On 31 October 1917, the Battle of Beersheba was fought between the British under Philip Chetwode and the Turks under Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein during the First World War.
Why did it happen?
After the last Allied troops were evacuated from Gallipoli in January 1916, many ANZAC soldiers were transferred to the Western Front in France and Belgium, where they would fight at the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele. However, a contingent of ANZAC troops was moved to Palestine to continue the war against the Ottoman Empire. In 1917, British and ANZAC forces under General Edmund Allenby opted for a new strategy. Allenby planned to crush Ottoman resistance along a 48-kilometre front by attacking the Ottoman front’s weakest point at Beersheba. To maintain the element of surprise, Allenby night marched four infantry divisions plus a cavalry corps under General Henry Chauvel towards the town of Beersheba. After ten nights, British forces assembled in front of the town on 31 October.
Who was involved?
The British force at Beersheba numbered 40,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and 100 artillery. The infantry and artillery were under the direct command of Philip Chetwode, who was positioned southwest of Beersheba in front of a line of Ottoman trenches. The cavalry, made up of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, was under the command of Henry Chauvel and was positioned to the east of Beersheba, where they also faced Turkish trenches. The Turkish force at Beersheba numbered 4,000 infantry and 24 artillery.
What happened?
At 5.55am, Philip Chetwode ordered his artillery to start bombarding the Turkish trenches southwest of Beersheba. The Turks rushed reinforcements to the frontline by convoys of trucks. At 8.30am, the British infantry captured Hill 1070 and advanced to capture the Turkish trenches by 12pm. After artillery softened the Turkish defences on Tel el Saba, the New Zealand cavalry charged the Turkish positions on the hill before dismounting to fight the Turkish defenders with rifles and bayonets. At 4.30pm, after the capture of Tel el Saba, the Australian cavalry charged the Turkish trenches, leaping over them and dismounting to fight the Turkish infantry, who only put up moderate resistance. As the surviving Turks either surrendered or retreated to Beersheba, the Australians pursued and entered the village by 4.40pm. Having experienced only light resistance, the village was captured by nightfall. British casualties numbered 1,281 killed and 1,236 wounded, while Turkish casualties numbered 500 killed and 1,528 captured.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Beersheba was a British victory. In the aftermath of the battle, the Turks retreated from the Beersheba-Gaza line, with a further battle being fought against the British on 13-14 November at Mughar Ridge. The Turks subsequently came under the command of German General Erich von Falkenhayn, who established a new defensive line southwest of Jerusalem, which held up the British for several weeks. On 11 December, Jerusalem fell to the British, and although fighting would continue into 1918, Britain would incorporate Palestine into its empire by the war's end.
Bibliography
Anonymous. “The Battle of Beersheba.” The Australian Light Horsemen. Accessed 2019. www.lighthorsemen.weebly.com/the-battle-of-beersheba.html
Daley, Paul. Beersheba: A Journey Through Australia’s Forgotten War. Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 2009.
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Westwell, Ian. The Complete Illustrated History of World War I. Wigston, Hermes House, 2012.
Zimmerman, Dwight Jon. 3,000 Years of War. New York, Tess Press, 2012.
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