page_title: Third Battle of Gaza
section_title: Phase two: El Arish redoubt
hierarchical_section_title: Third Battle of Gaza / Battle / 1/2 November night attacks / Phase two: El Arish redoubt
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: Third Battle of Gaza. Turkish trenches in El Arish Redoubt, Captured by the 4th Royal Scots, supported by two Companies of the 8th Cameronians, 52nd Division, 2nd November 1917.
context_page_description: The Third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of 1/2 November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I, and came after the Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Beersheba had ended the Stalemate in Southern Palestine. The fighting occurred at the beginning of the Southern Palestine Offensive, and together with attacks on Hareira and Sheria on 6–7 November and the continuing Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe which had been launched by General Edmund Allenby on 1 November, it eventually broke the Gaza to Beersheba line defended by the Yildirim Army Group. Despite having held this line since March 1917, the Ottoman Army was forced to evacuate Gaza and Tel el Khuweilfe during the night of 6/7 November. Only Sheria held out for most of the 7 November before it too was captured.
  Following British defeats at the First and Second Battles of Gaza in March and April 1917, Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode commanding the EEF's Eastern Force and Kress von Kressenstein's Ottoman Empire force had each adopted a defensive posture and a stalemate had developed in Southern Palestine.
context_section_description: The second phase began at 03:00 on 2 November when the 156th Brigade of the 52nd (Lowland) Division launched the first attack on the El Arish Redoubt. This attack was aimed at breaking the line of defensive fortifications consisting of three groups of trench complexes and redoubts. These were the El Arish, Rafa, and Cricket redoubts, which were connected by a "series of trench lines several layers thick, and backed by other trenches and strong points" stretching two miles (3.2 km) along the seaward defences to the west of Umbrella Hill. The attack on El Arish redoubt was to be supported by two of the six available tanks of the Palestine Tank Detachment's eight tanks.
  The 1/4th Battalion, Royal Scots (156th Brigade) assault on El Arish Redoubt was carried out in waves through the Ottoman trenches, during which six Ottoman mines exploded, causing EEF casualties. The Ottoman artillery, which had become active as a result of the first attack, had stopped shortly before the second attack began at 06:00 with an intense, ten-minute bombardment. At 06:30, a heavy Ottoman counterattack drove back the leading company of Royal Scots, causing a number of casualties. A platoon from another company helped rally the remnants of the leading company, which was reinforced by the 1/4th Battalion Royal Scots and 1/8th Battalion Scottish Rifles when the position was consolidated. Two tanks passed through El Arish Redoubt, but shortly afterwards one was abandoned and the other hit, while a third tank moved along the front line rolling out wire from Sea Post on the coast to Beach Post.
  A man who obviously had been able to get more than his allowance [of rum] started singing loudly, and was removed. We then set off in a long line, and passed through our front line trenches into "No–Man's–Land." I saw a man breaking the ranks, and dodging back towards our lines, obviously his nerves having given way. An NCO dashed out, got hold of him, and took him away. I was with Hq. sigs. [headquarters signals] in the "fourth wave." Four parallel lines of white tape, had been laid out, and I and the others spaced ourselves out along the fourth tape, and lay down, facing the enemy lines, to await the signal to advance. Two tanks came rumbling up from behind, and a few of us had to jump up and get out of the way to let them pass ... Our shelling increased in volume, and at 03:00 the 4th RS [Royal Scots] advanced in four lines on a front of 300 yards (270 m) towards the El Arish Redoubt. Two Turkish contact mines exploded as our "first wave" approached the redoubt, blowing many of the men to pieces. We were not, of course, aware of this at the time. As I got near the Turkish trenches the enemy shell and machine–gun fire became so intense, with shells bursting all around, that I and several others decided to stop in a large shell or mine crater for a few minutes till the shelling eased somewhat. When the barrage moved forward we resumed our advance.
  — Lance Corporal R. Loudon, Signaller, 1/4th Royal Scots, 156th Brigade, 52nd (Lowland) Division
caption: Ottoman trenches in el Arish Redoubt captured on 2 November by the 4th Battalion Royal Scots, supported by two companies of the 8th Battalion Scottish Rifles, 52nd (Lowland) Division
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