Late at night water and rations arrived and these, together with cigarettes made from dried tea leaves, helped every one to retire for the night satisfied with the day’s work.
For the next two days we remained here and the Battalion was reorganised; transport came up from Sheria and fatigue parties were sent back to Muntaret for the packs which we had dumped just before the attack; while others had been left as far back as Sheria by “C” Company who it will be remembered started off from the Sheria Wadi as an advance guard. Unfortunately the water supply at Huj was not so promising as expected and the damage done to the wells by the retreating Turk did not help matters. Horses and mules were sent out in all directions without finding a sufficient supply and lack of water became so acute that the Artillery men near by sacrificed their own limited supply for their horses. The difficulty of our own transport is best described by the following letter from Lieutenant Pearson, our transport officer at the time:
“On one occasion we left the lines at 5.30 a.m. with the animals to go about 10 miles for water, and had to be back ready to move off at 2.30 p.m. When we arrived at the given place there were several thousands of Australian Cavalry horses, artillery horses, and several infantry units, animals with only one 30-foot long portable trough. The Australians’ horses had not had any water for over 36 hours, so you can imagine there was no system or order, the horses could not be held back. We had to return without watering, and arrived back at 2 p.m. In the meantime, the Battalion had received further orders to the effect that they would not move until next day. After feeding the animals, and after the men had had a snack, we were told there was a well near at hand. We went in search and found it was about 60 feet deep and had to pull up a bucketful at a time by means of a long rope; anyway, we arrived back at 1.30 a.m. The men and animals only having had one meal at midday between 5.30 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. the next day. We moved off at 8.30 a.m. the same morning.”
The foregoing incident actually occurred while we were at Tor Dimrah on November 9th, 1917.
From the heights at Tor Dimrah the result of our recent fighting could be well appreciated. A few miles to the south-west could be seen the town of Gaza, the scene of heavy fighting some months previously, while to the west stretched the coastal plain which ran up country as far as Jaffa. Frontal attacks on Gaza had proved unsuccessful earlier in the year, and therefore General Allenby decided to attack from a flank. The line of attack commenced at Beersheba and was made in a north-westerly direction, rolling up the Turkish line from the east, and hoping at the same time to reach the north of Gaza in time to cut off the garrison. While this flank movement was in progress local frontal raids on Gaza were made under heavy artillery bombardments from both land and sea. However, the Turkish leaders were able to thwart the full intention of the scheme and by their strong resistance, by powerful flank guards at Kauwukah, Sheria and Muntaret, were enabled to give time for their troops at Gaza to retire north with minimum losses. However, as soon as the Gaza front gave way, the XXIst Corps under our old Divisional Commander, General E. S. Bulfin, relentlessly pursued the Turks as far as Jaffa.
Except for the 53rd Division, our own Corps, the XXth, was withdrawn from the pursuit and, in order to assist the advance, much of our corps transport was lent to the XXIst Corps. The 53rd Division just mentioned had been kept at Khuweilfeh just north of Beersheba since the beginning of the offensive, and had fought manfully against repeated attacks and thereby protected the right flank of our advance across Palestine.
On the 11th of November the Battalion moved a few miles north-east to the Wadi Jemmemiah where the whole of the surrounding country was covered with well planned trenches and all the valleys covered with machine-gun emplacements; but the numerous ammunition dumps round about signified how hastily the Turk had withdrawn without making a strong resistance. Only a day was spent here, and on the 13th we moved still farther north to Nejilah; a pleasant spot after the filth and dust which existed around Jemmeniah. The route was lined with large collections of war material which had been left by the retreating Turk and everywhere was desolate and uninviting. Not until a mile or so from Nejilah did the scenery improve and then a stretch of undulating grassland presented itself; a restful change for our tired eyes after a lengthy stay on the glaring yellow desert. A few flocks of sheep strayed over the pastureland and the quaintly dressed shepherds, at last, presented to us a fair representation of Biblical Palestine as we had imagined it in our youth. This was the first clean, healthy spot, free from sand and the filth which the Turks always left behind them, we had struck since our arrival at Belah.
For three days the Battalion remained here on these grassy hill-sides overlooking a wide plain of pasture land to the north. Just near the camping ground a stream of crystal clear water flowed and bathing parades were again indulged in. To give the Britisher his due, he does love cleanliness and even through the recent advance most of the men had used a portion of their limited ration for purposes of shaving, although a proper wash was out of the question. No parades were ordered and a restful time was spent at Nejilah. However, difficulties arose with regard to supplies; much of our corps transport having been lent to the other corps pursuing the enemy. Consequently the Battalion was ordered to return to Sheria.
As I have already said the Turk revelled in filth and pollution, and no better illustration could be seen than the Sheria area where he had apparently had a large base camp since the early days of the war. For miles around Sheria the place literally stank and flies were present in their millions. The ground was strewn with dead Turks, camels, horses and mules, and the presence of these carcasses did not improve the polluted atmosphere. However, the desert was expansive and camps were arranged as far from this debris as possible.
While we had been fighting during the past few weeks miracles had been performed by the A.S.C. and R.E. The former corps had worked well and supply dumps had been advanced with rapidity; camel and horse transport working in conjunction with the railways in the captured area. The latter corps had repaired the Turkish railways and used the captured rolling stock to good purpose; other sections of R.E.’s had exploited the wells and obtained good supplies of water in the Wadi Sheria.