![]() ![]() There’s no water between this side of Beersheba and Esani. General Grant gave the order personally to the 12th Light Horse Regiment: “men you’re fighting for water. Private Keddie recorded: “We began to talk among ourselves saying Beersheba will be taken and us not doing anything when about 5 o’clock our major came and said that Beersheba had not been captured but we were going in.” Chauvel: “owing to the constant attacks from aeroplanes, which had devoted a good deal of attention to my own headquarters, it took some time to assemble them and push them off”. Chauvel knew that he must take the town before dark in order to secure the wells for Allenby's large force. Chauvel decided to put Grant’s 4th Light Horse Brigade straight at the remaining trenches, from the south-east. On the night of 30 October about 40,000 allied troops moved towards Beersheba, including most of Chetwode's 20th Corps and Chauvel's the Desert Mounted Corps, in a night march of over 40 kilometres.Īt 3:30 pm there was only a few hours of day light remaining and orders were issued for the final phase of the struggle, the occupation of Beersheba. Allenby had insisted that Beersheba must be captured on the first day of operations. Once the road was secured, he was to storm Beersheba using Major General Hodgson's Australian Mounted Division. Calculating that the attack was most likely to be upon Gaza they were also not prepared for a force such as Allenby’s which was moving on 30 October.Ĭhauvel’s orders when he left Asluj early on the evening of the 30 October were for Major General Chaytor's ANZAC Mounted Division to close the Beersheba Road at Sakati (almost 10 kilometres north-east of the town) in order to prevent Turkish reinforcements from coming in and also to cut-off escape from the town. The Turkish forces were relying on the forbidding open terrain as well as the absence of water to defend Beersheba. The position was extended through a series of trenches and redoubts placed on commanding positions with good zones of fire but on the east and south the trenches were not protected by barbed wire. Beersheba’s defences were held by 1,000 Turkish riflemen, nine machine guns and two aircraft. ![]() Various deceptions were employed to keep the enemy thinking the attack was going to be at Gaza including keeping the Infantry strength there until the last minute. ![]()
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