smallest positions, fighting on till every man was
killed. The Welsh Division were making towards Samson's Ridge, and being
nearest the sea were compelled to move in a restricted area in which there
was no cover whatever. Standing a few miles off-shore were some British
monitors and a French battleship, the last-named aptly called the _Requin_,
and these did some fine shooting throughout the day.

It was discovered that the Turks were using the big mosque in Gaza as an
O.P. from which to direct their artillery fire. The navy promptly dropped
a 9.2 in. shell on it--a fine shot considering the range.

Even with the aid of the battleships the Welshmen could make little
progress, so heavy was the fire, and they suffered terrible losses. Not
until the afternoon, when most of the Turks were killed or wounded, did
they capture the ridge. On the right the "Jocks" managed at heavy cost to
seize a hill, known afterwards as Outpost Hill, and were at once enfiladed
from every ridge in the vicinity and compelled to withdraw. They came again
and held on in spite of their casualties, for it was hoped to reach from
here their ultimate objectives.

It was a forlorn hope. All the troops, either attacking or in support, were
compelled to lie in the open. They were swept by bullets from every side
and plastered with shells from guns of all calibres. The Turkish action in
fortifying Atawina Ridge, east of Gaza, had narrowed the front by many
miles, and so well were the defences elsewhere arranged that unless Ali
Muntar itself, which dominated them all, were taken it was impossible to
hold on to any one ridge even if it were captured.

Farther over towards the right the East Anglian division, the "Cameliers,"
and a brigade of Light Horse--to the last-named of which we ourselves were
attached--began just before noon to advance, after the "pipe-opener" of the
early morning. The infantry had a few tanks operating with them, but these
met with little success, for everything was against them. One stopped a
direct hit when immediately in front of a Turkish redoubt and was soon
reduced to impotence by the concentrated fire poured into it. As a matter
of fact the poor remains of the tank permanently occupied this position,
and until it was taken months later Tank Redoubt was ever a thorn in the
side of our infantry.

By eleven o'clock in the morning we had advanced some four or five miles,
after which the infantry were temporarily held up. The Ca