ock-coated gentlemen, wearing tarbooshes, who constituted
some of the "notables" of Egypt and had been invited to witness a
display by the Air Service of the Army.

FOOTNOTES:

[Q] It was reported that 50,000 camels were requisitioned for the
operations in the Sinai Peninsula.

CHAPTER XII.

PREPARING FOR FRANCE.

Early in 1916 the Australian Government decided to raise and maintain
three new Divisions of the Australian Imperial Force. One of these--the
3rd--was to be recruited in Australia and the other two--4th and
5th--found from _personnel_ available in Egypt. By this decision
Australia was committed to providing, straight off, a new formation of
20,000 men and, in addition, to increasing her monthly flow of
reinforcements by 150 per cent., in order to adequately maintain the
five divisions in the field.

When the 1st and 2nd Divisions moved down to the east bank of the Suez
Canal, the 4th and 8th Brigades were taken back to Tel-el-Kebir camp to
form the nuclei of the 4th and 5th Divisions, respectively. As a means
of preserving the admirable spirit of the A.I.F., and also to ensure a
backing of trained and experienced _personnel_, 50 per cent. of the new
infantry brigades, technical and departmental units, was secured by
splitting up the four original infantry brigades and their attendant
auxiliaries. The balance was furnished from the accumulating
reinforcements at the training camps, near Zeitun. By this means, the
two original Western Australian Battalions--11th and 16th--became the
parent units of the 51st and 48th Battalions, respectively.

Following on this very important addition to the forces, the A.I.F. was
now divided into two Corps. General Birdwood remained in supreme
command, but personally directed the operations of the 1st Anzac Corps,
whilst to General Godley fell the 4th and 5th Divisions which, added to
his own New Zealanders, formed the 2nd Anzac Corps. The main body of the
Light Horse became a separate Division under the command of
Major-General H. G. Chauvel.

In consequence of the necessity for filling up the ranks of the new
formations, a goodly portion of the body of reinforcements--officers and
others--intended for the 28th Battalion was diverted to the 51st
Battalion.

Following on the action taken in regard to the creation of the new
Divisions, steps were taken to form several new units. These included a
Cyclist Battalion for the Corps, a Pioneer Battalion for each Div