German field telephone: 1 Light Horse Brigade, Beersheeba

German field telephone (Feldfernsprecher). The case into which the telephone is housed is constructed from finger-jointed timber, with metal electrical connections inset into the timber. A detachable handle screws into a metal recess on the front of the case, and is used for generating sufficient charge to send a signal and ring an alarm. A battery for the unit was contained in a separate box, and was wired to it by two connections on the right hand side of the box. The telephone rang with either a buzzer or an alarm. The unit has a folding morse key on the front of the unit. On the left side of the box (looking from the front) are two rows of three cable line connections. These accomodated the telephone line, and linked this unit into another similar telephone. Within the telephone box is a handset, with a folding mouth piece. Carved into the telephone box's upper surface is the inscription 'BEERSHEEBA 31 OCT 18'.

This field telephone is one of the four main types distributed through the German Army and its allies during the First World War. It had the capacity to send both telephone calls and morse code. It was captured at Beersheba, a heavily fortified town 43 km from the Turkish bastion of Gaza.

Beersheeba was the scene of an historic charge by the 4th Light Horse Brigade on 31 October 1917. Beersheba anchored the right end of a defensive line that stretched all the way from Gaza on the Mediterranean coast. After two failed attempts to attack Gaza frontally it was decided to outflank it by turning the Turkish line around Beersheba. The attack was launched at dawn on 31 October but by late afternoon the British 20 Corps had made little headway toward the town and its vital wells. Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, commanding the Desert Mounted Corps, thus ordered the 4th Light Horse Brigade forward to attempt to secure the position. Brigadier William Grant responded by ordering light horseman of the 4th and 12th Regiments to charge at the unwired Turkish trenches. Employing their bayonets as "swords" the momentum of the surprise attack carried them through the Turkish defences. The water supplies were saved and over 1,000 Turkish prisoners were taken. The fall of Beersheba thus opened the way for a general outflanking of the Gaza-Beersheba Line. After severe fighting Turkish forces abandoned Gaza on 6 November and began their withdrawal into Palestine.