In spite of these difficulties, the British troops moved into positions by night, and, assaulting at dawn on December 8, 1917, soon carried their first objectives. They then pressed steadily forward. The mere physical difficulty of climbing the steep and rocky hillsides and crossing the deep valleys would have sufficed to render progress slow, and the opposition encountered was considerable. Artillery support was soon difficult, owing to the length of the advance and the difficulty of moving guns forward. But by about noon some British troops had already advanced over two miles, and were swinging northeast to gain the Nablus-Jerusalem road, while others had captured the Beit Iksa spur, and were preparing for a further advance. As the British right column had been delayed and was still some distance south of Jerusalem, it was necessary for the advanced British forces to throw back their right and form a defensive flank facing east toward Jerusalem, from the western outskirts of which considerable rifle and artillery fire was being experienced. This delayed the advance, and early in the afternoon it was decided to consolidate the line gained and resume the advance next day, when the right column would be in a position to exert its pressure. By nightfall the British line ran from Neby Samwil to the east of Beit Iksa, through Lifta to a point about one and one-half miles west of Jerusalem, whence it was thrown back facing east. All the Turkish prepared defenses west and northwest of Jerusalem had been captured, and the British troops were within a short distance of the Nablus-Jerusalem road. During the day about 300 prisoners were taken and many Turks killed. British casualties were light. Next morning the advance was resumed. The Turks had withdrawn during the night, and the British forces driving back rear guards, occupied a line across the Nablus-Jerusalem road four miles north of Jerusalem, while other troops occupied a position east of Jerusalem across the Jericho road. These operations isolated Jerusalem, and at about noon the enemy sent out a parlementaire and surrendered the city. At noon on December 11, 1917, General Allenby made his official entry into Jerusalem. In the operations from October 31 to December 9, 1917, over 12,000 prisoners were taken. The captures of material included about 100 guns of various calibers, many machine guns, more than 20,000,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, and 250,000 rounds of gun ammunition. More than twenty aeroplanes were destroyed by British airmen or burned by the Turks to avoid capture. This ended four centuries of Turkish rule over the Holy City of Jews and Christians. General Allenby, after his entry, issued the following noteworthy proclamation: