elming artillery, fed from inexhaustible Ordnance parks and
dumps. Before the Infantry attack commenced the position was subjected
to a continuous bombardment night and day for six days and six nights
from every available gun and howitzer. The Infantry then attacked and
took a large portion of the position with a loss of, I believe, under
1,000 men. The Turks counter-attacked, but they melted away under the
tremendous artillery barrage and never attempted another during this
battle. Next night our Infantry tried to extend their conquest but the
Turks had meanwhile brought up an old Gallipoli Division, the 7th, which
held them at bay and inflicted upon them serious losses which, I
believe, increased their casualties to between two and three thousand.
The Corps Commander then decided to let the Infantry stand where they
were, to submit the Turks to a further three days' and three nights'
bombardment, at the end of which our Infantry advanced again only to
find that the Turks were evacuating the whole of the Gaza position.
After the Battle of 19th September, 1918, many Infantry commanders of
Divisions, Brigades and Battalions have told me the Turks appeared
crushed by the terrific artillery bombardment (under cover of which our
men advanced) and offered a resistance which, in comparison with our
experiences of Gallipoli, can only be called feeble.

The cardinal fact that remains in my mind is that in Palestine the 21st
Army Corps always had enough (and more than enough) of every artillery
requisite for whatever number of Divisions the Army Corps was composed
of; whereas, in Gallipoli, the VIIIth Army Corps at Helles, which was
composed of four British Divisions, never had enough Field Artillery or
ammunition to support more than one Division, and never possessed
sufficient heavy artillery to support more than one Infantry Brigade.

The material part of my statement ends here, and it only remains for me
to remind you that all the grievous shortcomings I have exposed were
actually made good by the heroism, devotion and sufferings of the
Officers and men of the Artillery at Helles, both Regular, Territorial,
Australian and New Zealand. Rest was impossible, as no Battery could
ever be withdrawn from the line and all field Batteries were under rifle
fire. If placed outside that range, they were destroyed by flanking fire
from Turkish guns in Asia. No dug-outs were possible, as dug-outs were
understood in France, as there was no