My thanks are due to Lieutenant-Colonel R.H. Osborne, D.S.O., M.C., 20th Hussars, cavalry instructor at the Staff College Camberley, for very kindly reading the manuscript, and for many valuable suggestions and corrections. Also to Major A.F. Becke, R.A., in charge of the Historical Section, W.D., for much help in studying war diaries and maps.
My thanks are also due to the many officers, too numerous to mention individually, who have very kindly lent me their private diaries, or given me information about obscure points. I have taken every care to make the narrative as accurate as possible, but, if any who read it notice inaccuracies, I shall be very grateful if they will point them out to me. I have also to thank those who have allowed me to use photographs taken by them as illustrations. A number of the photographs taken on the enemy side were obtained from Mr. C. Raad, photographer, of Jerusalem, who had secured the original negatives, and by whose permission they are reproduced in the book.
Lastly, I desire to thank Lieutenant-General Sir H.G. Chauvel, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., Commander of the Desert Mounted Corps throughout the campaign, for his help and encouragement, and for having very kindly written the preface to the book.
[Footnote 1: Except in the two first battles of Gaza, April and May 1917, when our losses, in comparison with the numbers engaged, were as severe as in some of the hardest fought battles on the Western Front.]
Preliminary. Situation in the East in June 1917. Objectives of the Palestine Campaign. The country. The opposing armies 1
Plan of the operations. Laying the foundations. Cavalry reconnaissances. Work of the engineers. Maps and water supply 10
The first round. The attack on Beersheba. Charge of the 4th A.L.H. Brigade. Capture of the town with 2000 prisoners. Destruction of the wells. First attack on the Gaza defences. German buildings in Beersheba. Arab sheikhs and the Camel Transport Corps 18
The decisive battle. Enemy counterstroke on the east. Hard fighting of the cavalry and the 53rd Division. Lack of water. Capture of Tel Khuweilfeh. And of Hareira and Sharia. Enemy's front broken. Cavalry through the gap. Fall of Gaza 38
The pursuit. All three cavalry divisions employed. Strong enemy resistance. Charge of the Yeomanry at Huj. Water at last. Sufferings of the horses. Delay caused by lack of water. Arak el Menshiye and Beit Duras 50