NEARING THE HILLS
Early on the morning of the 13th the attack on the enemy positions
began.
The Yeomanry Division and the Camel Corps Brigade advanced on the left
of our line, with the 52nd Division on their right. Then came the 75th
Division and the Australian Mounted Division, the latter covering a
front of about eight miles. The orders to this division were to watch
the right flank of our line, and attract the enemy's attention, as
on the previous two days. In view of the large area of country to be
covered, the 2nd A.L.H. Brigade, now Corps Reserve, was stationed
at Khurbet Jeladiyeh. The 7th Mounted Brigade relieved the 5th, the
horses of which were exhausted. The 2nd and 7th Brigades had only been
withdrawn from the line late on the evening of the 11th, and had thus
had but one day's complete rest. One of the chief difficulties of the
Corps Commander at this time, and one which increased daily, lay in
the fact that one or another of his brigades was always on the verge
of coming to a standstill owing to the exhaustion of its horses. This
fact compelled the continual movement of brigades from one part of the
line to another, to relieve others unable to carry on the pursuit, thus
increasing the fatigue and distress of the horses.
The country in which our troops were now operating is an undulating,
treeless plain, rising here and there into isolated, rocky hills,
similar in character to the country farther south. It is, however, much
more populous than southern Palestine, and is extensively cultivated,
though at this time of year the crops had all been gathered, and the
land was as bare as a village common. Partly, no doubt, for purposes
of defence, and partly to avoid wasting the fertile plain land,
most of the villages are built on the tops of the hills, where the
rock, outcropping over large areas, renders the land unsuitable for
cultivation. Many of these villages are surrounded by trees and small
enclosed gardens, and some are encircled by stout mud walls. All of
them command the surrounding country for a wide space, and, with their
walls and cactus hedges, form admirable strong points, very difficult
to reduce without the aid of heavy artillery. The village of El Mughar,
on its high and rocky ridge, is one of the most prominent of these hill
strongholds, and forms a notable landmark from the flat country to the
west and south of it.
The 8th Mounted Brigade, leading the Yeomanry Division, approached
Yebnah about eight in the morning, and two troops were sent forward to
gallop into the village from either side. This was the usual method
adopted by our cavalry, when approaching villages during a rapid
advance, unless they were definitely known to be strongly held by the
enemy. If there proved to be few Turks in the village, or none at all,
these troops would signal back to their regiment or brigade to advance.
If, however, the village proved to be strongly held, the few men in the
exploring troops, moving in extended order and at a very fast pace,
seldom sustained many casualties, while they nearly always succeeded
in gaining a fairly accurate idea of the numbers of the enemy, the
location of his machine guns, etc.
In the present case Yebnah was found very lightly held, and the 8th
Brigade at once pushed through it, and advanced to the attack of the
villages of Zernuka and Kubeibe, on which rested the extreme right
flank of the enemy's line. The Turks were found in force in these two
places, and the brigade was unable to make any substantial progress, in
the face of very heavy machine-gun fire.
The 6th Mounted Brigade remained in divisional reserve at Yebnah, and
the 22nd was ordered to try and push between Zernuka and El Mughar, and
seize the village of Akir, behind the enemy's line. Intense machine-gun
fire from Zernuka, however, on the flank of the line of advance,
prohibited the brigade from moving forward till this place had been
taken.
A brigade of the 52nd Division attacked the village of Katrah from the
south about nine o'clock, and captured it by a fine bayonet charge,
taking 600 prisoners and a large number of machine guns. The brigade
then advanced on El Mughar, and succeeded in reaching the Wadi Jamus,
about half a mile farther north. From the wadi to El Mughar the ground
sloped gently upwards, devoid of any cover, and traversed by no
depression capable of concealing troops. The infantry extended along
the wadi, and attempted to advance up the slope towards El Mughar,
but were checked by a tremendous fire from machine guns and riflemen
concealed in the gardens of the village, and from field guns in action
farther north. It was soon apparent that they could not hope to cross
the wide stretch of open ground, and they were withdrawn into the
shelter of the wadi. The 52nd Division then sent a message to the
Yeomanry, asking the latter to co-operate by attacking El Mughar from
the east.
