d
to their quarters farther back. We remained in reserve till 5th
February, the specialists doing training and the remainder of the
Battalion furnishing working parties to 7th H.L.I. During this period we
were strengthened with the addition of 14 officers and 283 other ranks.
Of these, 8 officers and 170 other ranks had been casualties in the
recent operations, and the remainder were fresh from the United Kingdom.
About this time the native village of Jelil yielded to our acquisitive
pioneers an upholstered sofa and arm-chair. These became very precious
in the eyes of headquarters mess and wherever we went they went also,
excepting when they were lent to a relieving unit, the terms as to
return being carefully arranged. Later on, when the sunny weather
returned, the sight of officers lounging at ease in comfortable pieces
of European furniture brought envy into the minds of those who sat on
benches or sand bags. But take comfort when you can get it is a good
maxim for soldiers.

On 5th February we again took over from 7th H.L.I., and for the first
four days in the line it poured continuously. "C" Company on Moore Ridge
were flooded out of their trenches by the 7th, and work of any kind was
quite impossible. On the night of the 8th there was a dry blink, and
good progress was made in baling out and draining the trenches but the
9th was again wet, and it did not finally clear till the morning of the
10th. During this tour in the line there was nothing to note except the
weather, and the less said about it the better. The enemy were much
quieter, and there was very little shelling. Two Turks were taken
prisoner outside the wire at Christmas Hill on the morning of the 7th,
and a deserter was brought in by "C" Company on the 10th.

The 4th R.S.F. relieved us on the night of the 14th, and we went back
for our long promised rest at Sarona, arriving there at 4 a.m. on the
15th. The Commanding Officer, Intelligence Officer, and the four company
commanders, remained behind after the relief, and carried out a skeleton
withdrawal scheme the next day.

Our sojourn in Sarona was the first time many of us had been under a
roof since we left Southampton on 22nd May, 1915. Consequently, in order
to celebrate the occasion we all developed colds. The original programme
decreed that we were to spend a fortnight here, but owing to the visit
of H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, the period was extended to over a
month. The time was spent in mu