Foka in the dark
hours of the morning. All the officers had made reconnaissances and
had learned the extreme difficulties of the ground. At 1 A.M. these
yeomen worked their way up the wadi Zeit to the head of that narrow
watercourse at the base of the south-western edge of the hill on which
the village stands. The attack was launched from this position, the
company on the right having the steepest face to climb. Here the
villagers, to get the most out of the soil and to prevent the winter
rains washing it off the rocks into the wadi, had built a series of
terraces, and the retaining walls, often crumbling to the touch,
offered some cover from the Turkish defenders' fire. With the
advantage of this shelter the troops on the right reached the southern
end of the village soon after 2 o'clock, but the company on the left
met with much opposition on the easier slope, and had to call in aid
the support of a machine-gun section posted in the woods on a ridge
north-west of the village. By 3 o'clock the whole battalion was in
the village, using rifle and bayonet in the road scarcely more than
a couple of yards wide, and bombing the enemy out of native mud and
stone houses and caves. Two officers and fifteen unwounded men were
taken prisoners with three machine guns, but before any consolidation
could be done the Turks began a series of counter-attacks which lasted
all day. As we had previously found, Foka was very hard to defend.
It is overlooked on the north, north-east, and east by ridges a few
hundred yards away, and by a high hill north of Ain Jeruit, 1200 yards
to the north, by another hill 1000 yards to the east, and by the
famous Zeitun ridge about 1500 yards beyond it, and attacks from these
directions could be covered very effectively by overhead machine-gun
fire. To enlarge the perimeter of defence would be to increase the
difficulties and require a much larger force than was available, and
there was no intention of going beyond Foka before the main operation
against Jerusalem was started. To hold Foka securely a force must be
in possession of the heights on the north and east, and to keep these
Beitunia itself must be gained. Before daylight arrived some work on
defences was begun, but it was interfered with by snipers and not much
could be done. Immediately the sun rose from behind the Judean hills
there was a violent outburst of fire from machine guns and rifles on
three sides, increasing in volume as the light impro