General Barrow ordered the 6th Mounted Brigade, which was now extended
from Yebnah to El Gheyadah, about a mile north of Beshshit, to carry
out the attack.
From his position at El Gheyadah, General Godwin had observed that the
infantry advance on El Mughar had been held up, and was anticipating an
order to co-operate with his brigade. He had accordingly already got
one of his regiments, the Bucks Yeomanry, into the Wadi Jamus, at a
point about a mile south-east of Yebnah, and had sent officers' patrols
forward to reconnoitre a line of approach. The reports of these patrols
confirmed the General's own impression that the enemy position could
only be reached by a mounted charge. The country west of El Mughar was
just as bare and open as that to the south, over which our infantry had
found themselves unable to advance. On the other hand, the absence of
obstacles favoured a galloping attack, and, though the distance to be
traversed in the open (over two miles) was considerable, there appeared
to be a good prospect of the enterprise succeeding, provided it was
adequately supported by the R.H.A. and machine gunners.
Having decided on a mounted attack, General Godwin brought up the
Dorset Yeomanry, and galloped them across the open in small parties,
into the shelter of the Wadi Jamus. This regiment was directed on
the left, or northern, end of the enemy position, and the Bucks on
a portion of the ridge to the right of the Dorsets' objective, and
immediately north of the village itself. The Berks Yeomanry was held in
reserve, west of the wadi and near the south end of Yebnah. The Berks
Battery R.H.A., which was at Beshshit, and the Machine Gun Squadron
were ordered to provide covering fire from the south. The 8th Mounted
Brigade, which was attacking Zernuka, would afford protection to the
left flank of the 6th during the action.
[Illustration: _Diagram illustrating the action of El Mughar_]
The Berks Battery was soon in action among some trees north of El
Beshshit, registering the village of El Mughar, and the ridge to the
north of it. The machine gunners, taking advantage of some broken
ground south-east of Yebnah, got into the Wadi Shellal el Ghor, and
worked their way along it to a position about 1000 yards south-west of
El Mughar village.
As soon as the steady bursts of fire from the wadi apprised General
Godwin that his machine guns were in action, he gave the order to
advance, and the two regiments scrambled up the steep sides of the
Wadi Jamus into the open, and trotted forward over the plain in
extended order, the squadrons of each regiment following one another
at a distance of about 200 yards. Two machine guns on pack horses
accompanied each regiment, moving on the outer flanks.
The appearance of the cavalry was the signal for a tremendous fire on
both sides. Every weapon the enemy had in action was turned on the
advancing lines of cavalry, while the Berks Battery and the 6th Brigade
Machine Gun Squadron poured an intense fire on the ridge of Mughar,
sweeping it from end to end.
The regiments trotted quietly across the open till they were some half
a mile from the enemy position, when they shook out into a fast canter,
and swung up the rocky slope at the Turks. A hundred yards from the top
the order to charge was given, and the men sat down and rode.
The leading squadron of the Bucks went through the Turks with the
sword in ten seconds, killing many of them, and galloped right over
the ridge before they could pull up. Ere the enemy troops had time to
rally, the second and third squadrons dashed into them, completing
the rout. In a few minutes from the time when the order to charge was
given, the Bucks Yeomanry had secured their objective, and commenced to
consolidate on the position.
The Dorset Yeomanry, on the left, encountered more broken ground, and
the leading squadron dismounted and attacked with the bayonet. The
other two squadrons, however, stuck to their horses, and reached the
top first. There was not much momentum left in the charge by the time
the cavalry met the enemy, but the long swords do not need much pace
behind them to do their work properly, and the issue of the fight was
never in doubt. Before the dismounted squadron had gained the summit of
the ridge, the other two had cleared the position, and the surviving
Turks were in flight or had surrendered. Incidentally it may be
remarked that the squadron on foot lost more heavily, both in men and
horses, than the two that had gone in with the sword.
