page_title: Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe
section_title: 4 November
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe / Battle / 4 November
caption_attribution_description: English: New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade first line transport and led horses in Shrapnel Gully during the fighting during the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, November 1917 Other information Official history
context_page_description: The Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, part of the Southern Palestine Offensive, began on 1 November 1917, the day after the Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Beersheba during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. After the Stalemate in Southern Palestine a series of coordinated attacks were launched by British Empire units on the Ottoman Empire's German commanded Yildirim Army Group's front line, which stretched from Gaza inland to Beersheba. During fighting for the town, the road from Beersheba to Jerusalem via Hebron, was cut just north of the town in the southern spur of the Judean Hills. Here Ottoman units strongly defended the road and the Seventh Army headquarters at Hebron.
  Over the next week, attacks by the 53rd Division, the Anzac Mounted Division, and the 5th Mounted Brigade attempted to capture the Khuweilfe position. Attacks were launched by the British infantry and Yeomanry cavalry, and Australian and New Zealand mounted brigades.
context_section_description: The III Corps headquarters remained at Edh Dhahriye, while the Ottoman defenders held a line stretching eastward from the 48th Regiment to the 81st Regiment, and on to the 79th Regiment, all defending the Wadi Abu Khuff to Bir Abu Khuff. The 125th Regiment held the ground east of the Bir, with part of the 142nd Regiment on Tel el Khuweilfe, and the 72nd Regiment in reserve. The 77th Regiment was deployed behind Ras en Naqb with the 8th Cavalry Regiment on their left close to Anab, while part of the 2nd Regiment, part of the 143rd Regiment, and the 12th Depot Regiment stretched across the road to Jerusalem, defending Edh Dhahriye.
  Early in the morning Falkenhayn, still on his journey south, ordered the recapture of Ras en Naqb by the 77th Regiment (19th Division) and the 8th Cavalry Regiment. A patrol to reconnoitre the high ground occupied by about half an Ottoman battalion, in the direction of the Beersheba to Jerusalem road by a troop of the Worcestershire Yeomanry (5th Mounted Brigade), came under heavy rifle fire at 06:00, forcing them to return to Ras en Naqb. The regiment was relieved half an hour later by the Gloucester Yeomanry, although the Worcestershire Regiment remained close by, saddled up in the wadi with the led horses. At 14:00, they returned to take over the line again from the Gloucester Yeomanry. By 15:00, intermittent Ottoman shelling was increasing in volume, when an additional Ottoman battery came into action on the right, and a strong counterattack developed. This attack from the north east was mainly against an advanced troop on the right centre, which was compelled to retire.
  A strong attack by 1,500 Ottoman soldiers was subsequently launched from the north, which advanced steadily from a ridge, covered by intense machine gun and rifle fire. This attack compelled the left flank of the Worcestershire regiment to retire about 100 yards (91 m). At about 16:00 a squadron of Ottoman cavalry rode into the valley between the ridge and Tel el Khuweilfe, held by the 3rd Battalion of the Imperial Camel Brigade, making the position of the Yeomanry, extremely critical. The Ottoman attack had advanced to within 200–300 yards (180–270 m) along the whole central sector of their line, when two squadrons of Gloucester Yeomanry came up in support, at the gallop. They dismounted rapidly to reinforce the left and centre sectors, while the Warwickshire Yeomanry and "D" Squadron Worcestershire Regiment, came up in support on the right, followed shortly afterwards by the remaining squadron of the Gloucester Yeomanry on the left, stabilising the situation.
  By this time, the 5th Mounted Brigade had been 30 hours without water and were to be relieved by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. Ordered to Rijm Abu Jerwan, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment took over a section of the line at 17:30, connecting with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade on the Beersheba to Jerusalem road on the right, and the 53rd (Welsh) Division attacking Tel Khuweilfe on the left. However, towards dusk, the 5th Mounted Brigade was again heavily attacked at Ras en Naqb, so it was not until 20:00 that one regiment of the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade completed the relief of the Worcestershire Yeomanry.
  Between 20:00 and 22:00, the Worcestershire Regiment collected their 11 wounded, carrying those who could not ride on blankets down the narrow ravine to the waiting sand carts. At 22:00, the regiment, followed by the Gloucester and Warwick Yeomanry, came under machine gun fire in the moonlight from the Ottoman defenders, holding Khuweilfe. It was only under very difficult circumstances that the wounded could be brought back from the firing line, when many helpers and wounded were killed. Many of these further casualties occurred when they had to pass through a shrapnel zone, as there were no regular communication trenches. The Worcestershire Regiment returned to Beersheba along the Jerusalem road, leaving lightly wounded who were riding at the Anzac Mounted Division receiving station near Keirdirat. The Worcestershire Regiment (5th Mounted Brigad
caption: New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade first line transport and led horses in Shrapnel Gully during the fighting
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