The Division, after withstanding the repeated shocks of enemy attacks at Khuweilfeh immediately following the taking of Beersheba, had had a comparatively light time watching the Hebron road.  They constructed a track over the mountains to get the Division to Dharahiyeh when it should be ordered to take part in the attack on the Jerusalem defences, and while they were waiting at Dilbeih they did much to improve the main road.  The famous zigzag on the steep ridge between Dharahiyeh and Dilbeih was in good condition, and you saw German thoroughness in the gradients, in the well-banked bends, and in the masonry walls which held up the road where it had been cut in the side of a hill.  It was the most difficult part of the road, and the Germans had taken as much care of it as they would of a road in the Fatherland—­because it was the way by which they hoped to get to the Suez Canal.  Other portions of the road required renewing, and the labour which the Welshmen devoted to the work helped the feeding of the Division not only during the march to Jerusalem but for several weeks after it had passed through it to the hills on the east and north-east.  The rations and stores for this Division were carried by the main railway through Shellal to Karm, were thence transported by limber to a point on the Turks’ line to Beersheba, which had been repaired but was without engines, were next hauled in trucks by mules on the railway track, and finally placed in lorries at Beersheba for carriage up the Hebron road.  At this time the capacity of the Latron-Jerusalem road was taxed to the utmost, and every bit of the Welshmen’s spadework was repaid a hundredfold.  The 159th Brigade got into Hebron on the night of the 5th of December, but instead of going north of it—­if they had done so an enemy cavalry patrol would have seen them—­they set to work to repair the road through the old Biblical town, for the enemy had blown holes in the highway.  Next day the infantry had a ten-miles’ march and made the wadi Arab, a brigade being left in Hebron to watch that area, the natives of which were reported as not being wholly favourable to us.  There were many rifles in the place, and a number of unarmed Turks were believed to be in the rough country between the town and the Dead Sea ready to return to take up arms.  Armoured cars also remained in Hebron.  The infantry and field artillery occupied the roads during the day, and the heavy guns came along at night and joined the infantry as the latter were about to set off again.

On the night of the 6th the Division got to a strong line unopposed and saw enemy cavalry on the southern end of Sherifeh, on which the Turks had constructed a powerful system of defences, the traverses and breastworks of which were excellently made.  In front of the hill the road took a bend to the west, and the whole of the highway from this point was exposed to the ground in enemy hands south of Bethlehem, and it was necessary to make good the hills to the east before