snipers.  The Turk had become an adept at sniping, and left parties in the hills to carry on by themselves.  When the 6th Brigade got within two miles of the south-west of Beitunia they were opposed by 5000 Turks well screened by woods on the slopes and the wadi.  Both sides strove all day without gaining ground.  Divisional headquarters were only a short distance behind the 6th, and the 8th Brigade was moved up into the same area to be ready to assist.  By two o’clock in the afternoon the 22nd Brigade got into Ain Arik and found a strong force of the enemy holding Beitunia and the hill of Muntar, a few hundred yards to the north of it, thus barring the way to Ramallah and Bireh.  Rain fell copiously and the wind was chilly.  After a miserable night in bivouac, the 6th Brigade was astir before daylight on the 21st.  They were fighting at dawn, and in the half light compelled the enemy to retire to within half a mile of Beitunia.  A few prisoners were rounded up, and these told the brigadier that 3000 Turks were holding Beitunia with four batteries of field guns and four heavy camel guns.  That estimate was found to be approximately accurate.  A regiment of the 8th Brigade sent to reinforce the 6th Brigade on their left got within 800 yards of the hill, when the guns about Bireh and Ramallah opened on them and they were compelled to withdraw, and a Turkish counter-attack forced our forward line back slightly in the afternoon.  The enemy had a plentiful supply of ammunition and made a prodigal use of it.  While continuing to shell fiercely he put more infantry into his fighting line, and as we had only 1200 rifles and four mountain guns, which the enemy’s artillery outranged, it was clear we could not dislodge him from the Beitunia crest.  The 22nd Mounted Brigade had made an attempt to get to Ramallah from Ain Arik, but the opposition from Muntar and the high ground to the east was much too severe.  Our casualties had not been inconsiderable, and in face of the enemy’s superiority in numbers and guns and the strength of his position it would have been dangerous and useless to make a further attack.  General Barrow therefore decided to withdraw to Foka during the night.  All horses had been sent back in the course of the afternoon, and when the light failed the retirement began.  The wounded were first evacuated, and they, poor fellows, had a bad time of it getting back to Foka in the dark over four miles of rock-strewn country.  It was not till two o’clock on the following morning that all the convoys of wounded passed through Foka, but by that time the track to Tahta had been made into passable order, and some of these helpless men were out of the hills soon after daylight, journeying in comparative ease in light motor ambulances over the Plain of Ajalon.

The arrangements for the withdrawal worked admirably.  The 8th Mounted Brigade, covering the retirement so successfully that the enemy knew nothing about it, held on in front of Beitunia till three o’clock, reaching Foka before dawn, while the 22nd Brigade remained covering the northern flank till almost midnight, when it fell back to Tahta.  The Division’s casualties during the day were 300 killed and wounded.  We still held the Zeitun ridge, observation was kept on Ain Arik from El Hafy by one regiment, and troops were out on many parts north and east of Tahta and Foka.