While the position was being cleared and consolidated, a number of
the enemy in the village opened fire on our troops with machine guns,
inflicting some loss, and interfering with the work. Two squadrons
of the Berks were sent up at a gallop, and fought their way into the
village on foot, clearing the Turks out of it, and taking about 400
prisoners.
About 600 enemy dead were counted on the position afterwards, and many
more were killed, as they were trying to escape, by the fire of the
machine guns which had accompanied each regiment in the charge. In
addition to those taken in Mughar village, 1100 prisoners fell into our
hands, with three guns and a large number of machine guns. The enemy's
right was completely broken. His troops evacuated Kubeibe and Zernuka
after dark, and fell back in considerable confusion.
Our casualties in the two regiments were 129 officers and men and 265
horses killed and wounded, not an unduly heavy bill when compared
to the number of enemy dead, and, still more, to the great results
obtained.
The 22nd Mounted Brigade rode forward to attack Akir, as soon as Mughar
had been taken, but was held up till nightfall by unexpectedly strong
enemy opposition. The Brigade rounded up seventy prisoners and a few
machine guns retiring from El Mughar, and occupied Akir next morning,
the enemy having retired during the night.
Meanwhile, in the centre, the 75th Division had captured Mesmiye with
the bayonet, taking 200 prisoners, and reached a point on the Deir
Sineid line about two miles west of Junction Station in the evening.
The Turks attacked in considerable force during the night, but were
driven off, and the division entered Junction Station early next
morning.
The Australian Mounted Division advanced a few miles, covering the
right flank of the 75th Division, and seized Tel el Turmus without
encountering serious opposition. During the day the headquarters of
this division, at the village of El Jeladiyeh, three miles east of El
Suafir el Sharkiye, got into touch by helio with the 53rd Division
twenty miles away to the east, and exchanged news. This was the first
and last communication between the two parts of our force, from the day
of the battle of Sharia, till the 7th of December, when the 10th A.L.H.
Regiment gained touch with the 53rd Division in the hills ten miles
south of Jerusalem, two days before the city fell.
Next day, as soon as it was light enough to see, our line was on the
move in pursuit of the enemy.
Early in the morning a couple of armoured cars, sent forward to
reconnoitre, entered Junction Station, and drove suddenly into a crowd
of some 400 Turks employed in setting fire to the buildings, and doing
a little private looting on their own account. The commander of the
leading car summoned these men to surrender, and was answered by a
scattering volley from their rifles. Whereupon he shut the armoured
doors of his car, and charged down upon them, with his machine gun
going full blast. The discomfited Turks turned and fled, pursued for
two miles by the cars. Over 200 of them were killed or wounded; the
remainder escaped into the hills.
The 75th Division entered Junction Station shortly afterwards, and
collected 100 prisoners, a number of guns, and a quantity of rolling
stock.
The Australian Mounted Division pushed on to the north-east, the 4th
Brigade seizing El Tine Station, on the Beersheba line, early in the
morning, where large quantities of ammunition and stores were found
intact. Continuing their move, units of the division penetrated through
the enemy front, which was now broken at Junction Station, and reached
the railway two miles east of the station.
The Yeomanry Division, moving in advance of the 52nd, pushed through
Akir to Naane. The two brigades which occupied the latter place were
heavily shelled by the enemy from about Abu Shusheh, some three miles
farther east, but no other opposition was met with.
The rapidity with which the Mughar-Kutrah line had been captured on
the previous day had resulted in the Turkish army being again broken
into two separate parts. The thrust of the Yeomanry to Naane had now
driven a wedge between these two parts, and the operations of the next
two days were directed towards widening the gap. The larger portion of
the enemy force entered the hills to the east, and commenced to retire
along the main road towards Jerusalem, shepherded by the Yeomanry and
Australian Mounted Divisions. The smaller portion retired northwards
over the plain, followed by the Anzac Division. The 1st A.L.H. and New
Zealand Brigades made good Kubeibe and Zernuka early in the morning,
and then advanced on Ramleh and Khurbet Surafend respectively, with the
Camel Corps Brigade patrolling the sand dune country on their left.
