Drummers leading British troops on a march across the desert in Palestine, October 1917

Photograph, World War One, Middle East (1914-1918), Palestine, 1917.

Image caption states: 'British Troops on the march in Palestine Oct '17.'

General Allenby did not wait for the infrastructure to be completed support the advancing troops. This meant that the British forces attacking at Gaza had to march from the end of the desert railway to reach the front line.

From a collection of photographs taken by Corporal Joseph Egerton, Shropshire Yeomanry in Sinai and Palestine.