en occupied mainly for
observation and that his principal resistance was to be offered upon the
Ballut Ridge.

After a short halt on the first objective, to conform to the time-table,
we moved forward again in the same formation against our second
objective, a ridge which seemed to overlook the Wadi Deir Ballut. We
still met with no opposition, until we put our heads up over the ridge,
when we were greeted with a torrent of bullets from machine guns posted
on the opposite side of the wadi. This wadi, it will be remembered, was
to us _terra incognita_. The first thing to be done therefore was to
make a hurried reconnaissance, and decide on the best method of getting
down and across. It was found that the descent was almost a sheer
precipice, and that we had not one but two wadis to cross; a smaller
tributary wadi, scarcely marked on the map, forming, in fact, a rather
serious obstacle. Carrying out such a reconnaissance, upon a forward
slope, under machine gun fire from across the wadi, was none too easy.
It had been intended that the leading company, which took the ridge,
should at once open covering fire across the wadi, whilst the company
following should pass through them and cross the wadi under cover of
their fire. However, the difficulty of taking up suitable positions for
seeing the target, and the extremity of the range (about 1,500 yards),
made it inadvisable for the infantry to fire. But the machine gunners
attached to us soon brought their machine guns into action, while our
artillery f.o.o. took up a position on the ridge from which he could
fire his guns to good effect.

About this time, away to our left, developed the attack on Mejdel Yaba.
This village occupies a commanding position overlooking the Plain, and,
in Crusading days, was a fortress. That phase of the battle proved an
artillery action pure and simple. The whole artillery of a Division,
with several heavies added, was concentrated on that luckless spot. It
afforded a spectacle not soon to be forgotten. When the infantry
arrived, they found the work all over; the Turks had all been killed by
the bombardment or fled from the village, most of the latter having been
cut off and killed by our machine guns. Before leaving, the Turks had
taken the precaution of interviewing the headman of the village and
cutting his throat.

To return to our own corner of the picture, under cover of the fire of
our own artillery and machine guns the first company we