the ridge on which they lay occupied by the enemy in
several places.
On 13th June the Battalion was relieved by the 7th battalion Essex
Regiment and moved to a much longed for camp on the beach beside
Regent's Park. The period spent beside the sea will always be looked
back upon by all who shared in it as one of the most enjoyable times of
the war. To be able to have the prospect of the sea within fifty yards
is always enjoyable, but more than ever so when the climate is such that
the pleasantest moments are those spent in the water. Just a sufficient
amount of drill and work was put in to make the rest enjoyable, and even
a long and tiring "Brigade Exercise" was able to be faced when we knew
that a bathe awaited us at the end.
During this period the Battalion exchanged their Mark VI. rifles for
those of Mark VII. and had a few days' practice at a range close by.
[Illustration: INSIDE YAPTON POST.]
Captain F.W. Brown, R.A.M.C., was with us for a short period, taking the
place of Captain MacArdle who departed on home leave.
No reserve area could compare with Regent's Park. It was situated among
the sandhills, on the very edge of the Mediterranean, and when the sun
made the atmosphere too hot a medium for comfortable living, the sea was
always there. Our bivouac area lay within a mile to the east of the
mouth of the great Wadi Ghuzzeh, down which flowed for the last mile or
so of its course clear fresh water. This attracted a great variety of
birds, including flamingoes and storks, and on the bushes near the wadi
were found these wonderfully nimble little green tree frogs. Small fish
abounded in the pools; but pools were not popular with the malaria
experts and attempts were being made to drain all casual water into one
channel, put a little paraffin in the pools that could not be emptied by
draining, and so either remove or render ineffective the breeding places
of the anophylis mosquito. The day's work lay on the rifle range or in
practising trench-to-trench attacks. There was no enemy artillery-fire
to disturb the calmness, and each day gave the same opalescent eastern
sky at dawn and the same fast-dropping sun falling below the sea at
night. A battalion could really rest at Regent's Park, and we were
somewhat unwilling to move when orders came on the 9th July to take over
the front line at Dumb-bell Hill.
A night-march across the rear of our own lines on compass bearings, a
rest at dawn, and we took over the line from Bury Hill to Yapton
Redoubt. In this part of the line the trench system, which was opposite
and to the left of Gaza, gave place to mutually supporting redoubts and
defended localities. The Battalion was disposed with three companies in
the line and "C" Company in reserve. There was nothing to do in this
sector beyond the ordinary routine of trench garrison. The distance
between the enemy line and our own was so great that there was no
chance of the painful intimacy of other sectors. But the country in
front was full of interest; it was sweeping, undulating ground, cut up
by many deep wadis, and generally the only way to be sure that there was
no enemy movement in a wadi was to have a post in it or on the bank.
Yapton Redoubt was the most curious in formation; a deep wadi ran
through the middle of it and the wire blocks on the enemy side were so
ingenious that on a dark night it was extremely difficult for patrols to
find the way in. An attack up the wadi would have been difficult, as
small bombing posts had been constructed on the top of the high banks,
and while they could have lobbed over bombs into the gully, they were
almost out of bomb range themselves. However, the scheme of defence was
never put to the test. In an old cactus-bound garden about 1500 yards in
front of Yapton we had a day observation post perched in a tree. The
cactus hedge was a mass of ripe prickly pears, and the art of eating
them was only learnt after a lengthy period spent in extracting the fine
thorns from one's fingers, mouth, tongue and throat. Within the hedge
were fig trees, small vines, tomatoes, pomegranates and a small native
hut, but huts in this part were not entered as they swarmed with small
insects more desirous of making our acquaintance than we were of making
theirs. One step within was sufficient. "C" Company sent nightly patrols
to the Wadi Sihan and to Two Tree Post, but they returned each morning
with no tale to tell. Except when an enterprising member of a patrol
entered the back door of a hut unknown to the officer who entered the
front door. A little mutual stalking was indulged in with bombs ready,
but fortunately recognition took place before attrition.
