hiding-places, with
four divisions of mounted troops to follow hard upon their heels; it was
scarcely possible to move in the coast sector without falling over a
battery of artillery, and tucked away round Richon and Duran were thousands
of transport camels of every shade and breed.

At dusk on the night of September 18th the orange-groves began to erupt,
and for eight hours horse and foot in orderly columns marched silently
forward, the infantry to their battle positions and the cavalry to the
beach between Arsuf and Jaffa, there to wait till the breach had been
made. At half-past four the next morning the shattering roar of artillery
proclaimed that the offensive had begun, and at dawn the infantry attacked
the Turkish positions, swept over those nearest the coast at the first
onslaught, and then swung eastwards. One after another from Et Tireh to
Jiljulieh, strongholds upon which months of labour had been expended fell
before the irresistible elan of our men, though the Turks fought
magnificently to hold their line. By noon the whole of the coastal sector
was in our hands, and the plain of Sharon lay open to the cavalry, who had
started on their historic ride north soon after our first attack.

In the meantime the infantry, driving before them the demoralised remnants
of the Turkish 8th Army, captured Tul Keram, Turkish G.H.Q., together with
a host of prisoners, and then continued east to help the Welsh and Irish
divisions in their assault on Nablus. The Turks here had no information of
the debacle on their right, for the R.A.F. had started out at dawn and had
destroyed every means of communication, except the roads, between the two
armies. They therefore fought with the utmost determination, and aided by
their well-chosen and well-fortified positions, held off our attacks all
that day and the next, though the Irishmen by extraordinary exertions
crumpled up one flank. Then the last message ever sent from the north
informed them that the British cavalry had overrun the whole country in
their rear, so far as they knew the only line of retreat left open to them
was eastward across the Jordan, and this loophole, too, was soon to be
closed. Panic reigned; the roads leading east were black with long columns
of guns and transport and men mingled in hopeless confusion, fleeing with
no thought of anything but their own safety; a routed, utterly demoralised
rabble.

Nablus was occupied without difficulty on the 21st, but the