After a short rest at Huj, the division bivouacked at Gaza under heavy rain, then began a march through the mud to Junction Station, which it reached on 22 November. It now entered the last stage of the Battle of Nebi Samwil, where the objectives were a tangle of hill slopes, with tracks so bad that it was impossible to bring up the guns until roads had been made for them. Nebi Samwil had been captured by units of 75th Division, and the London battalions that relieved them came under fierce counter-attacks on 29 November; only the supporting British artillery fire allowed them to maintain their position. However, the way was now open to attack the final defences of Jerusalem; an encirclement was chosen, to avoid attacking the city itself. The surprise attack began on 8 December without artillery support; once progress had been made the batteries were to move up and come under command of the brigade groups. The going was tough for the gun teams, and while the infantry fought their way into the suburbs of Jerusalem; there was little the artillery could do to support them. The Turks evacuated the city and the following morning the mayor and civic leaders initially surrendered the city to two sergeants of &lt;a href="19th%20Battalion%2C%20London%20Regiment%20%28St%20Pancras%29"&gt;2/19th Londons&lt;/a&gt;. They were followed an hour later by Maj W.C. Beck of C/CCCIII Bty and Maj F.R. Barry of 413 (H) Bty of CCCII Bde on reconnaissance, who said that they were not authorised to accept the surrender, but passed the information to 60th Divisional Artillery HQ. The first formed party to enter the city was a small force of gunners commanded by Lt-Col Bayley, who had been bringing CCCIII Bde up the road from Qalonye.