The Charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba, in what is now part of Israel, was a major strategic victory in the First World War.

The battle, on 31st October, 1917, forced the Turkish army to retreat and opened the way for the fall of Jerusalem. But there was no war correspondent in Beersheba. And it has never become part of the national mythology like Gallipoli or the Somme. The Battle of Beersheba, a redeeming win for the ANZACs who lost at Gallipoli, has slipped through the cracks of Australia's historical consciousness.

The sunset charge by 800 ANZACs mounted on horses defeated 400 Turks, captured Beersheba, and led to the liberation of Jerusalem and the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

It is the victory that paved the way for the establishment of Israel 60 years ago. And yet, the story of the victory has slipped through the cracks of history. Beersheba is not a pilgrimage site, even though the Turkish trenches are intact, shrapnel can still be found within, and the ancient Bedouin camps, through which the horseman cantered, are still there.

In an evocative narrative, in the vein of Les Carlyon's masterpiece, Gallipoli, this book Beersheba by historical author Paul Daley will tell you a story about a place and its players that is long overdue for greater acknowledgement.