the 75th Division farther east was to attack Bireh and
Beida. This plan was given to divisional commanders at a conference in
Jaffa on December 12. Two days later General Hill submitted another
scheme which provided for a surprise attack by night with no naval
or land artillery bombardment, such a demonstration being likely to
attract attention. General Hill submitted his proposals in detail.
General Bulfin gave the plan most careful consideration, but decided
that to base so important an operation on the success of a surprise
attack was too hazardous, and he adhered to his scheme of a deliberate
operation to be carried through systematically. He, however, gave
General Hill permission to carry out his surprise attack on the
night of December 20, but insisted that the bombardment should begin
according to programme at daylight on the 21st unless the surprise
scheme was successful.

A brigade of the 54th Division and the 1st Australian Light Horse
Brigade relieved the Scots in the trenches for three nights before the
attempt. Every man in the Lowland Division entered upon the work of
preparation with whole-hearted enthusiasm. There was much to be done
and materials were none too plentiful. Pontoons were wired for and
reached Jaffa on the 16th. There was little wood available, and some
old houses in Jaffa were pulled down to supply the Army's needs. The
material was collected in the orange groves around the German colony
at Sarona, a northern suburb of Jaffa, and every man who could use a
tool was set to work to build a framework of rectangular boats to a
standard design, and on this framework of wood tarpaulins and canvas
were stretched. These boats were light in structure, and were so
designed that working parties would be capable of transferring them
from their place of manufacture to the river bank. Each boat was to
carry twenty men fully armed and equipped over the river. They became
so heavy with rain that they in fact only carried sixteen men. The
boat builders worked where enemy airmen could not see them, and
when the craft were completed the troops were practised at night in
embarking and ferrying across a waterway--for this purpose the craft
were put on a big pond--and in cutting a path through thick cactus
hedges in the dark. During these preparations the artillery was also
active. They took their guns up to forward positions during the night,
and before the date of the attack there was a bombardment group of