having had to carry loads most of the way from
Railhead, when what they required was rest and food. Here we were
within four miles of Jerusalem, and all ranks had the chance of seeing
the city.

During the next week or so we managed to supplement our rations with
dried figs, and the most excellent native brown bread; but the supply
of the latter soon stopped, as we were forbidden to buy it, as it
would just mean that the B.E.F. would have to supply bread to the
population later on if we were allowed to consume their stocks of
flour. H.Q. actually managed to secure a turkey, which was picketed
out near the Quartermaster's stores to wait for Christmas. The
programme here was "Road Improvement," but all the same we had a slack
time for ten days or so, when we were told what was to be the next
stunt. We were to assist in a big turning movement in which we were to
go along the Zeitun Ridge, the object being the gaining of some elbow
room to the north of Jerusalem. The 60th Division were to make an
advance up the Nablus road, with which was to be combined a sweep by
the 10th Division, with our Brigade attached, on to Bireh and Ram
Allah from the west. The country favoured such a movement, as the main
ridges ran east and west. We were to be at the same time the point of
the echelon (the brigades being more or less echelonned from the
right) and the inside of the wheel.

Our course lay along the Zeitun Ridge to Beitania, and on our left,
and slightly in rear of us, brigades of the 10th Division were to
sweep clear the Kereina Ridge south of the deep Wadi Ain Arik, and the
Deir Ibzia-Ain Arik-Kefr Skeyan Ridges again farther to the north.
This meant that we had to get back to our old home in the Wadi Zait,
at the point where it joins the Wadi Selman, advance by night to the
Wadi Imaish, which lay between Foka and Zeitun, and deploy there for
the main attack. This was some twelve miles from Beit Iksa, and the
preliminary reconnaissance was a hard day's work. We found that the
10th Division had, since we were there, secured Foka and Hill A, from
which we got an excellent view of our objective--Zeitun--but we failed
to find or hear of any path down to the Wadi Imaish. As nearly all the
hills here about are steeply terraced, that meant we could take no
mules with us to our position of deployment, as it would have been
hopeless to have them clattering about on the rocks in the dark, and
would have been certain to give the show awa