Our course lay along the Zeitun Ridge to Beitania, and on our left,
and slightly in rear of us, brigades of the 10th Division were to
sweep clear the Kereina Ridge south of the deep Wadi Ain Arik, and the
Deir Ibzia-Ain Arik-Kefr Skeyan Ridges again farther to the north.
This meant that we had to get back to our old home in the Wadi Zait,
at the point where it joins the Wadi Selman, advance by night to the
Wadi Imaish, which lay between Foka and Zeitun, and deploy there for
the main attack. This was some twelve miles from Beit Iksa, and the
preliminary reconnaissance was a hard day's work. We found that the
10th Division had, since we were there, secured Foka and Hill A, from
which we got an excellent view of our objective--Zeitun--but we failed
to find or hear of any path down to the Wadi Imaish. As nearly all the
hills here about are steeply terraced, that meant we could take no
mules with us to our position of deployment, as it would have been
hopeless to have them clattering about on the rocks in the dark, and
would have been certain to give the show away. We had expected to be
able to do this assembly and approach in our own time, but through our
secret service a copy was obtained of a Turkish order for an attack
down the Nablus-Jerusalem road by two fresh divisions, timed for 6
A.M. on 27th December. This was only secured, however, three days in
advance, and it was not till 3 P.
Pages:
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103