The Battle of Beersheba (Turkish: Birüssebi Muharebesi, German: Schlacht von Beerscheba) was fought on 31 October 1917, when the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) attacked and captured the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army Group garrison at Beersheba, beginning the Southern Palestine Offensive of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I. On 31 October 1917, infantry from the 60th (London) and the 74th (Yeomanry) Divisions of the XX Corps from the southwest conducted limited attacks in the morning, then the Anzac Mounted Division (Desert Mounted Corps) launched a series of attacks against the strong defences, which dominated the eastern side of Beersheba, resulting in their capture during the late afternoon. Shortly afterwards, the Australian Mounted Division's 4th and 12th light horse regiments (4th Light Horse Brigade) conducted a mounted infantry charge with bayonets in their hands, their only weapon for mounted attack, as their rifles were slung across their backs. Part of the two regiments dismounted to attack entrenchments on Tel es Saba defending Beersheba. The remainder of the light horsemen continued their charge into the town, capturing the place and part of the garrison as it was withdrawing.
German general Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein was commander of the three divisions of the Ottoman Fourth Army. He further strengthened his defensive line stretching from Gaza to Beersheba after the EEF defeats at the first and second battles of Gaza in March and April 1917, and received reinforcements of two divisions. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode, commanding the EEF's Eastern Force, began the stalemate in Southern Palestine, defending essentially the same entrenched lines held at the end of the second battle. He initiated regular mounted reconnaissance into the open eastern flank of the Gaza to Beersheba line towards Beersheba. The data provided by the Jewish Nili spy ring was particularly important for the conquest of Beersheba and Jerusalem. The information also contributed to the successful British offensive at Beersheba (October 1917), a key operation that opened the way to the eventual capture of Jerusalem. Detailed maps and reports of the Ottoman defensive positions enabled the British to carry out targeted attacks.
In June, the Ottoman Fourth Army was reorganised when the new Yildirim Army Group was established, commanded by German General Erich von Falkenhayn. About the same time, British General Edmund Allenby replaced General Archibald Murray as commander of the EEF. Allenby reorganised the EEF to give him direct command of three corps, in the process deactivating Chetwode's Eastern Force and placing him in command of one of the two infantry corps. Chauvel's Desert Column was renamed the Desert Mounted Corps. The stalemate continued through the summer in difficult conditions on the northern edge of the Negev Desert, while EEF reinforcements began to strengthen the divisions, which had suffered more than 10,000 casualties during the two battles for Gaza.
The primary functions of the EEF and the Ottoman Army during this time were to man the front lines and patrol the open eastern flank. Both sides conducted training of all units. The XXI Corps maintained the defences in the Gaza sector of the line by mid-October, while the battle of Passchendaele continued on the Western Front. Meanwhile, Allenby was preparing for the manoeuvre warfare attacks on the Ottoman defensive line, beginning with Beersheba, and for the subsequent advance to Jerusalem. He neared completion of this plan, with the arrival of the last reinforcements.
Beersheba was defended by lines of trenches supported by isolated redoubts on earthworks and hills, which covered all approaches to the town. The Ottoman garrison was eventually encircled by the two infantry and two mounted divisions, as they and their supporting artillery launched their attacks. The 60th (London) Division's preliminary attack and capture of the redoubt on Hill 1070 led to the bombardment of the main Ottoman trench line. Then a joint attack by the 60th (London) and 74th (Yeomanry) divisions captured all their objectives. Meanwhile, the Anzac Mounted Division cut the road to the northeast of Beersheba, from Beersheba to Hebron and continuing to Jerusalem. Continuous fighting against the main redoubt and defences on Tel el Saba, which dominated the eastern approaches to the town, resulted in its capture in the afternoon.
During this fighting, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade had been sent to reinforce the Anzac Mounted Division. The 5th Mounted Brigade remained in corps reserve, armed with swords. With all brigades of both mounted divisions already committed to the battle, the only brigade available was the 4th Light Horse Brigade, which was ordered to capture Beersheba. These swordless mounted infantrymen galloped over the plain, riding towards the town and a redoubt, supported by entrenchments on a mound at Tel es Saba, south-east of Beersheba. The 4th Light Horse Regiment on the right jumped trenches, before turning to make a dismounted attack on the Ottoman infantry in the trenches, gun pits, and redoubts. Most of the 12th Light Horse Regiment on the left rode on, across the face of the main redoubt to find a gap in the Ottoman defenses, crossing the railway line into Beersheba to complete the first step of an offensive. This culminated in the EEF's capture of Jerusalem six weeks later.
Background
After their second defeat at Gaza in April, General Archibald Murray sacked the commander of Eastern Force, Lieutenant General Charles Dobell. Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode was promoted to command Eastern Force, while Harry Chauvel was promoted to lieutenant general with command of the Desert Column. Major General Edward Chaytor was promoted from the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, to command the Anzac Mounted Division replacing Chauvel. With the arrival of General Edmund Allenby in June, Murray was also relieved of command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), and sent back to England.
