Ras el Nagb - November 1917

[TerryK]

The following notes are summarised from my new book, 'Devils on Horses: In the Words of the Anzacs in the Middle East 1916-19' (Exisle, 2007).

The capture of Beersheba was supposed to be quickly followed by an infantry attack on the nearby eastern end of the Turkish main defensive line. Chauvel’s Desert Mounted Corps was sent northwards from Beersheba to secure the right flank for this attack, and to search for water. There was practically none between Beersheba and the wells and cisterns at Khuweilfe, 17 kilometres to the north, in the lower Judean Hills. Unfortunately, the tel guarding the water was well defended and the barren, stony approaches to it were very exposed.

The Turks believed that the movement of this force was the start of an advance on Jerusalem, and they sent reserves into the Judean Hills to block it. The absence of water in the hills meant that each mounted brigade could stay in the front line for only 24 hours before it had to be sent back to be watered. On 2 November, Chaytor dispatched the New Zealand brigade to Bir Imshash el Malah, 17 kilometres east of Beersheba, where good wells had been reported. The rest of the force had to try to capture its water from the Turks. The 2nd LH Brigade tried - and failed - to capture the village of Dhaheriye. On 3 November the 53rd Division reinforced the mounted forces in the hills. The infantry made some progress but suffered heavy casualties and captured no water. The Anzac Mounted Division, still without the New Zealanders, went forward again on their right. The horses of the 1st LH and 7th Mounted brigades were now in desperate need of water so Chaytor sent both brigades back to the wells in Beersheba.

When the NZMR Brigade was sent forward that afternoon to relieve the 5th Mounted Brigade in the front line, most of its horses had not had a drink for at least 24 hours. The riders advanced to Ras el Nagb, a waterless hill 1500 metres north-east of Khuweilfe. The New Zealanders spent nearly two days on Ras el Nagb, enduring ‘almost perfect’ artillery fire. There was no shelter in the low ground behind the front line for the horses, and they suffered heavy losses from the relentless shelling. On 5 November, six New Zealanders were killed; another 81 were wounded. Thirty-five horses were killed and 84 wounded. The New Zealanders were supposed to be relieved by the ICC Brigade but the cameliers got lost in the wadis leading up to the hills, and failed to turn up. As many of the surviving horses were weak from lack of food and water, Brigadier General Meldrum sent most of them back to Beersheba without their riders. The ICC Brigade finally turned up at 8 a.m. on 6 November. The exhausted New Zealanders then trudged eight kilometres to Khurbet el Ras. The machine gun packhorses, most of which had been 72 hours without water, staggered back with them. The majority of the NZMR Brigade remained in reserve for the next four days.

Between 1 and 6 November 1917, 32 Anzac Mounted Division men were killed and 308 wounded. The New Zealanders suffered 87 casualties in this period, including 16 fatalities. Thirty-seven horses in the brigade were killed and 84 others were wounded. Turkish artillery fire was the main cause of these losses.

It was now time for 20 Corps to attack the Turkish defences at Hareira and Sheria. The NZMR Brigade was placed under command of the 53rd Division and given the task of pinning down the Turks at Khuweilfe to prevent them from interfering with the main attack against Hareira on 6 November 1917. The rest of the Anzac division and the Australian Mounted Division waited to push through the enemy line as soon as it was pierced by 20 Corps. The Sheria–Hareira sector of the Turkish line was weakly held as a number of Turkish battalions had been pulled out of the line and sent into the Judean Hills to defend Khuweilfe and the Hebron Road. Consequently the enemy line was cracked in one day and smashed wide open in two. Up in the hills, the Turks abandoned their positions the next evening and withdrew. The hill attack had served its purpose: no enemy forces left this sector in time to assist the Turks defending Hareira.

On the morning of 7 November, 21 Corps discovered that Gaza had been abandoned by the Turks. Orders were issued for the DMC (without the NZMR Brigade, the ICC Brigade and the Yeomanry division, which were all left behind for lack of water) to cut off the retreating Turkish armies. Many surprised Turks were rounded up but reaction quickly stiffened. The opportunity to capture the Turkish main body was quickly passing as it slowly made its way northwards, protected by determined rearguards. The water situation was steadily worsening and men and horses were suffering severely from thirst. Before long, Allenby’s pursuit force had been reduced to two weak light horse brigades, fewer than 1000 tired men and parched horses. The 1st and 2nd LH brigades finally reached the shore of the Mediterranean Sea near Esdud. The net was finally closed, but few Turks from the Gaza garrison were inside it. Most of the NZMR Brigade was still near Beersheba - the AMR regiment continued to watch the Turks in the foothills near Khuweilfe. On 11 November the NZMR Brigade was ordered forward to rejoin the Anzac division at Hammame. After a brief rest at dawn the next day, the riders were back in the saddle by 7 a.m. The brigade finally reached Hammame at 9 p.m. that night, having ridden 85 kilometres in 28 hours.

Allenby’s infantrymen had marched up to 80 kilometres since 29 October 1917, and most of his horsemen had ridden three times as far. The Turkish armies had been forced off the Gaza–Beersheba line, losing 10,000 men in the process, but they had escaped the complete destruction that Allenby had planned for them.