daily and scientifically bombed all
the camps in the valley. The camels in particular made an excellent mark
and suffered severely, though apart from this, they were the only living
creatures appertaining to the army who flourished and waxed fat in that
blistering lime-kiln.

Towards the end of April a heavy concentration of cavalry round Jericho
made it evident that another attempt was to be made east of the Jordan, and
on the night of the 28th-29th the 1st Australian Mounted Division crossed
the river and advanced due north, between the east bank and the foothills,
towards the Turkish road from Nablus to Es Salt and the ford known as Jisr
ed Damieh, whence they were to march east for the purpose of cutting off
the retreat of the garrison at Shunet Nimrin should the attack of the 60th
Division on that place prevail. Soon after dawn the cavalry came under very
heavy fire, but pushed forward and attained their objectives, where two
brigades, without artillery, went off to help the Londoners. The latter
marched all night, and, taking the Turks by surprise in the early hours,
stormed part of the pass, but despite all their efforts could make no
further headway.

Meanwhile the 4th Light Horse and a brigade of horse-artillery were heavily
engaged till dusk in holding off reinforcements from Nablus who were
attempting to cross by the Jisr ed Damieh ford. After nightfall this
brigade and the batteries retired a short distance and took up a position
commanding the road, in a deep wadi where the guns had to be man-handled
into place, after which the waggons and limbers were let down the sides of
the wadi by means of drag-ropes, and the horses scrambled down as best they
could. Dawn brought the news that the Turks had successfully crossed the
Jordan during the night, and had followed the river southwards in the
direction of our second bridgehead at El Auja, intending to come at the
left flank of the Light Horse, which was absolutely in the air.

At seven o'clock they attacked, and plastered the batteries in the wadi
with shells till, at the end of two hours, the position became untenable,
and an attempt was made to shift the guns. It was incomparably more
difficult to get out of the wadi than it had been to get in, and moving was
but out of the frying-pan into the fire, for one wadi led into another, and
the sides were so precipitous that the horses were almost useless for
dragging out the guns. Four teams were hooked into a gu