ndulating and
hilly, in sharp contrast to the desert.

The first cutting was being made at Khan Yunus when we passed through on
the way north, and there were several more subsequently, all of which
needed time and hard work. But the single line was now insufficient for the
needs of the army. Another division had been brought up, and the 52nd
Lowland Division, who, by way of a startling change, had not been engaged
in the first battle, also arrived from Khan Yunus to swell the tide of
troops. Accordingly a branch line was laid from Belah down to the seashore,
where immense quantities of ammunition and stores were landed from
cargo-boats coming direct from Port Said or Alexandria.

Landing the stores was a particularly difficult task. All the ships had to
stand about a mile off-shore and discharge their cargoes into lighters and
smaller craft. Nor was this too easy, for the currents hereabouts were
exceptionally strong--several men were drowned while bathing--and the coast
was rocky and dangerous; nevertheless the work was done at express speed.

At the beginning of April a notable arrival was that of the Tanks. We had
left them behind at Pelusium and had not seen them since, for it was a slow
business bringing them across the desert. Extraordinary precautions were
taken to hide them from observation by Turkish aircraft; indeed, so
effectually were they screened that even we failed to spot them.

Enemy machines now hovered over us daily, seeking information and dropping
powerful reminders of their presence. In this latter respect they paid
particular attention to the long trains arriving daily and also to a large
shell-dump near the station, which they bombed unmercifully. A remarkable
and, to my mind, deplorable feature here and elsewhere was the frequency
with which a field-ambulance or hospital of some sort found itself
alongside an ammunition-dump. So common was the practice that a man seeking
temporary treatment would first look for the dump, and sure enough the
hospital was hard by. We used to strafe the Turks for bringing up
ammunition to the firing-line under cover of the Red Cross, but it seems to
me that in effect we were doing much the same thing. You cannot expect the
enemy to play the game according to the Geneva Convention if you yourself
fail to observe the rules.

Turkish airmen used to drop messages asking us kindly to move our hospitals
lest they should be hit by bombs intended for the dumps. Presumab