28/09/2017 The Melbourne Legacy Bulletin October 2017 BEERSHEBA - THE LAST GREAT CAVALRY CHARGE IN HISTORY? The town of Beersheba is located at the foot of the Judean Hills on the northern edge of the Negev Desert in Palestine (now modern day Israel). For centuries it was a strategic military position and so it was in World War 1. In the early part of the 20th Century Beersheba was part of Ottoman Empire and was controlled by Turkey. Beersheba was an important Turkish communications centre and the site of the only fresh water wells in the area. Consequently the Turks fortified the town appropriately with machine gun and artillery positions supporting entrenched troops. As a prelude to the opening of the Sinai and Palestinian Offensive, designed to drive Turkish forces from the Middle East, the British decided to attack Beersheba in October 1917. The commander of the British forces was General Edmund Allenby who had at his disposal two divisions of XX Corps of the British Army and the Australian Mounted Division’s 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments of the 4th Light Horse Brigade under the command of Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel. Initially Allenby tried an infantry assault on Beersheba with limited success. The plains of the Negev Desert are desolate, hot and featureless so there was no possibility of surprising the Turkish forces; they could literally see for miles. What’s more, they had rigged the wells with demolition charges. Should they be overrun; their last act would be to destroy the wells, denying the British much needed water. Allenby’s strategy was to convince the Turks that he would strike elsewhere and then hit Beersheba hard. After a series of ploys and feints it was decided that Beersheba had to be taken by nightfall on October 31st 1917. During that morning three British infantry divisions attacked Beersheba from the west and the south and partially took the town. The Australian Light Horse were waiting to the south east for orders to advance. The Australian Light Horse were not cavalry, as many people believe: they were mounted infantry who normally rode to a battlefield before dismounting and fighting on foot. This time, however, it would be different. The Turks fully expected the Light Horsemen to dismount and attack on foot, but the Australians, following a strategy devised by Brigadier General William Grant, charged the Turkish positions, overwhelming the Turks and taking Beersheba and its important wells. So why didn’t the Australians get massacred? During the Crimean War the British Light Brigade tried a similar charge against Russian positions at Balaclava and while they succeeded in taking the position, they were shot to pieces by the Russians using rudimentary weapons. The Light Horsemen charged more than a mile over open ground towards a garrison armed with modern rifles and machine guns. 1/26 28/09/2017 It all came down to sheer good luck. Faced with the sight of charging hoards of Light Horsemen the Turks became rattled and forgot to adjust the sights on their weapons to take into account the closing range. Most Turkish fire passed harmlessly over the Australians heads. The charge at Beersheba is, quite rightly, considered one of the greatest feats of arms ever undertaken by the Australian Army. One persistent myth regarding Beersheba is that it was the last great cavalry charge in history. It wasn’t; but as Sir Winston Churchill said of the story of King Alfred burning the cakes: “If it’s not a true story, it bloody well should be." By Legatee Keith Gaff 2/26 28/09/2017 FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK We had an excellent turnout of 40 Legatees at the Club Conference on 12 September at Legacy House, including members from our Groups who travelled to Melbourne from across our region. It was an important opportunity to share Melbourne Legacy’s Strategic Plan for 2018-21, discuss our future direction and to establish our position on the motions that will be raised at the national conference in November. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the robust discussion. Melbourne Legacy’s Strategic Plan is on the Member’s Website or if you would like a PDF copy sent to you please email [email protected]. Please take the time to read it to ensure you are familiar with how we need to evolve to continue our good work in a much more challenging environment. In the last few weeks, I have also attended a meeting of the Capital City Club Presidents and CEOs which we hosted at Legacy House and the Victorian Club Presidents’ meeting in Albury. Both have been very productive in discussing our like-minded challenges and opportunities. The meeting in Albury was held in conjunction with Legacy Club of Albury’s 85th annual dinner, where I installed Legatee David Parker as their new President. In July, Melbourne Legacy received funding from DVA to conduct a Victorian ESO Mapping project to assist in achieving a more coordinated and targeted provision of services from Victorian ESOs to meet the needs of younger veterans and their families. Former ADF member Steve Cottrell has been appointed as Project Lead and he will work closely with the Victorian Veterans Council and the Victorian Veterans Minister’s office. The project has commenced and a conference for ESOs will be held in November. The report is due in December. This project delivers on our promise to lead in the sector in accordance with our Strategic Plan objectives. Thank you to everyone for your generous support during Legacy Week. Legacy Sunday at the Shrine of Remembrance on 27 August attracted more than 400 Legacy widows, despite the inclement weather. The service was followed by a High Tea at the Pullman Hotel at Albert Park and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. We had excellent support from ADF volunteers for Badge Day and our giant Legacy bears continued to attract attention. For the first time, we had Tap and Go units to enable us to accept donations by card. Despite our marketing efforts, unfortunately we did not achieve our fundraising targets – you can find more details in the Marketing and Communications report in the News section of this Bulletin. We are doing a review so we can identify improvements for 2018 with a refreshed approach. Our Community Services team has developed a strategy for 2018 which is also aligned to Melbourne Legacy’s Strategic Plan. It is based on the principles of providing service provision within a compassionate, respectful and beneficiary-driven framework to Widow(er)s, Youth, Families and our Dependants with Disability. These four programs are the foundation of support provided by Community Services in partnership with the valued role of Legatees. This will be shared in the coming months. 3/26 28/09/2017 Our youth audit is complete and new programs are underway, and almost all of our Junior Legatees with a disability have been contacted so we know exactly what their needs are and activities will be developed accordingly for them. Based on this feedback, an activity for JLs with a disability will be held in December. Well done to the six Victorian JLs and their three ADF mentors who successfully completed the Kokoda trek as part of Operation Legacy Australia Kokoda Challenge 2017. It was an amazing and memorable experience for all involved. There are some wonderful photos and videos that were taken by the ADF and you can see a selection of these in our News section and on Melbourne Legacy’s Facebook page. Finally, good luck to the twelve finalists who will compete in Victoria’s Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award on 23 October. Again, the standard has been extremely high and the judges will face an arduous task in deciding our state winners who will represent Victoria at the national competition in November. SEPTEMBER BOARD UPDA TE The key outcomes of the Board meeting on 26 September 2017 were: 1. The Board re-affirmed its commitment to the Strategic Plan 2018 – 2021, which is available on the Melbourne Members page of the website. The Board acknowledged their responsibility to keep Legatees informed about the changes. 2. The Board approved the Community Services Strategy 2018, which will be available on the website next week, and which will underpin the work of the committees as well as supporting the Strategic Plan 2018 – 2021. 3. The Board directed the Chief Executive to prepare an information pack for Branch Chairs containing information about the new committees. 4. The Chair directed the Chief Executive to attend Legatee training to outline the new committee structure to add clarity. 5. The Chair noted that 2018 committee appointments should be promulgated as soon as possible, with due deference to the incoming President. 6. The Board agreed that the new committees will take effect from 15 January 2018. 7. The Board noted the work on the Legatee Code of Conduct and passed it to the Council of Management for consultation within the Legatee community and final approval. The closeness in alignment between the Melbourne Legacy Code of Conduct and the LA Inc Code of Conduct was noted. 8. The Board noted the public interest in the inquiry into the NSW RSL and acknowledged that the ACNC will likely audit Melbourne Legacy in the near future. 9. The Board noted that the ESO Mapping Project has commenced and Melbourne Legacy will host the focus groups at Legacy House as a part of the next Victorian Veteran’s Council ESO roundtable on 9th November 2017. 10.