sea, which skirts Palestine
throughout its length, confers a twofold advantage upon her mistress. In
the first place, it provides a supplementary line of communication. We
have already seen that, during the advance across the Desert, sea-borne
supplies from Port Said were landed at El Arish. This method was
continued throughout our advance in Palestine, and landing places were
improvised at various convenient stages. There is no good harbour along
this coast; and landing, which has to be done by beach boats, is
difficult, especially in a westerly wind. Nevertheless, considerable
supplies were thus landed, chiefly of fuel and fodder, which would be
little liable to damage by immersion. In the second place, help can be
given during actual military operations by the Navy. Our ships
frequently lay off the coast and bombarded the enemy's positions. Of
necessity, each side had a flank resting on the sea. To the British,
this was a feature of strength; to the Turk, it was one of weakness. He
was compelled therefore at all times to draw back or "refuse" his
coastal flank, while the British flank was constantly thrown forward
menacing the flank of the enemy.

There is little to be said about the Sand Dunes, though, being on the
flank, they were often the scene of operations. The sand here is soft
and the going bad. Recourse in these operations was therefore had to
camel transport. To the field engineer, difficulties were presented much
as in the desert. During the trench warfare before Gaza, when a raid was
carried out on Beach Post, no attempt was made to cut the enemy wire
with our artillery, but the wire was simply pulled up by hand with the
standards, for which the soft sand had provided no firm foundations.

The Coastal Plain comprises, towards the north, the Biblical Plain of
Sharon, and, towards the south, the land of Philistia. By this plain,
and not through Judaea, lies the road from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Along this plain have marched the invading armies of all the ages.
Though generally a flat country, the flatness is relieved by a few
rolling hills, of no great height. It is very fertile and has a good
supply of water, contained in wells. It thus presents many advantages,
and but few disadvantages, to an army operating in the field. Roads are
good or are easily improvised, while such obstacles to an invader's
advance do not exist here as in the hills. Our successes in the campaign
under consideration were gener