On 24 April—the day after the Katia and Oghratina—Chauvel, commander of the Anzac Mounted Division, was placed in command of all the advanced troops: the 2nd Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades at Romani and the
52nd (Lowland) at Dueidar. The infantry moved forward to Romani between 11 May and 4 June 1916. The building of the railway and pipeline had not been greatly affected by the fighting on 23 April, and by 29 April four trains a day were running regularly to the railhead, manned by No. 276 Railway Company and the main line to Romani was opened on 19 May. A second standard-gauge railway line from Romani to Mahamdiyah on the
Mediterranean coast was completed by 9 June. No major ground operations were carried out during these midsummer months, the Ottoman garrisons in the Sinai being scattered and out of reach of the British forces. Constant patrolling and reconnaissance were carried out from Romani to Ogratina, to Bir el Abd and on 16 May to Bir Bayud, south-east of Romani, on 31 May to Bir Salmana east north-east of Romani by the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade, when they covered in 36 hours. These patrols concentrated on an area of great strategic importance to large military formations wishing to move across the Sinai along the northern route. Here water was freely available in a large area of oases which extends from Dueidar, from Kantara on the Suez Canal, along the Darb es Sultani (the old caravan route), to Salmana away. Between 10 and 14 June, the last water source on the central route across the Sinai Peninsula was destroyed by the Mukhsheib column. This column, consisting of
engineers and units of the
3rd Light Horse Brigade, the
Bikaner Camel Corps, and the
Egyptian Camel Transport Corps drained of water from pools and cisterns in the Wadi Mukhsheib and sealed the cisterns. This action narrowed the area in which Ottoman offensives might be expected to the coastal or northern route across the Sinai Peninsula. Ottoman aircraft attacked the Suez Canal twice during May, dropping bombs on Port Said. British aircraft bombed the town and aerodrome at El Arish on 18 May and 18 June and bombed all the Ottoman camps on a front of parallel to the canal on 22 May.
German and Ottoman force At the beginning of July, it was estimated there were at least 28,000 Ottoman troops in the
Gaza–
Beersheba area of southern
Palestine, and that just before the battle began at Romani, there were 3,000 troops at Oghratina, not far from Katia, another 6,000 at the forward base of Bir el Abd, east of Oghratina, 2,000 to 3,000 at Bir Bayud to the south-east, and another 2,000 at Bir el Mazar, some to the east, not far from El Arish. The Ottoman
Fourth Army was made up of the 3rd (Anatolian) Infantry Division with three regiments, the 31st, 32nd and 39th Infantry Regiments, totalling 16,000 men, of whom 11,000 to 11,873 were combatants, Arab ancillary forces and one regiment of the Camel Corps. Estimates of their arms range from 3,293 to 12,000 rifles, 38 to 56 machine guns, and two to five anti-aircraft gun
sections; they also fielded four heavy artillery and mountain gun batteries (30 artillery pieces) and the Pasha I formation. Nearly 5,000 camels and 1,750 horses accompanied the advance. Pasha I, with a ration strength of about 16,000, consisted of personnel and materiel for a machine gun battalion of eight companies with four guns each with Ottoman drivers, five anti-aircraft groups, the 60th Battalion Heavy Artillery consisting of one battery of two 100 mm guns, one battery of four 150 mm howitzers and two batteries of 210 mm howitzers (two guns in each battery). The officers, NCOs and "leading numbers" of this artillery battalion were German; the remainder were Ottoman Army personnel. In addition Pasha I also included two trench mortar companies, the 300th Flight Detachment, Wireless detachment, three railway companies and two field hospitals. Austria provided two mountain howitzer batteries of six guns each. With the exception of the two 210 mm howitzers, the trench mortars and the railway personnel the remainder of Pasha I took part in the advance to Romani. It is also possible that the 81st Regiment of the 27th Division advanced to Bir el Abd and took part in the defence of that place. Murray had his headquarters in
Cairo to better deal with his multiple responsibilities, although he was at
Ismailia during the battle for Romani. With the occupation of Romani, the area became part the Northern or No. 3 Sector of the Suez Canal defences, which originally stretched along the canal from Ferdan to Port Said. Two further sectors grouped the defence forces along the central and southern sections of the Canal; No. 2, the Central Sector, stretched south from Ferdan to headquarters at Ismailia and on to Kabrit, where the No. 1 or Southern Sector extended from Kabrit to Suez. Murray considered it very unlikely that an attack would occur anywhere other than in the northern sector and therefore was prepared to reduce the troops in Nos 1 and 2 Sectors to a minimum. He decided not to reinforce his four infantry brigades, but to increase the available fire-power at Romani by moving up the 160th and 161st Machine Gun Companies of the
