1351 prisoners, seventeen guns, and eleven machine guns were collected at Haifa after the action. The captured artillery included two six-inch naval guns, which the Germans had mounted on the top of Mount Carmel, to engage our warships in the event of an attempted landing.
The Turks had fought well, firing until they were ridden down, but once our cavalry were through the defile, the fight was practically over. They galloped through the town, riding down with the lance any bodies of the enemy who showed fight, and, in twenty minutes, had overcome all opposition.
The Australian Mounted Division had a day of comparative rest. The 3rd A.L.H. Brigade relieved the 5th Cavalry Division at Nazareth, and the rest of the division remained at Afule, sending patrols eastwards as far as Beisan, to bring in the prisoners taken on the two previous days by the 4th Cavalry Division. Towards evening the 'bag' began to arrive, and, long after darkness fell, the endless column of captives was still winding its way up the Valley of Jezreel.
Most of these prisoners had marched over twenty miles since their capture, and no one knows how many more before they fell into our hands. Their dragging feet raised a heavy cloud of dust, through which they had trudged all the long, hot march, and they came in raging with thirst. In anticipation of their arrival, several large canvas tanks had been set up and filled with water, and elaborate arrangements had been made by the capable and energetic water officer of the Australian Division. Each man was to file past the tanks, have a drink, fill his water bottle, and move on to the concentration area with a gentle sigh of satisfaction. The water officer had eight orderlies. There were 8000 prisoners, and, as soon as they smelt the water, the 8000 charged the eight. The charge was successful, and the prisoners thereupon all tried to get _into_ the water together. In a few seconds the tanks were trampled down, and the frenzied Turks struggled and fought with one another in the darkness round the muddy ruins. Eventually they had to be driven back at the point of the sword. More water was procured, and the prisoners were marched up to it in small parties under escort. It took all night to supply them all.