November the 17th, just after the arrival in the Sheria area, was known as “Parcel Day”: it was the first post since our departure from our desert line on the Wadi Ghuzze. Not only letters arrived but huge bags of parcels; nearly every man received a parcel. The owners of many, however, were not to be found; some had given their lives for their country while others had been sent to base hospitals either wounded or sick. But each platoon or mess made short work of these and divided the spoil; it was an unwritten law and not stealing. Luxuries were plentiful and hundreds of tea parties and dinner parties were held that evening. Every unit, however, has its “grousers,” not that they mean any harm, but it is their privilege as British Tommies. They could not legitimately grouse this night with all the good things around so they turned their morbid thoughts to treks and predicted a move on the morrow, when every one would be laden with luxuries. Their prophecies came true and the following morning camp was struck and the Battalion marched towards Gaza as far as Muntaret. On the 19th of November the march was resumed to the outskirts of the town of Gaza. The day’s march was not a great distance but the downpour of heavy rain in the evening drenched all. This was the commencement of the rainy season in Palestine.
CHAPTER XXXV
THE MARCH FROM GAZA UP COUNTRY—ENAB—THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM—TEL-EL-FUL—BIREH.
At Gaza the Battalion bivouacked just to the north of the town. “Town” was perhaps a complimentary term for Gaza at that time, for it was in a deplorable state. The proud town of the Philistines and the scene of Samson’s deathly triumph had been most thoroughly treated to every type of missile known to the British forces, from rifle bullet to the 12-inch naval projectile, and there was ample evidence of the efficacy of that treatment. Scarcely a whole wall remained, big gun emplacements built of concrete and iron rails, though skilfully hidden, had been utterly destroyed and most of the trenches flattened out. Before these had stood formidable obstacles in the shape of cactus hedges, which had proved themselves more efficient than any barbed wire, but what remained of these was liberally sprinkled with shrapnel holes. In short, Gaza had been made as unhealthy as it was possible for us to have made it, and at last the Turk had been made to quit, though not without a struggle.
Through the centre of the town a clearing had been made and the broad-gauge railway was being rapidly advanced. The methods of the R.E. railway construction companies are well worth a short description. They were the essence of efficiency. First the R.E. officer with a few satellites carrying the necessary instruments would prospect and decide the direction of the line, and he was quickly followed by a large gang of the Egyptian Labour Corps who, armed with a tool similar to an adze, but without that instrument’s sharp edge, and a bag similar to a carpenter’s, would immediately set to work to clear the ground and make the necessary cutting or embankment. The sight of some hundreds of these natives swarming over the position was exactly like an overturned ant-hill. Every one seemed to run in different directions, and to the uninitiated confusion appeared to reign supreme, but the work was completed at a pace which would have made a “ca’canny” trade union delegate weep with anguish. When the necessary alteration to the landscape had been effected more labourers would appear, each carrying a huge railway sleeper which was dumped roughly in position, later to be arranged properly and levelled by soldier platelayers. This work was no sooner completed than lengths of rail were dumped upon and quickly secured to the sleepers by means of fish-spikes. The rails were then trimmed, levelled and bolted together and very shortly afterwards were being used by the construction train, which with its supply of material, could thus closely follow the quickly moving construction gangs. The “permanent” way thus made could not, it is true, attempt to rival that to which we were accustomed, but an adequate supply of transport was absolutely necessary for the success of the E.E.F. at that time, and in those days no branch of the Services worked more quickly or efficiently than the railway construction companies to maintain the supply line.
After a short rest at Gaza we commenced our march northwards on the 19th of November, 1917. Our actual destination was unknown, but the “lying jade” had been busy and the magical word “Jerusalem” was ever on her lips. Private soldiers or humble subalterns do not presume to understand the ways of an Army Commander. They have, in the famous game of war, not even the status of a pawn, but nevertheless are for ever weighing the pros and cons of each and every movement they are required to make and thus if anyone had, but two short months ago, been rash enough to suggest that Beersheba was the opening move of a game that was to end in the capture of the Holy City, they would have suggested that the unfortunate one had been disobeying divisional orders and by not wearing his helmet had caught a touch of the sun. But the situation had rapidly changed since the dreary days of the Gambli defences, and Jerusalem was in fact well within our reach. True it was that our grip had not been closed upon it, but the days of the Turk in the home of Christianity were for ever numbered.
