I
never heard before, and can give him no enlightenment on the subject.

6 p.m.--I have been on the General's observation hill with one of the
staff, and his opinion about the excavation is probably correct. It
must be a redoubt, in which the Turks will have a large number of
field and machine-guns, which will mean some taking, but our artillery
should make short work of it.

_July 11th._--Was knocked up at 6.30 to see the General who is ill.
This is awkward, as I have just gathered at breakfast that the next
big fight ("stunt" is the word always used) comes off to-morrow. I
also heard at breakfast that in our last stunt when the first lines of
the Turks were slaughtered, new troops as they were brought up refused
to cross the masses of their dead comrades, and that one of the
reasons for General Hunter-Weston refusing the armistice asked for by
the Turks two days ago was that he wished to retain their dead as a
wall of defence.

Much business has to be transacted in preparation for to-morrow and
the General is getting little rest.

6 p.m.--I walked over to the Ambulance to notify them about
to-morrow's stunt. The road between the aerodrome and the Beach was
being shelled, so I took the other side of the aerodrome, past the
Ordnance Stores, and as I was nearing these the Asiatic gunners
thought they might pepper this side, and I had some big crashes near
me. A shell entered the road just behind the 89th F.A. without
exploding, and one of our men pushed a 7-foot stick down the hole
without reaching the bottom. The hole was the cleanest I ever saw, 7
inches in diameter, and every mark of the rifling of the driving band
was beautifully moulded in the clay. Here at H.Q. they dug up one of
these new and unexploded shells, and it had penetrated 14 feet into
the ground.

A New Zealander was telling me yesterday that his people closely
resembled those of the old country in every respect, while the
Australians seem to completely alter. When the British and New
Zealanders hear a shell approaching they duck, while an Australian
straightens his back, gets his head and shoulders over the parapet,
and swears.

General Hunter-Weston kept improving during the day, and by evening
was much better.

_July 12th._--An important battle took place to-day, and still rages,
beginning at 4 a.m. but in real earnest by 5, when many new big guns
were used for the first time. Our centre (Naval Division) and the
right (French) are main