Beersheba

A hundred years ago in October 1917 members of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade participated in what is now regarded as the last great successful cavalry charge. Waving bayonets overhead in the dying light, they raced across six kilometres of exposed ground in Palestine, surprising the well-entrenched Turks. It was the decisive blow in the British capture of the strategic stronghold of Beersheba.

The story of this remarkable military victory has largely slipped through the cracks of history, eclipsed in Australian sentiment by stories of dramatic defeat and loss at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.

Paul Daley goes in search of the story of Beersheba. What he uncovers is a story of ordinary men capable of extraordinary acts, as he sheds new light on a dark episode starkly at odds with the Anzac mythology.

About the Author

Paul Daley is a Canberra author, columnist and multi-award-winning journalist. He has worked extensively overseas-including in conflict zones-and has covered national affairs for major Australian publications including The Age, The Sunday Age and The Bulletin. He is the author of the best-selling Beersheba and, most recently, Armageddon: Two men on an Anzac trail. He is married to political journalist Lenore Taylor and they have three children.