02/11/2026
Jimmy Slicker:
My Great Uncle, "Nugget" who was James Nugent's Son.
James Nugent was the Shepparton Shire Secretary between 1897 until 1915 when he passed. His wife was Mary Nugent (Harrington).
James had a military funeral in Shepparton in 1915, I also have some photos of that.
Arthur Nugent had 3 brothers who all went to war in 1916.
Edward, John, and Martin Nugent.
WW1 , 107 years ago today.
October 31st 1917. The Battle of Beersheba,
The largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel.
This news paper extract was written by a sniper with the 5th light horse regiment in 1917. His name is Ion Idriess.
AMAZING DESCRIPTION
At a mile distant their thousand hooves were stuttering thunder, coming at a rate that frightened a man - they were an awe-inspiring sight, galloping through the red haze - knee to knee and horse to horse - the dying sun glinting on bayonet points. Machine guns and r***e-fire just roared but the 4th Brigade galloped on.
We heard shouts among the thundering hooves, saw balls of flame amongst those hooves - horse after horse crashed, but the massed squadrons thundered on. We laughed in delight when the shells began bursting behind them telling that the gunners could not keep their range, then suddenly the men ceased to fall and we knew instinctively that the Turkish infantry, wild with excitement and fear, had forgotten to lower their r***e sights and the bullets were flying overhead.
The Turks did the same to us at El Quatia. The last half mile was a berserk gallop with the squadrons in magnificent line, a heart-throbbing sight as they plunged up the slope, the horses leaping the redoubt trenches - my glasses showed me the Turkish bayonets thrusting up for the bellies of the horses - one regiment flung themselves from the saddle -
we heard the mad shouts as the men jumped down into the trenches, a following regiment thundered over another redoubt, and to a triumphant roar of voices and hooves was galloping down the half mile slope right into the town. Then came a whirlwind of movement from all over the field, galloping batteries - dense dust from mounting regiments - a rush as troops poured for the opening in the gathering dark - mad, mad excitement - terrific explosions from down in the town.
Beersheba had fallen.
Legendary:
My Mothers great uncle Arthur Ignatius Nugent (Nugget) picture below. was a member of the 4th Light Horse Battalion, and was in the full gallop charge of 900 horses, it was a success.
The charge of Beersheba by the Australian Light Horse
took place on 31 October 1917, during the third Battle of Gaza in Palestine. It was a vital component of the allied forces’ campaign to secure the Sinai Peninsula and ensure the shipping corridors along the Suez Canal remained open to Britain and its allies.
The commanders of the allied forces turned their focus to Beersheba, a town at the end of the Turkish defensive line. Although the majority of the Turkish forces were stationed in Gaza, the 1000 Turkish r***eman in Beersheba had strong defensive positions and were supported by nine machine guns and two aircraft.
To maintain the element of surprise, the 40,000-strong Desert Mounted Corps made the dusty 43km-trek toward Beersheba under the cover of darkness on 30 October 1917. They attacked at dawn the following day, starting with an offensive at Sakati to close the road and halt Turkish reinforcements. The troops then progressed to Tel El Saba, 3km east of Beersheba, but were met with fierce resistance from the Turkish forces.
The Desert Mounted Corps captured Tel El Saba by mid-afternoon, however this left few hours of daylight for the assault on Beersheba. They had to take this town before nightfall, as its wells were the only source of water available in the region and the troops had not resupplied in several days.
By 10 pm on 31 October, approximately 58,000 light horsemen and 100,000 animals had swarmed into Beersheba. It took 1,800,000 litres of water to shed their battle thirst.
Lest We Forget.
