With the British Army in The Holy LandLock, H. O. (Henry Osmond)
History
With the British Army in The Holy Land
Lock, H. O. (Henry Osmond)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Palestine
Close to the sea, the advance-guard of the 52nd Division pushed on as
far as Burkah on the 11th, and, on the 12th, the yeomanry pushed north
and seized Tel el Murreh, on the right or northern bank of the Nahr
Sukereir and close to its mouth.
"The operations of these days showed a stiffening of the enemy's
resistance on the general line of the Wadi Sukereir, with centre about
El Kustineh. Reports from the R.F.C. indicated the total hostile forces
opposed to us on this line at about 15,000; and this increased
resistance, coupled with the capture of prisoners from almost every unit
of the Turkish force, tended to show that we were no longer opposed to
rearguards, but that all the remainder of the Turkish Army, which could
be induced to fight, was making a last effort to arrest our pursuit
south of the important Junction Station.
"On the morning of the 13th November, the situation was, that the enemy
had strung out his force on a front of 20 miles from El Kubeibeh on the
north to about Beit Jibrin to the south. The right half of his line ran
roughly parallel to, and only about five miles in front of, the railway
to the north of Junction Station, which was the main line of supply from
the north."
We have seen that our pursuit along the sea coast had a considerable
start of that further to the right, and the rapidity of this pursuit had
dictated to the enemy this rather unsatisfactory position which he was
forced to take up. His right flank was already almost turned. In so far
as he could do so, he held a strong position on the line of heights
running north and south near the right flank of his position, on which
heights stand the villages of Katrah and El Mughar.
The 12th was a day of preparation. On the 13th, an attack was delivered
against the enemy's position by the 75th Division on the right and the
52nd on the left, the extreme right of the attack being protected by the
Australian Mounted Troops, who had pressed forward towards Balin
Berkussie and Tel es Safi. The country over which the attack took place
is open and rolling. It is dotted with small villages surrounded by mud
walls, with plantations of trees and thick cactus hedges outside the
walls. These hedges afforded admirable opportunities for the concealment
of machine guns. In spite of heavy machine gun fire, the 75th attacked
and captured the village of El Mesmiye. A turning movement was directed
against the enemy's right flank. There was a dashing charge of mounted
troops, who galloped across the Plain under heavy fire and turned the
enemy's position from the north. The Kahan El Mughar position,
protecting the enemy's right flank, fell to the 52nd Division. After
this, the enemy resistance weakened, and by the evening his forces were
in retreat. Early the following morning we occupied Junction Station.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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