ivision fought here, and fought well. But at least two other
divisions, the 52nd and the 75th, had been fighting on this hill for a
day or so before the arrival of the 60th. As a matter of fact, this
hill, the "key" to Jerusalem, was first captured by a brigade of the
75th Division, in honour of which a "key" was thereafter adopted as the
proud distinguishing mark of this Division.

On Neby Samwil occurred some of the bitterest fighting in the Palestine
campaign. Both sides realized the vital importance of the position. All
the first night the hill was distinctly unhealthy. The trees were
infested with snipers who picked off our men in the bright moonlight.
Some refuge from the sniping was procurable inside the Mosque, but the
Turkish artillery had no compunction in shelling the building and
bringing it down in ruins. As the night progressed, more troops were
poured on to the hill. The snipers were hunted down and summarily dealt
with. Machine guns were established in the ruined Mosque and other
appropriate positions, and preparations made to hold the hill at all
costs. Towards the morning the Turks delivered a determined
counter-attack. During the 22nd, the enemy made two counter-attacks on
the Neby Samwil Ridge, which we repulsed. In one case, the Ghurkhas,
having run out of ammunition, hurled down rocks and boulders upon the
heads of the ascending enemy. At one time the Mosque was deserted by all
except one machine-gun officer, who continued to work his gun
single-handed. By this time the 52nd Division had come up and were, in
some cases relieving, in some fighting side by side with, the 75th.

On the 23rd and on the 24th, determined and gallant attacks were made on
the strong positions to the west of the Nablus road held by the enemy,
who had brought up reinforcements and numerous machine guns, and could
support his infantry by artillery fire from guns placed in position
along the main road. Our artillery, from lack of roads, could not be
brought up to give adequate support to our infantry, and both attacks
failed. The yeomanry, who by the afternoon of the 21st had got to within
a couple of miles of the Nablus road, were heavily counter-attacked, and
fell back, after bitter fighting, on Beit-ur el-Foka (Upper Beth-horon).

This fighting had been taking place over classical and sacred ground.
Troops fighting on Neby Samwil looked down upon the Holy City, still in
the hands of the Turk. Our advanced dressing station