The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-05-07

p1SIuHS IOdu lO InO JOTudI SnuS- Here the river banks are less tortu- ous, but this was Hajlah's only ad vantage. The banks are thickly clothed in trees and undergrowth right down to the waters edge. The left bank, after several hundred yards width of jungle, rises tier upon tier for a considerable distance. It was known that the Turks had made position after position hereabouts.
 Rafts Under Fire
 The troops moved down a wadi, and kept sheltered in broken ground near the river bank while an officer and six men swan the river, towing a rope behind them. Battling with the current, they reached the left bank and began hauling across light rafts loaded with men. The Turks lighted scrub fires, which illumined the surface of the river, and the boatloads had to be tugged over in the face of considerable fire.
 Three hundred men were over by daylight, and the bridge building then began. The engineers had to carry the material down the precipi- tous banks, and the work throughout was very heavy, but they completed a barrel bridge soon after eight o'clock.
 By that time many more men had been ferried across, but the nature of the ground prevented them from forming more than very narrow bridgehead, 800 yards wide, and not more than 200 yards from the bank. Paths had to be cut through the jungle before a man could move. In front of us were nests of machine guns, and beyond the belt of wood were dunes of sun-baked earth, on each of which many Turks were en- trenched.
 On the left were some low cifrrs, and over the dunes were low hills, sheltering a well-armed enemy. Two of our mountain batteries kept down the Turks" fire to a minimum, but with, all the advantages in favor of the defence no further progress could be made during the day. The men lay oRt under a hot sun 1900 feet below the sea level.
 Bridgehead Widened. i It was resolved to try to widen the bridgehead at night. A gallant eff fort was made by the troops soon af- ter midnight on Friday. By deter mined, well-sustained rush they charged through the tangled prickIy thorn bushes and trees to a depth of thousand yards gradually ex- tending their Hanks till they formed a bridge head 1,500 yards wide. Meanwhile the engineers had been constructing a steel pontoon bridge under considerable shell and rifle fire, which they did not allow to in- | terrupt them for moment. It was due to their remarkably fine work that we were able to get over an en- ting mounted regiment by dawn.
 The cavalry moved silently up the left bank through breaks in the iun- gle Then they climbed the low cliffs, and suddenly emerged on to the plain, over which they galloped to- wards Ghoraniyeh, riding down and capturing 70 Turks, some machine guns making the enemy opposite Hajlah foot it as hard as they could. The Turks suffered number of cas- ualties in getting away. Another mounted regiment was got across at Hajlah and secuted eastwards. During Saturday the Duke of Con- naught was we'll east of the Jordan, watching the operations for several hours.
 As the stream became less swift bridges were built at Ghoraniyeh, and the passage of the river was assured in two places.
 Another excellent piece of work was carried out down south. It was
 decided to threaten the Turks flank
 at Majiah. Two officers and 45 men volunteered to make a march from