Diary No.10 of Rupert Major Downes, 6 March - 29 July 1918 - Part 2

they didnt get a bomb in the right place
to hit us. A scout chased the last of their
retiring planes & had a half hearted go at it
but seemed to get the worst of it & retired..
All the officers of one battery were hit & 3
killed; Meillear who was watering my horses
got a slight scratch on his hand by the same
bomb. First real bomb raid I've been in since
El Arish - only having met single machines
at close quarters in between. After some
tea - which had been delayed muchly by
the raid - went & saw Dowsett the 6t^th
A.D.M.S. & found out about the amb. arrangements 
which were very difficult & involved
36 hours at least from the divisional collecting
station near Amman to Jericho via Es Salt
mostly by a rough winding & hilly road
only half or less of which could be done by
motor amb. Heard that there were 160 Anzac
wounded to come in that morning & that
Amman hadn't been taken. Turned in early
at supply dump but got very little sleep as
there was much talk & work all around.
29.3.18. Rode off at 0600 c̄ Meillear up road to
Es Salt for 1½ hours & then turned back. The
road runs by the side of the Wadi Shunet
Nimrin along the side of the cliffs & the
valley was beautiful & green & a perfect garden
of wild flowers of all sorts & colors - daisies,
poppies, hollyhocks, daffodils, laurels & many
others with a rushing stream at the bottom of 

of high & steepish hills. Tried to get up to
a bridge where the cars were at El Howey
but no time. When got nearly back to
Shunet Nimrin went up another road direct
to Amman & only fit for camel traffic for
a short time & then back to the dump at 1000
where had a little breakfast & then road back
to Jericho meeting & turning back my car
on the way through the plain. The Jordan had
subsided a lot. Had a little tucker at Jericho
drove up to see Storey at our operating unit
and then started home taking Meillear. Hadnt
got far out of the plain when my front
spring smashed & we had to fix it up with
boards wired on. A beast of a dust storm
started & the Jordan plain became absolutely
covered with mist & dust so as to be invisible.
Heard some guns apparently firing down
S. near the head of the Dead Sea & it frightened
me lest there might be Turks coming up
that way to cut our thin & vital line of
communications from the Jordan out to
the Anzacs & rest of the force. Drove gingerly
up to Jerusalem in the face of a beastly dusty
gale & once more forced to stay at Anzac
Hdqrs. for the night where went to bed very
early.
30.3.18 started off at 0930 in pretty cold weather
& drove slowly home in 3hrs. s̄ incident.
Worked in afternoon & drove over c̄ Hunter to
1^st & 2^nd L.H.F.As left here to fix things.
Worked in evening.
31.3.18. Sunday. Somehow everyone very pippy
& depressed about the war today & I in a vile
temper. A great reorganisation of the Yeomanry

