leave periods during the whole of the Battalion's stay in
Egypt.

On the 16th August the Battalion, when carrying out a night operation in
the desert, was recalled to camp and ordered to proceed the following
morning to garrison the Citadel. At 7.30 a.m. on the 17th August the
28th, leaving the transport behind under a small guard, commenced the
march to its new home which, after a trying time in the heat, was
reached in due course and quarters found in the various blocks of
barracks. These quarters, it was discovered, were alive with vermin,
necessitating the whole Battalion being set to work for several hours in
an attempt to clean the place. Iron bedsteads and palliasses were
available for the use of the troops, but as the palliasses also showed
signs of life very few were used. After Gallipoli was reached an account
for 40 of these iron bedsteads, which the unit, it was inferred, had
taken with it or disposed of in some other unlawful manner, was received
from the British authorities. Needless to say it has not yet been paid.

The C.O. was, for the time being, the Commandant of the fortress which
was the home of the ordnance stores and reserve of ammunition of the
Army of Occupation. Besides the British and Egyptian staffs to work
these, there were other troops within the walls. These included details
of the 2nd Mounted Division, recently embarked for the Peninsula;
British and Indian General Hospitals (both full); a hospital for
convalescents; a detention barracks; and about 40 Turkish Officers under
guard as prisoners of war. Amongst these prisoners was a major, a nephew
of the Senussi, who had been visiting Constantinople at the outbreak of
war and found himself immediately requisitioned for a tour through
Arabia for the purpose of promoting a holy war against the English.
Himself an Arab, who had always looked upon Great Britain with friendly
eyes, he undertook the mission rather unwillingly. In course of time he
joined Djemal Pasha's army approaching the Canal and was finally
captured by its defenders.

Owing to the large numbers of men required for special duties, all
training, except that for the section, platoon, and company, had to
cease. What little was done was carried out in the barrack yards or
else, in the early morning, on the top of the adjacent Moqattam Hills,
which was reached by a kind of causeway running up through the quarries.
The duties consisted of providing guards and sentries for the var