One of the last British cavalry charges in history, capturing eleven artillery pieces at heavy cost during the WWI Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
Key Facts
- Date
- 8 November 1917
- British participants
- 170 men
- British killed
- 26
- British wounded
- 40
- Horses killed
- 100
- Artillery pieces captured
- 11
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the Southern Palestine Offensive of 1917, Ottoman forces were retreating northward. A German, Austrian, and Turkish rearguard established an artillery and infantry position near Huj, armed with machine guns, to cover the withdrawal and delay the advancing British Egyptian Expeditionary Force.
Units of the British 5th Mounted Brigade launched a cavalry charge against the entrenched rearguard position at Huj on 8 November 1917. Despite facing artillery and machine-gun fire, the 170 charging cavalrymen overran the position, capturing seventy prisoners, eleven artillery pieces, and four machine guns.
The British secured the position but suffered severe casualties—26 killed, 40 wounded, and 100 horses lost. The action contributed to the broader Pursuit phase that culminated in the capture of Jerusalem a month later. The charge became one of the last recorded British cavalry charges and was memorialised in a watercolour by Lady Butler.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent