Meeting the need for water in the 1917 Desert Campaign

I’ve always been interested in the Campaigns in the Middle East, probably due to films such as “Gallipoli” and “The Light Horsemen”. When I started to really dig into the RE Mounted History an area that does offer a lot of information is the Campaigns in Palestine and Mesopotamia. While I am about to finish an post on the engineer work put in place for the attack at Beersheba on the 31 Oct 1917 as part of the 3rd Battle of Gaza, I have been distracted by current Middle East events in the Gaza area.

The thing that has created the distraction is the media cries that water has been cut to Gaza and that the locals don’t have access to water.

I’m not going into the politics or side taking, those are discussions that can take place else where away from this history blog. I want to consider the facts that the British and Imperial Forces fought the Ottomans over this very ground in 1917 over three battles. In this theatre, water is a key requirement because without it you cannot fight, particularly in the period of the Great War. There are three key users of water in this type of warfare:

• Men
• Horses, Mules, Camels and Donkeys.
• Train Engines.

The Ottomans held the wells at Gaza and also the significant wells at Beersheba off to the east (the end of the Ottoman Defensive Line). What existed south of this point were considered as minor wells and were used by the Bedouin Arabs that lived and migrated in the area.

To meet the water requirements for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) there would be a need to supply water either from existing supply and sources back in Egypt or to create/ exploit water sources locally.

The Royal Engineers could meet the requirements of both options.

A pipeline was created to push water forward across the Sinai, following a coastal route, from the Nile and would be added to as the EEF advanced. Also all of the EEF Sapper units would have water development and water supply as one of their key roles in the campaign.

By January 1917 the British and Imperial Forces of the EEF had crossed the Sinai and were established at El Arish and were raiding Rafah (9 Jan 1917) to the north. At El Arish the pipeline from the Nile had arrived and was providing 230,000 gallons of pumped water per day.

By March 1917 the EEF had pushed forward to south of the town of Gaza. As they moved forward the sappers worked to repair and develop sources of water at a local level.

• On the 12th March 410 and 412 Field Companies RE moved to Rafah and developed the water supply in the local area, good quality water was found in the Sand Dunes near the sea and many tube wells were sunk and all provided good yields. 412 Fd Coy RE and support from the Egyptian Labour Corps troops errected 100,000 gallon water storage in this area.
• North of Rafah at Khan Yunis, 437 Fd Coy RE repaired the the well and the pumping plant to bring it back on line.
• By 21 March, in the Khan Yunis area 439 Fd Coy ARE had sank wells to provide a yield of 100,000 gallons per day.
• Further deep wells were developed at Khan Yunis between the town and the coast to provide 130,000 gallons per day.

The EEF had created their front line north of the town of Deir El Balah. In this area the RE units had created several shallow wells which were giving very good yields. It was also found that the area of Wadi Ghazzee which ran from the coast, just north of Deir El Balah, and headed East/South East into the Desert offered good potential and as such would allow the EEF to widen it’s front against the Ottomans and not to be constrained to the narrow coastal strip.

When exploring the Wadi Ghazzee area it was found that there was large supplies of water, this was particularly the case towards Shellal, which had natural springs.

A large part of the water used for the 1st and 2nd battles of Gaza (March and April 1917) were provided from these sources and also from the pumped pipeline from El Arish. It should also be noted that even once wells were developed work did not stop on them, improvement works were constantly happening and it was noted that the deep well at Khan Yunis had been improved to produce 168,000 gallons per day by the 27th March 1917 (the second day of the 1st battle of Gaza).

Working hand in hand with the water supply was the pushing forward of the rail network, which had been pushed forward to Deir El Balah. this allowed troops, stores and supplies to be moved forward, part of this was water supplies from the end point of the Nile Water Pipe at El Arish. Water storage was created at the rail head to store this train shipped water. The wells in the Deir El Balah area were connected to pumping system at the rail head and this allowed for water to be pumped to a water storage area near Khan Umm Jerra in Wadi Ghazzee. This storage area provided 90,000 gallons of stored water and water points for 300 Camels and 300 horses at a time, this was all in a location that could not be observed by the Ottomans.

After the close of the 1st battle of Gaza, (26&27 March 17), 410th and 413th Fd Coy REs move into Wadi Ghazzee and sink 21 wells in the gravel areas, while the majority are shallow wells some go as deep as 60 feet, these wells end up providing 40,000 gallons per day. These field Companies are then joined by the Sappers from 54th Infantry Division who create more wells in the Wadi Ghazzee and also clean and repair old water cisterns, these additions provide 70,000 gallons daily

The 2nd Battle of Gaza occurs on the 17-19 April and while it is more successful than the first battle it does not dislodge the Ottomans from Gaza so work must continue to support the troops holding the area in preparation for the future actions.

