CAPTURE OF EL FULE.

After a sleep in the afternoon (what a luxury for the first day of a “stunt!”) and tea, the Brigade saddled up and moved off at 18.00, just before dark.  What a cheery crowd it was!  But they had “some” march in front of them, the object being the capture of Nazareth and the cutting of the Turk’s principal line of communication, which would isolate practically the whole of his army west of the Jordan!  Just outside the village, two large marquees—­a German Field Ambulance—­hurriedly evacuated, were passed.  Earlier in the day an officer of the 13th Brigade had found an untasted breakfast here, for which he had much reason to be thankful!

[Illustration]

Further on, the track taken (the main route being avoided) proved very bad, and in many places the whole division had to proceed in “single file”.  In some places, also, horses were led.  The natives, who had gathered upon the road-side from the villages which we passed, stood silently watching us.  They must have been amazed, and the troops must have appeared to them veritable “ghosts of the night”.  At 23.30 a halt of 30 minutes was made, at a small village, and horses fed.  In the early hours of the morning many horses, belonging to the forward part of the column, were passed by the wayside.  They were completely “done”.  No doubt they were, in some cases, able, later on, to join up, but in their present state their riders had taken their saddles off and had lain down beside them, to sleep.  For the moment these men had nothing further to do, but they must have run a serious risk from hostile natives when the Brigade had passed by.  At 04.00 the next morning we emerged upon the open Plain of Esdraelon.[20]

FOOTNOTES: 

[20] The Plain of Esdraelon stretches across Central Palestine, and has an average width of about 10 miles.  It forms a wide break between the Mountains of Galilee on the north and those of Samaria on the south.  It has always been a great battlefield; in the Bible it is called the Plain of Jezreel; see Judges iv, 3, v, 21, vi, 1; I Sam. xxix, xxxi; I Kings xx, 25; Josh. xvii, 16.

A GREAT MOVE!

Now was to take place an interesting development in the operations.  With Nazareth within fairly close reach, our objective was at hand.  We formed up as quickly as possible in “Line of troop column,” and then moved along the plain to the east, heading slightly towards the north, gradually nearing the north side as we proceeded forward.  The objective for the 14th Brigade was to cut the main road to Nazareth from the south, thus cutting off all communication between the Turkish General Headquarters at Nazareth and their line, which ran across the country from Arsuf to the north of the Dead Sea.  The 13th Brigade, which, it will be remembered, up to this point had been the leading one, after forming up, made for the hills on the other side of the plain, and, reaching them, turned to the east, towards their objective which was the Turkish General Headquarters at Nazareth!