The New Zealanders encountered a force of Turks on the high hill of
Ayun Kara (Richon-le-Zion) about two in the afternoon, and drove them
off without much difficulty. Half an hour later the Turks emerged from
the shelter of the large fruit orchards and vineyards which surround
Ayun Kara, and launched an unexpected counter-attack on the New Zealand
Brigade. They were well supplied with bombs, and pushed their attack
fiercely right up to our line. The New Zealanders then went in with
the bayonet, and drove them back to the bottom of the hill, inflicting
heavy losses on them. Two squadrons from the 1st Brigade and a company
of the Camel Corps reinforced the New Zealand Brigade, which had
suffered somewhat severely, but the enemy had had enough, and made no
further attack. This was the only serious fighting of the day.
The two brigades held an outpost line for the night from the sea coast,
through Ayun Kara to Khurbet Deiran, in touch with the Yeomanry on
their right. The Camel Corps Brigade occupied a support line a short
distance farther south. The Yeomanry Division remained in occupation of
Akir and Naane, watching the northern exits from the latter place, with
the 52nd Division lying behind it about El Mughar. The 75th Division
had a brigade in Junction Station, and the remainder of the division at
Mesmiye, while the Australian Mounted Division held an outpost line in
observation of the country to the south-east.
[Illustration: _Diagram illustrating the Situation on the 14th
November_]
On the 15th the Anzac Mounted Division, moving northwards over the
plain, occupied Ramleh without opposition, taking about 350 prisoners,
and on the following day the New Zealand Mounted Brigade entered Jaffa,
where it was received with acclamation by the populace. On the 17th
the division had reached the Nahr el Auja, near its mouth, without
having yet succeeded in bringing the enemy to action. Favoured by the
hard ground on the plain, and assisted to some extent by the railway
along which they were retreating, the Turks made the best use of the
nights during this period, and never stopped till they had put the wide
and deep channel of the river Auja between themselves and our troops.
They were now located, entrenched along the north bank of the river,
from near the sea to about Khurbet Hadrah. The Anzac Division received
orders to halt opposite this line, and remain in observation of the
enemy, pending the arrival of reinforcements, while the more important
task of the advance on Jerusalem was taken in hand.
Meanwhile the Yeomanry division was engaged driving the right half
of the enemy army into the hills. The road from Jerusalem to Jaffa
runs through a deep and narrow valley in the mountains, which has its
outlet at Amwas, near Latron. Here the valley opens out into the
Vale of Ajalon, which slopes gently down to the level of the coastal
plain. Running north and south across the western end of the Vale, a
bold ridge stands up sharply from the plain, between the villages of
Sidun and Abu Shusheh. The northern end of this ridge terminates at Abu
Shusheh, and the southern end at the hill of Tel Jezer, the ancient
Gezer, round which so many battles have been fought in the past.
The enemy had posted a strong rearguard on the northern end of the
ridge, to cover the retreat of his main body up the Jerusalem road.
The Yeomanry Division was ordered to dislodge this rearguard, and then
clear up the foothill country from Amwas, at the eastern end of the
Vale of Ajalon, to Ramleh.
The enemy's position was one of great natural strength, and was held
by a force of about 4000 Turks, well supplied with machine guns and
artillery. The greater part of this force was distributed in, and on
each side of, the village of Abu Shusheh, but a considerable body of
Turks with machine guns was stationed some distance farther south,
evidently in order to outflank any attack on the village from the west.
The country on that side of the position was of an undulating nature,
and afforded some cover to troops advancing over it. The ridge itself
rose abruptly from this undulating country, a forbidding-looking mass
of boulders and scrub. In places the solid rock outcropped from the
hill over large areas, and there were a number of caves among the
rocks, in many of which the Turks had posted machine guns.
