s taken consolidated.

At the end of June General Allenby arrived in Palestine to take over the
duties of commander-in-chief. Shortly after his arrival there was a notable
increase in the quantity and quality of our rations, and beer in
barrels--yea, barrels--came up the line for the troops.

I am not going to suggest that the two events were in point of fact
connected, but I do know that the sudden and welcome change was universally
attributed to General Allenby, and that thenceforward the E.E.F. was "on
him," as the phrase goes, to a man.

I wonder if many of our big commanders realised as fully as did General
Allenby the enormous influence the "personal touch" had on the troops they
commanded? Just to see your chief wandering about more or less informally,
finding things out for himself, watching you--not on parade, but at your
ordinary daily jobs; to know that he was not above getting out of his car
to ask a question personally, or, during operations, to sit on a gun-limber
digging his bully-beef out of a tin with a jack-knife, like any other man.
These things went a mighty long way.

You get more willing and selfless service out of men if you are seen of
them, known of them, and if, perhaps, you suffer with them for a space.

CHAPTER XIV

THE ATTACK ON BEERSHEBA

By the middle of October everything was ready. The railway had been brought
forward as far as possible and the army at the gates of Gaza had been
largely increased in numbers. That Irish Division which had had such a
terrible time during the Serbian retreat in 1915 and the 60th (London)
Division, which had fought both in France and Macedonia, had come from
Salonica to help. There were now English, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh troops
on various parts of the front; large numbers of Indian cavalry had also
been added to the mounted divisions, and our artillery was at least equal,
if not superior, to that of the Turks. Every scrap of transport available
had been concentrated for the tremendous task of supplying the army when it
began to move forward. Some idea of the magnitude of this task may be
gathered from the fact that thirty thousand camels, practically the entire
strength of the Camel Transport Corps, were needed for the troops on the
right flank alone since they were farthest from railhead. For these it was
estimated that at least a week's supply of water would have to be carried,
to say nothing of forage and rations, until Beersheba with its