Over the past century sculptors have crafted a multitude of statues honoring the light horsemen, none as dramatic as the larger-than-life bronze that graces the Park of the Australian Soldier in the Israeli city of Be’er Sheva. Gen. William Grant, commanding the 4th Light Horse, wrote, “The rapidity of the attack seemed to demoralise the Turks, as they mostly fired high, and it was afterwards found that the sights of their rifles were never lowered below 800 metres.”. And of the 800 men who rode against the Turkish guns, 31 were killed and 36 wounded. One Tommy got both his eyes blown out by a bottle. by the 5th November. THE LIGHT HORSE SONG Click here to hear the new Light Horse song with some excellent video – from Australian songwriter Neil Camm. After progressing another quarter of a mile, we turned to the right at an angle of 45 degrees to converge on Beersheba. What happened next has become, in not quite equal measure, legend and myth as the horsemen of the 4th Brigade’s 4th and 12th regiments charged over 6,000 metres of open ground to breach the Turkish trenches. Only the 4th and 12th regiments of the 4th Brigade participated in the actual charge. . And as I researched I discovered that the charge happened at dusk in autumn. Wounded at Gallipoli during the terrible Battle of the Nek and elsewhere during the war, Lionel Simpson was a remarkable man and a courageous soldier. As was the case 4,000 years before, the only wells for miles in any direction were at Beersheba. Some were impossible to stop and careered straight into town for water. For further reading he recommends Chauvel of the Light Horse, by A.J. We had been told that the ANZACs on our right and the 3rd   Brigade were also going to ride into the town, where we did and expected to find about  7 or 8 regiments concentrating where we got through past the mosque, but to my surprise I found when I got through that I had about 80 men with me and the troop had followed on to the Railway. At the time of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Australians fielded five light horse brigades, each comprising three regiments. Your letters or some of them must be at the bottom, same as some of mine. I have just been hunting for the copy of the last one I wrote you, but the book seems to have gone astray, I think. And also that Lionel was in the 8th Light Horse Regiment. The coordinated EEF bombardment began a "multiple–dimensional phased attack" at 05:55, including successful wire-cutting on two divisional fronts. Louis Auchincloss, novelist (Portrait in Brownstone, The Embezzler). The next morning Private Keddie rode over the ground to see if any of the horses could be found roaming but he recorded only seeing dead carcases. The charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba late in the afternoon of 31 October 1917, is remembered as the last great cavalry charge. There’s no water between this side of Beersheba and Esani. Horsemen on both sides would charge the guns during World War II. Thirty One Light Horsemen were killed in the charge and 36 were wounded. He concluded that given (aside from other factors of photographic technicality) the striking similarity in terrain across the pictures, it it was impossible to dismiss – as some academics have – the “original” as faked. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (domestic political chaos notwithstanding) and Labor leader Bill Shorten are due to attend Beersheba commemorations in Israel this week where the battle – and especially the charge – will be invoked as defining a special relationship between Australia and Israel. News; Leave a comment; As soon as I’d released TW32C02 the Trooper of the Warwickshire Yeomanry in 2016 I was immediately asked if a mounted figure of the Light Horse would be included in the range, so I’m delighted to be able to oblige! I often regret that you did not wait and join the AIF, you would certainly have your majority by now and a grand job at one or our general hospitals, but one never really knows.