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[Page 14]
The left eight wounded Turks near the gun and brought the others in, ten in all after dark. They held the position of the day all night, and at dawn Lieut. McGregor went out with a section of men and an A.A.M.C. detail, who dressed the wounded Turks whilst they, rounded up three Turks who were making towards Burier. Lieut. McGregor then took stock of all the gear and transport, and a description of the guns, six in all, which the different Units of the Brigade had prevented the enemy getting away. For his action in this matter Lieut. McGregor was awarded the M.C., and No. 3427, Trooper I. W. Newton was awarded the M.M.
2/Lieut. A.W.M. Thompson, 10th L. H. Regiment received orders from Major Timperley, O.C., "C" Squadron, 10th L. H. Regiment to move forward with "A" Troop, C, Squadron on the right flank together with 2/Lieut. Kingdon, on his left with "B" Troop. At this time great masses of the enemy were retreating across the flat towards Burier, in disorder. Lieut. Thompson moved his troop forward at the trot over very broken ground, skirting round a hill to the right, Lieut. Kindon moving to the left, coming abreast of the Wadi el Hesy in square S-17.d., he was unable to get a crossing over the Wadi, so moved off to the right, and rode down the flat parallel with the wadi, those men who did not have revolvers drawing their bayonets. They charged down to what appeared to be a pretty substantial enemy transport column, about 600 yards away, the drivers and escort of which started to make off, some cutting horses out of the wagon and getting away on them. By this time shrapnel and machine gun fire were brought to bear on Lieut. Thompson's party; they then recrossed the wadi, and secured good cover for their horses. 5 prisoners were sent back to B.H.Q., with 2 of our wounded men. During this time about half a squadron of Turkish cavalry had come out and were making an attempt to get at the ammunition column. All available rifles and the Hotchkiss rifles got into action against this party, who broke and retired. The Hotchkiss rifles doing particularly good work under Sergeant Middleditch and Trooper Barrett. One troop of the 8th L. H. Regiment came into action here and took up a position on the right flank. Lieut. Thompson then decided to attempt to bring the ammunition column in. Sergeant Gwynne, Lance Corporal Hyde and Trooper Jarrick assisting. Sergeant Middleditch with the Hotchkiss Rifle and the remainder of the troop maintained a covering fire for their protection. There were 21 limbered wagons loaded with big ammunition. Some of the horses had already been shot, and some of them removed. Lieut. Thompson found it impossible to move the wagons without assistance, so to prevent the enemy removing them he shot over 60 horses. The wagons contained all large calibre ammunition. For his action in this matter Lieut. Thompson was awarded the M.C.
Lieut. L. M. S. Hargrave, 9th L. H. Regiment was in charge of B troop, A squadron, 9th L.H. Regiment. He pushed forward and occupied high ground west of junction of wadis in square 072,S,9c, and shot down part of a gun team and escort of a 15 c.m. gun. By keeping up a heavy rifle and Hotchkiss gun fire he prevented a strong enemy party reaching the guns. He later, with part of his troop, together with Lieut. P.T. Smith's troop - C troop, A squadron, 9th L. H. Regiment - charged mounted and took the gun. This would not have been possible had not Lieut. Hargrave seized the excellent tactical position he did, and broken up the enemy by fire. For his action in this matter, Lieut. Hargrave was awarded the M.C.
The Brigade suffered exceptionally light casualties in both men and horses throughout the day considering the nature of the fighting and the large number of guns, prisoners and booty won. The country was excellent for mounted operations - open, undulating, broken in parts, but not to such an extent as to block passage of mounted troops. It afforded excellent cover for mounted approach.
At about 1730 28 of our aeroplanes flew overhead in bombing formation. The noise of the explosion of the bombs dropped on the retreating enemy could be distinctly heard. The Brigade occupied the ridge two miles N.E. of the Huj as a night outpost line. During the night of 8/9th November the horses of the Brigade were sent to Wadi Jemmemeh to water; this place had been made good by the Anzac Mounted Division the previous day. The supply would allow for a very slow watering, so horses were not returned to Huj until 1600 on 9th November, some of them having been thus more than 45 hours without water