ling by both sides till darkness fell,
but we felt sure that neither side suffered any casualties from that
source.

From our position the ridge, known afterwards to the Battalion as
Sausage Ridge, was a crest line, quite four thousand yards away, with
orange groves and undulating country between, thickly sown with enemy
trenches, just newly evacuated by the Turks. The 5th A. & S.H. were to
attack on our immediate right, and the 6th H.L.I. to deliver a
converging attack from the south-west. The ridge was to be carried as
soon as possible, and packs were dumped to make the moving lighter. The
frontage of each battalion was approximately 400 yards and a tree marked
the centre of our objective. The bearing was 113 deg. and as the tree
disappeared almost immediately after the attack was launched, the
advance was compass-directed. As we stood, the objective appeared to be
a slight height just beyond a low saddle in a nearer ridge of hills.
Behind this ridge ran the main road from Gaza northwards, and it was
certain that the enemy would defend it desperately.

"C" and "D" Companies were in the firing-line and at 16.00 the men
dropped down through the orange groves of Herbieh, pulling the ripening
fruit as they passed, and made rapidly for the distant ridge. Before
they were half-way across the level ground darkness had set in. The
Argylls on the right were directing but the 155th Brigade on the left
was completely out of touch. Firing could be heard from their direction
and, as a matter of fact, they had enough to do to hold up an enemy
attack on their left from Askalon. At 17.15 the enemy on our own front
opened a very heavy fire from rifles and machine-guns, and, as we drew
nearer, he began to put up flares in large numbers. It was impossible to
keep in touch with Battalion Headquarters, and the conduct of the attack
and the use of reserves had to be decided by the officer in the front
line. Thus it was that both the reserve companies were put into the
fight before any orders could be received from Colonel Morrison.

The configuration of the ground constituting the immediate objective was
afterwards ascertained to be very different from what it had appeared to
be when viewed from a considerable distance in the gathering darkness.
Instead of a long unbroken ridge our attack fell upon an isolated mound
lying in the centre of a decided indentation on the main ridge. In the
first charge the Battalion carried this mound and th