dden
change from the heat and dryness of the plain to bitter cold and wet
was a desperate trial, especially to the Indian units, who had little
sleep that night. They needed rest to prepare them for the rigour of
the succeeding day. A drenching rain turned the whole face of the
mountains, where earth covered rock, into a sea of mud. On the
positions about Saris being searched a number of prisoners were taken,
among them a battalion commander. Men captured in the morning told us
there were six Turkish battalions holding Enab, which is something
under two miles from Saris.

The road proceeds up a rise from Saris, then falling slightly it
passes below the crest of a ridge and again climbs to the foot of a
hill on which a red-roofed convent church and buildings stand as a
landmark that can be seen from Jaffa. On the opposite side of the road
is a substantial house, the summer retreat of the German Consul in
Jerusalem, whose staff traded in Jordan Holy Water; and this house,
now empty, sheltered a divisional general from the bad weather while
the operations for the capture of the Holy City were in preparation. I
have a grateful recollection of this building, for in it the military
attaches and I stayed before the Official Entry into Jerusalem, and
its roof saved us from one inclement night on the bleak hills. On the
20th November the Turks did their best to keep the place under German
ownership. The hill on which it stands was well occupied by men under
cover of thick stone walls, the convent gardens on the opposite side
of the highway was packed with Turkish infantry, and across the deep
valley to the west were guns and riflemen on another hill, all of them
holding the road under the best possible observation. The enemy's
howitzers put down a heavy barrage on all approaches, and on the
reverse of the hill covering the village lying in the hollow
there were machine guns and many men. Reconnaissances showed the
difficulties attending an attack, and it was not until the afternoon
that a plan was ready to be put into execution. No weak points in the
defences could be discovered, and just as it seemed possible that a
daylight attack would be held up, a thick mist rolled up the valley
and settled down over Enab. The 2/3rd Gurkhas seized a welcomed
opportunity, and as the light was failing the shrill, sharp notes
of these gallant hillmen and the deep-throated roar of the 1/5th
Somersets told that a weighty bayonet charge had got