tion the
progress was good. The Londoners drove in the Turks' strong flank
three times, first from the hill of Zuheilika, then from the
cultivated area behind it, and thirdly from the wadi-torn district
of Muntaret el Baghl, from which the infantry proceeded to the high
ground to the north. It was then between two and three o'clock in the
afternoon, and maps showed that between the Division and Huj there was
nearly four miles of most difficult country, a mass of wadi beds and
hills giving an enterprising enemy the best possible means for holding
up an advance. General Shea went ahead in a light armoured car to
reconnoitre, and saw a strong body of Turks with guns marching across
his front. It was impossible for his infantry to catch them and,
seeing ten troops of Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry on his right about
a mile away, he went over to them and ordered Lieut.-Colonel H. Cheape
to charge the enemy. It was a case for instant action. The enemy were
a mile and a half from our cavalry. The gunners had come into action
and were shelling the London Territorials, but they soon had to
switch off and fire at a more terrifying target. Led by their gallant
Colonel, a Master of Foxhounds who was afterwards drowned in the
Mediterranean, the yeomen swept over a ridge in successive lines and
raced down the northern slope on to the flat, at first making direct
for the guns, then swerving to the left under the direction of Colonel
Cheape, whose eye for country led him to take advantage of a mound on
the opposite side of the valley. Over this rise the Midland yeomen
spurred their chargers and, giving full-throated cheers, dashed
through the Turks' left flank guard and went straight for the guns.
Their ranks were somewhat thinned, for they had been exposed to a
heavy machine-gun fire as well as to the fire of eight field guns and
three 5.9 howitzers worked at the highest pressure. The gunners were
nearly all Germans and Austrians and they fought well. They splashed
the valley with shrapnel, and during the few moments' lull when the
yeomanry were lost to view behind the mound they set their shell fuses
at zero to make them burst at the mouth of the guns and act as case
shot. They tore some gaps in the yeomen's ranks, but nothing could
stop that charge. The Midlanders rode straight at the guns and sabred
every artilleryman at his piece. The Londoners say they heard all the
guns stop dead at the same moment and they knew they had been sil