The First Battle of Gaza.

On the day after the Rafa races the preliminary moves prior to the attack on Gaza began, and all roads and tracks possible for wheels were carefully reconnoitred as far as Belah and allotted to the different formations; for the force to be employed on this undertaking was to consist, for the first time in the campaign, of all arms—infantry, cavalry and guns, and was now called "East Force," consisting of the Anzac Mounted Division, Imperial Mounted Division (one Light Horse Brigade and two Yeomanry Brigades), the Camel Brigade and three Infantry Divisions—the 52nd, 53rd, and 54th, all under the command of General Dobell of West African fame.

The arrangements for feeding this force had to be made in advance and as the country was hard enough to carry wheels, all wagons were brought up from Kantara to supplement the Camel Convoys now much too small for the augmented forces. First Line transport, i.e., baggage wagons, tool carts, etc., were formed into an improvised "Train" and loaded up with supplies. On the night of March 25th, the page 85forward move began and by daylight the whole Division was at Deir El Belah, hidden as far as possible in the palm groves and orchards. The New Zealand Brigade marched up the beach and went out in front to hold a line just south of the Wadi Ghuzzeh—to cover reconnaissances to be made by the Staff in order to determine the best place at which to cross the wadi and to advance upon Gaza.

The crossing place over the wadi was chosen close to Tel El Jemmi and marked so as to be easily found in the dark. With the exception of these reconnaissance parties the whole force of two Cavalry Divisions and two Infantry Divisions (the 52nd remained at Rafa) lay up quietly during the day.

A Camel Transport Camp.

And so Sinai was left behind not to be returned to until the war was over; and we were fairly launched upon the 10th Crusade.

Gaza is one of the very oldest cities in the world. It is mentioned in the 10th Chapter of Genesis and again many times in connection with Samson, the strong man of Israel, who fought the Philistines it was at Gaza, that being warned that his enemies were upon him, he rushed away with the city gates carrying them up to the top of the hill now called Ali el Muntar, to the east of the town. Here also he page 86gave the most wonderful exhibition of his strength and performed the last great act of his life by pulling down the Temple of Dagon destroying some three thousand Philistines.

Gaza was always the fortress city of southern Palestine. Alexander took it on his way to conquer Egypt and it put up a great defence against him, seriously delaying his march; and when at various times in the course of the history of these rich plains the yoke of Egypt was thrown off, Gaza then became the frontier city and bulwark against the Pharaoh's armies.

Lt. General Sir Harry Chauvel, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.

It was one of the five capital cities of the Philistines and was an important and populous city under the Romans.

Nowadays the town lies in the midst of orchards and is an important depot for barley, wheat and dhurra, and has a population of 40,000 souls.

The capture of Gaza presented a similar problem to that of Rafa, but upon a larger scale.

Rafa, the railhead, to Gaza is twenty miles. Gaza was held by its own garrison and there were enemy troops who could be sent up to support from Beersheba away to the page 87east, on the flank of an attacking force, and from Huj eight miles north-east; and both these places were on the Turkish system of railways. In addition there was a line of Turkish posts from Gaza to Beersheba which would have to be forced.

The plan was as follows:—The Anzac Mounted Division by a night march was to place itself astride the main road on the far side of the town, so closing all avenues of escape to the north and ready to co-operate in the attack upon the town by the infantry who were to operate from the south. The Imperial Mounted Division was set the task of holding off the enemy forces from the direction of Huj; and the 54th Division those who might advance from Beersheba or the railway leading to that town.

In order to protect the lines of communications back to Rafa the 52nd Division took up a position watching the crossing of the wadi towards the east and covering Khan Yunus.

The 53rd (Welsh) Division was selected to make the attack upon the town from the south.

