Charge at Huj

Charge at Huj
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Charge at Huj, by Lady Butler
Date 8 November 1917 Location Huj, southern Palestine Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire	Ottoman Empire  German Empire  Austria-Hungary
Units involved
Worcestershire Yeomanry Warwickshire Yeomanry	Part of XXI Corps
Casualties and losses
26 dead 40 wounded	100+ dead 70 prisoners 11 artillery guns 4 machine guns captured

The Charge at Huj (8 November 1917), (also known by the British as the Affair of Huj), was an engagement between forces of the British Empire' Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the Ottoman Turkish Empire's,^{[nb 1]} Yildirim Army Group during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. It took place during the Pursuit phase of the Southern Palestine Offensive which eventually captured Jerusalem a month later.

The charge was carried out by units of the 5th Mounted Brigade, against a rearguard position of German, Austrian and Turkish artillery and infantry armed with machine guns. The charge was successful and the British captured the position, seventy prisoners, eleven pieces of artillery and four machine guns. However British casualties were heavy; of the 170 men taking part, twenty-six were killed and forty wounded. They also had 100 horses killed.

The charge is claimed to be one of the last British cavalry charges and was immortalised in a watercolour painting by the noted British artist Lady Butler.

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