800 Australian Cavalrymen Helped Secure British Victory Against the Ottoman Turks
Edmund Allenby sought to break the stalemate in Palestine in 1917. It fell to the Australian cavalrymen to dislodge the Turks from Beersheba.
Here's What You Need to Know: Only 31 troopers and 70 horses died during the charge, a testament to the surprise and speed of the maneuver.
In late 1917, the most successful cavalry charge of World War I took place not on the muddy killing fields of the Western Front, but at the foot of the Judean Hills in southern Palestine. The sun had just begun to set over the desert town of Beersheba on the evening of October 31, 1917, when 800 bayonet-wielding Australian cavalrymen swept out of the arid wilderness like wild horsemen from a bygone age. Though they faced trenches, machine guns, artillery, and aircraft, the Australians succeeded in overrunning the garrison and taking the town, including its strategically important water wells. In the months to come, the audacious charge proved more than just the heroic finish to the epic Battle of Beersheba. It turned out to be a major contributing factor to overall British victory in the Holy Land.