Beersheba, battle of (1918). Allenby took command of British forces in the Middle East in July 1917 and swiftly established that his operational alternatives were simple. He could either launch another frontal attack on Turkish positions at Gaza, where his predecessor had failed twice, or seek a more manoeuvrist solution, as Chetwode, XX Corps commander, (and another cavalryman) had already suggested. That summer Allenby restructured his army into three corps: XX, Bulfin's XXI, and Chauvel's Desert Mounted Corps. With about 80, 000 fighting men he outnumbered the 46, 000-strong Turkish Eighth Army, and strengthened his hand by a deception plan which encouraged its German commander, Kress von Kressenstein, to expect a frontal assault on the Gaza position.
On 27 October he began to bombard Gaza, and then sent the Desert Mounted Corps into the open country on the Turkish left flank. After initial setbacks, on 31 October the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade charged Beersheba, using their bayonets as swords, and took the town and its crucial wells; XX Corps consolidated, while XXI threatened the Gaza front. On 7 November Gaza was evacuated, and, although determined rearguards delayed the pursuit, the Turks lost heavily as they fell back. On 16 November the New Zealanders rode into Jaffa, cutting links between Jerusalem and the coast. Allenby had not merely taken the Gaza-Beersheba position, but had defeated the Turkish Eighth Army and brought Jerusalem within his grasp as well.
— Richard Holmes