And all these things were done in due order, the Anzac Mounted Division encircled Gaza and cut off all retreat of the

Landing Stores near Gaza.

garrison, the enemy's reinforcing troops from Huj and from the Beersheba railway line were successfully held off; and the infantry, aided by the New Zealanders, captured Ali Muntar and all the principal defences of Gaza; yet the town, twenty-page 88four hours afterwards, was still in the hands of the Turks, and the East Force was back again on the south side of the Wadi Ghuzzeh. What happened was as follows:

At 2.30 in the morning of the 26th March, the New Zealand Brigade left its bivouac at Belah with the Anzac Mounted Division to cross the Wadi Ghuzzeh. As there was a constant stream of Infantry transport coming up from Rafa crossing and re-crossing the Belah flat no starting point was fixed, but units were ordered to march straight from their

Lt.-Col. J. H. Whyte, D.S.O. (and bar), D.C.M., Wellington Mounted Rifles.

lines and to take up their positions in the column as it advanced. To make matters more difficult a heavy fog came down and there was no moon. The leading brigade, which had left its bivouac riding in "sections" upon reaching the open flat to the north of Belah, shortened up into "column of troops." This caused a break in the column, and if it had not been for the good leading of the next brigade serious delay would have been caused. But our men had developed an almost uncanny sense of finding their way in the dark, and in spite of all these difficulties the wadi was reached and the page 89crossing made twenty minutes only beyond the estimated time; and moving by compass the Division skilfully avoided the broken ground on the east bank and reached Sheikh Abbas at seven o'clock. Simultaneously the Advanced Guard ran into a Turkish post on the Gaza-Beersheba road and the first shots were fired.

Shortly after eight o'clock enemy planes appeared and flying low attacked the column with their machine guns.

At half-past nine the Division reached Beit Durdis to the north-east of Gaza where Headquarters were established and the 2nd Light Horse Brigade sent on towards the sea, which they reached by 11 o'clock. Communication by cable and helio was established with Desert Column Headquarters, which were at Point 310 on the south side of the wadi close to In Seirat. A wireless station was also set up, but a powerful enemy plant in Gaza nullified its work throughout the day.

On its way to the sea the 2nd Light Horse Brigade captured on the main road a Turkish officer and staff, who was proceeding from Huj to Gaza to take over the command there.

This officer, a divisional commander, took his capture most philosophically, as the fortune of war; but he sadly deplored the absence of his servant who was riding behind with a pack horse upon which was his master's kit. The latter earnestly begged the Light Horse into whose hands he had fallen to capture this servant also. However, much to the Turkish Commandant's disappointment the servant and the pack horse got away. Curiously enough some three weeks later when our forces were holding the south bank of the Wadi Ghuzzeh an unarmed Turk gave himself up to the outposts. He was the missing servant come in quest of his master, but without the pack horse!

Patrols were sent out towards Huj and northwards along the main road by the Auckland Regiment. Gaza was now completely invested and the infantry attack was progressing from the south. This attack met with stubborn opposition. The 53rd Division lost very heavily and was reinforced by one brigade of the 54th Division, which had taken up a covering position at Sheikh Abbas, effectually blocking any relief from the direction of Beersheba.

The Imperial Mounted Division which had followed behind the Anzac Mounted Division throughout the night, was now in position due east of Gaza watching Huj.

All mounted troops were more or less under shell fire from Gaza, but very little fighting had yet taken place so far as they were concerned; and the infantry attack was not making much progress.

News was now beginning to come in from the watching patrols of both mounted divisions, of activity in the direction of Huj and the Beersheba railway. Columns of dust in the

A Desert Shelter.

direction of Tel el Sharia showed where enemy movement in large numbers was in progress.

At 2 o'clock orders were received from Desert Column Headquarters for the Anzac Mounted Division to attack Gaza in support of the infantry attack, and for the Imperial Mounted Division to take over all observation duties; and to assist the latter in this duty the Camel Brigade was sent up.

As soon as these posts had been taken over the attack began as follows—the 2nd L. H. Brigade advanced on a front extending from the sea to the Gaza-Jebalieh road (inclusive); the N.Z.M.R. from the Gaza-Jebalieh road to the top of the ridge running north and south just east of the town; and the 22nd Mounted Brigade (which for the day was taking the page 91place in the Division of the 1st L. H. Brigade) on the left of the New Zealanders.

An enemy deserter who had been caught confirmed the intelligence reports of the enemy's strength in Gaza. He estimated the infantry at two battalions, with 500 Austrians and 200 cavalry, with four large guns in addition to small field guns. He said that support had been asked for from Huj, 8 miles away, at 10 o'clock this morning; also that there were in Gaza 24 hours' supplies only, and all the wells except three had been blown in.

