Shell bursts on Outpost Hill, part of the Gaza defences, October 1917

Photograph, World War One, Egypt and Palestine (1914-1918), 1917.

The artillery fire was directed on the Turkish trenches at Outpost Hill following a successful raid there by men from 3/3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles on the night of 31 October. The operation netted 18 prisoners and one machine gun. Such raids, allied with regular artillery bombardments, kept Turkish attention fixed on the Gaza front, while the British developed a separate attack to the east at Beersheba. This went unnoticed and the capture of Beersheba outflanked the Turks who were forced to retreat from their positions at Gaza.

Photograph from the diary of Captain Walter Greville Bagot-Chester (1887-1918), 3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Gurkha Rifles, covering the period, 19 Oct 1916 to 1 Dec 1917 in Palestine and Egypt.