ahead. General Douglas came to cheer the men up, and announced that over
3,000 Turkish prisoners and a large quantity of material had been
captured to date. For the moment, however, men had lost their grip of
interest in such matters, and were chiefly concerned with their own
personal affairs. They behaved splendidly and with great physical effort
resisted the need to drink. Officers were grateful to one or two men in
their platoons who proved a moral support to their comrades by keeping a
cheerful countenance, interposing a ribald remark when things looked
black, and explaining to their weakest pals the rigours of the necessity
in a rougher but more intelligible manner than their leaders could have
done. Such men are invaluable and are always to be found on these
occasions.

Reconnoitring patrols of Australian Light Horse and Yeomanry passed
through, and from remarks dropped by returning troopers it soon became
apparent that little if any resistance would be met with. A detachment
of Ayrshire and Inverness Horse Artillery were keeping pace with our
column and occasionally they opened fire, obviously upon fleeting
targets of retreating Turks. A thick wood of date palms in the distance
indicated Katia, and all men gazed upon this as the Mecca in which water
was to be found. Some eight hundred yards from this, however, was
another hod which had to be traversed by the 127th Brigade, and as we
were leading, it devolved upon us to make quite sure that it was not
occupied. The 6th and 7th therefore extended and assumed attack
formation to pass through the hod. This was a difficult moment and
tested the fibre of men and the battalion as a whole to the utmost. The
extra physical exertion and the loss of companionship which one gets in
the close formation served almost as a breaking point to endurance.
Perhaps the best summary of the psychology of this period is found in
the words from the diary of one of the officers:--