has suddenly burst forth on us & at
other parts of our force which I wont specify
here & no one quite knows what it involves in the
way of changes nor the reason of it. I wont
send this by post so can write it; 6 of Yeodiv
regts. become 3 M.G. Batt^ns & 1 of 7^th Bde c̄ XX Corps
cavalry another their places all being filled
by 5^th Cavalry Divⁿ Indian Cavalry now in
the country, they all go home at once as do
52nd & 74th Div^ns - about the 2 best we have c̄
one possible exception. This of course means
a lot of work & rush for someone & we fear
it may be the result of the German plans
in France & may alter our plans here.
We are also rather pessimistic about France
in case the Germans get Amiens as it has
a rotten look on the map. However its always
the people away from the trouble that
get panicky, but I wish they wouldnt.
Worked pretty solidly all day
also further uncheered in the evening
when Newton came back from Jericho
c̄ the news that we were giving up the
attack on Amman tonight & the force all
coming back, which is sad as we've had a
lot of casualties & not been successful.
Wrote to D.27.
Got letter from Jock of Feb. 1^st yesterday
which rather ruffled me.
1.4.18. Cold windy day. Drove over in Sunbeam
to G.H.Q. to get copies of establishments of Indian
ambulances from old White (Indian D.D.M.S) & talk
about new combined British & Indian ambs.
Did a little work in aft. & had walk c̄ Newton.
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Wrote to Jock. Got D's 44, & one from Mr Robb, Loveridge & Eileen H.
Feb 8^th.
2.4.18. News a little better from France & weather
better. Rode over to see old White at G.H.Q. to no
purpose & then to canteen. Country looking
beautifully green now & air strong c̄ orange
blossom. Did not do much work in aft. but
had walk c̄ Newton, Hunter & McIntyre. Sent
Leggatt down to Yeodiv. at Belah.
3.4.18. Dodging about doing v. little work in
morning. Rode c̄ Newton & Hunter in aft.
to Abu Shusheh & back - about 15 miles - &
had a look at a lot of old underground caves
cut in the chalk rocks c̄ narrow entrances
& steps down to them. This place has had
7 cities built on it & is the ancient Gezer.
It was always a place to be first conquered
by any invaders attacking Jerusalem from
the plains before getting an entrance to the
hills. There is said to be an underground
passage from it well into the Judean hills
but this hasnt been properly explored yet.
Anyhow it is a very strong place nowadays
& gives a fine view of all the country including 
Ramleh & all the plains down to Esdud
& up past Rantieh & Medzel Yaba to the sea - also
the 2 roads to Jerusalem. It should have been a
tough nut for us to take in our advance but
was got fairly easily - which shows how
demoralised the Turks must have been
then. Everything was very pretty & green.
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4 4.18. Working all morning & a bit in aft.
but had quite a crowd in for aft. tea. Dixon,
Evans, Single - just Lieut Col - & Beith just back
from the Amman show which cost us quite
1000 casualties. Talked shop  c̄ them & later
went off & caught evening train c̄ old
Col. White, the Indian D.D.M.S. to Kantara
5.4.18. The beastly train arrived at 0500
-½ an hour before time - & as the noise wouldnt
let me sleep had to get up. Had breakfast at
A.I.F. Canteens where Dawson met me & we talked
some shop & then caught 0915 train to Tel el
Kebir. Met old Arnott in it & Col. Dean who had
just arrived in the Ormonde - a fine new P.&O.
boat - & had seen Father on Mch 7^th looking well.
Spent some hours at Tel el Kebir finding out
about the constitution of the Indian Cavalry
ambulances just arrived & looking over one
of them - the Sialhote. They seem very good &
well equipped. Learnt with some relief that
when they left France just before the German
offensive all units had their plans made
for removing dumps &c behind the Somme -
so the retirement was not unexpected. Had
lunch & aft. tea there & then drove to Moascar
in a car I had got from M. but it was a pig of
a drive as we had followed in the wake of a heavy
rain storm & in a gale & the grit from the wheels cut
my face & it was v. cold. Had dinner at Moascar
& talked shop  c̄ Vernon & then onto Port Said by
night train where we were met by a car & drove

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to Casino hotel. All Port Said is in darkness
now - as are all the canal camps & towns & all
lower Egyptian towns - on account of the
Zeppelin scare. Turned in quickly at 2400
6.4.18. Had a good yarn c̄ Mrs Dangar after
breakfast - she is looking pretty ill & rather
unhappy about her Pat. Went over to hospital
after & first assisted Fowler c̄ an operation wh.
turned out to be a hydatid of the appendix.
Yarned c̄ Dangar till lunch & after that
looked into the Convalescent ward & as I saw I
could not get back through what I had to do
by the time the evening train went decided to
wait till the next night so walked back to the
pub - no soldiers are allowed to travel in Gharrys
at present on account of the Typhus in the town - 
& picked up old White & took him to a party at
the P.S. Sports club given by the British Red Cross
women to the nurses & officers of the 14^th A.G.H. at
which the Matron distinguished herself by not
appearing & only 5 nurses were there. Met Elgood
there & had a game of tennis, the first since last
played at Heliopolis when living there; had 2
vantage sets - one either way - & worked &
ran hard & didnt play so v. badly c̄ Fowler
Fairley & Ward. Then walked down to the train
c̄ old White & Blackburn & then did some shopping
& back to hospital late for dinner.
Yarned c̄ Dangar & Stansfield in hospital & then
watched them playing bridge. Was delighted

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