se parts was not realised. Prisoners
taken during the day proved that there were portions of three or four
Turkish divisions in the neighbourhood, and the strong efforts made to
prevent the Welsh troops gaining the position and the furious attempts
to drive them out of it suggested that most of the Turkish reserves
had been brought over to their left flank to guard against a wide
movement intended to envelop it. It afterwards turned out that von
Kressenstein believed General Allenby intended to march on Jerusalem
up the Hebron road, and he threw over to his left all his reserves to
stop us. That was a supreme mistake, for when we had broken through at
Hareira and Sheria the two wings of his Army were never in contact,
and their only means of communication was by aeroplane.

The magnificent fight the 53rd Division put up at Khuweilfeh against
vastly superior forces and in the face of heavy casualties played a
very important part in the overwhelming defeat of the Turks. For four
days and nights the Welsh Division fought without respite and with the
knowledge that they could not be substantially reinforced, since the
plan for the attack on Hareira and Sheria entailed the employment of
all the available infantry of XXth Corps. Attack after attack was
launched against them with extreme violence and great gallantry, their
positions were raked by gunfire, whilst water and supplies were not
over plentiful. But the staunch Division held on grimly to what it had
gained, and its tenacity was well rewarded by what was won on other
portions of the field.

During the night of November 5-6 and the day of the 6th, the 74th,
60th, and 10th Divisions concentrated for the attack on the Kauwukah
system. The enemy's positions ran from his Jerusalem-Beersheba railway
about five miles south-east of Hareira, across the Gaza-Beersheba road
to the wadi Sheria, on the northern bank of which was an exceedingly
strong redoubt covering Hareira. The eastern portion of this line
was known as the Kauwukah system, and between it and Hareira was
the Rushdi system, all being connected up by long communication and
support trenches, while a light railway ran from the Rushdi line to
dumps south of Sheria. At the moment of assembly for attack our line
from right to left was made up as follows: the 158th Infantry Brigade
was on the right, south of Tel Khuweilfeh. Then came the 160th Brigade
and 159th Brigade. The Yeomanry Mounted Division held a long line
of