Current Information:

Age-24

34, Eve Road, Isleworth

Beersheba War Cemetery, Palestine

After the Western Front, the second largest theatre of war between 1914 and 1918 was Egypt and Palestine. Britain had long had a foothold in Egypt guarding the vitally important Suez Canal and when war was declared against Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) who controlled all of what is now known as the Middle East, British troops were sent to guard the canal from attacks from the north. For the first two years of the war the British forces were on the defensive as the Turks, backed by the Germans, made a number of attempts against the canal but an important victory in August 1916 at Rumani relieved the pressure and the British force was then able to move onto the offensive and advance north into Palestine. There followed the First and Second Battles of Gaza in March and in April, 1917 in which the British tried but failed to break through the Turkish line that stretched from the coast at Gaza across the desert to Beersheba. The stalemate that followed these two battles lasted through until  October, 1917, during which time both sides strengthened their respective positions especially at Gaza and Beersheba, where no-man’s-land was very narrow. In the centre of the line an almost flat plain, devoid of cover, made a frontal attack virtually impossible.

On 27th October, 1917, during the build up to the 3rd Battle of Gaza, a squadron of the Middlesex Hussars found them selves manning a post west of Bir el Girheir and another one a bit further to their right just north of El Baqqar. After a quiet night the post at Bir el Girheir was attacked in great strength at 4.10am by the enemy. Two troops from support were sent forward to work round to the right of the post to try to relieve the situation and in the face of heavy fire they advanced to within view only to find it was almost totally surrounded. A squadron of City of London (Rough Riders) managed to reach a slight hummock 200 yards from the hill where the post was but here they too were pinned to the ground by heavy machine-gun fire. They had very little cover here, but by accurate rifle fire they managed to prevent the post from being completely surrounded. A magnificent defence was maintained here  until late afternoon when an advance by some of 53rd Division forced the Turks to withdraw. Meanwhile the post of two troops of Middlesex Hussars, north of El Baqqar were not so lucky. They were attacked by several Turkish squadrons which, sweeping round their right, forced the guns of the Hampshire Battery near Kh. Kasif to retire. Relieving troops failed to reach the position and after seven hours they were overwhelmed. Total casualties for the 8th Mounted Brigade were nearly eighty officers and men and included Fred Caines.