Rain had fallen heavily for a short time during our stay at Gaza and though its advent had been a welcome change we later had cause to regret the hot sunny days of the Sinai Desert. The flat coastal plain which runs north from Gaza has been cultivated land ever since Biblical times, and is the most fertile spot in the whole of Palestine, and in consequence the most thickly populated, though the total number in the whole land, apart from the cities such as Gaza, Jaffa, Ludd and Jerusalem, would disgrace a small English county. A plentiful crop of barley which had been grown had been recently cut; indeed rumour had it that a famous “Scotch” whisky firm had nearly failed owing to the lack of supplies from Palestine! The course of our march was set through fields of stubble. When it was hot and dry, there arose stifling clouds of dust, and when wet the sticky nature of the ground could even bring a “caterpillar tractor” to a standstill. The change, however, from endless sand was at first welcome and we found great delight in passing through the native villages. These were amazing collections of mud huts, windows were unknown and of sanitary arrangements there were none; yet the inhabitants though inexpressibly dirty seemed quite happy and contented with their lot. When opportunity arose we supplemented our meagre rations by purchasing eggs, figs, nuts and oranges. The last named were most welcome. We had seen no vegetables for months and the supply of fruit undoubtedly did much to dispel the ill effects of this enforced denial of “greens.” The number to be obtained for one Egyptian piastre (2½d. English) varied, but the native drove a hard bargain if you failed to obtain at least six magnificent Jaffa oranges for that small sum. Many indeed did show in their dealings with us characteristics of the descendants of the twelve tribes with which we are all familiar, but at least one of them met his match. One famous youth, noticing that a coloured Egyptian bank note had a remarkable purchasing power, was smitten with a brilliant idea. Hurriedly quitting the village market place he produced a gaudy label from a tin of jam and succeeding in persuading a hoary-headed old extortioner to part with the whole of his stock of oranges on the understanding that the aforesaid label was worth untold gold. That youth of course had no right to be a private soldier “foot-slogging” through the Holy Land; he had missed his vocation, which was that of a company promoter in the aeroplane or munition line at home. So many oranges were eaten on that march that, later on, drafts marching up from Gaza were known to have followed this trail of orange peel and found their way across Palestine to Jerusalem.
Marching is a thirsty business in any country and when for the most part the march is made enveloped in clouds of dust, it becomes even a still thirstier business. We had had long training in that fine art of marching from dawn to dusk without having recourse to the water-bottle, and that training stood us in good stead in those November days. The supply of water was an ever-present anxiety with the higher command, and in spite of the exploration of wells by the Royal Engineers, we were only allowed the meagre amount of one water-bottle full per man per diem, and this had to be carefully husbanded if the owner desired to partake of tea ration at the end of the day. He who could not produce a mugful of water could not draw a mugful of tea, and this was strictly adhered to.
It was our great good fortune during the whole campaign never to miss our daily supply of water, and for that great credit is due to Lieutenant Gearing, who was in charge of the water camels. He had an uncanny knack of finding his way to us over trackless unknown country, and wherever we bivouacked for the night he was sure to arrive very shortly afterwards with his precious convoy of water camels. His trials cannot here be recorded and their recital on paper would never convey an adequate impression of his difficulties, and yet no one in the Battalion ever did better work. Such deeds are not rewarded with decorations, but perhaps this tardy recognition of his work will in some way convey to him our appreciation of his excellent work.
Water was not the only difficulty. Rations were very short. We had been for weeks on what the A.S.C. called “mobile” rations, which was the official name for four biscuits, one tin of bully beef and a small ration of tea and sugar for each man every twenty-four hours. This was occasionally supplemented by jam, but even then it was a wearisome diet. “Smokes” became very scarce and the old substitute of dried tea-leaves was often in use. Fuel was conspicuous by its absence, as also were mails.
However we did not grumble too much when we realised the difficulties of transport. The railway embankment built over the Wadi Ghuzze had been twice swept away by floods and all rations, etc., had to be brought by motor lorry from Gaza, and as there were no roads it was a trying experience for the A.S.C., particularly as two of the Motor Transport companies had been but recently formed and rushed up from the Base and immediately given the task of supplying a rapidly moving Division over 50-60 miles of trackless country.