5 days before the battle for Beersheva

[Guest Dave Rosen]

Dear members,

I am seeking additional information about a battle that took place 4-5 days before the major attack on Beersheva (31th Oct. 1917).

On Oct. 25, 1917 the Australian Light Horse Regiment seized some low ridges in no mans land near wadi Hanafish, about 9 miles west of Beersheva. (Hills 720, 630, and 510) This line was taken over by a regiment of Middlesex Yeomanry of the 8th Brigade.

On the morning of Oct. 27th, they were attacked by the Turks. 79 British troops were killed in this battle.

My questions are:

Does this battle have any special name?

Can anyone give me the coordinates for these 3 hills?

Some researchers claim that the troops were observed in the morning by the Turks, due to the poor resolution of the topographical maps used by the Brits at that time. Can anyone remark on this?

Any other information regarding this battle, like why the troops were sent to hold those hills in the first place?

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Dave

G'day mate

You will find all your questions answered at this thread which discussed this very issue in great depth.

 

Hope this helps

Cheers

Bill

[wroclaw]

Dave

Most of the details known about the battle are summed in the link offered by Bill.

I have done some research on that action, still without going to check the places in person, but after carefully reading the detailed sources brought by the members in that Thread. I assume you know the short article regarding the action by archaeologist Dan Gazit who made the claim about the "topographical illusion". I heard the lecture on which the article is based on – he was trying to emphasize the misleading terrain of the southern plains and northern Negev – He also claimed the same for battles of the "2nd Gaza", where indeed there were cases in which forces had found themselves in inferior positions due to poor mapping or the common illusion that causes people to believe that the plains are flat while there are actually substantial differences in heights between close locations.

On the matter of the battles for hill 720 he was wrong in his conclusions. Both from the Australian report, but mostly from the one made by Hatton it is clear that this position was more then known to the various units manning the line and definitely to the Middlesex Yeo. So it is not possible that holding that line was a mistake done due to poor understanding of the terrain (Dan Gazit relayed on the OBWH and Wavells book and I'm almost sure he didn’t read the sources in the GWF thread).

As for the reasons for sending the troops to those hills: There was no constant trench line in that section of the line. The Turks were holding the Kauka and Hureira redoubts to the north and usually did not try to penetrate to the south. A whole brigade was already entrenched some miles behind the "El Buqqar" ridge and the Middlesex (and most likely other units as well earlier) were sent to hold the ridge in order to prevent Turkish patrols from getting close to the areas where the Corpses that finally attacked Beersheba at the morning of the 31st, were advancing or assembling. The reason they were supposed to hold the line at any cost, was related to the whole deception done by Allenby. The El Buqqar ridge prevented the Turks in their redoubts to view the area of the Fara-Beersheba road.

The locations: Hill 630 is a high ground now known as hill 156 (m) located in a park just east of "Ofakim" (1148-0798). Hill 720 is most likely one of the hills on the high ground of 200+ meters at 117-754, now at the border or just inside the air force base. The sources say there was a partly ruined house there and I know that on the 1944-5 RAF aerials the exact location could be seen, but I didn’t find the time to make the journey to check those.

I don’t think the battle had an "official" name however the heroic stand of the Middlesex Yeom. Was well known and it is said that as a result of that the casualties of that Div. (including Maj. Leaffone and several other officers) were buried in the first line of graves at the Beersheba CWC.

Attached are 3 images from google earth showing the estimated locations as seen today.

Hope it helps

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Gal

G'day mate

Thanks for the above. I enjoyed seeing the perspective from space. The thing that surprised me was the parking lot at hill 630 - no mention of it in the WDs of the time.

The battle has two names depending upon who is doing the reporting - for the Brits, it was called "Hill 720" while the Australians called it "El Buggar Ridge". Take your pick.

You are correct in saying that this area was well known to the troops. For half a year, off and on, the light horse had been occupying these positions as part of the outpost lines. Depending upon their requirements, these points were very common choices to place an outpost.

Permanent occupation only occurred on 24 October 1917 when Chauvel ordered them to be taken and held at all costs. The area behind the outposts was declared a Turkish "no go" area. In the past, the Light Horse had abandoned these posts and the Turks did little. This time when they were held, the Turks decided to let the Allies understand their displeasure at being blocked out of traditional patrolling territory. So they mounted the attack. Since the occupation of this section directly pointed a knife into the heart of the Rushdie System, they were fooled into believing that this was where the main British thrust was to come. The battle fought by Lafone was directly responsible for throwing the Turks off balance and concentrating their forces at the wrong place. Lafone's action was the first step in unpicking the Turkish defensive scheme and rolling up their forces in Southern Palestine.

Cheers

Bill