Author: Abigail Jefferies

5 June 1916

The colonel and about six others of the 2nd Scottish Horse, with Major Daniell, Major Jeans, and myself, started off soon after five this morning on a reconnaissance for the mobile column we shall form if the chance comes when the Turks come along. We had a troop of the Glasgow Yeomanry as escort, but didn’t see anything.
We went to reconnoitre the ground from Blair’s Post towards Katia. We found the going over Saklet El Romani very treacherous and boggy, in some places the horses went in right up to their bellies, certainly not suitable for guns, but we found a very good camel track round the edge. We went on though Hod El Sofiyia and Ghazlan, till we came to Bir Abu Haura, just a date palm grove, with a brackish well and a good many Bedouin huts made of palm branches and scrub. There were no Bedouins there, most of the are fighting with the Turks. The date palms were covered with big clusters of dates, but they were very small and green. They aren’t ripe here till September I believe.
We went on beyond Bir Abu Haura to the top of a small rise from which we had a good view of the Katia oasis, but we didn’t go down into it as it isn’t a very healthy spot just at present as all the horses of the Worcester and Gloucester Yeomanry killed on Easter Sunday are still above ground.
We came back by the Romani wells and past Railhead and followed the line to Mahamdiya. They are getting on a tremendous pace with it and it won’t be many more days before it reaches us here. The one that is being run out along the coast from Port Said is also coming along very quickly and is only about five miles off now.
Bathed this afternoon. Quite a rough sea. Digging on the gun emplacement this evening. We haven’t heard anything official about the naval fight in the North Sea yet, but there are a lot of rumours going round.
Mail this evening. Some topping snapshots from home of the horses.
I am on duty at the O.Pip tonight.

4 June 1916

Service in our mess tent this morning. I think we are the only Church of England unit in the 156th Brigade. I spent nearly all the rest of the morning bathing and basking. A very quiet day.
Poulteney arrived here this morning with fifteen men from the Ammunition Column to take over the ammunition dump here.
An official report in tonight that there has been a big naval action in the North Sea and that each side has lost fifteen ships.

3 June 1916

Stood by before dawn and dismissed about five o’clock. After breakfast, I was very busy putting some 2 hundred rounds of ammunition, which came last night, into the gun Limbers and 1st line wagons, which we had empted into the ammunition dugouts at the gun emplacements.
Bathed about midday – quite rough this morning, so had good fun with the breakers.
Finding mangos with the one man range finder most of the evening.
Intelligence bulletin tonight reports Turkish, German, and Austrian troops concentrating at El Arish. The 155th Infantry Brigade began arriving at Romani tonight, I think they mean to have one or two divisions out here eventually.

2 June 1916

Improving the emplacements in the morning. Major Daniell O.P. Essex RHA came this afternoon for a three day stay.
An interesting intelligence report in this evening: a Turkish and a German general are reported to have arrived at El Arish.
On duty at the O.Pip this evening.

1 June 1916

Although I forgot to say ‘rabbits’ we had a surprise packet quite early in the day. About seven o’clock this morning the machine guns down at Railhead began blazing away and the next thing we heard was bombs dropping. We soon made out an aeroplane, which by her cut was clearly a Boche, making straight for our camp flying at a great height. She came straight over our mess tent and then shut her engines. We could clearly see the black crosses painted on her wings. By a great stroke of luck she had tossed off all her bombs at Railhead so had none left for us, though when she shut off her engines we thought something was coming. Our machine guns at once opened fire, but they might just as well have been shooting at the moon. She cleared off after having a look round, I only hope she didn’t spot the guns, they are well concealed.
Busy digging again this morning, a lovely bathe about midday, and digging again this evening. Kenning came up with the news from Railhead this evening. The plane devoted all its attention to the camp of the Australian Light Horse and dropped six very heavy bombs, killed an officer and nine men, wounded a great many more, and killed 40 horses and a few camels. Most of the Anzacs managed to cut their horses loose, and at the first bout there was a wild stampede, horses and camels running neck and neck in all directions, all thoughts of shying gone to the winds.
The Anzac reconnaissance report tonight says that the Germans have brought five more aeroplanes from Beersheba to El Arish, so they evidently mean to have a strafe here.

31 March 1916

Very hot again today though more breeze than usual. Rode over to the guns and spent most of the morning there. Bathed about midday; it was topping. Mails came in the morning; it was nice hearing from everybody and getting all the news.
The divisional band came and played to us in the evening. Old Garside, the  doctor, came in for a chin wag after mess and we had some good laughs talking over the old Eastbourne times.

30 March 1916

Orderly dog today. I had breakfast at 5:45 am so as to get all the horses straight and work done by 10:30, as it is too hot to do anything but bathe or sit still after eleven o’clock. I took the exercise at 6:30; all the others rode over to the guns. About ten o’clock we had some thunder and then about a quarter of an hour’s very heavy rain – a most unusual thing here at this time of year, as their annual rainfall is only one inch. But it got very hot again in the afternoon. I saw another enormous long string of camels going along the other side of the canal. It is extraordinary how terrified horses are of camels. I suppose it is their smell or something, anyhow horses shy all over the place at them. My little mare is getting more used to them now, but still a bit suspicious.
One of the Essex officers got hold of a gun today and shot about half a dozen quail. There are some sandgrouse about too, one could have great fun out here entirely for shooting. Jeans has gone away for three days leave to Cairo tonight. We shall all get it in time.

29 March 1916

Nothing much doing in the morning but exercise and stables. I went for a bathe about eleven o’clock, and stayed in over an hour; the water was glorious. Till four thirty this afternoon we sat with the sweat pouring off us and then had to ride over the other side of the pontoon bridge to a lecture by the G.O.C. divisional artillery. A bit of a breeze got up about 6 o’clock, but still much too hot for comfort.
I have got my shoulders and arms burnt again through bathing in the sun, although I thought I was keeping under water for most of the time.

28 March 1916

It seems to have been an even hotter day if possible than yesterday. I rode out to the guns this morning. Saw another hoopoe; he pitched quite close to us. This afternoon we had various swimming stunts amongst ourselves in the canal, and impossible bets – I ended up 30/ down so it wasn’t a very profitable afternoon.
This evening the divisional band came and played to the brigade – two bands, one bagpipes and the other a brass band. I believe they are going to come and cheer us up three times a week. A very big camel corps of about five hundred camels with Indian troops have been resting close to us all day; they went away again this afternoon.
We’ve had no fresh meat now for about a week. They say four meat transports have been sunk and we aren’t likely to get any for a long time, but we are existing very well on “bully” disguised various ways.
Several of the men have now got chameleons and are trying them on different backgrounds to see how many different colours they can change. One man caught a snake of sorts yesterday, I don’t know what sort he is – sand coloured and about three feet long. They gave him a small chameleon to eat yesterday and the bulge was still visible today.
There are a good many scorpions about and several of the men have shaken them out of their blankets; I hope I don’t get one in my flea bag.

27 March 1916

A real scorcher again. This morning we went out to the guns and practiced in cooperation with aircraft: an aeroplane went up and dropped smoke balls over various targets for us to get on to. I saw a caravan of several hundred camels going out to one of our posts about twenty miles out in the desert the other side of the canal, with forage, etc. I bathed about four o’clock this afternoon; the major for a bet swam the canal smoking a pipe, and got across with it still alight.