Epic Charge of The Australian Light Horse - Battle of Beersheba 1917

The epic charge of the Australian Light Horse - Battle of Beersheba 1917.

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On the 31st October 1917, during the First World War, 800 Australian horsemen charged against Turkish machine guns.
Using their bayonets as swords, it was the culminating action in the allied victory at the Battle of Beersheba, and was depicted in the film;”The Lighthorsemen”.

The Battle of Beersheba was the prelude to the third (& final) battle of Gaza in 1917.
At the outset of the First World War, Germany's ally, the Ottoman Empire attacked the British held Suez Canal from their bases in Palestine (modern day Israel).

But, By 1917 the Ottoman Turkish forces had been pushed back from the canal, through Sinai and they now held a a defensive line from Gaza on the Mediterranean coast across the desert to Beersheba (46 km to the south east).

The British commanded army, the Egypt Expeditionary Force, had already tried to break through at Gaza twice before that year. Both battles had ended in defeat.

Now, the new commander of the EEF, General Sir Edmund Allenby decided on a different approach.
Rather than taking on the Turkish defences where they were strongest, he would turn the flank at the far end of their defensive line, at Beersheba.

The Battle of Beersheba, fought on the 31st October 1917 was a resounding allied success, in no small part due to the charge of the Australian Light Horse which broke through the eastern defences towards the end of the afternoon.

The 4th Light Horse Brigade (commanded by General Grant) consisted on the 4th, 11th and 12th Light Horse regiments of the Australian army.
31 members of the Light Horse were killed in this action and a further 36 wounded.

Whilst the charge is the best remembered action in this battle it should be remembered that New Zealand and British forces also participated in the fighting to capture the town.

The victory at Beersheba was a major turning point in the allied campaign in the Middle East.
A week later, Ottoman forces abandoned Gaza.
Just before Christmas, General Allenby had famously entered Jerusalem.
A year later, the Ottomans signed an armistice.

The Sinai-Palestine campaign is a largely forgotten theatre of fighting during the First World War but it resulted in over 250,000 casualties (on both sides) and over 40,000 deaths.

Sources used to research and produce this video include:
1 Australian War Memorial
2 Australian Government Department of veteran’s Affairs
3 Britannica
4 Wikipedia
5 Anzac 100, Queensland gov.
6 ABC.net .au



Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:44 Sinai-Palestine Campaign
1:18 Target Beersheba
2:06 Ge. Chetwode's Plan
3:15 Desert Mounted Corps
4:13 Battle of Beersheba
4:46 Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade
5:55 Charge of the Australian Light Horse
8:03 Taking Turkish Trenches
8:50 Into Beersheba
9:52 Capture of Beersheba
10:23 Casualties
11:34 Springboard to Victory

Chris Green isThe History Chap:
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My name is Chris Green and I love to share stories from British history. Not just because they are interesting but because, good or bad, they have shaped the world we live in today.

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