Gaza lies in a hollow in the midst of orchards, each of which is surrounded by a tall impenetrable prickly pear hedge. These orchards reach out to the north, west, and south, some three or four miles.

On the eastern side the town is shut out from the cultivated plain by a low ridge running north and south, called afterwards "Anzac Ridge," which culminates at its south end in Ali el Muntar, the hill up which Samson carried the gates of the city.

This ridge was strongly entrenched and strongly held by the Turks and it was in attacking Ali el Muntar from the south that the Welsh Division suffered terrible casualties.

The attack of the Anzacs soon developed and in spite of prickly pear hedges progress was rapid. Horses had to be left behind and the hedges penetrated on foot and the Turks driven out by hand-to-hand fighting.

The Cactus Hedges of Gaza through which our men had to fight their way.

The New Zealand Brigade Headquarters took up a position on the ridge, on a knob afterwards called Chaytor's Hill, and the Wellington and Canterbury Regiments pressed on towards Gaza. Four machine guns were attached to each of these regiments and the remaining four held in reserve. Of the Auckland Regiment there were available three troops only, the rest of the regiment not yet having come in from its observation duties away to the north and east.

By five o'clock the Canterburys had worked along "The Ridge" attacking the Ali el Muntar defences practically in the rear; and in conjunction with the Infantry entered this strong position about dusk.

The Wellington Regiment pushing from cactus hedge to cactus hedge and cutting gaps with their bayonets, had captured several trenches and many prisoners, and, finally, by some very fine work they took two Turkish guns with limbers and ammunition all complete. Further progress was here

The Two Krupp Guns captured in Gaza by the Wellington Mounted Rifles.

held up by several houses filled with Turks from which it was impossible to dislodge them. One large building in particular drew special attention by the incessant fire which came from its occupants, and this prompted the Wellington men to make use of the captured guns to blow the snipers out of the house; and the formation of an extemporised gun crew of mounted riflemen was complete in a moment. The gun was a Krupp page 93but its intricacies were quickly solved, probably not in conformity with gunnery regulations, but with splendid results.

The gun was directed at the house and Corporal Rouse who was "O/C Gun Detachment" looked through the barrel until the "target" was well in view, inserted a shell, closed the breach and fired the gun. Result, large hole in the house and twenty terrified Turks covered with debris ran out and surrendered. Three shots were fired from the captured gun in the manner described, each of which took effect on its objective. One of the latter in fact caused such destruction to the buildings along the line it traversed that Corporal Rouse was heard to remark that "the New Zealanders had made, at any rate, a new street in Gaza."

Another gallant little enterprise was carried out by Lieuts. Allison and Foley with their troops. On the left of the "Wellington Regiment's front was a trench from which came a galling fire and which was protected by a narrow lagoon. These two officers with their men charged across the lagoon into the trench and bayoneted its thirty-two occupants.

While this attack by New Zealand was going on the 2nd L. H. Brigade had been meeting with considerable opposition among the sandhills to the north-west of the town, but continued to slowly advance through the orchards.

At six o'clock the situation so far as the attacking forces upon the Gaza position were concerned was most satisfactory, the Wellington Regiment and the 2nd L. H. Brigade were well into the northern outskirts of the town; and the Canterbury Regiment, with men of the 53rd Infantry Division were in Ali el Muntar; and the trenches south of the town were held by the 53rd Division; but at this hour a message was received by the Division: "owing to the lateness of the hour and the strength and position of the enemy forces pressing in from the north and east and the difficulty of continuing the attack in the dark in the town of Gaza, the G.O.C. Desert Column has decided to withdraw the Mounted Troops," and orders were received to break off the action after dark and to withdraw to Deir el Belah.

The artillery were soon on their way back and the wounded collected and brought to the ambulances and the prisoners sent back under escort These included a Divisional Com-page 94mander (the Commandant of Gaza) and 462 other ranks, two Austrian Krupp 77 mm. Field guns complete, one Artillery Observation Station complete with instruments, one convoy of six wagons loaded with stores, six camels, 16 horses and 12 mules.