The only excitement was the end of the Ramadan fast and the entrance on
the Bairam month of feasting. G.H.Q. thought that the enemy might
celebrate his release from the month of denial by doing something rash
or risky, and orders were sent broadcast for extra vigilance and doubled
sentries. The eventful hour came and he sent over half-a-dozen battery
salvoes on Dumb-bell Hill and Brighton Redoubt and peace reigned once
more over our corner of Asia. The same situation occurred in Gallipoli
in 1915 when we were facing the Turk and the result was also the same.
On the 23rd July the Battalion was relieved by the 4th R.S.F. and passed
into Divisional reserve at Wadi Simeon. It was about this time that fate
transplanted in our midst a medical officer from Kirkliston.
At this time the enemy had several very strong and heavily wired
redoubts in his front line, and of these, by far the most spectacular
was dug round a derelict tank of ours, lost in the second Gaza battle.
It was known to us as Tank Redoubt and lay opposite Abbas Apex in our
own line and some 1600 yards away. Several very successful raids had
been made on other of his strongholds and G.H.Q. detailed our battalion
for a similar attempt on Tank Redoubt. Such an operation required
skilful and exact preparation and very great accuracy. A scale model of
the redoubt was made near the bivouac area and the raiding party, 300
strong, under Major Findlay, began active rehearsals. The "Destruction
Party" were to form a spectacular feature of this raid. They were to
carry 6-feet tubes full of ammonal for blowing gaps in the wire. The
sappers, by using the mechanism of Mill's bombs, were able to devise a
method by which the Mill's lever was released and five seconds after the
tubes exploded. Hatchet men then were to rush in and clear the gaps. The
system seemed to work well in practice. The raid was to take place while
the Battalion was holding the line at Abbas Apex, and on August 5th
Colonel Morrison with the rest of the Battalion took over this sector
from the 4th R.S. Previously, parties of officers and men from the
raiding party had gone out on patrol with the Royal Scots in order to
familiarise themselves with the ground. On every occasion they met
strong Turkish patrols, who usually held some old British trenches, dug
by the Suffolks during the second Gaza battle, on a small ridge about
600 yards from Tank Redoubt, known as Suffolk Ridge. The first officer
we sent out to familiarise himself with the ground had a much more
exciting time than he bargained for, and only by being possessed of an
excellent sense of direction did he return to us. It was a fitting
introduction to what was in store for us in the No-Man's Land in front
of the Abbas Apex. The presence of a hostile patrol on the night of the
raid would jeopardise everything and so it was determined to make an
attempt to clear No Man's Land the night before. A patrol of two
officers and thirty other ranks accordingly got orders to move out to
the old British trenches to act as a decoy to entice the enemy to pursue
them towards our lines, while on the flank were to be stationed two
companies of another unit, whose orders were on hearing rapid fire
coming from the patrol to close with the bayonet on the flank of the
enemy and roll up his line against our wire. It was an intensely dark
night and the patrol moved out after the two companies were safely
hidden in cover. The first intimation of the Turk was the sight of a
line of sparks from bombs being lit (the Turk then used brassards for
lighting the fuses); then began quite a battle. Rifles and our Lewis
guns opened out rapid fire, ceased fire, and opened again, and then
began to withdraw. It was time, as the Turks were enveloping us. Several
men had been hit and half the butt of the Lewis gun blown off by a bomb.
