[Illustration: On December 9, 1917, a White Flag party came out of Jerusalem to meet the nearest British outposts and surrender the city. The Mayor of Jerusalem is the man with the walking cane and cigarette.] November 12, 1917, was spent in preparations for the attack on the enemy's position covering Junction Station. British forces were now operating at a distance of some thirty-five miles in advance of their railhead, and the bringing up and distribution of supplies and ammunition formed a difficult problem. The routes north of Wadi Hesi were found to be hard and good going, though there were some difficult Wadi crossings, but the main road through Gaza and as far as Beit Hanun was sandy and difficult. CHAPTER XXX THE FALL OF JERUSALEM On the morning of November 13, 1917, the Turks had strung out their forces, amounting probably to more than 20,000 rifles, on a front of twenty miles, from El Kubeibeh on the north to about Beit Jibrin to the south. The right half of their line ran roughly parallel to and only about five miles in front of the Ramleh-Junction Station railway, their main line of supply from the north, and their right flank was already almost turned. The advance guard of the 52d Division had forced its way almost to Burkah on November 11, 1917, on which day also some mounted troops pushed across the Nahr Sukereir at Jisr Esdud, where they held a bridgehead. During November 12, 1917, other British forces pushed north up the left bank of the Nahr Sukereir, and eventually seized Tel-el-Murreh on the right bank near the mouth. The Australian mounted troops, extended over a wide front, secured the British flank and pressed forward on November 12, 1917, toward Balin, Berkusie, and Tel-es-Safi. Their advance troops were counterattacked and driven back a short distance, but the Turks made no effort to press farther forward. The British then decided to attack on November 13, 1917. The country over which the attack took place is open and rolling, dotted with small villages surrounded by mud walls with plantations of trees outside the walls. The most prominent feature is the line of heights on which are the villages of Katrah and El Mughar, standing out above the low flat ground which separates them from the rising ground to the west, on which stands the village of Beshit, about 2,000 yards distant. This Katrah-El Mughar line forms a very strong position, and it was here that the Turks made their most determined resistance against the turning movement directed against their right flank. The 52d Division, assisted by a charge of mounted troops, who galloped across the plain under heavy fire and turned the Turkish position from the north, captured the position. Some 1,100 prisoners, three guns, and many machine guns were taken here. After this the Turkish resistance weakened, and by the evening the Turks were retiring east and north.