Item 01: G. T. Birkbeck diary, 30 September 1915 - 23 April 1919 - Page 26

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29: Our first stunt east of canal. NZ mounteds & 1st Bde. left Romani at midnight; 2000 camels carrying rations, ammunition & water & about 3000 troops made up the column, which was about a mile long.

30: Reached Hod de Babbas (20 miles) at 9 a.m. & stayed here till 11 p.m.

31: After a ride of 10 miles reached Bir Salmana at 9 a.m. Action at dawn, but the main enemy force got away on camels, leaving only a few Turks & machine guns on the post. 14 enemy killed & 7 wounded were brought in & 6 Bedouin women. 'Planes bombed retreating enemy & after setting fire to their camps, we moved off at 10 a.m., for Bir el Abd, where we gave our horses their first drink in 24 hours. Men & horses were dead beat after this long, tiresome ride.

June

1: After 60 hours riding, we reached camp at 2 a.m. Four hours later we had our first aerial raid, 6 bombs being dropped, killing 9 & wounding 23 of 3rd. regt., besides mutilating 40 of their horses