It was difficult to estimate the number of the enemy, but an officer
found himself in the third extended line of advancing Turks and reckoned
we were up against a big roving patrol which had a good reputation for
this sort of work. This officer, with a balmoral as a head-dress and
armed with a rifle and bayonet, escaped in the dark by his resemblance
to a Turk and by his bayoneting one of the enemy. The patrol
extricated itself with ability, much helped by Corporal M'Lean in charge
of the Lewis gun section, who took the gun after all of his team had
been wounded and kept off the enemy by firing it from his shoulder. For
his coolness and gallantry he received the first Military Medal awarded
to the Battalion in Palestine. The Turks had been drawn on all right,
but what of the charge by the two companies. That unfortunately
miscarried. It came late and the two companies missed the flank of the
enemy's advanced force, getting into the gap behind it and just in front
of the enemy's reserve line which was also advancing. Thus they found
themselves with no one in front of them, but with a bomb and rifle
attack on both flanks. With some difficulty they were withdrawn. Our own
patrol got home safely but Lieut. Milne and Pte. Graham were lost in the
retiral. No one had seen Lieut. Milne fall, but months later we heard
that he had died of wounds in a Turkish hospital. He was a great loss,
as his bright and cheery nature helped all ranks.
[Illustration: SHEIKH ABBAS.]
As the result of this raid could not be said to have cleared the enemy
of the extensive No Man's Land, the raid on Tank Redoubt had to be
cancelled and the raiding party joined the Battalion in the line.
The next fortnight must rank as among the most unpleasant and least
satisfactory periods of the whole campaign. The Turk was extremely
active in No Man's Land, and while our last encounter had made him
appreciate he was not going to have it all his own way in his midnight
strolls, and while he apparently agreed to keep some 800 yards from our
line, still beyond that point he considered the land was his preserve,
and there he kept every night large floating patrols and maintained a
garrison in the old British trenches, and he was most determined that we
should not visit him. From the Apex an old road ran straight through our
wire towards the Tank, crossed by another road at right angles about
800 yards out. To these cross-roads, from which the trenches were about
400 yards distant, the Battalion sent at least one nightly patrol. The
patrol then became a listening post or covering patrol and an officer
and a man would proceed further to try to find out the Turk's night
dispositions. These were discovered, and at length the reserve company
asked permission to clear the trenches with the bayonet. The idea was
approved, but a higher authority announced that it was preparing a
scheme and that until the plan was ready we must not disturb the Turk
unduly, but were to continue our patrols to the cross-roads and send on
a small party to draw fire from the enemy holding the old British
trenches. This was clear, and although unpleasant was regularly carried
out, but all ranks got thoroughly tired of this job as it had to be done
for about ten nights before the scheme appeared. It embraced artillery
and machine-gun support, Verey lights and all the incidentals of a
first-class night attack. The enemy was to be enclosed in a rectangle,
three sides of which were to consist of shells and machine-gun bullets
and the fourth of one company of another unit and "A" Company of the
5th. This side was to move inwards, clearing the old British trenches
with the bayonet as it reached them. On the right was "A" Company, clear
of the trenches, which fell to others, so that "A" Company's duty was to
clear their side of Suffolk Ridge and keep in line with the company on
their left. From the information gained by our patrols we did not
anticipate that "A" Company would meet with any opposition. The Turkish
position to their front was some 200 yards farther on than their
objective. On the 20th August the operation was attempted. The trenches
were strongly held, and the company on the left could not carry them.
The line became confused in the darkness. Acting on orders previously
issued "A" Company withdrew to the cross-roads; a patrol was then sent
out but nothing was discovered. The Turks were remaining in their
trenches and the other company had gone home, so "A" Company also
returned after a most unsatisfactory night's work and fifteen
casualties, of which two were killed and four missing. Three of the
missing were accounted for in this way. Two stretcher bearers with one
stretcher case set off for our line, but unfortunately got confused at
the cross-roads and wandered into a wadi where they were captured. We
got word soon after from the bearers, by letter dropped from a Turkish
aeroplane, that they were safe, and after the Armistice we were glad to
hear that Pte. Brooks, the wounded man, had returned safe, if not sound,
as he had lost a leg.
There is an amusing incident which occurred at this time when the
Brigade held the Apex. An officer's patrol was sent out by another unit
one very dark night to reconnoitre the ground between the Apex and Tank
Redoubt. Having covered the ground they returned to their own lines,
where the officer sent the patrol in under a corporal and decided to go
out again with his sergeant to endeavour to get some information
regarding a particular part of the enemy's line. Off they went and after
having gone some distance were quite at a loss as to where they were.
