The Charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba, 1917

Late on 31 October 1917 the 4th Light Horse Brigade was ordered to gallop towards Beersheba and seize the town. Two regiments, the 4th and the 12th, made the bold and successful charge, one of the last major cavalry charges in history. When he visited Beersheba in March 1918 Lambert had ridden the course the battle had taken for the light horsemen, jumping into the trenches in order to “get the spirit of the thing”.

Lambert's work depicts the impact of the Australians on the Turkish troops and trenches. A tangled mass of horses and soldiers is shown against the backdrop of a barren and undulating landscape. He has created an impression of the chaos of battle by intertwining a number of detailed vignettes into the painting, of horses charging and rearing, soldiers fighting and men falling, the movement and drama is palpable.