er part of Sheria,
intended to attack the hill there at nightfall, and the attack was in
preparation when an enemy dump exploded and a huge fire lighted up the
whole district, so that all troops would have been exposed to the
fire of the garrison on the hill. General Shea therefore stopped the
attack, but the hill was stormed at 4.30 next morning and carried at
the point of the bayonet. A bridgehead was then formed at Sheria, and
the Londoners fought all day and stopped one counter-attack when it
was within 200 yards of our line. On that same morning the Irish
troops had extended their gains westwards from the Rushdi system till
they got to Hareira Tepe Redoubt, a high mound 500 yards across the
top, which had been criss-crossed with trenches with wire hanging
about some broken ground at the bottom. Here there was a hot tussle,
but the Irishmen valiantly pushed through and not only gave XXth Corps
the whole of its objectives and completed the turn of the enemy's left
flank, but joined up with the XXIst Corps. The working of XXth Corps'
scheme had again been admirable, and once more the staff work had
enabled the movements to be timed perfectly.

The Desert Mounted Corps was thus able to draw up to Sheria in
readiness to take up the pursuit and to get the water supply at
Nejile. This ended the XXth Corps' task for a few days, though the
60th Division became temporarily attached to Desert Mounted Corps.
XXth Corps had nobly done its part. The consummate ability, energy,
and foresight of the corps commander had been supported throughout by
the skill of divisional and brigade commanders. For the men no praise
could be too high. The attention given to their training was well
repaid. They bore the strain of long marches on hard food and a small
allowance of water in a way that proved their physique to be only
matched by their courage, and that was of a high order. Their
discipline was admirable, their determination alike in attack and
defence strong and well sustained. To say they were equal to the
finest troops in the world might lay one open to a charge of
exaggeration when it was impossible to get a fair ground of
comparison, seeing the conditions of fighting on different fronts
was so varied, but the trials through which the troops of XXth
Corps passed up to the end of the first week of November, and their
magnificent accomplishments by the end of the year, make me doubt
whether any other corps possessed finer soldierly