ad been in
Foka and half the machine-gun company, we were to form the Divisional
Reserve for the first phase of the operations. It was an awful night,
and the track was so steep and slippery that the camels could not get
on, and there was broken-down transport every few hundred yards along
the track which was charitably described on the map as a road. The
site of our bivouac was partly rocky ledges and partly slippery mud,
and we spent a most uncomfortable night. The attacking troops of the
Division moved to their positions of deployment the same night, and in
the early morning successfully took the Beit Iksa trenches, which were
the first objective. The next stage--the capture of the El Burj Ridge
and Neby Samwil--was not so rapid, but all were in our hands on the
following day (8th December) and, on our right, the 60th Division had
made equally good progress in face of determined opposition south of
the Jaffa-Jerusalem road.

On 8th December 3 officers and 100 other ranks went off road-making.
One officer and 30 other ranks formed a military cordon round
Kubeibeh, and 1 officer and 50 men proceeded to Enab to represent
Scotland in the Guard of Honour which it was hoped would be required
for the entry into Jerusalem. Thirty more for A.S.C. fatigues at
Kuryet-el-Enab, and another lot to fetch from Latron a lot of donkeys,
which were to be added to our transport establishment. The result was
that, when about 5 P.M. we were ordered to rejoin the Brigade in the
neighbourhood of Beit Iksa, we could only muster about 200 of all
ranks. The Senior Company Commander was accordingly left behind to
collect what he could and follow on, and we started off with the rest
of the Divisional Reserve to do the six or seven miles in the dark in
single file. We could not use the road--so-called--from Kubeibe to
Beit Iksa, as we could not discover whether the village was wholly in
our hands, so we wandered on in pitch darkness with no path of any
kind to show us the best way along the most precipitous slopes, and
the most dangerous wadis. The camels were entirely unable to follow,
and even the mules were in difficulties, several of them falling over
ledges and down terraces. It was 1 A.M. (we started about 5 P.M.)
before we reached the locality in which we had expected to find the
Brigade, but we could find no trace of them, and there was nothing to
be done but send out a few scouts to look for them, and lie down and
sleep until daylight.