urbet Umm el Ikba, thus lay
in No Man's Land at no great distance from the enemy. Though standing on
a hill and commanding an admirable view of the surrounding country, it
is overlooked at a range of a mile from Three Bushes Hill, and also at
shorter distances within effective rifle range from the points marked A,
B and C, and, to some extent, from the point marked E. F is a lower
knoll, commanded from Ikba. Both E and F are commanded from A.

Moving forward before dawn, the patrol commander led his patrol forward
down the Wadi Ikba. Each section was kept apart, and moved forward in
single file under its own commander. To each section commander were
given precise orders as to the position which he was to occupy, what he
was to do, and when he was to withdraw. One section moved down the ridge
on the right of the wadi, and took up a position at the point B. One
section, with the junior officer, moved first along the wadi bed, and
then, while it was still only half light, ascended the left-hand spur
and took up a position at A. The Lewis-gun team occupied the hill at C.
The remaining section, which had been kept in reserve at the hills about
D, now moved forward and occupied Ikba. All being reported clear, the
senior officers moved forward, arriving at Ikba just as the daylight
became strong enough for them to obtain the forward view of the enemy
country which they desired.

An even better view of the country seemed probable from the spur at A.
So across there went the officers, including the patrol commander. By
the time they arrived, rifle reports were cracking, and the situation
was becoming interesting. The reconnaissance finished, the patrol
commander gave the senior officers five minutes in which to withdraw,
before the expiration of which he would not begin to withdraw his
patrol.

Meanwhile, the enemy upon Three Bushes Hill, had espied the party in
Ikba, and set out to capture the patrol. Creeping along under cover,
they established themselves at the point E. Thence they started to move
on to the point F, but came under fire from the section on point A. It
became a case of running the gauntlet, but the section were shooting
well and dropped their men. The section at Ikba was withdrawing; the
enemy, failing to realize that the spur A was occupied, rushed across to
A intending to shoot up the wadi at the section withdrawing from Ikba.
They were greeted with a warm reception from the section already at A
and beat a