Diary of Trooper Ion Llewellyn Idriess-1917- Part 5

is supplied the many different belly wants 
of our mighty camp. And on the work of unloading 
trains, loading camel convoys, etc etc, are
employed some thousands of workmen of the
Egyptian Labor Corps. Now from these great
dumps came a great patter, patter, the patter
of flying feet on bare earth, am a great
clatter of terrified voices, and then from
every lane in between the stacks of fodder
came running the Egyptian Labor Corps in
mobs, in droves, in their thousands, "Boo-oo-oom"
Silence. "Whee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee - eezzzzze" Crash!"
"Smoke, earth, niggers, chaos, away across the
flat tore the niggers, like a great mob of
stampeded sheep. And close by, a big
convoy of camels got a move on, urged by
their native drivers, and gathering speed, the
big mob ungainly mob went lumbering
over the flat, urged by their frantic drivers.
But one thing, these niggers did not let
their camels get away from them. And
us Australians and New Zealanders who
are on various duties here, and the many
Tommies, stood and watched the Egyptians,
and the the Australians came the lines,
"Too mean for their land to fight," and the
New Zealanders sneered and laughed their
contempt, and the Tommies understood then

why the great nation of Egypt, with it's
millions of men, has for centuries been
under the foreign yoke, and for ever will
be. Then one big shell went right through
a row of hospital tents. This is not
altogether Jacko's fault, because we have
our big hospitalls all in among the
dumps and artillery, The red cross
should always be well away from everyone. 
Then came a whistle, and up the line
came the red cross train, double quick
She also was running away, And good job
too. Fragments of another shell fell all
around us, and we began to fear for
the safety of our horses. A  junk of
shell fell with a plunk close by our
fire place. Our cook then cursed very
heartily, and making a run to the fire
lifted off the pots, calling to us to
come and get our  –––– breakfast, before
the –– –– ––Turks blew it to –– hell,
So we just waded in and let old
Jacko go his hardest. . . . . The big gun
has eased off now. One of our planes
went up to try and find his position, and
for the time being he is silent. They are
shelling our 'plane now. . . . Some of the
poor beggars of Tommies were knocked this

morning by the shell fire. The taubes dropped
some bombs on the camp. 15^th We are back with
the regiment again, our guard was relieved last
night by the New Zealanders. This the regiment
led the horses out grazing. Now our grazing
grounds are the rich flats a few miles from
the Turks, and in full view of them. While
we were watering the horses their big gun of
yesterday opened up, and we did not feel
at all pleased to see the big shells bursting on
our grazing ground. Anyway on we went,
but as luck would have it we stopped on
a low ridge close by where the shells were
bursting. Just in front of us, in a hollow,
were some of hundreds of camels with their
Egyptian drivers, taking water and tucker to our
firing line, and being escorted by Tommies.
A shell burst fair in a little lot of camels.
Result, some dead camels, a couple of niggers,
and live niggers and camels scampering in
all directions. With a tearing roar another
big shell burst among a larger mob of camels.
Niggers and camels came tearing out of the
smoke and dust of the explosion in frantic
terror. "Boooo - ooom!" "Whee - ee - ee-ee ez!"
"Crash!" Another shell, fair among them,
And niggers, camels, men, running in all
directions. "We turned our horses back for

camp then, for if those mad camels stampeded
our horses there would be hell to play. So off
we went, with a few of the leading ungainly
brutes of camels lumbering in through our
ranks. But we had got away in time, and are
back in the lines now, but saddled up and
ready to clear out if their big Shells come
searching in our own particular camp. And
now, the air is I alive with the roar of big
guns, for some of our own guns have
opened up, and an artillery duel is in progress.
Last night I asked our troop leader to let Morry and
Stan and Bert and I join up again, as there were
new reinforcements come into the troop. He refused
point blank. Because I don't shave regularly, was
the only reason I could get from him. So I went to
the major, and late last night was told that the four
of us could join together again. It all seems damn
rotten. We are going out again to-night, for
stoush. About 18^th Yesterday was a day from hell,
a special gift. About half past seven the
night before the Brigade filed out, way out
across the big flat on which is the great
camp. Every few yards we would have to
stop and dismount. Though we could not see,
we could hear that a big movement was on.
All around was the rattle of artillery
wheels, the tramp of great numbers of armed

men, the shouted commands in the dark.
At last we got through the innumerable
camp fires, then out past the outposts, well
out into the darkness of the land between us
and the Turk. It was the usual night ride,
cold, miserable, sleepless, and a heavy mist
coming down made it colder still. The sun
was just coming up over the eastern hills,
I remember shiveringly thinking how bright
and golden and warm the damn thing was,
there was just half of it glittering from behind
a hill top, when with a roar and re-echoing 

