ance was carried out by
the right wing just west of the Jordan, occupying El Mugheir. This place
is the junction of several roads leading from the west to the east of
the Jordan. The object of this preliminary move was to prevent the Turks
west of the river escaping by this route to the east, and also to draw
the attention of the enemy towards the Jordan Valley and distract it
from the coastal sector.

By the night of the 18th/19th September, our troops were in position.
The Divisions occupying the line from the sea on the left were the
60th, the 7th and the 75th on the Plain, the 3rd where Plain and hills
meet about Mejdel Yaba, the 54th and the French at Rafat. Thence the
line was held by the 10th Division, assisted by a composite force, and,
on the extreme right, about the recently captured Mugheir, by the 53rd.
Cavalry were concentrated behind the 60th Division ready to dash forward
directly the line should be broken.

At 4.30 on the morning of the 19th September, there suddenly opened an
intensive bombardment of the enemy's coastal positions, carried out by
all the artillery, trench-mortars and machine-guns that could be
concentrated in this small sector, the navy also co-operating. After ten
minutes' bombardment, the infantry moved forward and assaulted the
enemy's front line positions, which were carried with but little
opposition. Thereafter the barrage lifted and crept, being supplemented
in places by smoke barrages dropped from aeroplanes. The infantry pushed
forward and captured the enemy's second and third lines and strong
points in rear. Shortly before seven o'clock, the 60th Division had
broken right through the enemy defences by the sea, and had reached, and
established a bridge-head at the Wadi Nahr el Falyk, a mile or so behind
the enemy line. Engineers and pioneers got to work at once, and in a
very short space of time had made roads and bridges through the enemy
trench system, and over the Nahr el Falyk, by which cavalry and guns
could be pushed forward. At 7.30, the cavalry passed through on their
dash for the tactical points behind the enemy's lines.

Meanwhile, all along the line our infantry had taken their first
objectives with little opposition, the enemy having been taken
completely by surprise. The whole line advanced to a maximum depth of 5
miles, and then swung to the right, pivoting on Rafat. Such opposition
as was encountered was met with at the strong points well behind the
front line,