their proof in
the 499 casualties incurred by the Division in the hill fighting,
exclusive of those sustained by the 7th Mounted Brigade which
reinforced them. The Division was made up entirely of first-line
yeomanry regiments whose members had become efficient soldiers in
their spare time, when politicians were prattling about peace and
deluding parties into the belief that there was little necessity to
prepare for war. Their patriotism and example gave a tone to the
drafts sent out to replace casualties and the wastage of war, and were
a credit to the stock from which they sprang.

While the Yeomanry Mounted Division had been fighting a great battle
alongside the infantry of the XXIst Corps in the hills, the remainder
of the troops of the Desert Mounted Corps were employed on the plain
and in the coastal sector, hammering the enemy hard and establishing
a line from the mouth of the river Auja through some rising ground
across the plain. They were busily engaged clearing the enemy out of
some of the well-ordered villages east of the sandy belt, several of
them German colonies showing signs of prosperity and more regard
for cleanliness and sanitation than other of the small centres of
population hereabouts. The village of Sarona, north of Jaffa, an
almost exclusively German settlement, was better arranged than any
others, but Wilhelma was a good second.

The most important move was on November 24, when, with a view to
making the enemy believe an attack was intended against his right
flank, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was sent across the
river Auja to seize the villages of Sheikh Muannis near the sea, and
Hadrah farther inland, two companies of infantry holding each of the
two crossings. The enemy became alarmed and attacked the cavalry in
force early next morning, 1000 infantry marching on Muannis. The
Hadrah force was driven back across the Auja and the two companies of
infantry covering the crossing suffered heavily, having no support
from artillery, which had been sent into bivouac. Some of the men had
to swim the river. A bridge of boats had been built at Jerisheh mill
during the night, and by this means men crossed until Muannis was
occupied by the enemy later in the morning. The cavalry crossed the
ford at the mouth of the Auja at the gallop. The 1/4th Essex held on
to Hadrah until five out of six officers and about fifty per cent. of
the men became casualties. There was a good deal of minor fighting