wing by a feint attack was to hold the British force
at the Ismailia Ferry bridgehead. El Kantara was to be attacked by the
northern column, while at the same time to prevent reenforcements from
arriving, a demonstration was to be made at Ferdan. The southern
column was directed to carry out the same tactics at Kubri, near Suez,
which, as was subsequently shown, they did most ineffectually.

In the morning of February 2, 1915, an Indian reconnoitering force met
the Turks about four miles east of the Ismailia Ferry. In the
desultory action that followed, the British troops tried ineffectually
to draw the Turks within range of their main position, and a violent
sand storm arising in the afternoon, the engagement ended. The Turks
retired and intrenched themselves about 2-1/2 miles southeast of the
Ferry post. On this same afternoon the Twenty-fifth Division of the
Turkish army had arrived at a point within four or five miles of the
canal. Their scouts were already established on the eastern bank,
which is backed by trees, brushwood, and sand hills, affording
excellent cover for infantry. A narrow sandy beach, not more than 9
feet wide extends along the foot of the eastern bank. The Turkish
advance was made after night had set in, the Twenty-fifth Division,
with pontoon companies and engineers of the Fourth and Fifth Army
Corps, being first to reach the canal. They brought with them some
twenty pontoons, and five or six rafts constructed out of kerosene
cans fastened in wooden frames.

The first comers were followed by a part of the Seventy-fifth
Regiment, old fighters from Tripoli and the Balkans; "Holy Warriors"
as the Arabs called them. About 3 a. m. they had gained the openings
along the canal bank, the most northerly of which being within a few
hundred yards of the Tussum bridgehead. The remainder of the
Seventy-fifth Regiment covered them from the left. Toward Serapeum,
some distance south, the Seventy-fourth Regiment was stationed.

The night was dark and thickly clouded, and from the silence on the
western bank of the canal the Turks must have believed it to be
unoccupied. That they were entirely confident of success was shown in
a letter afterward found on a dead Turkish officer and dated February
2. After describing the hard march across the desert, he concluded,
"And to-morrow we shall be across the canal on our way to Cairo!"

The Turks crowded on the narrow strip of beach or in the gaps in the
banks, and su