ould unquestionably have long marches in a
country yielding a quite inadequate supply of drinking water, and this
problem in itself was such that fully 6000 camels were required to
carry drinking water to infantry alone. Water-abstinence training
lasted three weeks, and the maximum of half a gallon a man for all
purposes was not exceeded, simply because the men had been made
accustomed to deny themselves drink except when absolutely necessary.
But for a systematic training they would have suffered a great deal.
The disposition of the force is given in the Appendix.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Appendix v].

CHAPTER V

RAILWAYS, ROADS, AND THE BASE

To ease the supply problem a spur line was laid from Rafa to Shellal,
on the wadi Ghuzze. In that way supplies, stores, and ammunition were
taken up to our right flank. Shellal was a position of great strategic
importance. At one time it appeared as if we should have to fight hard
to gain it. The Turks had cut an elaborate series of trenches on
Wali Sheikh Nuran, a hill covering Shellal, but they evacuated
this position before we made the first attack on Gaza, and left an
invaluable water supply in our hands.

At Shellal the stony bed of the wadi Ghuzze rests between high mud
banks which have been cut into fantastic shapes by the rushing waters
descending from the southern extremities of the Judean range of hills
during the winter rains. In the summer months, when the remainder
of the wadi bed is dry, there are bubbling springs of good water at
Shellal, and these have probably been continuously flowing for many
centuries, for close above the spot where the water issues Anzac
cavalry discovered a beautiful remnant of the mosaic flooring of an
ancient Christian church, which, raised on a hundred-feet mound, was
doubtless the centre of a colony of Christians, hundreds of years
before Crusaders were attracted to the Holy Land. Our engineers
harnessed that precious flow. A dam was put across the wadi bed and at
least a million gallons of crystal water were held up by it,
whilst the overflow went into shallow pools fringed with grass (a
delightfully refreshing sight in that arid country) from which horses
were watered. Pumping sets were installed at the reservoir and pipes
were laid towards Karm, and from these the Camel Transport Corps were
to fill fanatis--eight to twelve gallon tanks--for carriage of water
to troops on the move.

The railway staff, the department which arr