eh, troops rushing the village from the south and
capturing 292 prisoners and 7 machine guns. The 234th Brigade began
an advance on Junction Station during the night, but were strongly
counter-attacked and had to halt till the morning, when at dawn they
secured the best positions on the rolling downs west of the station,
and by 7.30 the station itself was occupied. Two engines and 45
vehicles were found intact; two large guns on trucks and over 100
prisoners were also taken. The enemy shelled the station during the
morning, trying in vain to damage his lost rolling stock. This booty
was of immense value to us, and to a large extent it solved the
transport problem which at this moment was a very anxious one indeed.
The line was metre gauge and we had no stock to fit it, though later
the Egyptian State Railways brought down some engines and trucks from
the Luxor-Assouan section, but this welcome aid was not available
till after the rains had begun and had made lorry traffic temporarily
impossible between our standard gauge railhead and our fighting front.
Junction Station was no sooner occupied than a light-railway staff
under Colonel O'Brien was brought up from Beit Hanun. The whole of the
line to Deir Sineid was not in running order, but broken culverts were
given minor repairs, attention was bestowed on trucks, and the engines
were closely examined while the Turks were shelling the station. The
water tanks had been destroyed, as a result of which two men spent
hours in filling up the engines by means of a water jug and basin
found in the station buildings, and the Turks had the mortification of
seeing these engines steam out of the station during the morning to
a cutting which was effective cover from their field-gun fire. The
light-railway staff were highly delighted at their success, and the
trains which they soon had running over their little system were
indeed a boon and a blessing to the fighting men and horses.

On this morning of November 14 the infantry were operating with Desert
Mounted Corps' troops on both their wings. The Australian Mounted
Division was on the right, fighting vigorous actions with the enemy
rearguards secreted in the irregular, rocky foothills of the Shephelah
which stand as ramparts to the Judean Mountains. It was a difficult
task to drive the Turks out of these fastnesses, and while they held
on to them it was almost impossible to outflank some of the places
like Et Tineh, a railway stati