the Staff, but I feel as a
non-combatant that I have no right to openly poke my nose into purely
military matters. Rumour said we had taken 700 prisoners yesterday;
another rumour puts the number at 2000. I heard at dinner that eighty
had come in. Mention was laughingly made of "the lost regiment". I
could not imagine at the time that we had lost a regiment and thought
it was a joke of the General's, but to-day I find that a whole
battalion of K.O.S.B.'s are amissing. Those must be prisoners in the
hands of the Turks. They had lost so heavily before that they could
not have been at anything like full strength. The curious thing is the
officers are said to have turned up, and can give no account of what
happened. I expect this is not the exact truth. They are said to have
pushed too far forward, which is the usual cause of our worst
disasters.

Three violent counter-attacks were made last night. Fighting had never
ceased the whole night, and I hear we had to retire all along the
line. The extent of our falling back I do not know, but the news is
most depressing.

Major ---- told me yesterday that the best troops in the world would
get so completely demoralised under a shelling like that we gave the
Turks that every man would be absolutely limp, and could not even aim
when firing. Then, the more shells we have the better, as we all know
here and at home. Yesterday we used very little shrapnel, it was
almost entirely high explosives. At home it was discovered that we had
used too much of the former in France. The demoralising effect of
shrapnel is slight, and it has little effect on troops under cover,
but you might as well fight an earthquake as the other, if it is
anywhere near you.

Yesterday's casualties up to evening were put at 3000 to 4000, but
this number will have been added to over night.

10.55 p.m.--Fighting has gone on all day, and with great success on
our side; we have regained our lost trenches and taken several new
ones.

I had a very exciting and hot motor ride in search of the Liaison
officer, at General Hunter-Weston's request, word having come in that
he was badly wounded. I had many narrow escapes, especially from high
explosives fired at a battery astride the road through which I had to
dart, and afterwards from bullets when I left the car and went forward
on foot. On stepping out of the car a man seeing I was on business
stepped up to me and immediately dropped dead with a bullet through
hi