Gradually the defenders were driven back through the narrow streets of the village, till only the railway 'fort' still held out. This was garrisoned chiefly by Germans, who had a number of machine guns covering all approaches. One of these guns was located in a railway culvert, and, as a troop of the 12th Regiment was working towards it, the crew suddenly stood up and held up their hands, shouting out: 'We surrender!' Being unaccustomed to the ways of the Hun, our men got up and walked towards the gun in the open. When they were about fifty yards away, the crew dropped to their knees, at a given signal, and opened a murderous fire on our men, killing or wounding nearly all of them. The few who escaped worked round to the other side of the railway, and, crawling through the culvert, fell upon the treacherous crew from behind, and killed them all.
About the same time, another troop of the same regiment encountered a German machine gun in charge of an officer. As our men approached, the officer stood up and waved a white handkerchief, whereupon the subaltern in command of the troop went up to him unsuspectingly. When he was about two paces away, the German pulled out his automatic and deliberately shot the unfortunate officer dead.
These two pieces of treachery met with a just retribution. The enraged Australians stormed into the fort, deaf now to all offers of surrender, and bayoneted the defenders almost to a man. About 150 Germans and several hundred Turkish prisoners were taken in the action, and some 200 corpses, mostly those of Germans, were left on the position to be looted by the natives. None of our men would put spade to the ground to bury them.
Two motor boats were lying at the pier when our troops attacked. One of these succeeded in escaping to Tiberias, where it was abandoned by the crew, and burnt. The other was set on fire by Hotchkiss rifle fire, and blew up.
As soon as the action was over, a squadron from the brigade was sent forward along the lake road towards Tiberias. This squadron gained touch with the regiment of the Australian Division advancing from Nazareth, and the two detachments captured Tiberias, which was lightly held, before dark, with about 120 prisoners.