owed good judgment, for it was from the
mounted troops the heavy blow was to fall. Lieut. Perkins, Bucks
Hussars, was sent forward to reconnoitre the wadi Shellal el Ghor,
which runs parallel to and east of the wadi Janus. He became the
target of every kind of fire, guns, machine guns, and rifles opening
on him from the ridge whenever he exposed himself. Captain Patron, of
the 17th Machine Gun Squadron, was similarly treated while examining
a position from which to cover the advance of the brigade with
concentrated machine-gun fire. It was not an easy thing to get cavalry
into position for a mounted attack. Except in the wadis the plain
between Yebnah and Mughar offered no cover and was within easy range
of the enemy's guns. The wadi Janus was a deep slit in the ground with
sides of clay falling almost sheer to the stony bottom. It was hard to
get horses into the wadi and equally troublesome to get them to bank
again, and the wadi in most places was so narrow that horses could
only move in single file. The Dorsets were brought up in small parties
to join the Bucks in the wadi, and they had to run the gauntlet of
shell and rifle fire. The Berks were to enter the wadi immediately the
Bucks had left it. Behind Mughar village and its gardens the ground
falls sharply, then rises again and forms a rocky hill some 300 yards
long. There is another decline, and north of it a conical shaped hill,
also stony and barren, though before the crest is reached there is
some undulating ground which would have afforded a little cover if the
cunning Turks had not posted machine guns on it. The Dorset Yeomanry
were ordered to attack this latter hill and the Bucks Hussars the
ridge between it and Mughar village, the Berks Yeomanry to be kept in
support. There seems to be no reason for doubting that Mughar would
not have been captured that day but for the extremely brilliant charge
of these home counties yeomen. The 155th Brigade was still held fast
in that part of the wadi Janus which gave cover south-west and south
of Mughar, and after the charge had been completely successful and the
yeomanry were working forward to clear up the village a message was
received--timed 2.45 P.M., but received at 4 P.M.--which shows the
difficulties facing that very gallant infantry brigade: '52nd Division
unable to make progress. Co-operate and turn Mughar from the north.'

It was a hot bright afternoon. The dispositions having been made, the
Bucks Hussars an