eight 6-inch howitzers and a counter battery group of ten 60-pounders
and one 6-inch Mark VII. gun in concealed positions, and the artillery
dumps had been filled with 400 rounds for each heavy gun and 700
rounds for each field piece. The weather on the 18th, 19th, and 20th
December was most unfavourable. Rain was continuous and the valley of
the Auja became a morass. The luck of the weather was almost always
against General Allenby's Army, and the troops had become accustomed
to fighting the elements as well as the Turks, but here was a
situation where rain might have made all the difference between
success and failure. General Bulfin saw General Hill and his
brigadiers on the afternoon of the 20th. The brigadiers were depressed
owing to the floods and the state of the ground, because it was then
clear that causeways would have to be made through the mud to the
river banks. General Hill remained enthusiastic and hopeful and, the
Corps Commander supporting him, it was decided to proceed with the
operation. For several nights, with the object of giving the enemy
the impression of a nightly strafe, there had been artillery and
machine-gun demonstrations occurring about the same time and lasting
as long as those planned for the night of the crossing. After dusk on
December 20 there was a big movement behind our lines. The ferrying
and bridging parties got on the move, each by their particular road,
and though the wind was searchingly cold and every officer and man
became thoroughly drenched, there was not a sick heart in the force.
The 157th Brigade proceeded to the ford at the mouth of the Auja, the
156th Brigade advanced towards the river just below Muannis, and the
155th Brigade moved up to the mill and dam at Jerisheh, where it was
to secure the crossing and then swing to the right to capture Hadrah.
The advance was slow, but that the Scots were able to move at all is
the highest tribute to their determination. The rain-soaked canvas
of the boats had so greatly added to their weight that the parties
detailed to carry them from the Sarona orange orchards found the task
almost beyond their powers. The bridge rafts for one of the crossings
could not be got up to the river bank because the men were continually
slipping in the mud under the heavy load, and the attacking battalion
at this spot was ferried over in coracles. On another route a section
carrying a raft lost one of its number, who was afterwards found sunk
in mud