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24, Avondale Road, Mortlake

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.

The Battle of Beersheba  31st October, 1917

Before the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) attacked Gaza itself, they first attacked at Beersheba where one of their objectives was to seize the water supplies there. Two divisions launched a limited frontal attack in the morning, and captured the Turkish stronghold on top of Hill 1070. The guns were then brought up to this new position, the bombardment renewed and by the early afternoon another infantry attack captured all of their objectives. This of course drew the full attention of the Turkish defenders and this allowed the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division to ride across country and attack the garrison from the east. After some hard fighting the ANZAC force captured the town and the water supplies.

60th (London) Division, made up of second line Territorial units moved to France in the summer of 1916 before proceeding to the Salonika front in November of that year. In June, 1917 they moved once again, this time to the Egyptian/Palestine front where they remained for the rest of the war. During the last days of October, 1917, the division made its way across the desert to Esani, from where their attack would be launched. At 08:20 on 31st October, a final, intense ten-minute artillery bombardment targeted the Turkish trenches to cover the work of wire-cutting units. When this was done the battalions of the 181 Brigade launched their attack on Hill 1070 (also known as Hill 1069). 2/22nd London advanced to attack the redoubt on the hill, while 2/24th London attacked some defences just to the north. 181 Brigade soon captured both objectives, taking 90 prisoners while suffering about 100 casualties. At 10.30am the artillery bombardment of the main Turkish defences began with the infantry attack going in shortly after midday. 179 Brigadeattacked on the right with 2/14th London and 2/15th London in front. Isolated Turkish machine-guns caused problems especially among 2/15th London but these were soon dealt with and all three battalions then rushed and captured the enemy trenches. 2/13th London followed in support and made a further advance and captured two field guns beyond the final objectives. It had been a successful operation but there had been casualties, one of whom was John Rudd of 2/22nd London. who died of wounds the following day, 1st November, 1917.