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Born-Pimlico

After the Western Front, the second largest theatre of war between 1914 and 1918 was Egypt and Palestine. Britain had long had a foothold in Egypt guarding the vitally important Suez Canal and when war was declared against Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) who controlled all of what is now known as the Middle East, British troops were sent to guard the canal from attacks from the north. For the first two years of the war the British forces were on the defensive as the Turks, backed by the Germans, made a number of attempts against the canal but an important victory in August 1916 at Rumani relieved the pressure and the British force was then able to move onto the offensive and advance north into Palestine. By March 1917 they had concentrated at Rafah and were ready to attack the coastal town of Gaza and the fortifications running east from there to Beersheba.

The First Battle of Gaza was launched on 26th March, 1917 from the Wadi Ghazze, about eight miles south of Gaza and involved cavalry units, mainly Australian and New Zealanders, encircling the town whilst the infantry, 52nd, 53rd and 54th Divisions, all Territorial Army units, moved in from the south and south-east. Protected by a thick, early morning sea mist they made good progress. 53rd Division led the way and had soon established themselves on the Es Sire Ridge overlooking the town. The actual assault on the town did not begin until midday and immediately met heavy fire from entrenched Turkish troops. There followed an afternoon of heavy fighting at the end of which the British were in possession of most of the high ground surrounding Gaza and in a position to capture the town the following day. But then things began going wrong. Believing that the infantry attack had come to a halt and because their horses were in desperate need of water, the cavalry screen was withdrawn. This of course left the infantry vulnerable and reluctantly, they pulled back as well. The next day, 27th March, the attack was resumed but by now the Turks had moved up their reinforcements and although the high ground was once again occupied by the British, they were not able to break through the Turkish lines and capture Gaza.

When, on 26th March, 53rd Division came up against strong resistance to their advance, 161 Brigade of 54th Division was ordered up to capture Green Hill, where there were many Turkish machine-guns holding up the attack. 4th Essex on the right and 5th Essex on the left with 6th Essex in support undertook this task and after the heaviest fighting of the day, eventually took this strong point, only to abandon it that evening. On the following day, 27th March, 1917, the British tried again to capture Gaza City and once more 161 Brigade moved forward to the high ground overlooking the town, this time led by 7th Essex who had been in reserve the day before. Things were made more difficult on this day because a hot wind, the Khamsin, blowing in off of the desert, had sprung up and the cool weather of 26th March had been replaced by very high temperatures which made great demands on the scarce water supply. A fierce struggle took place as they attempted to reoccupy the ground that had been captured on the previous day but then abandoned. The Turks launched a strong counter attack and regained some parts of these two positions. 7th Essex fought back and with the help of 6th Essex, sent up in support, won back control. But the odds were against them and at 9.30am another Turkish attack won back control of Ali Muntar. The fighting there was extremely fierce and the Essex battalions, which now included some of 4th Essex, only just managed to extricate themselves and fall back on previously held positions. The Turkish artillery was much in evidence throughout the day, harassing all the supply routes  and by the late afternoon both 53rd and 54th Divisions were withdrawn back behind the Wadi Ghazze. The battle was over. Nothing had been gained but over 4,000 casualties had been sustained by the British over the two days, the vast majority coming from the Essex battalions of 161 Brigade. One of those who lost their lives was Herbert Miller of 6th Essex who was killed on 27th March.