General Barrow directed the 22nd Mounted Brigade and the Camel Corps
to attack the hill on the north-west and north respectively, and the
6th Mounted Brigade from the south-west. At seven o'clock the two
former brigades were in action, advancing dismounted. In view of the
open nature of the country on the west side of the ridge, and the
distance to be covered, General Godwin, who had been reconnoitring the
position with his regimental commanders since dawn, decided to repeat
his tactics of the 13th. Had he been able to obtain a nearer view of
the appalling country over which he was launching his squadrons, it is
possible that he might have decided to make at least the final assault
on foot, in which case we should have lost a classic example of the
capabilities of cavalry when well led.
Having made up his mind to attack mounted, he sent half of the brigade
machine guns, covered by a squadron of the Berks Yeomanry, to push
forward dismounted, taking advantage of what cover the ground afforded,
to a point west of Abu Shusheh, and as close in as possible, from
which to engage the enemy machine guns on the ridge. The Berks Battery
R.H.A., from a position some 3500 yards south-west of the village,
assisted in this task. The Bucks Yeomanry were ordered to charge the
enemy at Abu Shusheh, while the remainder of the Berks charged on the
left, against a spur running out to the west of the ridge, just north
of the village. The Dorset Yeomanry were held in reserve on the right,
to protect that flank. The attack of the 22nd Brigade protected the
left flank.
As soon as the battery and the machine guns were in action, Colonel
Cripps led the Bucks Yeomanry out into the open, in column of squadrons
in line of troop columns, and cantered forward towards the village,
under a fairly heavy, but ill-directed, fire. As they neared the
position, the Yeomanry came under severe enfilade fire from the group
of enemy machine guns on the southern portion of the ridge. Leading
his regiment at a gallop into the shelter of some dead ground, Colonel
Cripps halted them and signalled back for support. The Dorset Yeomanry
were at once sent off to make a turning movement to the south, and take
the hostile machine guns in rear. Some of the guns of the Berks Battery
were also turned on to this party of the enemy.
The appearance of the Dorsets engaged the attention of the Turkish
machine gunners, and the Bucks Yeomanry, taking advantage of the
respite, emerged from concealment, and raced at the position.
Their appearance was met by an outburst of hysterical fire from Abu
Shusheh, through which they passed almost unscathed, and reached the
foot of the ridge. Then, catching their horses short by the head, they
put them at the slope. Slipping and sliding, scrambling like cats among
the rocks, they galloped up, and went over the Turks with a cheer.
The two squadrons of the Berks galloped up on the left at the same
moment, and completed the work. Once our cavalry were in the position
the enemy made but a poor fight.
Meanwhile the Dorsets took advantage of the confusion caused in the
enemy ranks to charge the machine guns farther south. The charge got
well home, and most of the Turks were sabred; the rest surrendered.
While the three regiments were clearing the ridge of isolated parties
of the enemy who still showed fight, a force of Turks appeared from
among the rocks farther south, and attempted a counter-attack against
the right of our troops. The Berks Battery, however, was on the watch,
and at once opened a rapid and accurate fire on these Turks, driving
them back with heavy losses, and breaking up the counter-attack. By
nine o'clock the whole of this strong position was in our hands, with
360 prisoners, and all the enemy machine guns. About 400 Turks were
killed with the sword alone, and many more were found dead on the
position, as a result of our gun and machine-gun fire.
Our own losses were extraordinarily light, only thirty-seven of all
ranks killed and wounded. The Berks Battery and the Machine Gun
Squadron, by their effective covering fire, had helped materially to
keep down our casualties; but the chief credit for this desirable
result must be given to the Turks themselves, whose shooting during
the attack was exceedingly bad, and appeared to be completely out of
control. It is probable that among the garrison were many who had
spoken with survivors from El Mughar, and we may be sure that the
story of that charge had lost nothing in the telling, and probably
contributed largely to the 'nerves' of the Turks. The action earned a
generous tribute from the Commander-in-Chief, who described it in his
despatch as a brilliant piece of cavalry work.
The 22nd Brigade pursued the enemy towards Amwas, rounding up a few
prisoners, but the majority of the Turks escaped over the rocky,
inaccessible country to the east, where our cavalry had little chance
of catching them.