Angelic signs as Charge of the Light Brigade remembered

By Samantha Elley

For some it will be a time of lollies and scary stuff as Halloween is celebrated on October 31. But this date also holds a significant memory in the history of the Australian military.

In 1917, on October 31, the Australian Light Horse Brigade came into their own, when during the Great War, the British Army and its allies faced a solid line of Turkish defence from Gaza to Beersheba in Palestine.

According to military historian, Col Stringer, the generals were desperate.

“58,000 British infantry with tank support had been driven back into the desert and with the sun about to set and with no water for many miles, disaster stared them squarely in the face,” he said.

“The Australian Light Horse Commander Chauvel’s orders were to storm Beersheba; it had to be won before nightfall at all costs. The situation was fast becoming grave as the British were in urgent need of 400,000 gallons of water for their men and horses.”

Henry George Chauvel was the son of a grazier from Tabulam, better known as Harry and had been commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Upper Clarence Light Horse, a unit organised by his father, Charles Chauvel in 1886.

“Chauvel concocted a bold plan,” said Stringer.

“Why not let his 800 horsemen charge the Turkish artillery?

“A cavalry charge across 6,000 yards of open terrain straight into the face of the massed Turkish guns and… odds of 6:1 against them.”

Stringer said it was no wonder the Germans called the Aussie Lighthorsemen ‘madmen’.

“The young men mounted their magnificent ‘walers’ and lined up to face the Turkish guns, their faces bronzed and tanned from the desert sun, their emu plumes fluttering in the breeze, rifles swung across their backs and bayonets in hand,” Stringer recounted.

“History was about to be written.”

Stringer goes on to say the “mad Aussies” charged magnificently across the dusty plains.

“So fast in fact that the Turkish artillery could not keep pace with them, and they were able to slip under their field guns,” he said.

“As they leapt the trenches laced with machine gun bullets, a magnificent cheer went up from the British ranks, such was the magnificence of the feat.

“Although outnumbered and outgunned they charged on.

“The Turkish guns blazed at those hazy horsemen, but they came steadily on.

“At one mile distance, they emerged from clouds of dust, squadrons of men and horses taking shape.”

Stringer said that after the victory, captured Turkish and German officers described how they never dreamed that mounted troops would be mad enough to attempt rushing infantry protected by machine-guns and artillery.

“Beersheba – the gateway to Jerusalem, was opened that day, not by the Crusaders, or Napoleon, not by the British or US Armies – but by the Australian Light Horsemen!” said Stringer.

“These Aussie Light Horsemen had achieved what 58,000 British troops with tanks could not do, what even the Crusaders or Napoleon could not do! They had opened the doorway to Jerusalem against unbelievable odds.

“Jerusalem, after 400 years of occupation was about to be freed!

“As one Israeli later put it: ‘Had Beersheba not been captured that day then we Israelis may not be here today.’”

Stringer goes on to say that one of the most extraordinary aspects of the liberation of Jerusalem was the claim of men having seen angels.

“From General Sir Harry Chauvel down to the officers and troopers, visions of ancient buildings, strange animals, lighted villages and angelic beings were witnessed en masse,” said Stringer

“The stories of hundreds of men were corroborated through cross-checking examinations.

“As there was no logical explanation, officially the incident was recorded as ‘lack of sleep’……

“Reports of angelic beings appearing during the fighting, occurred right up to the cessation of hostilities in 1918.

“They are too numerous to detail.

“Statements were also taken from captured enemy officers who had witnessed the same manifestations. General Allenby called for detailed reports and interviewed witnesses himself.”

Col Springer will be visiting Tabulam Church on January 23, 2022. More details closer to the date.