Hell En Route to the Holy Land

THE GREAT WAR

Intended to deliver a morale-boosting victory to a war-weary nation, the attack on Gaza on April 19, 1917 was a bloody disaster that would be remembered as the blackest day in the history of the Norfolk Regiment. Steve Snelling charts a hellish struggle on the road to the Holy Land.

Gaza was the ancient gateway to Palestine and an important bastion on the road to Jerusalem. Its eventual capture came about after a third successful attack in November 1917.
Major Tom Purdy, a solicitor in civilian life and a company commander in the 5th Norfolks. He described the hasty withdrawal from Gaza in March when victory was all but achieved as a “colossal blunder”.
(COURTESY ROYAL NORFOLK REGIMENTAL MUSEUM)

The news was every bit as bad as Major Tom Purdy feared. Only worse. From the peace of a military hospital on the muggy shores of the Mediterranean, it was hard to make sense of the disaster that had overwhelmed his comrades in arms.

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