General Barrow directed the 22nd Mounted Brigade and the Camel Corps to attack the hill on the north-west and north respectively, and the 6th Mounted Brigade from the south-west. At seven o'clock the two former brigades were in action, advancing dismounted. In view of the open nature of the country on the west side of the ridge, and the distance to be covered, General Godwin, who had been reconnoitring the position with his regimental commanders since dawn, decided to repeat his tactics of the 13th. Had he been able to obtain a nearer view of the appalling country over which he was launching his squadrons, it is possible that he might have decided to make at least the final assault on foot, in which case we should have lost a classic example of the capabilities of cavalry when well led.
Having made up his mind to attack mounted, he sent half of the brigade machine guns, covered by a squadron of the Berks Yeomanry, to push forward dismounted, taking advantage of what cover the ground afforded, to a point west of Abu Shusheh, and as close in as possible, from which to engage the enemy machine guns on the ridge. The Berks Battery R.H.A., from a position some 3500 yards south-west of the village, assisted in this task. The Bucks Yeomanry were ordered to charge the enemy at Abu Shusheh, while the remainder of the Berks charged on the left, against a spur running out to the west of the ridge, just north of the village. The Dorset Yeomanry were held in reserve on the right, to protect that flank. The attack of the 22nd Brigade protected the left flank.
As soon as the battery and the machine guns were in action, Colonel Cripps led the Bucks Yeomanry out into the open, in column of squadrons in line of troop columns, and cantered forward towards the village, under a fairly heavy, but ill-directed, fire. As they neared the position, the Yeomanry came under severe enfilade fire from the group of enemy machine guns on the southern portion of the ridge. Leading his regiment at a gallop into the shelter of some dead ground, Colonel Cripps halted them and signalled back for support. The Dorset Yeomanry were at once sent off to make a turning movement to the south, and take the hostile machine guns in rear. Some of the guns of the Berks Battery were also turned on to this party of the enemy.