Although the strategic priorities of Enver Pasha and the Ottoman general staff were to push the EEF back to the Suez Canal and retake Baghdad, Mesopotamia, and Persia, the EEF was fortunate that the victorious Ottoman forces were not in a position in April 1917 to launch a large-scale counterattack immediately after their second victory at Gaza. Such an attack against rudimentary EEF defences on the northern edge of the Negev could have been disastrous for the EEF.
Instead, both sides constructed permanent defences stretching from the sea west of Gaza to Shellal on the Wadi Ghazzeh. From Shellal, the lightly entrenched EEF line extended to El Gamli before continuing south 7 miles (11 km) to Tel el Fara. The western sector, stretching from Gaza to Tel el Jemmi, was strongly entrenched, wired and defended by EEF and Ottoman infantry. The eastern sector, stretching east and south across the open plain, was patrolled by Desert Column's mounted infantry and yeomanry. At every opportunity patrols and outposts harassed opposing forces, while wells and cisterns were mapped.
The town of Gaza was strongly defended, having been developed into "a strong modern fortress, well entrenched and wired, with good observation and a glacis on its southern and south–eastern face". From Gaza, the formidable 30-mile-long (48 km) Ottoman front line stretching eastwards, dominated the country to the south, where the EEF was deployed in open, low-lying country cut by deep wadis. The Ottoman defences in the centre of the line, at Atawineh and Hairpin redoubts at Hareira and Teiaha, supported each other as they overlooked the plain, making a frontal attack virtually impossible. Between Gaza and Hareira, the Ottoman defences were strengthened and extended along the Gaza-to-Beersheba road, east of the Palestine Railway line from Beersheba. Although these trenches did not extend to Beersheba, strong fortifications made the isolated town into a fortress.
The open eastern flank was dominated by the Wadi Ghazzeh, which, at the beginning of the stalemate, could only be crossed in five places. These were at the mouth on the Mediterranean coast, the main Deir el Belah-to-Gaza road crossing, the Tel el Jemmi crossing (used during the first battle of Gaza), the Shellal crossing on the Khan Yunis-to-Beersheba road, and the Tel el Fara crossing on the Rafa-to-Beersheba road. The difficulty of crossing the wadi elsewhere was due to the 50–60 feet (15–18 m) perpendicular banks cut into the Gaza–Beersheba plain by regular floods. Additional crossings were constructed during the stalemate.
Beersheba (Hebrew: Be-er Sheva; Arabic: Bir es Sabe), at the foot of the Judean Hills, was built on the eastern bank of the Wadi es Saba, which joins the Wadi Ghazzeh at Bir el Esani, before stretching to the Mediterranean Sea. Located at the north-west end of a flat, treeless plain about 4 miles (6.4 km) long by 3 miles (4.8 km) wide, the town is surrounded by rocky hills and outcrops. To the north–north–east, 6 miles (9.7 km) away on the southern edge of the Judean Hills, the Tuweiyil Abu Jerwal rises to 1,558 feet (475 m) behind the town, overlooking it by 700 feet (210 m); lower hills range east and south, with a spur of the plateau of Edom on the south-east, extending towards the town.
Since ancient times, the town had been a trading centre, with roads radiating from it in all directions. To the north-east the only sealed, metalled motor road in the region stretched along a spine of the Judean Hills to Jerusalem via Edh Dhahriye, Hebron and Bethlehem, along the Wadi el Khalil (a tributary of the Wadi es Saba). To the north-west the road to Gaza 26 miles (42 km) away crossed the open plain, to the west the track to Rafa via Tel el Fara (on the Wadi Ghazzeh), while the southern road to Asluj and Hafir el Auja continued the metalled road from Jerusalem.
Beersheba was developed by the Ottoman Empire from a camel-trading centre on the northern edge of the Negev, halfway between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It was on the railway line which ran from Istanbul to Hafir el Auja, the main Ottoman desert base during the raid on the Suez Canal in 1915 until the EEF advance to Rafa outflanked it, and which was damaged beyond repair in May 1917 during an EEF raid. Beersheba's hospital, army barracks, railway station with water tower, engine sheds, large storage buildings, and a square of houses, were well-designed and strongly-constructed stone buildings, with red tiled roofs and a German beer garden. The inhabitants of the region from Beersheba northwards varied. The population were mainly Sunni Arabs, with some Jewish and Christian colonists.
The EEF had already decided to invade Ottoman territory before the first battle of Gaza, on the basis of Britain's three major war objectives: to maintain maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean; preserve the balance of power in Europe; and protect Egypt, India and the Persian Gulf. Despite the EEF's defeats during the first two battles of Gaza, with about 10,000 casualties, Allenby planned an advance into Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem to secure the region and cut off the Ottoman forces in Mesopotamia from those in the Levant and on the Arabian Peninsula. The capture of Gaza, which dominated the coastal route from Egypt to Jaffa, was a first step towards these aims.
