Uploaded August 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
On October 31 1917, 400 years to the day Islamist forces had taken over the Jewish settlement of Beersheba, the 4th and 12th Australian Light Horse regiments took back the town, with just bayonets in hand, in the last, great mounted infantry charge in history. The Turkish and German armies were taken by surprise as, even in 1917, an infantry charge was considered old-school and primitive. The Turkish artillery in particular found it impossible to adjust the sights on their heavy equipment quickly enough to fire at the Australians advancing 5 times faster than the tanks they had become used to. Later that day the captured German Commander was to say of the Australians: "They are not soldiers at all; they are madmen". The taking back of Jerusalem 6 weeks later would have been impossible if the crucial water supplies of Beersheba weren't captured first. And so it was that the youngest nation on Earth (then just 16 years extant) opened the way for the eventual restoration of the world's oldest nation, Israel.
Thanks to Glenn Jones and the Australian Outback Spectacular, Gold Coast Australia for their generous assistance in the making of this film. Black and white footage from the classic 1940 Australian film "40,000 horsemen" used with permission-Director Charles Chauvel
On October 31 1917, 400 years to the day Islamist forces had taken over the Jewish settlement of Beersheba, the 4th and 12th Australian Light Horse regiments took back the town, with just bayonets in hand, in the last, great mounted infantry charge in history. The Turkish and German armies were taken by surprise as, even in 1917, an infantry charge was considered old-school and primitive. The Turkish artillery in particular found it impossible to adjust the sights on their heavy equipment quickly enough to fire at the Australians advancing 5 times faster than the tanks they had become used to. Later that day the captured German Commander was to say of the Australians: "They are not soldiers at all; they are madmen". The taking back of Jerusalem 6 weeks later would have been impossible if the crucial water supplies of Beersheba weren't captured first. And so it was that the youngest nation on Earth (then just 16 years extant) opened the way for the eventual restoration of the world's oldest nation, Israel.
Thanks to Glenn Jones and the Australian Outback Spectacular, Gold Coast Australia for their generous assistance in the making of this film. Black and white footage from the classic 1940 Australian film "40,000 horsemen" used with permission-Director Charles Chauvel
