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The Charge: The Australian Light Horse victory at Beersheba
The Turkish Gaza-Beersheba line extended for 40 kilometres between the Turkish bastion of Gaza and the heavily fortified town of Beersheba, and stopped any Allied advance into Palestine proper. It needed to be breached, and Beersheba – on the eastern flank of this line – became the scene of the historic charge by the Australian Light Horse on 31 October 1917 — one of the last successful cavalry charges in history.
After two failed attempts to attack Gaza, Allied forces decided to outflank it by turning the Turkish line at Beersheba. The attack was launched at dawn on 31 October but by late afternoon the British 20 Infantry Corps had made little headway towards the town and its vital wells. The Australian Lieutenant, General Harry Chauvel, commanding the Desert Mounted Corps, ordered the 4th Light Horse Brigade forward to attempt to secure the position.
Australian Brigadier William Grant responded by ordering troopers of the 4th and 12th regiments to charge at the Turkish trenches, using their bayonets as ‘swords’, and the momentum of the surprise attack carried them through the Turkish defences. The water supplies were saved and over 1000 Turkish prisoners taken.The fall of Beersheba opened the way for a general outflanking of the Gaza-Beersheba Line, and within months enabled the capture of Jerusalem.
Drawing from first-hand accounts, David Cameron pieces together how this important battle unfolded and captures the courage and strategic brilliance of the Australian Light Horse – and the significance of this victory in the broader context of the Great War.
After two failed attempts to attack Gaza, Allied forces decided to outflank it by turning the Turkish line at Beersheba. The attack was launched at dawn on 31 October but by late afternoon the British 20 Infantry Corps had made little headway towards the town and its vital wells. The Australian Lieutenant, General Harry Chauvel, commanding the Desert Mounted Corps, ordered the 4th Light Horse Brigade forward to attempt to secure the position.
Australian Brigadier William Grant responded by ordering troopers of the 4th and 12th regiments to charge at the Turkish trenches, using their bayonets as ‘swords’, and the momentum of the surprise attack carried them through the Turkish defences. The water supplies were saved and over 1000 Turkish prisoners taken.The fall of Beersheba opened the way for a general outflanking of the Gaza-Beersheba Line, and within months enabled the capture of Jerusalem.
Drawing from first-hand accounts, David Cameron pieces together how this important battle unfolded and captures the courage and strategic brilliance of the Australian Light Horse – and the significance of this victory in the broader context of the Great War.
340 pages, Paperback
Published July 17, 2017
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About the author
David W. Cameron
34 books10 followersDavid W. Cameron is a Canberra based author and has written several books on Australian military and convict history and human and primate evolution including over 60 internationally peer reviewed papers for various journals and book chapters. He received 1st Class Honours in Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Sydney and later went on to complete his Ph.D. in palaeoanthropology at the Australian National University.
He is a former Australian Research Council (ARC) Post Doctorial Fellow at the Australian National University (School of Archaeology) and an ARC QEII Fellow at the University of Sydney (Department of Anatomy and Histology). He has participated and led several international fieldwork teams in Australia, the Middle East (Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates); Europe (Hungary) and Asia (Vietnam and India) and has participated in many conferences and museum studies throughout the world.
He is a former Australian Research Council (ARC) Post Doctorial Fellow at the Australian National University (School of Archaeology) and an ARC QEII Fellow at the University of Sydney (Department of Anatomy and Histology). He has participated and led several international fieldwork teams in Australia, the Middle East (Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates); Europe (Hungary) and Asia (Vietnam and India) and has participated in many conferences and museum studies throughout the world.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 29, 2019
Perhaps the best qualities a writer can display in describing a battle long ago in a faraway place are those that tell the reader, in understandable terms, why the conflict was important, how it progressed, what the outcome, and to put it across without overt nationalistic zeal.
This is certainly the case with David W Cameron. In his book The Charge (and earlier works, including '25 April 1915,' also availabe from Dymocks), the language he uses is descriptive, accurate, and lacking in excessive emotion or gratuitous chauvinism. He has a distinctive style and writing quality that provide the reader with a vision of the event such that one feels almost to be there. That it all happened long before writer or reader existed, I can provide no better descriptor of his ability.
The English pulled out of the Sinai in the early days of World War 1, withdrawing to the Suez Canal. It was a mistake, allowing the Ottoman forces to threaten the essential waterway. Pushing the enemy back out again was, in a way, a costly exercise but it also provided lessons to the Australian Light Horse and others who were involved. The greatest problem faced, and around which the men and their steeds had to work, was the lack of potable water.
Some townships across the Sinai and into the Gaza Strip had wells but the water was bitter and brackish. It was unsuitable for human consumption, making the men sick. The horses could manage to drink it but even so operations tended to be marginal. In the 50°C-plus temperatures, men could manage with as little as one litre a day but their horses, tough Walers used to hot and dry conditions in their native Australia, required at least twenty times that just to survive.
The Charge, then, covers not only the final dash to victory but tells much about the climate and geographical layout of the Middle East. The objective was to force a way through the Gaza-Beersheba line, with great import placed on taking the heavily fortified Beersheba and saving its good quality water supplies. Once taken, it would open the way for the advance on Jerusalem and thence Damascus.
