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[page 41]
1917
and 20 men being wounded. At night (April 20/21) the Regiment was again on outpost after watering at Abu Hissia, a waterhole in Wady Ghuzze. Men and horses were by now very much fatigued. Next day our regimental observation post reported enemy patrols and Major Irwin was sent to make an appreciation of the situation under cover of Lieut. James' troop which got into action and drove off a squadron of the enemy. At 1710 we were relieved by the Staffordshire Yeomanry, who carried on the entrenching of the outpost position. We moved back to water at Hosia and formed a camp at Abasan el Kebir, supporting the outpost line. Aircraft bombed the Brigade again and 1 L.H. suffered 20 casualties. Next day the Regiment moved to Abu Sitta.
During all these operations, marches and counter marches, the weather had been very hot and men and horses had suffered much from thirst. Two days were spent in recuperating; then with 20 remounts to replace killed horses we marched to a reserve position near Wady Sheikh Nuran, camping that night at Shellal and finding an outpost line from the Beersheba - Shellal Road to Hisia, with 22nd Mounted Brigade on our right and a camel battalion on our left. The Bedouins were constantly moving about and there is no doubt every movement of the cavalry was known to the enemy. We stood to arms at 0345 until patrols reported "all clear" and then received orders to dig in, being assisted by 3 L.H. who took over in the evening, allowing 1 L.H. to withdraw to a camping area on the west bank of Ghuzze, half a mile from Hisia. Next morning all our squadrons went out on independent patrols and each drew fire, but it was information they were after so they did not become heavily engaged. The enemy now held all the high ground on the western side of the Gaza - Beesheba railway line, and had direct observation of all movements. On April 29 the Regiment relieved 2 L.H. on outpost and extended the front by also taking the I.C.C. sector at Hisia Crossing. A day later, with two sections of the M.G. Squadron, we took over a section of the Shellal outpost line permanently, 2 L.H. being on our left and 22nd Mounted Brigade on our right. A lot of heavy digging was done by our men along this line; some 3000 yards of barbed wire entanglements was erected in front of 1015 yards of fire trench and 865 yards of communication trench; also 11 machine gun and 20 Hotchkiss gun emplacements were dug in suitable positions. Enemy aircraft, which