Lines of communication
During the stalemate from April to the end of October 1917, the EEF and the Ottoman Army improved their lines of communication, laid more railway and water lines and sent troops, guns and ammunition forward to defend their front lines. While the Ottoman lines of communication were shortened by the retreat across the Sinai, the EEF advance across the Sinai Peninsula into southern Palestine lengthened theirs, requiring a large investment in infrastructure. Since a brigade of light horse, mounted rifles, or mounted yeomanry (including infantry divisions) consisted of about 2,000 soldiers requiring ammunition, rations and supplies, this was a major undertaking.
By March 1917, 203 miles (327 km) of metalled road, 86 miles (138 km) of wire-and-brushwood roads and 300 miles (480 km) of water pipeline had been constructed, and 388 miles (624 km) of railway lines laid at a rate of one kilometre a day. The railhead had been 30 miles (48 km) from Gaza, but by mid-April the line had reached Deir el Belah, with a branch line to Shellal completed. Since the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps alone could not support a large offensive in advance of the railhead, horse- and mule-drawn wagon trains were established. Supply columns were designed to support military operations by infantry and mounted troops for about 24 hours beyond the railhead.
Prelude
Ottoman force
Several weeks after the Ottoman victory at the Second Battle of Gaza, General Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, commander of the victorious 3rd, 16th and 53rd divisions of the Fourth Army, was reinforced by the 7th and 54th divisions. Until June 1917, Sheria was the headquarters of the German commanded Ottoman force defending the Gaza-Beersheba line, but as a consequence of EEF aerial bombing, it was moved to Huj in July.
This force was reorganised into two corps to hold the Gaza-to-Beersheba line: the XX Corps (16th and 54th infantry divisions with the 178th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Cavalry Division), and the XXII Corps (3rd, 7th, and 53rd infantry divisions). By July, the Ottoman force defending the Gaza-to-Beersheba line had increased to 151,742 rifles, 354 machine guns and 330 artillery guns. While the XXII Corps defended Gaza with the 3rd and 53rd divisions, the XX Corps was headquartered at Huj.
Beersheba was defended by the III Corps. It was commanded by the recently arrived Ismet (or Esmet) Bey, who had his headquarters in the town. The III Corps had defended Gallipoli in 1915. "[T]he Ottoman Army could still hold its own against the British Army ... [and] showed a high level of operational and tactical mobility" during the battles for the Gaza to Beersheba line. This corps consisted of the 67th and 81st regiments (27th Division), a total of 2,408 rifles, of whom 76 percent were Arab, the 6th and the 8th regiments of lancers (3rd Cavalry Division), the 48th Regiment (16th Division) and the 2nd Regiment (24th Division). The 143rd Regiment of the Ottoman XX Corps was about 6 miles (9.7 km) north-north-west of Beersheba in the Judean Hills, but took "no part in the action". A total of 4,400 rifles, 60 machine guns and 28 field guns in these lancer and infantry regiments were available for the defence of Beersheba.
The tactical deployment of the Ottoman III, XX and XXII corps defending the Gaza-to-Beersheba line did not change when Enver Pasa activated the Yildirim Army Group, also known as Thunderbolt Army Group and Group F, in June 1917. This new group, commanded by German general and Ottoman marshal Erich von Falkenhayn, former Prussian minister of war, chief of staff of the German field armies and commander of the Ninth Army, was reinforced by surplus Ottoman units transferred from Galicia, Romania and Thrace after the collapse of Russia.
The Yildirim Army Group consisted of the Fourth Army headquarters and Syrian units commanded by Cemal Pasa which remained in Syria, and the Fourth Army headquarters in Palestine commanded by Kress von Kressenstein. The Fourth Army headquarters in Palestine was inactivated on 26 September 1917, and reorganised into two armies and renamed. Six days later it was reactivated as the new Ottoman Eighth Army headquarters, still commanded by Kress von Kressenstein and responsible for the Palestine front. The new Seventh Army was also activated, commanded by Fevzi Pasa after the resignation of Mustafa Kemal.
Beersheba defences
The natural features around the town favoured defence. Beersheba, on a rolling plain devoid of trees or water to its west, was dotted with hills and tells to its north, south and east. These geographic features were strengthened by a series of entrenchments, fortifications and redoubts. Well-constructed trenches, protected by wire, fortified defences north-west, west and south-west of Beersheba. This semicircle of entrenchments included well-sited redoubts on a series of high points extending up to 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town.
Defending the east of Beersheba, Tel el Saba redoubt was manned by a battalion of the 48th Regiment and a machine-gun company. The 6th and 8th regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division were deployed on the high ground to the north-east, in the foothills of the Judean Hills, to guard the Jerusalem road and keep Beersheba from being surrounded. To the west and south-west of the town, the 27th Division's 67th and 81st infantry regiments were deployed in a fortified semicircular line of deep trenches and redoubts strengthened by barbed wire. These regiments consisted primarily of "Arab farmers from the surrounding region, and although inexperienced fighters they were defending their own fields".
The defenders were deployed as follows: