On October 31st, 1917, six hundred soldiers of the Australian 4th and 12th Light Horse Brigade, under the command of Brigadier General William Grant, led a daring attack against the Ottoman army in Beersheva. Armed with only horses and bayonets they charged the deeply entrenched Ottoman army. As machine guns fired, and men and horses were dying, the Lighthorsemen dug in their spurs and continued to press forward to victory. The bewildered enemy failed to adjust their gun sights and their fire began passing harmlessly over the heads of the horsemen, who then quickly overran the Ottoman army utterly defeating them in less than an hour. Historians describe this remarkable battle as the last successful cavalry charge in history.