Water for men and animals was obtained from the Nile, via the Sweet Water Canal, which runs a few hundred yards west of the Suez Canal. Darius the Persian is credited with the construction of the Sweet Water Canal, which he used for transport between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After Actium the remnant of Cleopatra’s galleys took refuge therein. It fell into disuse for centuries, and was restored by de Lesseps as a water-supply for his workmen while the Suez Canal was under construction. There were filtering plants at all pumping stations, and as Nile water contains the parasite of the dreaded disease bilharziosis, there was a strict rule against bathing in the Nile or the Sweet Water Canal. Water for the troops was at first brought in barges from Suez and stored in tanks on both sides of the Suez Canal, being distributed by camel transport to the outposts in fanatis. A fantasse (plural, fanatis) is a stoppered flat box of zinc which holds from ten to twelve gallons and usually leaks a little. A camel carries a fantasse slung on either side. As the scheme grew the engineers laid a six-inch water-main across the desert, and thus the ancient prophecy that Palestine would never be freed from the Turkish yoke until Nile water flowed into it was fulfilled.
Shallufa and Suez
The third line of works was within easy walking distance of the Canal. It was good fun for the veterans of Gallipoli to bandy repartees from the water with the newly-trained drafts for India and Mesopotamia who, looking down upon them from the towering decks of big transports, asked when they were going to “do their bit,” instead of taking a seaside holiday at an Egyptian pleasure-resort. Much booty in the form of tins of cigarettes thrown by passengers on liners was gathered in by bold swimmers. The weather was cool, and, in spite of very strenuous labour in the loose sand, the stay at Shallufa was a pleasant holiday as compared with conditions in Gallipoli. The sandstorms of March were decidedly unpleasant, however, for the sand penetrated everywhere. To attempt to keep it out of food, equipment, clothing or lungs was quite futile, and a sandstorm would quickly fill the trenches that had been dug at the cost of several days’ steady labour. These sandstorms began with amazing regularity about midday and continued until 6 p.m. All cooking had to be done before or after these hours.
During the Shallufa period many officers and men returned to duty from hospital. These would feel that this record of the 42nd Division would be incomplete indeed were no reference made and no tribute paid to the founder and the workers of the admirable Convalescent Home at Alexandria, established in June, 1915, by Lady Douglas, whose solicitude for the welfare of all ranks under her husband’s command will be remembered with lasting gratitude by the Division. The hospital was supported by the units and by subscriptions from friends at home. In addition to the return of those who had been absent through wounds and sickness, units were further strengthened by small drafts from home—but numbers still remained much below strength. The Division was weakened by the return to England of time-expired Territorials, including a number of the best men. Two officers who had been in command of their units throughout the Gallipoli campaign also left the Shallufa camp for England in the spring of 1916—Lieut.-Colonel S. L. Tennant, R.E., on leave, and Major England, A.S.C., who left to take charge of the 66th Divisional Train, the duties of Senior Supply Officer devolving upon Captain A. Gillibrand.
The Artillery here received their 18-pounder guns—handed over by the 29th Division—and their training and reorganization were taken seriously in hand, with firing practice in the desert. The three Field Ambulances remained on the Canal bank, and when not engaged in training or in attending to the cases brought in on camels or by light railways from the desert posts, were able to enjoy the bathing in the Canal. Sick were conveyed by steam launch from Kabrit and Genefa to Shallufa, and many of the high-temperature cases were dipped and sponged in the cooling, refreshing water of the Salt Lake. The Division settled down to a diet of “ginger, spit, and polish,” the hard work, the swimming, games, sports, concerts—including a singing competition “for the championship of Asia”—proved wonderfully efficacious in restoring the vitality and the smartness of the Division after its long spell of trench life. Invariably, however, there is the man who has to acquire polish at the cost of much tribulation to himself and to his immediate superiors. There was, for instance, the sentry who failed to turn out the guard for the Divisional Commander. In excuse he explained: “Well, sir, I didn’t see at first that you were a Staff Colonel,” then, being of an amiable disposition, he leant forward and added in confidential tones: “You see, by rights I oughtn’t to be here at all. I’m the sanitary man!” It was felt that this man was not a success, either as sentry or diplomat.
During the last days of March and the first days of April, the Division left Shallufa to camp in the desert about two miles north-west of Suez. With the assistance of a Belgian contractor and native carpenters the infantry, under the supervision of the engineers, rapidly erected a large number of huts with double roofs of matting and also long lines of stables. A macadam road was made through the camp and was eventually extended to Kubri. A thorough course of company, battalion, and brigade training was carried out here, the physique and efficiency of the troops improving greatly in consequence. Much of this training was carried out in the desert west of Suez and along the ancient tower-marked road that leads to Cairo—the “far end” of the very road which had become so familiar to the Division in the first autumn and winter of the war. The machine-gun sections had constant practice; and it was here that the Brigade M.G. Companies took definite form as separate units. Emphasis was laid on the training of the young officer; and the offensive spirit was successfully fostered and stimulated. Once more it was proved that close-order drill and punctilious discipline, diversified and relieved by games and sports, formed the basis on which that military ideal must be built up. Rugby, soccer, hockey, and even donkey polo were played, and the Rugby team of the 5th Manchesters won great renown. Canteens now provided cigarettes, biscuits, chocolates, and other articles much appreciated by the troops. A Dramatic Society was formed, and plays specially written by Major G. B. Hurst were given at the “Theatre Royal.” The rehearsals and presentation gave great fun.
While at Suez the Artillery brigades and batteries were renamed. The 1st E.L. Brigade became the 210th Brigade, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th became the 211th, 212th, and 213th respectively, each having three four-gun batteries designated A, B, and C, with the exception of the 213th Brigade, which consisted of two howitzer batteries. After the Division left the Shallufa camp it was found that the defences there were not progressing with sufficient rapidity, and at the end of May the 7th and 8th Lancashire Fusiliers and the 127th Infantry Brigade were sent to Kubri and Shallufa to assist the 54th Division. In spite of the great heat, the Lancashire men, now more or less acclimatized, got through more in a few days than the recently arrived troops had accomplished in a month, and they received deserved praise from the G.O.C. of the section for their work at Manchester, Salford, Ashton, and other posts.
The heat in June was terrific, and a temperature of 120 degrees in the shade—the difficulty being to find the shade!—was normal, and on one or two occasions a midnight temperature of 105 degrees was registered. During this hot period the scouts and signallers of the 125th Brigade, while taking part in a training scheme, were sent out to the Ataka Hills, some seven or eight miles from camp, two parties operating as opposing forces. Movement among the hills proved more arduous than had been anticipated, and the men suffered much from the blazing sun—the rays being refracted by the rocks—and also from want of water. The greater part of them got back to camp with considerable difficulty. A Yeomanry patrol and an aeroplane were sent out on June 16, and parties of Arabs two days later, to look for the missing, and the bodies of two men who had died from heat and exhaustion were brought in. After this no training was permitted between the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. For the remaining ten hours of the day the average man could do little except lie, lightly clad, envying the Russians in the Caucasian snows, and dreaming of the invention or discovery of an ice-cold drink that could be produced in unlimited quantities even in a desert, and would remain unaffected by the temperature. But—
“Who can hold a fire in his hand,
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?”