rumble our big guns started the
bombardment. And all through the morning
the big b savages boomed a bellowed,
and as the sun came up brighter we
watched the huge clouds of earth and
smoke that continuously sprang up on a
distant ridge, that marked a distant redoubt.
Our own work was to get right away
down here to a place called Cheriff,
where there are some thousands of
Turks, and prevent them and the Turks
from help Beersheba from helping their
comrades at Gaza. While we held back
all reinforcements, the infantry were to
attack Gaza. As the sun came up it
got warm very quickly, and riding

along smoking contentedly, a lot of the
sleepiness went away, and the world seemed
a little brighter. We went down through the
small, steep hills that line the banks of
the Waddy Guzze, which is a dry river,
Here we found a water-hole, watered
the horses, and the regiments congregated
all along the waddy. There were a great
lot of us, Australians, New Zealanders
Yeomanry, Artillery, etc. We were all
sitting down when came the usual
damned "buzz" and down dropped three
bombs, killing six of our men and
wounding fifteen, and killing some
twenty horses. Soon the column moved off
again, and we climbed the opposite
bank of the Waddy, and out on to a
great strip of flat country, behind which
lay the hills of Cherieff. And down came
the suns heat, stifling. And the troops
raised dense clouds of dust, stifling,
and the Turks watched the dust clouds
come nearer and nearer, and waited, and
got ready. And again a taube came
buzzing over us so we dismounted, and
blazed into her with our rifles and hotchkiss
guns. And she spat down at us with
her machine gun, but got only one man 

And so on all through the stifling day
while our nostrils and eyes and throat
ran dry with the choking dust. Now we have
just been issued with tunics, bright Tommy
khaki tunics, with shiny brass buttons,
tunics that show up so splendidly on
the green fields for the watching Turkish
marksmen. Our own tun good tunics,
which are a dull green khaki color, but
have no flashing colors, are not good
enough for our boss heads. Now these
tunics were very hot, but it was essential
for us to keep them on, because of a certain
reason. But as the day grew hotter off
they came, though it would almost
certainly have meant our death if
the certain reason eventuated. We had
very little water, and we had to save
it. So when we struck a great Bedouin
well fair in the centre of the plain, we
would have taken Allah to our hearts
as our brother, for his gift of a
- well of cool water to us Christian
dogs. And around that well in a few
minutes were New Zealanders, Yeomanry
Australians, Artillery men, and scores
and scores of buckets were going up and
down that well, until the top was a

huge pool of mud from the spill of
buckets, and many hundreds of men
blessed the cool water of Palestine, lx
especially if things turn out alright and
none of us get cholera. And so the dreary
afternoon wore on, until the Turkish
shrapnel started bursting just over
our screen. The screen must have been
Yeomanry, for very soon we xx their
wounded began to pass us on their way
back to the dressing station. The
battlefield was like a great chess board
we sat on our horses and watched
each different arm of our force, each
with its big cloud of dust, go into
action. After a while we dismounted
and some listened to the roar of the
guns and the crackle of rifle fire, and
others went to sleep. Our regiment
did not go into action, but after
dark we all went back to the waddy,
and after the inevitable confusion of
a great body of men watering their
horses in strange country, we who
were not on duty lay down for
sleep at eleven o'clock, and with the
big guns at Gaza still roaring

through the night, we sank straight away
into a few hours of the most blessed
sleep we have ever had, which is saying a
damn lot. This morning, to our surprise
we are still in the Waddy in reserve
The taubes came over and lay a few
eggs, killing some more of our horses.
The big guns are roaring down
towards Gaza, The day after. Dinner time.
About 9 O'clock yesterday morning we were
hurried off out again, and did the same as
the day before. A damned taube dropped a
bomb one one of our guns, blowing the some
of the gun crew to pieces, wounding the
others, and killing most of the gun horses.
Then he turned his damned machine gun
on us, and we fired back hatefully.
And so on, through the long day and
afternoon. At nightfall we rode back to
Shell al, rationed up, and rode all through
the long night to this place. No wonder 
that many of us envy the wounded as we
see them brought in. Where this place is
exactly I'm not sure, but its somewhere 
between Gaza and Beersheba. The
Turks have a line of strong defences.
stretching all the we. To day, we 

understand, we are attacking all along
the line. At daybreak this morning the
guns began roaring, and very soon
these bright green hills seemed moving
with the vibration of the guns. Just in
front of us the 1st Brigade has gone into
action, and we are waiting our turn now.
The Turks shells are bursting all over
the green flats, and our shells are eating
up the lines of ridges on which the
Turkish redoubts are. The blasted taubes
keep flying over and dropping bombs
on us. The day after. Yesterday evening was the
most exciting of my life. But here goes.
About yesterday at dinner time our Brigade
moved back from the front line, a good mile.
We grazed our horses, and then saddling
our horses, moved away. We passed a
small body of yeomanry, who we were told
were to support us on our right during
the night. Our Brigade was to do outpost
duty. We picketed the horses and each troop
started digging a small trench, just
enough to hold its own men, which is
about thirty men to each troop. So the
afternoon wore on, and dead tired,