In May 1917 the deep wells at Khan Yunis were upgraded with pumping plants, this allowed production to increase, for one of the deep wells on its own the production increased to 80,000 gallons per day. On the 11 May the 220th Army Troops RE started work on a 250,000 gallon Water Reservoir in the Khan Yunis area.

By the end of May work continued to create new wells in the Wadi Ghazzee area, these added a further 120,000 gallons and had pipes laid to forward water dumps, complete with concrete water tanks and sunshades.

By this point in time the pipeline from Egypt had reached it’s final limit and was a 150 miles long and maintained a pumped pressure at all of it’s delivery points.

The gravel wells in Wadi Ghazzee were continuing to produce plenty of water but the quality was classed as Brackish but was still classed as potable (drinkable) water. The springs at Shellal had been enhanced and were providing 250,000 gallons per day, while the springs at El Qamle and Bir Esani continued to provide good yeilds (100,000 gallons per day at least per day)

On the front line sector of El Mendur (from the coast and directly across the front of Gaza town) it was found that the local wells were sufficient to supply the troops on the front, and as such the localised pipeline from Deir El Balah and the Wadi Ghazzee reservoirs.

It was recognised that there would be further actions to take Gaza and as such the Corps developed extra wells in the dunes areas at the mouth of the Wadi Ghazzee (at the coast, west of Deir El Balah), these wells would yield brackish but drinkable water of sufficient quantity to supply 2 infantry divisions as emergency supply if required.

By June 1917 220th Army Troops RE took over the Khan Yunis water area to free up RE Field Companies for front line/ forward area works. This was as part of the preparation work for what would be expected as the 3rd battle of Gaza. During June and July the water sources between Deir El Balah and Shellal were fully developed and provided with mechanical pumping plants.

In September 1917, the Sheikh Abbas Sector (the eastern sector in front of Gaza Town and joined the El Mendur Sector) now had deep wells yeilding 123,000 gallons per day, with having this source close to the front means that there is now reduced requirement to move water forward from Deir El Balah and Wadi Ghazzee. At the same time 410th Fd Coy RE was installing mechanical pumps on the smaller wells in this sector.

The last major piece of water works in this area was the installation of a pumping plant at the deep well at the mouth of Wadi En Nukhabir (located 2 miles South West of Deir El Balah), this work was carried out by 496th Field Coy RE.

By the start of September the plan for the 3rd Battle of Gaza was being developed and the plan is to attack the far Eastern end of the Gaza defensive line at the town of Beersheeba, and as such the focus for forward areas water development and supply was to push away from the coastal area and start to develop further east into the Wadis and desert areas. This work along with the railway expansion will be covered in it’s own blog post hopefully before Christmas.

So from all of the information above it is possible to see how the British and Imperial forces were able to cross the Sinai desert and take the battle to the Ottomans. Also while the pipe line from Egypt helps to sustain the force and allows it to push forward, it is key that sappers push ahead and develop the existing sources and develop significant new water sources. Once more equipment and time permitted then the new wells are improved and fitted with pumps and reservoirs.

The questions that I currently have going around in my mind in relation to the current conflict are:

• Are any of the deep and shallow wells from 100 years ago still in use? If they are what type of yields are they producing?
• Considering that the Corps was developing water extraction both in terms of shallow (30 feet) and Deep (100 feet) depth and from a variety of locations and sources, have the Palestinians developed their own set of wells and extraction points?
• There has been plenty of discussion about the use of desalination plants, but accepting that these can be expensive, but has there been any work by any of the aid agencies to look at creating more localised water extraction?

I don’t know the answers to the above questions but it does strike me that modern conflicts forget to look back at solutions that may actually be more viable but have been forgotten due to the advance of technology. It is clear that there was good viable sources of potable water right across the area of Gaza and Sapper field units were able to exploit them quickly and once established they could be improved in infrastructure terms and this would in turn improve the yield.

I wonder what could be done by 8 people with some modern equipment, a modern version of the Norton Tube Well driving apparatus, a robust submersible pump and some modern flexible/ collapsible storage tanks. Its just a thought?

Notes and references:

1. The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Volume 6. (1952) Institution of Royal Engineers.

2. Lt Col EWC Sandes DSO MC RE (1937), The Royal Engineers in Egypt and the Sudan 1800-1936, The Naval & Military Press.

3. http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk – An excellent site for information on the Great War.

4. Lt DC Howell-Price (1914), The Light Horse Pocket Book, Originally published by Angus & Robertson Ltd, Reprinted in 2020 by The Kangeroo Feather Publishing Company.

5. Instruction in Military Engineering (Part 5)- Miscellaneous (1898) School of Military Engineering, Fifth Edition, War Office.

6. Military Engineering Volume 6 Water Supply (1922), His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

7. David Murphy (2008), The Arab Revolt 1916-18, Osprey Publishing

8. Mike Chappell (2005), The British Army in World War 1 (3) – The Eastern Fronts, Osprey Publishing