No. 3 tank to attack Zowaiid trench, move north and capture Rafa redoubt, rally, then proceed along Rafa trench, deposit R.E. material, capture Yunus trench, attack Belah trench until the arrival of infantry, thence proceed to Sheikh Hasan, deposit more R.E. stores, and return to Sheikh Ajlin.
No. 4 tank to attack Rafa redoubt, co-operate with No. 3 tank against Belah trench, make for Sheikh Hasan, deposit R.E. material, attack A.6 (an isolated Turkish trench to the north-east), and hold this until the infantry had consolidated it.
No. 5 tank to capture Beach Post, co-operate in the assault on Cricket redoubt, attack Sheikh Hasan in advance of the infantry, and deposit R.E. material.
No. 6 tank to capture Sea Post, crush down the wire as far as Beach Post, assault Gun hill, proceed to Sheikh Hasan, then deposit R.E. stores and capture the Turkish post A.5.
(iv) Reserve Tanks.—Nos. 7 and 8 tanks were to be held in reserve north-east of Sheikh Ajlin; from there they were to follow up the attack and replace any disabled machine.
In all, the above six first-line machines had twenty-nine objectives to attack! That this could have been accomplished successfully would have demanded a miracle; it was consequently foredoomed to failure.
The first phase of the attack was to consist in an infantry assault protected by a creeping barrage; during this phase the tanks were to move to their starting-points and be ready to advance at 3 o’clock on the morning of November 2.
In order to ensure complete co-operation between the Tank Detachment and the infantry, tank officers and other ranks were attached to infantry brigades for ten days prior to the battle. As in France, this system resulted in the greatest benefit to both infantry and tank personnel alike.
The first phase of the battle opened at 11 o’clock on the night of November 1–2, the 156th Infantry Brigade assaulting Umbrella hill. To this attack the enemy did not respond immediately, but when he did he opened a heavy artillery fire all down his front which endangered the forward movement of the tanks to their starting-points, which, in spite of this, they reached half an hour before the second zero hour.
It had been hoped to make every use of the full moon which rose in the early evening, but the smoke, resulting from the battle, and a dense haze restricted vision so completely that the tanks had to move forward on compass bearings. At 3 a.m. a heavy barrage was opened on the enemy’s front-line system, behind which the tanks, followed by the infantry, moved forward. No difficulty was experienced in dealing with the first objective, as the Turks were evidently taken quite by surprise. Under cover of the barrage our troops pushed on till they approached their second objective, when the enemy’s fire began to make itself felt. Along the coastline the attack proceeded according to programme, all objectives, including Sheikh Hasan, being taken. The 161st and 163rd Brigades encountered considerable opposition at Rafa trench, Island wood, Crested rock, Gibraltar, and north of El Arish redoubt. Briefly the operations carried out by the eight tanks of the detachment were as follows: