uture sheikh should choose the site for a summer residence he will
come across a wealth of metal in digging his foundations.

To capture Gaza the Formidable it was proposed first to take the
western defences from Umbrella Hill to Sea Post, to press on to Sheikh
Hasan and thus turn the right flank of the whole position. That would
compel the enemy to reinforce his right flank when he was being
heavily attacked elsewhere, and if he had been transferring his
reserves to meet the threat against the left of his main line after
Beersheba had been won for the Empire he would be in sore trouble.
Gaza had already tasted a full sample of the war food we intended it
should consume. Before the attack on Beersheba had developed, ships of
war and the heavy guns of XXIst Corps had rattled its defences. The
warships' fire was chiefly directed on targets our land guns could
not reach. Observers in aircraft controlled the fire and notified the
destruction of ammunition dumps at Deir Sineid and other places. The
work of the heavy batteries was watched with much interest. Some were
entirely new batteries which had never been in action against any
enemy, and they only arrived on the Gaza front five weeks before the
battle. These were not allowed to register until shortly before the
battle began, and they borrowed guns from other batteries in order to
train the gun crews. So desirous was General Bulfin to conceal the
concentration of heavies that the wireless code calls were only those
used by batteries which were in position before his Corps was formed,
and the volume of fire came as an absolute surprise to the enemy. It
came as a surprise also to some of us in camp at G.H.Q. one night at
the end of October. Suddenly there was a terrific burst of fire on
about four miles of front. Vivid fan-shaped flashes stabbed the sky,
the bright moonlight of the East did not dim the guns' lightning, and
their thunderous voices were a challenge the enemy was powerless to
refuse. He took it up slowly as if half ashamed of his weakness. Then
his fire increased in volume and in strength, but it ebbed again and
we knew the reason. We held some big 'stuff' for counter battery work,
and our fire was effective.

The preliminary bombardment began on October 27 and it grew in
intensity day by day. The Navy co-operated on October 29 and
subsequent days. The whole line from Middlesex Hill (close to Outpost
Hill) to the sea was subjected to heavy fire, all the rout