Complex sentence: This advance depended on the construction of the railway and water pipeline, and with the railway reaching El Arish on 4 January 1917, an attack on Rafa by the newly formed Desert Column became possible.
Split into simpler sentences: This advance depended on the construction of a railway and water pipeline. With the railway reaching El Arish on 4 January 1917, an attack on Rafa by the newly formed Desert Column became possible.