o the enemy's positions, but they failed. The officer
casualties were heavy; some companies had no officers, and the troops
were worn out by great exertions and privations in the bleak hills.
The two divisions had been fighting hard for over three weeks, they
had marched long distances on hard food, which at the finish was not
too plentiful, and the sudden violent change in the weather conditions
made it desirable that the men should get to an issue of warmer
clothing. General Bulfin realised it would be risking heavy losses to
ask his troops to make another immediate effort against a numerically
stronger enemy in positions of his own choice, and he therefore
applied to General Allenby that the XXth Corps--the 60th Division was
already at Latron attached to the XXIst Corps--might take over the
line. The Commander-in-Chief that evening ordered the attack on the
enemy's positions to be discontinued until the arrival of fresh
troops. During the next day or two the enemy's artillery was as active
as hitherto, but the punishment he had received in his attacks made
him pause, and there were only small half-hearted attempts to reach
our line. They were all beaten off by infantry fire, and the reliefs
of the various brigades of the XXIst Corps were complete by November
28. It had not been given to the XXIst Corps to obtain the distinction
of driving the Turks for ever from Jerusalem, but the work of
the Corps in the third and fourth weeks of November had laid the
foundation on which victory finally rested. The grand efforts of the
52nd and 75th Divisions in rushing over the foothills of the Shephelah
on to the Judean heights, in getting a footing on some of the most
prominent hills within three days of leaving the plain, and in
holding on with grim tenacity to what they had gained, enabled the
Commander-in-Chief to start on a new plan by which to take the Holy
City in one stride, so to speak. The 52nd and 75th Divisions and, as
will be seen, the Yeomanry Mounted Division as well, share the glory
of the capture of Jerusalem with the 53rd, 60th, and 74th Divisions
who were in at the finish.

The fighting of the Yeomanry Mounted Division on the left of the 52nd
was part and parcel of the XXIst Corps' effort to get to the Nablus
road. It was epic fighting, and I have not described it when narrating
the infantry's daily work because it is best told in a connected
story. If the foot sloggers had a bad time, the conditions were
infin