Beersheba 1917 preps...

The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba falls on the 31st October this year.

This battle is something of a legend down under. Whilst not exactly the last cavalry charge in history, by a long way when you consider the Russian Civil War, or even the Eastern Front in WW2, it was a remarkable battle...

It was one of the few times a mounted charge was able to overcome dug-in, prepared, and, it has to be said, tough and resolute defenders.

General Allenby's entire Palestine campaign is celebrated as a triumph of shock and manoeuvre over superior numbers, but even by those high standards this action saw a celebrated victory for sheer nerve and dash!

Most remarkably, the diggers of the 4th (Victoria) and 12th (NSW) Light Horse Regiments weren't technically even cavalry, but mounted infantrymen. However, ever resourceful, the diggers simply charged home with their 18 inch bayonets as sabres!

A mate who served in the Royal Australian Regiment tells me that modern historical opinion is that many of the diggers actually dismounted on or just before the objective...

and fought through with their trusty .303 SMLEs, but eyewitness accounts insist that many rode their mounts over and through the trench lines...

Either way it must have presented a daunting spectacle to Johnny Turk, no mean soldier himself!

And they were a modern and well equipped army, and well entrenched in prepared positions. All figures painted by David Clark.

I have to put in a token picture of a gun, otherwise my Gunner mates give me gyp - 1 of the 28 Krupp field guns defending Beersheba.

This project was originally conceived by our mate the late Mark Rowles who sadly passed away a few years ago and is still very much missed. Mark Rowles RIP.

However Doug has since taken up the slack and given it his all, commissioning and putting together an amazing collection of terrain to suitably commemorate this iconic Aussie battle.

The wells, Mosque and building details are from Kobblestone Miniatures, the houses themselves from Knights of Dice, all lovingly assembled by Doug.

I should note that this whole operation is in 28mm, as befits Mark's original concept, as he was always one for doing things in the Grand Manner!

Doug has gone to great lengths to capture those little details and vignettes which make terrain come to life!

All flags shown here were by The Flag Dude.

Yes the Colours of the Australian flag are correct! - at the time blue was the field colour for the national flag only, with red used by State and Territory organisations. Since these regiments were raised by Victoria and New South Wales, they used a red background...

The dice were obtained from another great little Aussie company, Dice of War.

So we look forward to commemorating this amazing action later on in the year . We will be using suitably adapted Bolt Action V2 rules.

And if the photos come out allright, I will be only to happy to blog it for you. Or come along and join in!

Cheers Mates!