THE fighting in the hills was just about finished, for the time being, by 1 December. The Turks held the line before Jerusalem which they had established before the recent battles, but the British were well entrenched close to the city. And during the fighting the British divisions which had been recuperating had been brought forward. The London Division was already in position; the Yeomanry (infantry) Division came up on its left, to relieve the Yeomanry Mounted, a process which greatly strengthened the line since the infantry were much more numerous than the horsemen. The Irish Division had been marching north from Gaza for some days; it was in the line by 1 December, taking over from the improvised defence by the Lowland Division and the 7th Mounted Brigade along the north. The forces which had battered vainly at the Turkish defences for the last fortnight were brought back to the plain for a rest. In the first days of December each side shuffled about, evacuating inhospitable posts, improving the line, and on the British side, thickening up the population of the line to produce a powerful concentration. The Irish and Yeomanry Divisions extended their positions; the London Division contracted. The Welsh Division began to move north from Beersheba along the Hebron road.

The arriving troops had been well rested and had re-equipped with winter clothing, the better to face the wet, cold conditions in the hills. The general supply situation was also much improved – this had been, of course, a precondition for moving the Gaza divisions northwards. The gap between the two railway systems had now been filled by the extension of the Egyptian railway as far as Deir Sneid, north of Gaza, where supplies could be transferred more easily to the Turkish railway. The difference in gauge remained awkward, and the standard-gauge line continued to be extended, being laid beside the narrow-gauge Turkish line, reaching Ashdod by Christmas Day. But the rains, which had so distressed the troops in the hills, were also a problem in the plain, where every stream filled with water, every track collapsed into mud, and the railway was frequently cut by the washing out of its foundations.