There were three attacks on Beersheba, the first two failing. The third, an outflanking manouvre began at dawn on 31 October 1917 but it, too, initially failed. Late in the day, with water levels desperate and little daylight remaining, the Australian Lt.-Gen. Chauvel ordered his 4th Light Horse to charge. Combined with a simultaneous infantry attack, the surprise attack broke through Turkish defences. The sheer pace of the offensive overcame a stout defence, took more than 1000 Turks captive, and succeeded in saving the town’s water supply. It remains in history as the last great cavalry charge.
A lot more effort lay ahead but within a few months Jerusalem was captured.
Although a review of The Charge, I’d like to add that on the subject of Australians at war, David W. Cameron is perhaps my favourite writer. He has written at least five books on the subject and I think it right to mention one of the others he wrote. 'Sorry, Lads, But The Order Is To Go' is the saddest of sad records of the August offensive at Gallipoli. Great war deeds told without jingoism.
This is certainly the case with David W Cameron. In his book The Charge (and earlier works, including '25 April 1915,' also availabe from Dymocks), the language he uses is descriptive, accurate, and lacking in excessive emotion or gratuitous chauvinism. He has a distinctive style and writing quality that provide the reader with a vision of the event such that one feels almost to be there. That it all happened long before writer or reader existed, I can provide no better descriptor of his ability.
The English pulled out of the Sinai in the early days of World War 1, withdrawing to the Suez Canal. It was a mistake, allowing the Ottoman forces to threaten the essential waterway. Pushing the enemy back out again was, in a way, a costly exercise but it also provided lessons to the Australian Light Horse and others who were involved. The greatest problem faced, and around which the men and their steeds had to work, was the lack of potable water.
Some townships across the Sinai and into the Gaza Strip had wells but the water was bitter and brackish. It was unsuitable for human consumption, making the men sick. The horses could manage to drink it but even so operations tended to be marginal. In the 50°C-plus temperatures, men could manage with as little as one litre a day but their horses, tough Walers used to hot and dry conditions in their native Australia, required at least twenty times that just to survive.
The Charge, then, covers not only the final dash to victory but tells much about the climate and geographical layout of the Middle East. The objective was to force a way through the Gaza-Beersheba line, with great import placed on taking the heavily fortified Beersheba and saving its good quality water supplies. Once taken, it would open the way for the advance on Jerusalem and thence Damascus.
There were three attacks on Beersheba, the first two failing. The third, an outflanking manouvre began at dawn on 31 October 1917 but it, too, initially failed. Late in the day, with water levels desperate and little daylight remaining, the Australian Lt.-Gen. Chauvel ordered his 4th Light Horse to charge. Combined with a simultaneous infantry attack, the surprise attack broke through Turkish defences. The sheer pace of the offensive overcame a stout defence, took more than 1000 Turks captive, and succeeded in saving the town’s water supply. It remains in history as the last great cavalry charge.
A lot more effort lay ahead but within a few months Jerusalem was captured.
Although a review of The Charge, I’d like to add that on the subject of Australians at war, David W. Cameron is perhaps my favourite writer. He has written at least five books on the subject and I think it right to mention one of the others he wrote. 'Sorry, Lads, But The Order Is To Go' is the saddest of sad records of the August offensive at Gallipoli. Great war deeds told without jingoism.
November 1, 2017
October 31, 2017 marks the 100th year anniversary of the Charge of the Australian Light Horses and the victory at Beersheba, effectively breaking the Turkish-German defense from the south, and enabling the subsequent capture of Jerusalem later in 1917 and the collapse of the Ottoman empire a year later.
It seemed fitting, while in Australia in October 2017, to learn a bit more about this little known (to me) event, at this 100-year mark.
The author tells the story at various levels: at the strategic of why this victory was so important; at the personal, citing comments or letters/diaries of various participants; again, at the personal, talking about the individual but also indicating age, profession prior to the war, and “home” in Australia; and at the detailed troop level.
From the strategic level, the author starts the story about a year before “the Charge” and how the combined British, Australian and New Zealand elements were starting from protecting the Suez Cannel, to moving to create another front in the first world war, a front outside of Europe, that would remove Germany’s allies. The hope was that this would create movement in the western front, that has been stagnated for months if not a few years. But the Turks and Germans were in a strong position. And equally clear from the narrative is the need to consider environment: the temperatures were excessive for man and beast, and if you did not control a water supply, your range of movements was very limited.
The author (and his team) did an incredible job piecing together many sources to give a narrative of many voices, joined together by the author, about specific events (often battles). Some may enjoy the description of the details of the battles (I do not count myself among that group). But overall, the author raised the profile of the Australians who took part in this theater of WWI.
The author also, in several spots in the book, highlighted the relationship between man and horse. One of the tragedies of post-WWI is that none of the horse were sent back to Australia. Thus the riders and their horses were separated (the fear was one of a disease outbreak and the lack of infrastructure to quarantine so many animals).
One constant figure is that of Australian Harry Chauvel, who by the end of the story was Lieutenant General, and led the largest cavalry force in British history! While there are many comments about him, I felt his story was not as well brought out as those of some other officers.
But on the whole, an informative and enjoyable read.
March 4, 2021
Highly-recommended. David W. Cameron is one of my favourite historians, and with 'The Charge' he has perfectly immortalised the famous Australian victory at Beersheba in 1917, where lighthorsemen charged Turkish trenches across miles of open ground at sundown to stave off disaster and gain the all-important wells in the town in arguably the last, great cavalry charge in military history. It is one of Australia's greatest military triumphs, the subject of a 1980's movie, yet still mostly unknown to the vast majority of Australians.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews