Despite continuing fierce fighting for control of the high country around Khuweilfe being unresolved, Chauvel, commanding the EEF units in the area including the 53rd (Welsh) Division, had advanced to gain a "position of vantage from which to roll up the enemy's flank".Falls 1930 Vol. 2 pp. 91–2 Allenby had hoped that, if the hostile Ottoman forces could be held by the EEF units assigned the task, they could be "immobilised at the critical moment", and unable to reinforce the garrisons at Hareira and Sheria during the planned attack.Preston 1921 p. 37–8 The Khuweilfe fighting had drawn in all the local reserves including the 19th Division, the 3rd Cavalry Division, the remains of the 27th Division, which had formed the Beersheba garrison, and part of the 16th Division, which fought determinedly for Ain Kohleh, Tel Khuweilfeh and the road to Hebron and Jerusalem. None of these units left the area to reinforce the defences in front of Sheria.Cutlack 1941 p. 79Woodward 2006 p. 118Preston 1921 p. 39