The guns were taken back by ammunition wagon teams under the supervision of the Brigade Veterinary Officer, Major Stafford.

The greatest difficulty lay in extricating the 2nd L. H. Brigade from the labyrinth of cactus hedges and crooked lanes in which it had been fighting.

This brigade's horses were some four miles to the north and the night was a very dark one. However, it was done; and the troops of the Auckland Regiment that had been all

A Vickers Gun in the trenches.

day helping to hold off the Turkish reinforcements, were collected; and the Division began its march back at midnight, reaching Belah at half-past eight on the morning of the 27th.

Until the Division was clear the enemy was held off by the Imperial Mounted Division and the Camel Brigade, assisted by a Motor Car Patrol, and then these followed across the wadi.

The infantry had preceded the mounted troops in the retirement, with the exception of the 54th Division, which page 95remained until the following day at Sheikh Abbas engaged with the enemy forces from Beersheba. By the 28th the whole force was back behind the Wadi Ghuzzeh.

At Gaza, fell Trooper A. R. FitzHerbert a well known settler of Rangitikei, age 64 years, but with the heart of a boy. He was loved by all who knew him and was an inspiration to the whole brigade. He found it difficult to enlist where he was known, on account of his age, but being of a very erect figure and filled with youthful vigour he at last managed to pass for a hale and hearty man of 40; and so, got away, with reinforcements for the Canterbury Regiment, reaching Egypt towards the end of 1915. Immediately upon the return of the brigade from the Peninsula he applied to be transferred to the Wellington Regiment and became "No. 3" in his own son's section in a troop commanded by a man whom as a boy he had taught to ride and to shoot. His great knowledge of horses soon won for him a place in the regiment, and his unfailing cheerfulness under troubles and trials of every kind endeared him to all.

Who could resist that gay laugh or that happy song as he worked away on the horse lines, whether the temperature was 120° in the shade and there blew a khamsin, or the night was shiveringly cold? The story is told of him that once when down with a touch of dysentery he was sent to hospital and there fell among a room full of "leadswingers," ages well in the early twenties. The consternation he caused was most amusing when after a mere three days in bed he announced his intention of going back to the front; and go he did, though a conspiracy of the matron and nurses managed to keep him in hospital for a week.

Early in the advance on the town through the orchards he was wounded in the neck, but after being bound up he insisted upon going on. Later, however, he was compelled to seek medical aid, and on his way to the dressing station he stopped to attend to a wounded comrade, on whom he was tying a bandage when a burst of shrapnel mortally wounded him.

As the regiment was still advancing, and there was no ambulance cart in sight he was bound up carefully and left for the stretcher bearers; but even then he insisted upon having his rifle beside him.

Many times during the campaign in the desert he was asked to take up clerical work for the regiment, such work being thought more suitable to his age, but he invariably refused, saying with a laugh that he had enlisted as a fighting soldier and as such he would remain.

He died as he would have wished in the midst of battle with his rifle in his hand.

The opinion was freely expressed subsequent to the operations that, had the infantry taken advantage of a fog (which formed a natural screen in the morning), Gaza would have fallen. The attack was commenced too late in the day by both infantry and mounted troops.

Lt.-Col. J. N. McCarroll, C.M.G., D.S.O., Auckland Mounted Rifles.

Many hours, fraught with tremendous possibilities and worth thousands of reinforcements were frittered away. The mounted troops were idle till about 4 o'clock in the afternoon but immediately they commenced to advance the pressure they brought to bear was such that they were enabled to penetrate a part of the town before dark. The subsequent orders to withdraw were mystifying, as the enemy appeared page 97to be overcome. A Turkish prisoner captured later by the 2nd L. H. Brigade confirmed this, as he stated that the Turks were ready to hoist the white flag. The outside pressure by the Turkish reinforcements from Beersheba and Huj however, apparently decided the course of action taken by the East Force Commander.

A few days were now spent down on the beach at Belah where good water was to be found in any quantity in the

Men and Horses in the sure on the Palestine Coast.

lagoon. Active patrolling was kept up towards Sharia and Beersheba.