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The 231st Brigade promptly passed through it, and formed a bridgehead east of the town with the 55th Division on their right and the 57th Division on the left. The 230th Brigade occupied the town while we moved forward to Lamain. Next day we marched through Tournai, and had a tremendous reception.
Early on the 30th a detachment of the 231st Brigade took Foka, capturing eight officers and 298 men, but as it was not possible to hold the village the infantry retired to our original line. On December 1 the 10th Division relieved the 52nd in the sector wadi Zait-Tahta-Kh. Faaush, but on that day the 155th Brigade had had another hard brush with the Turks.
On the night of December 5 the 231st Brigade relieved the 60th Division in the Beit Izza and Nebi Samwil positions, and on December 6 the line held by the 74th was extended to a point about a mile and a half north of Kulonieh. The 53rd Division had passed through Hebron, and its advance was timed to reach the Bethlehem-Beit Jala district on December 7.
The dismounted yeomanry of the 231st and 230th Infantry Brigades rushed through, and by half-past one the 74th Division had secured their objectives. The 179th and 181st Brigades of the 60th Division had won their trenches almost an hour earlier, and about 5000 yards of works were in our hands south of the wadi Saba.
Towards dusk the Turks' attacks petered out, though the guns and snipers continued busy, and the Yeomanry Mounted Division was relieved by the 231st Infantry Brigade of the 74th Division and the 157th Infantry Brigade of the 52nd Division, the Australian Mounted Division ultimately taking over the left of the line which XXth Corps troops occupied.
On the night 10/11th October the 229th Brigade took over from the 231st Brigade, and on the 14th we moved into the line relieving the 12th Battalion S.L.I., D Company on left, A in centre, and B on right, with C in support in Ligny Wood. On the 17th we again advanced, crossed the Haute Deule Canal, and on reaching our final objective handed over to the 16th Devons while we remained in support.
This made us right leading battalion objective Beitania with the Ayrs and Lanarks in close support. The left leading battalion the Somersets were to make for Hill 500 about three-quarters of a mile north of Beitania. The Devons were to advance in close support of the Somersets, and we were given the K.S.L.I. from the 231st Brigade to remain in reserve on Shafa, where Brigade H.Q. also remained.
At about ten o'clock the 24th Royal Welsh Fusiliers of the 231st Brigade captured Kh. ed Dreihemeh on the old Roman road a mile east of Tireh, and at eleven o'clock advanced to the assault of hill 2450, a little farther eastward. They gained the crest, but the enemy had a big force in the neighbourhood and counter-attacked, forcing the Welshmen to withdraw some distance down the western slope.
The 3rd, 53rd, and 7th Turkish Divisions were in the Gaza area. At daybreak the troops advanced to the attack. The first part of the line in front of the 231st Brigade was a serious obstacle.
The 231st Infantry Brigade with one battalion in the front line took over from the 8th Mounted Brigade from Beit Dukku to Jufna, and while the reliefs were in progress there was continual fighting in the Et Tireh-Foka area. The former place was won and lost several times, and finally the infantry consolidated on the high ground west of those villages.
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