File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎422v] (849/1240)

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ground on their flanks, the Arabs now built small stone sangars,
and five of them remained there as long as the action lasted.
When this part of the ground was gone over next day,
three dead Turks were found in addition to eight large pools of
blood. The Turks numbered thirty-five to the Arabs twenty,
and the Arabs suffered no casualties whatever.
“ Meanwhile, party (b), about eighty strong, swung round
and engaged the Turks further south. These men behaved in a
similar manner and remained cool in action till ordered to retire
so that the naval guns might shell the Turkish trenches. They
retired quietly and extended, walking slowly away and taking no
notice of the stray Turkish bullets amongst them.”
The main Arab force rushed in a compact mass straight for
the town and at once began looting and fighting in a completely
disorganized manner. The Turks fought very hard in the town
from house to house, and the Arabs suffered a fair number
of casualties. However, by the evening, they had driven the
remnant of the Turks into a few houses at the extreme southern
end of the town. The night, which was windy and cold, passed
without incident. At 7.45 a.m. on the 24th, a naval landing
party sent a detachment of fifty men and a machine-gun to
outflank the Turkish position on the Eastern escarpment, which
was badly exposed from the rear. On reaching the rising
ground, that had been held the previous day, they found it had
been evacuated, most of the Turks having retired to the fort
in the hills leaving a few snipers in the plain. This was
searched by the machine-gun and further trouble was stopped.
Remarkable practice was made by one of the ships, with an
up-ended 4*7 gun, against the distant fort, at the very long range
of about 14,000 yards. A shell was dropped in the middle of
the fort at the third shot. The lurks did not wait for further
experiments of this kind, and, when Feisal reached the fort
next day, he found it completely evacuated.
Meanwhile, fighting proceeded in the town. By the morning
of the 24th some forty Turks had been taken prisoner. The
naval landing-party moved back from the scarp toward the town,
and twenty-one of the prisoners were handed over to them, one
of whom volunteered to go in with a white flag and secure the
surrender of any lurks still holding out. However, when this
was done and the houses were searched, no more Turks were found
a ive. 1 he town was in a state of utter confusion, and had been
ransacked from roof to floor. In the mosque was found a dead
lurk with cartridges, the bullets of which had been cut off at
the top to make them expand.
•n u iri ^ orrria fi on was received that some Turks
were sti °‘d ln g out, and shooting from a tower on the south
side of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. There also appeared to be Turks holding
SOm V- c - 111 the vicinity of this tower. These were shelled
accou mg y, and covered by a machine-gun party from the
nor lem ank of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , while a naval landing party made a