The cavalry who had worked around the flank from the east of Beersheba occupied the town that evening, and the Reserve Battalions of the 60th Division were sent forward to cover our front.
The conclusion of the day’s planned operations was marked by the concentration of the attacking Brigades in the captured positions, with outposts pushed out on the high ground overlooking Beersheba. The 2/13th (Kensingtons) which had been detailed for this duty in our Brigade succeeded in capturing two 77mm. guns which had been causing us casualties earlier in the day.
To return to the actual attack by the Civil Service Rifles, the whole operation had been a great success, and in spite of considerable casualties the losses could not be considered too heavy. “D” Company, the advanced Company, had suffered most while giving support to the attacking Companies. “C” Company had the next highest total, as it was their misfortune to advance over the machine-gun swept valley of the Wadi Halgon. The casualties in “B” Company were much lighter, as they were able to use the cover of the small branch nullahs in their advance. “A” Company had very few casualties, but this does not reflect that they did not do their share; it was their fortune. The whole Battalion had at last been able to display its fighting qualities in a real attack. The Battalion’s captures included three officers and over 50 men, while more than sixty dead Turks were buried by us afterwards in their old trenches.
An amusing incident of the final scene of the attack was when the stentorian voice of one of the sergeants of “C” Company was heard during the lull in the rifle fire, shouting, “All officers and sergeants”—an order which had palled on our ears at the close of the numerous practice attacks during our training on the desert.
The evening was quiet enough and the Battalion was not worried by Turkish artillery fire, and it was only an hour after the success of the attack was known, when the Battalion transport under Lieutenant Pearson and the water camels under Lieutenant Gearing arrived from their hiding-place in the Wadi Mirtaba, where we had left them the previous evening. Souvenir-hunting in the Turkish lines was our evening pastime; but not until search parties had found and collected all the killed and wounded and every man was accounted for.
The night was cold, but men availed themselves of the protection of the trenches, and some of the more fortunate succeeded in obtaining captured tents and bivouac sheets; but these were unpleasant dwellings and smelt horribly. With the dead Turks lying around, the whole place was no health resort. The Turk was a filthy fellow, as his trenches showed, and the whole area was infested with flies. The next day the dead Turks were collected and buried in their trenches. The British guns had fired with great accuracy into the trenches, and in one instance had knocked out a machine gun and its team of eight men.
On the 1st of November the infantry were employed in clearing the battlefield while the 519 Field Company, R.E., entered the town of Beersheba soon after dawn for the purpose of water development.
The captures by the 60th Division included two 77 mm. guns, many machine guns, 15 officers and 193 other ranks unwounded, and 5 officers and 85 other ranks wounded.
On the morning of the 3rd of November the Battalion moved to the valley on the south-eastern outskirts of the town. The whole valley was crowded with British troops and transport. Beersheba as a town appeared to be of little value, but its importance as a stronghold on the flank of the Turkish line was considerable. Water was obtained from the wells which had been quickly repaired by the R.E.; the Turk having blown up the winding gear before he left. In the town, prisoner of war compounds were established, while a still larger compound for the natives and Arabs of the surrounding district was made in the valley outside the town.
The soil of the valley where there is some moisture is exceedingly rich and is rudely cultivated by the natives, and in the tracks around Beersheba the Bedouin find ample pasturage for their flocks and herds which in the evening assemble around the wells as they did 3,000 years ago. The desert of Beersheba is very beautiful in spring and early summer when the surface is carpeted with herbage and flowers; but later in the year it is parched and desolate in the extreme, not a tree breaking the monotony of the landscape or the rays of the sun. It was in the latter state when we arrived.