They suddenly came up against some barbed wire and thinking that it
might be the Turkish lines decided to lie down and listen. Very soon
they heard voices talking in a language unmistakably eastern. They
distinguished such words as Achmed, Abdul, etc., and jumped to the
conclusion that they were within a few yards of the enemy. While they
were rapidly considering the best way of beating a hasty retreat they
were greatly relieved to hear the raucous voice of a sleepy Scot
exhorting the speakers in very fluent language to take the ration camels
away from his vicinity. In the darkness they had described a semi-circle
and returned to their own lines.
On the 24th the Battalion was relieved and went into Brigade reserve at
Tel el Ahmar, occupying the redoubts about two miles behind the front
line. By the beginning of September we were back in the Wadi Simeon
working on fatigues by night and day. After a fortnight of this, orders
came to rejoin the rest of the Brigade at Sheikh Nahkrur. This was a
bivouac area near to the tomb of some ancient holy man and almost within
the shadow of Tel el Jemmi, the huge circular earth-tower, which was the
most southerly outpost of the Crusaders. There we began a hard programme
of training in musketry, bayonet-fighting, physical and close-order
drill and movements by night, a plain showing that we were entering
again the valley of decision. On the 19th, General Hill, the commander
of the 52nd Division, inspected the Brigade, and, after complimenting it
on the steadiness of drill and marching, foretold the near approach of
the day when all its steadiness and valour would be required. The last
week spent at Sheikh Nahkrur we were attached to the 155th Brigade, the
remainder of our Brigade having gone nearer the line as they had come
out before us. Left to ourselves we thoroughly enjoyed life. The
training on the open country was a delightful change, and after our
recent experiences we were easily able to devise small night operations
of the most hair-raising kind. It was here that our Battalion Concert
Party made their debut. There were seven of them, Corpl. Hamilton, Ptes.
F. Williams, A. Heron, J. M'Ardle (Ella Rish), Sergt. R. Lyon, Ptes. T.
Elliot and J.B. Smith. The pioneers rigged up a stage with its back to a
high cactus hedge and from the performance the future success of the
company was assured, and to the company, as well as to the pioneers who
afterwards erected and decorated stages in the open or in nullahs, we
owed much for the entertainments given. Battalion sports were also held.
Most who were there will remember the stalwart Pte. Little walking round
the tiny transport donkey with the "Bint" up. Another worthy effort of
the pioneers was the erection of a palatial hut when an officer's mess
dinner was held, our first since leaving Mahamdiya. A move was made on
the 29th when the battalion arrived in the Abbas sector, coming under
the command of the G.O.C. 234th Brigade. The remainder of the Brigade
took over the Edinburgh sector of the line from Outpost Hill westwards.
A change was made on October 5th when we moved into reserve at Apsley
House where the other battalions of the Brigade joined us a week later.
Training was continued. Particular attention was paid to the
specialists, and Brigade Bombing and Sniping Schools were started. Lewis
gunners, in their little groups, sweated over the dusty ground and
picked their weapons to pieces almost every hour. The men were exercised
in attacks over the open and in surprise attacks on unknown positions.
Parties of officers visited the coastal sector and examined diligently
the enemy lines. Each day saw a keener polish put on the weapon which
was so soon to be used. The strain was beginning to be felt when, on the
24th October, the guns on our whole front began the overture to the
third battle of Gaza.
[Illustration: OBSERVATION POST IN FRONT OF YAPTON POST.]
Following our custom we had been living in a nullah, but the first rain
of the season took us by surprise on 25th October, and the dry bed
became a stream and all the little cubby holes became full of water; the
lightning was amazingly brilliant and the roar of the thunder made the
bombardment sound tame in comparison. There was not a soul in the
Battalion but was soaked to the skin. It was a curious thing as the
conditions steadily got worse to hear the men instead of grousing
singing their favourite songs till day broke and a sunny morning dried
up everyone in a few hours.