53rd (Welsh) and the
54th (East Anglian) Divisions. He also ordered the concentration of a small mobile column made up of the
11th Light Horse, the
City of London Yeomanry (less one squadron each) with the 4th, 6th and 9th Companies of the Imperial Camel Brigade in No. 2 Sector. He calculated that the whole of the defensive force, including the camel transport necessary to enable infantry in the
42nd (East Lancashire) Division to advance into the desert, would be fully equipped and the camels assembled by 3 August. British
monitors in the Mediterranean Sea off Mahamdiyah got into position to shell the assembling Ottoman force, while an armoured train at Kantara was ready to assist the defence of the right
flank, and all available aircraft were on standby at Ismailia, Kantara, Port Said and Romani. Major General
H. A. Lawrence commanded No. 3 Section Canal Defences, and as part of those defences, the Romani position was commanded by Lawrence, who had his headquarters at Kantara. Stationed at Kantara were infantry in the 42nd Division, an infantry brigade of the 53rd (Welsh) Division with 36 guns and the
3rd Light Horse Brigade, detached from the Anzac Mounted Division. The deployments on 3 August on and near the battlefield were as follows: • at Hill 70, southwest from Romani, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (less the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, but with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade's 5th Light Horse Regiment, temporarily attached), commanded by
Edward Chaytor, and the 5th Mounted Brigade, under the direct command of Lawrence, were joined on the railway by infantry in the
126th (East Lancashire) Brigade (42nd Division). Together with the 5th Light Horse Regiment, attached to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade at Dueidar, to the east of Hill 70, this force was to stop or delay von Kressenstein's attack should he attempt to bypass Romani and advance directly towards the Suez Canal, • at Hill 40, a little further southwest of Hill 70, infantry from the
125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade and the
127th (Manchester) Brigade (42nd Division) were also on the railway line at Gilban Station, • the Mobile Column was based in the Sinai at the end of the El Ferdan railway, while the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was at Ballybunion, also in the Sinai at the end of the Ballah railway. The area favoured defence; sand dunes, stretching about inland, covered an area of , including, to the south of Romani, the northern route from El Arish. On the southern and south eastern edges, a series of dunes of shifting sand with narrow sloping lanes led to a tableland of deep soft sand. The 52nd (Lowland) Division developed a strong defensive position at Romani which had its left flank on the Mediterranean Sea, here a series of redoubts were built running southwards from Mahamdiyah along the line of high sand hills about to a dune known as Katib Gannit high. This line of sand hills, which were high enough to see Katia oasis from, marked the eastern edge of an area of very soft and shifting sand beyond which were lower dunes and harder sand where movement by both infantry and mounted forces was considerably easier. Between the shore at the western end of the Bardawil Lagoon and Katib Gannit (the principal tactical point on the eastern slopes of the Romani heights), the infantry constructed a line of 12 redoubts about apart, with a second series of redoubts covering the Romani railway station and the right of the defensive position which curved like a hook westward, then northward. A total of 18 redoubts were constructed, which when fully garrisoned held from 40 to 170 rifles each, with
Lewis guns and an average of two
Vickers machine guns allotted to each position; they were well wired on the right side of each of the positions, although there was no wire between the redoubts. This defensive line was supported by artillery. The threat of an Ottoman attack towards the Suez Canal had been considered by Lawrence in consultation with his divisional commanders, and a second defensive area was developed to address their concerns. Their plans took into account the possibility of an Ottoman army at Katia moving to attack Romani or following the old caravan route to assault Hill 70 and Dueidar on their way to the Suez Canal. Any attempt to bypass Romani on the
right flank would be open to attack from the garrison, which could send out infantry and mounted troops on the hard ground in the plain to the south-west.
