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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

88 years after - touring the Gaza-BeerSheba front


wroclaw

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No good reason to open a new thread, but preparations for an extensive field work, has yielded some great results regarding one segment of the 3rd Gaza campaign: the Oct 31st battlefield of the 20th corps south west of Beersheba. Much like I've heard from the few "who know the secret", the old Turkish trenches were preserved on many segments and could be traced easily and also correlated to some descriptions of the official histories.

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Point 1069

This key position was taken by the 181st brigade, after a heavy bombardment had caused part of its defenders to retreat. The BOH notes that on one aerial photograph a newly made position with wires stretching from it to the rear, was spotted. On photographs taken later, that post was camouflaged, but the forces were warned to pay special attention to that post. After it was taken, it turned out it served an artillery surveillance officer, Austrian, who was killed in the heavy shelling directed on that post. The fall of post 1069 (known then as 1070) signaled the collapse of the entire defense line.

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Point 1023

This redoubt had seen the most bloody and fierce fighting of that morning. The BOH mentions it just in a few lines, but I intend to get my hand on other sources before I'll go to the site. The 24th and 25th RWF had stormed the position after it was heavily bombarded, and took it after a fierce battle in which both sides suffered most of its casualties in that morning. One NCO, John Collins, was awarded the Victoria cross after he had performed extraordinary fighting, killing at least 15 of the enemy in face to face fighting:

"…He had displayed remarkable gallantry and leadership during the period when the battalion was lying under heavy fire, and had repeatedly carried wounded man back to cover. After the incident recorded, he advanced with a Lewis Gun section beyond the objective and covered the consolidation of the captured position"

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A wider look on the line captured in the morning of the 31st of October 1917.

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