# The wells of Beersheba



## Warrigal (Oct 31, 2017)

I hope this is an appropriate place to post this recollection of a military event that is significant to Australians and new Zealanders.

October 31 is the 100 year anniversary of a key battle of WW I. A small but heavily fortified outpost in Palestine, now Israel, was strategically important to the Allied plans to take Gaza, then Damascus and eventually Jerusalem. 

This battle is seared into the Australian psyche for several reasons. It involved British, New Zealand and Australian troops and was a do or die effort. The Australians were the 12th Light Horse and they had travelled for three days across waterless desert and the horses were out of water and would not survive unless they could drink at the wells of Beersheba which was held by the Turks under German leadership. The only approach was 6 kilometres across open ground defended by machine guns from the front and rifle fire and artillery from a hill overlooking the plain.

All day the British attempted to take out the defences and the Kiwis did succeed in taking the hill where the cross fire was coming from.

As the sun was dropping in the west, the situation became desperate. The horses and men were thirsty and another day of fighting would have been disastrous. An order was given that the Australian Light Horse should charge the town. This is not how they had been trained. The Light Horse was mounted infantry and when going into action they rode to the battle in columns of four, three men would dismount and advance as regular infantry while the fourth man would take their horses back to a safe place like a nearby wadi. They never charged because they were not cavalry. 

They lined up and began to advance. The Germans expected them to dismount but they kept coming at the gallop. They carried their rifles across their backs and brandished bayonets in their hands in place of swords. It was a wild ride and although men and horses fell, the casualties were light. They came on so quickly that the machine gunners could not keep lowering the sights fast enough and eventually the riders were under the guns and leapt over the redoubts or jumped into the trenches for hand to hand fighting.

Beersheba fell and the wells saved the horses. A path was opened to move against Damascus. The Australians earned a reputation of being mad bastards and Beersheba helped to heal the wounds of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in Turkey (2015).

My grandfather was a Light Horse soldier but did not take part in this action.

In his memory I post this poetic tribute



> The Wells of Beersheba
> 
> 
> Emu Plumes on a felt slouch hat and a rifle 'cross their back
> ...



I also think the men would have appreciated this cartoon


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