In February,[22] orders were suddenly received one day for the detachment to move with all possible speed to the fighting zone. This was carried out, and within three hours of receiving the orders the entire detachment, with tanks and accessories, had entrained at Gilban, and was speeding northwards towards the area of operations. Next day a delay occurred at El Arish, which the day previously had been captured by the Australians; but, the same evening, the train proceeded to Rafa, a frontier town, which had only just been evacuated by the Turks, and early next morning reached Khan Yunus, some fifteen miles south-west of Gaza, an old Crusader stronghold surrounded by vast fig groves and other vegetation; here the detachment remained for ten days.
During this halt the First Battle of Gaza had come to an end, our troops having been obliged to retire and take up a position to the south of the town owing to the appearance of strong Turkish reinforcements from the direction of Beersheba; these threatened the British communications.
Hostilities now ceased and preparations were begun for the Second Battle of Gaza, which was to prove one of the fiercest contests of the war in its eastern theatre. For this battle, early in March, the Tank Detachment moved from Khan Yunus to Deir el Belah.
The Turkish Army at this period, numbering some 30,000 men, was disposed along a sixteen-mile front extending from Gaza south-eastwards to Hareira and Shekia. The British plan of operations was as follows:
The G.O.C. Desert Column was entrusted with the operations against the Hareira front, protecting the right flank, whilst the task of seizing the important ridges of Sheikh Abbas and Mansara, both commanding Gaza and situated to the south of this town, was assigned to the 52nd, 53rd, and 54th Divisions; the 74th Division remaining in general reserve.
The tanks of the detachment, which had been held in G.H.Q. reserve, were now allotted to divisions as follows:
(i) 53rd Division, operating from the sea to the Cairo road, running through Romani trench: two tanks which were to be held in reserve until the infantry had advanced to the line—Red House-Tel El Ajjul-Money House-the coast.
(ii) 52nd Division, operating from Kurd valley to Wadi El Nukhabir: four tanks to support the infantry attack on the Mansara ridge.
(iii) 54th Division, operating on a front extending from 500 yards west of Abbas ridge to the Gaza-Beersheba road: two tanks to support the infantry attack on the Sheikh Abbas ridge.
Z day was to be April 17. Two days prior to this the eight tanks left Deir El Belah after dusk, two proceeding over the Druid ridge through St. James’s Park, thence by Tel El Nujeid across the Wadi Ghuzze to Money hill; four from Deir El Belah in an easterly direction through Piccadilly Circus over the prominent ridge of In Seirat, then eastwards to Sheikh Nebhan on the Wadi Ghuzze; two followed the same route as far as In Seirat, and from there made for a point south-east of Sheikh Nebhan.