The Battle of Ayun Kara

The Battle of Ayun Kara on 14 November 1917 was a skirmish nobody was expecting. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles moving from Beersheba to Jaffa (Be’er Sheva to Yafo) ran into the rear guard
of retreating Ottoman forces. Both sides fought desperately to maintain high ground however the New Zealanders prevailed but not without cost. Forty-nine New Zealand soldiers who died during the
battle are buried in Ramleh War Cemetery.

Learn about the Battle of Ayun Kara through the eyes of Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles’ Lance Corporal Rikki-Lee Rawleigh as she walks the battlefield and discovers a tale of courage and sacrifice under almost insurmountable odds.

Historical moving image: Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision
Historical images: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Library of Congress
Oral History Extracts:
Ben Gainfort, interview by Jane Tolerton and Nicholas Boyack, 01 November 1988,
World War I Oral History Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library, OHInt-0006/28