hey were some three miles behind. We sat all day on the safer
side of the crest, watching a stubbornly contested battle being fought
on Hill 2450, which was taken and lost more than once, and in getting
shelled continually by field guns. They did not hit many, but, as bad
luck would have it, they got our adjutant, Captain W.D. Brown, as
game a fellow as ever walked, and he was carried off evidently very
badly hit, and died that night in the dressing-station. We were not at
the time in touch with Brigade, but the brigade-major was over on the
ridge with us, so we had to get out orders for the further advance.

It was our Battalion's turn to lead, and we went for the main
objective, the Hill of Shafa, at the extreme end of the ridge about
one and a half miles away. The Ayrs and Lanarks were sent to seize a
hill on our right, another to maintain touch with the 10th Division on
our left (we were responsible as far as the W. Sunt), and the fourth
in support of us. We started the advance just after dark, and all went
well until we had almost reached the objective. One could see the
other battalion in the moonlight on the crest of the lesser hill to
our right, and we were ourselves about half way up Shafa, when we
suddenly bumped right into the Turk. Both sides were rather taken by
surprise, and our men at all events were thoroughly excited and firing
wildly in the dark without much chance of hitting anything. There was
a natural rock face about 8 feet deep right across the face of the
hill, and only about two spots where it could be climbed, and this
held us up for some time. The Turk began to try to work round the
flanks and the situation was looking rather unpleasant, especially as
we were wasting, at a great rate, ammunition which might be badly
wanted next day, the Lewis guns expending thousands.

However, shortly before midnight, the excitement calmed down a bit,
and we managed to get up the rock face on to a sort of false crest,
and scouts, sent out to the front, reported that the Turk had cleared
right off the whole hill. Two platoons advanced and occupied the
farther crest and then we settled down to get what rest we could
though it was too cold to sleep, and a good many spent most of the
night walking up and down to keep warm. We found next day that our
ammunition had not been entirely wasted, as there were a lot of dead
Turks and quantities of rifles and machine-gun equipment left behind
when they retreated. Our ca