Light Horse patrols before the battle Active patrolling by mounted troops continued throughout the period leading up to the battle, but by early July, there were no indications of any imminent resumption of hostilities. The nearest Ottoman garrison of 2,000 men was at Bir el Mazar east of Romani, and on 9 July, a patrol found Bir Salmana unoccupied. However, greatly increased aerial activity over the Romani area began about 17 July, when faster and better-climbing German aircraft quickly established superiority over British aircraft. But they could not stop British aircraft from continuing to reconnoitre the country to the east, and on 19 July, a British aircraft, with Brigadier General E. W. C. Chaytor (commander of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade) acting as observer, discovered an Ottoman force of about 2,500 at Bir Bayud. A slightly smaller force was detected at Gameil and another similar sized force was found at Bir el Abd with about 6,000 camels seen at the camps or moving between Bir el Abd and Bir Salmana. The next morning, 3,000 men were found to be entrenched at Mageibra, with an advance depot for supplies and stores at Bir el Abd. A small force was spotted as far forward as the oasis of Oghratina, which by the next day, 21 July, had grown to 2,000 men. On 20 July, the 2nd Light Horse Brigade with two guns mounted on ped-rails of the Ayrshire Battery demonstrated against Oghratina, capturing several prisoners, and beginning a series of patrols which, together with the 1st Light Horse Brigade, they continued until the eve of battle. Every day until 3 August, these two brigades alternated riding out from their base at Romani towards Katia at about 02:00 and bivouacking until dawn, at which time they advanced on a wide front until German or Ottoman fire was provoked. If the enemy position was weak, the light horse pushed forward, and if a counterattack began, the brigade retired slowly, thereafter to return to camp at Romani at nightfall. The following day, the other brigade carried out similar manoeuvres in the direction of Katia and the advancing Ottoman columns, picking up the
officers patrols which had been left out during the night to monitor enemy movements. During this period, one of many clashes occurred on 28 July at Hod Um Ugba, from the British line. Two squadrons of the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W. Meldrum, made a bayonet assault, supported by several machine guns and two 18-pounder guns. They drove the Ottomans from the Hod, leaving 16 dead and taking eight prisoners from the Ottoman 31st Infantry Regiment. The tactic of continuous forward patrolling was so successful that the advancing force's every move was known to the defenders, but the light horsemen were substantially outnumbered and could not stop the advance. By daylight on 3 August, the German, Austrian and Ottoman force had occupied Katia and were within striking distance of Romani, Dueidar, Hill 70 and the Suez Canal. Their line ran north-east and south-west from the Bardawil Lagoon to east of Katia, with their left flank thrown well forward.
Plans The German and Ottoman objective was not to cross the canal, but to capture Romani and establish a strongly entrenched heavy artillery position opposite Kantara, from which to bombard shipping on the canal. Kress von Kressenstein's plan for the attack on Romani was to bombard the line of defensive redoubts with heavy artillery and employ only weak infantry detachments against them, while his main force launched attacks against the right and rear of the Romani position. The defenders expected the German and Ottoman attack to be one of containment against their prepared line of defence, and an all-out attack on the right south of Katib Gannit. They also appreciated that such an attack would expose the German and Ottoman left flank. Murray's plan was to firstly delay the attackers and make it very difficult for them to gain ground south of Katib Gannit, and secondly, only when the German and Ottoman force was committed, to then disorganise their flank attack with an attack by Section Troops at Hill 70 and Dueidar, with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and the Mobile Column operating more widely against the flank and rear. == Battle on 4 August ==