First Battle of Gaza - Battle

Battle

Fog had begun to develop and from about 03:50 became very thick. It remained for about four hours, then began to lift. Just before dawn at 05:00 it was so dense that objects could not be seen 20 yards (18 m) away, but by this time most of the infantry had crossed the wadi. However, it made it impossible for Dallas to reconnoitre the proposed battleground and he waited at El Breij for the fog to lift, while his two leading brigades moved slowly forward. Visibility was improving about 07:30. By 07:55 the fog had lifted sufficiently for heliographs to be used to communicate with headquarters. But the fog was so heavy that all aircraft in No. 1 Squadron which had moved forward to a new landing ground at Rafa for the opening attack, had to turn back as nothing of the ground could be seen from the air.

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