 On 20 July , the 2nd Light Horse Brigade with two guns mounted on <unk> @-@ rails of the Ayrshire Battery demonstrated against Oghratina , capturing several prisoners , and beginning a series of patrols which , together with the 1st Light Horse Brigade , they continued until the eve of battle . Every day until 3 August , these two brigades alternated riding out from their base at Romani towards Katia at about 02 : 00 and <unk> until dawn , at which time they advanced on a wide front until German or Ottoman fire was provoked . If the enemy position was weak , the light horse pushed forward , and if a counterattack began , the brigade retired slowly , thereafter to return to camp at Romani at nightfall . The following day , the other brigade carried out similar manoeuvres in the direction of Katia and the advancing Ottoman columns , picking up the officers patrols which had been left out during the night to monitor enemy movements . During this period , one of many clashes occurred on 28 July at Hod <unk> <unk> , 5 miles ( 8 @.@ 0 km ) from the British line . Two squadrons of the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel W. <unk> , made a bayonet assault , supported by several machine guns and two 18 @-@ pounder guns . They drove the Ottomans from the Hod , leaving 16 dead and taking eight prisoners from the Ottoman 31st Infantry Regiment . 
