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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 the mound of 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 Khuweilfe. 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. (en)
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