The Capture of Tel el Saba

The Battle of Beersheba (Be’er Sheva in modern Israel) took place on 31 October 1917. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles, supported by the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment and the Somerset Battery, were tasked with capturing the heavily fortified high ground of Tel el Saba (now known as Tel Beer Sheva).
The assault was successful and the Tel’s capture cleared the way for the Australian Light Horse Brigade to make their now famous charge on Beersheba.
Lieutenant Colonel Hamish Gibbons, Commanding Officer of Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles,
visits the battlefield one hundred years later to reflect on the battle as part of New Zealand’s centenary commemorations.
Historical moving image: Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision
Historical images: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Library of Congress
#Beersheba100

[@elroo7313]

Im in Beersheba for the next 3 days and have just visited the ANZAC cemetary here. Tomorrow is Tel el Saba which is covered in this UA-cam clip, and to drive the area the Australian Light Horse charged across into Beersheba.

[@Seshins]

Great video - i hope more like this come out. Nice work NZDF. Onwards!

[@Raftjumper07]

Seeing the Battle of Tel el Saba inperson in 2014 was a highlight of my tour with the MFO. It gave context to the movie "The Light Horsemen". The ANZAC have a great and storied history to take note of.

[@pj2boys]

All credit and respect to NZMR for their sacrifice and courage in this crucial aspect of the Battle of Beersheba which lasted for close to 12 hours. Very little is mentioned of that 12 hours other than the late afternoon charge of the 4th Aust LH Brigade (4th LHRegiment and 12LHRegiment. 11LHR should have been there too but that regiment remained on rear guard duty to the south east). Looking from a Queensland point of view, Brisbane's 2nd LHR eventually was called in to apply pressure to the South West side of Tel El Saba (the opposite side to the NZMRs attack) which, after also repelling a counter attack by the Turkish from Beersheba, 2LHR did to the extent of forcing the Tel El Saba to weaken the NE defences to reinforce the SW defences being destroyed by the 2LHR. This relieved the pressure on NZMR whch was then able to press home their attack and takeTel El Saba. For the six hours of the Tel El Saba Battle, QLD's 5LHR defended NZMR's Rear which was being hammered by Turkish forces to the NE of Tel El Saba. During this time 5LHR also captured a convoy which was trying to escape from Beersheba to Jerusalem. The other QLD regiment, 11LHR (My grandfathers Regiment) maintained a protective screen to the SE but by night time, had been re-deployed to the Northern side of Beersheba where during the night, they repelled some counter attacks. If it was not for the 6 hours that NZMR (Auckland Mounted Rifles, Canterbury Mounted Rifles and Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiments), battled against, not only the Turkish troops on Tel El Saba, but the Turkish forces to their rear, Turkish artillery in Beersheba and Aircraft bombardment to eventually neutralise Tel El Saba, the way would not have been cleared for the 4th ALHB to make it famous attack or at least, not without massive casualties. Kia Ora

[@jace9224]

I could never understand why the battles in Palestine never got the coverage that the battles in France/Belgium get

[@gj1508]

Long live Anzac