ch needed training, even more needed
disinfecting, and recreation. At this time we got the first chance of
doing some musketry we had had for over six months.

Sarona had been a German colony and the village was well planned and
clean. All the streets were lined with trees and a more pleasant spot
would have been difficult to find. By order of the G.O.C. Division we
held no afternoon parades. Some very fine football matches were played,
there was Jaffa to visit, and the concert party as usual were ready with
performances in the Town Hall. The sunny weather returned and with it a
profusion of wild flowers. The country to the east of the village was
most attractive to explore--cactus lanes, orange groves, olive and
almond plantations, the latter a mass of blossom, and from the hills one
viewed almost unsurpassed landscapes of the Judean Hills rising behind
the Crusaders' great castle at Ras el Ain.

The Germans had seen to it that the village had its wine factory and,
there, red wine of various qualities (mostly poor stuff) and cognac
(wholly bad) had been made. The sappers converted the factory into
baths, and in parties of thirty the men had hot baths, each man having
an old wine vat to himself.

On the 21st February we got a draft of 17 new officers, seven of whom
were sent about a fortnight later to the 5th A. & S.H. At the end of
February our strength was 49 officers and 1043 other ranks, of whom 2
officers and 80 other ranks were detached.

On 18th March H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught visited Sarona in order to
present decorations to the 52nd Division. The following officers,
N.C.O.'s and men of the Battalion received their medals on this
occasion. D.S.O.--Major D.E. Brand: M.C.--Captains T.A. Fyfe and E.
Mullen (7th, attached 5th H.L.I.), and Lieut. Sweet: D.C.M.--C.S.M. J.
Coubrough, C.S.M. J.J. Twentyman, Sergt. J. Bryden, and Sergt. W. Sykes:
M.M.--Sergt. D. Smith, Sergt. R. Lyon, and Pte. J. Drummond.

[Illustration: IN SARONA.]

On the same day the social event of the Sarona season took place in the
form of a fancy dress ball given by our officers to all other officers
within reach. Jaffa was ransacked for costumes. According to the
invitation the guests arrived in pairs, one as a lady, the other
representing his own sex. They were received by Major Craufurd as a
stately omda, and by the second in command as a "bint" with head-dress,
yasmak gown and beribboned pyjama trousers. There was a march past
Gener