repared
to stop any attempt on the part of the Turks to follow them, and must
expect a good shelling in the morning. Meanwhile some water had arrived
and everyone got a drink of tea, which put new life into us. The night
was as cold as the day had been hot, but passed quietly save for a
sudden outburst of rifle-fire to our right, which we rightly put down to
someone with the wind up. The retiring troops passed through us in good
order but very exhausted. As daylight gradually broke we got our first
sight of Gaza and the country south of it, with which we were to become
extremely familiar in the next seven months. We were a mile or so from
the Wadi Ghuzzeh, with the extraordinary Hill of Tel el Jemmi away on
our right, while the Red House among its fruit trees and the white dome
of Sheikh Nebhan were conspicuous in the foreground. Behind them
stretched Happy Valley, seeming to run right up to the tree-crowned
summit of Ali el Muntar, while on its left were Kurd and Border valleys
and the sand dunes, and on its right a tumbled mass of green uplands
with sudden red cliffs marking nullahs and wadis. The position of the
town itself was shown by the minaret of the mosque and one or two other
taller buildings. The whole scene seemed utterly peaceful in the morning
sunlight, not a shot was fired all day, and a big cloud of dust to the
north-west made many of us think that the Turks were evacuating the
place. During the morning cavalry patrols moved forward from our right
flank and disappeared among the hills, apparently encountering no
opposition, and some white ambulance sand carts went through in the same
direction in order to attempt to pick up some of the wounded, which our
men had been forced to abandon the night before. We never heard the
result of their mission, but fear they had no success.

It was another very hot day, with a khamsin blowing, and the hard,
shelterless hill-sides were a poor place to spend it on. About 4 p.m.,
however, we were relieved, and moved back to the bivouac area in
Inserrat where we were able to take off our boots and enjoy a full
night's sleep.

The history of the first battle of Gaza may be read elsewhere. The
Division was in reserve, and had no part in it. It is said that the
Turks were in two minds whether to hold the town or not, and in
consequence a sudden attack might well have found them with divided
counsels and have taken the place and a large number of prisoners with
it. The water