ea for a couple of months,
with changes of camp every week or so, and we learnt afterwards that
this was a period of special training to fit us for the fighting which
was expected in Palestine. It must be admitted that we had not
recognised it as such at the time, outposts, guards and fatigues of
every kind did not seem to leave us overmuch time for training. Still we
did manage to fit in a good deal of work with the smaller formations,
and one or two days of Brigade and Divisional training to boot. Two
night operations--yes, we will say it now--a most detestable form of
exercise, linger specially in the memory. Night work in this sort of
country is always difficult because there are so few landmarks. A
Brigade can be moved on a compass bearing with every chance of success
if the mover has the necessary elementary knowledge. But the commander
of a smaller unit, say a platoon, going to or returning from a certain
place in the dark, rarely has any knowledge of the right bearing to work
on, and if the night is cloudy, he is surrounded by a Stygian darkness
in which he soon feels a little doubtful of his uncharted way. He begins
to zigzag a bit, peering through the gloom for some familiar landmark.
The men, who for the most part would be completely lost in three minutes
on their own, are critical and unsympathetic, and rightly, for this is
what an officer is paid extra for. They whisper caustic comments in the
rear. All sense of direction seems suddenly to fail the unhappy man, and
he sinks into the depths of a misery which few others can equal. At
last a light shines out ahead. Making towards it with a wild hope he
sees the darker marks of bivouacs against the sand, and suddenly
recognises his own company lines. With a heart full of thankfulness he
halts and dismisses his men, and retires to his own hole fondly
believing that no one but himself knows what had happened.

[Illustration: MOUTH OF WADI EL ARISH.]

But in Brigade night operations platoon commanders and even company
commanders and greater men still abandon themselves with the rest to an
appalling nightmare of moving in sudden jerks through a gloom full of
whispered oaths and the creaking of rifles and of ill-fitting equipment.
There are long chilly halts, when the men rub their bare knees to keep
them warm or drop into an uneasy doze--then sudden orders passed along
in a hoarse undertone, and a frenzied effort to change formation and
keep touch with the swaying