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The Charge at Sheria took place on 7 November 1917 during the Battle of Hareira and Sheria when the 11th and 12th Light Horse Regiments (4th Light Horse Brigade) charged a Yildirim Army Group rearguard in support of an attack by the 60th (London) Division during the Southern Palestine Offensive of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. Following the victory at the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October, Ottoman Army forces continued to hold most of their front line stretching from Gaza on the Mediterranean coast to Sheria and Tel el Khuweilfe, in the Judean Hills to the north of Beersheba. A major offensive launched by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) on 6 November could not dislodge the Ottoman defenders at Gaza, Hareira and Tel el Khuweife. Although Sheria and Tel el Khuweilfe continued to be strongly defended, the heavy EEF bombardment by the XXI Corps against Gaza, resulted in the Ottoman garrison withdrawing from Gaza during the night. During 7 November the attack by the XX Corps, led by the 60th (London) Division and supported by the 10th (Irish) Division on the left and the 74th (Yeomanry) Division on the right, gained some ground in the morning but was held up by a strong position at Sheria, when the Australian Mounted Division was ordered to attack mounted. The 11th and 12th Light Horse Regiments charged into the face of heavy artillery, machine gun and rifle fire, was forced to stop and dismount as the fire was too fierce. One troop missed the signal and was annihilated, after they charged up and over the Ottoman trenches. == Background == During the stalemate from April to October 1917, the EEF front line extended for from the Mediterranean coast at Gaza to a point on the Wadi Ghazzeh near El Gamli, about south-west of Sharia and west of Beersheba on the southern edge of the plain of Philistia.〔Blenkinsop 1925 p. 200〕 The official rifle strength of the EEF on 28 October 1917, was 80,000 in the infantry divisions and Imperial Camel Brigade, and 15,000 cavalry. However the "actual strength ... () about 60,000 and 12,000 respectively."〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 35 note〕 The strength of the EEF infantry, as compared with the Ottoman defenders was a ratio of 2:1, while cavalry was 8:1 and guns were about 3:2.〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 35〕〔Half the brigades in Desert Mounted Corps were light horse and mounted rifles, armed only with rifle and bayonet. (1955 pp. 125–6 )〕 While the Ottoman defenders had developed Gaza into "a strong modern fortress", complete with a glacis on its southern and south–eastern side,〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 9〕 permanent strongly entrenched and wired positions were constructed to Shellal on the Wadi Ghazza with both Sheria and Beersheba, particularly strongly fortified.〔Preston 1921 p. 12〕〔Woodward 2006 pp. 87–8〕 The estimated strength of the Ottoman force holding the Gaza to Beersheba line was 40,000 rifles, this was actually 33,000 rifles, 1,400 sabres and 260 guns. The main Ottoman position extending from the Mediterranean shore west of Gaza to south east of Tel esh Sheria was held by the XX Corps commanded by Ali Faud Bey.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charge at Sheria」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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