ring the latter part of their advance the Turks
were exposed to a heavy cross fire from machine guns and rifles of
the 9th Light Horse Regiment, and this fire and the guns of the 268th
Brigade Royal Field Artillery and the Hong Kong and Singapore battery
prevented the retirement of the enemy. The capture of the prisoners
was effected by an encircling movement round both flanks. Our
casualties were 9 killed and 47 wounded. That storming battalion left
over 100 dead about our trenches. At the same time a violent attack
was made on the Tahta defences held by the 157th Brigade; the enemy,
rushing forward in considerable strength and with great impetus,
captured a ridge overlooking Tahta--a success which, if they had
succeeded in holding the position till daylight, would have rendered
that village untenable, and would have forced our line back some
distance at an important point. It proved to be a last desperate
effort of the enemy at this vital centre. No sooner were the Scots
driven off the ridge than they re-formed and prepared to retake it.
Reinforced, they attacked with magnificent courage in face of heavy
machine-gun fire, but it was not until after a rather prolonged period
of bayonet work that the Lowland troops got the upper hand, the Turks
trying again and again to force them out. At half-past four they gave
up the attempt, and from that hour Tahta and the rocks about it were
objects of terror to them.

Nor did the Turks permit Nebi Samwil to remain in our possession
undisputed. The Londoners holding it were thrice attacked with extreme
violence, but the defenders never flinched, and the heavy losses of
the enemy may be measured by the fact that when we took Jerusalem
and an unwonted silence hung over Nebi Samwil, our burying parties
interred more than 500 Turkish dead about the summit of that lofty
hill. Their graves are mostly on the eastern, northern, and southern
slopes. Ours lie on the west, where Scot, Londoner, West Countryman,
and Indian, all equally heroic sons of the Empire, sleep, as they
fought, side by side.

The last heavy piece of fighting on the XXth Corps' front before the
attack on Jerusalem was on December 3, when a regiment of yeomanry,
which like a number of other yeomanry regiments had been dismounted
to form the 74th Division, covered itself with glory. The 16th (Royal
Devon Yeomanry) battalion of the Devon Regiment belonging to the 229th
Brigade was ordered to make an attack on Beit ur el