bumped over the uneven tracks and negotiated earth rents that threatened to swallow their vehicles, they put their faith in the promise of the railway constructors to open the station at Gaza at an early date.  Even Gaza, though it saved them so many toilsome miles, did not help them greatly because of a terrible piece of road north-east of the station, but Beit Hanun was comfortable and for the relief brought by the railway’s arrival at Deir Sineid they were profoundly grateful.

But this is anticipating the story of Gaza’s capture.  The XXIst Corps had not received its additional transport when it gained the ancient city of the Philistines, though it knew some of it was on the way and most of it about to start on its westward trek.  On the day of November 4 and during the succeeding night the Navy co-operated with the Corps’ artillery in destroying enemy trenches and gun positions, and the Ali Muntar Ridge was a glad sight for tired gunners’ eyes.  The enemy showed a disposition to retaliate, and on the afternoon of the 4th he put up a fierce bombardment of our front-line positions from Outpost Hill to the sea, including in his fire area the whole of the trenches we had taken from him from Umbrella Hill to Sheikh Hasan.  Many observers of this bombardment by all the Turks’ guns of heavy, medium, and small calibre declared it was the prelude not of an attack but of a retirement, and that the Turks were loosing off a lot of the ammunition they knew they could not carry away.  They were probably right, though the enemy made no sign of going away for a couple of days, but if he thought his demonstration by artillery was going to hasten back to Gaza some of the troops assembling against the left of his main line he was grievously in error.  The XXIst Corps was strong enough to deal with any attack the Turks could launch, and they would have been pleased if an attempt to reach our lines had been made.

Next day the Turks were much quieter.  They had to sit under a terrific fire both on the 5th and 6th November, when in order to assist XXth Corps’ operations the Corps’ heavy artillery, the divisional artillery, and the warships’ guns carried out an intense bombardment.  The land guns searched the Turks’ front line and reserve systems, while the Navy fired on Fryer’s Hill to the north of Ali Muntar, Sheikh Redwan, a sandhill with a native chief’s tomb on the crest, north of Gaza, and on trenches not easily reached by the Corps’ guns.

During the night of November 6-7 General Palin’s 75th Division, as a preliminary to a major operation timed for the following morning, attacked and gained the enemy’s trenches on Outpost Hill and the whole of Middlesex Hill to the north of it, the opposition being less serious than was anticipated.  At daylight the 75th Division pushed on over the other hills towards Ali Muntar and gained that dominating position before eight o’clock.  The fighting had not been severe, and it was soon realised that the enemy had