Beersheeba Oct 1917- Aust Light Horse fails

In Oct 1917, the Aust Light Horse under Gen Harry Chauvel mounted 1 of the most spectacular and last cavalry charges in hist, when they charged Turkish machinegun positions around the key city of Beersheeba in Sinai-Palestine, and captured the famous wells intact before they could be destroyed by German engineers, thereby preserving the survival of Gen Allenby's 60,000-strong Desert Army (who were already suffering from dwindling water supplies) and paving the way for the reconquest of the entire Holy Land from the Ottomans. But WI the LH hadn't succeeded in their attack and the wells were blown ? How significant a setback would the British have experienced with the loss of such vital water supplies ?
 
If they had missed the wells, the right wing of the Desert Army would have been in serious trouble. They'd have to, for lack of water, withdraw back to their supply depots. How long such a withdrawal would have lasted I couldn't say. Having said all that, the British were building supply routes across the desert for the army. Then there's the sea lines which could be used more if desperately needed. So the setback could be, say, three months before Allenby goes onto a full offensive.
 
I don't think it would make much difference in the long run, though. The war was won in Europe, and Britain would have demanded the Holy Land from the Ottomans, who, as we all are well aware, were in no place to negotiate by war's end.

Although, with a bit of finagling, if the British don't end up taking Palestine, maybe it goes to the French? Not likely, but theoretically possible perhaps; I think the Allies divided the Middle East as early as 1915 with Sykes-Picot, but I'm not sure what they planned to do if they actually failed to conquer it. They would have wanted to seize it, certainly, as they seized German colonies elsewhere in the world; but would the French have been willing to grant the Brits the territory that the latter had promised (and failed) to win during the war?
 
I agree it wouldn't have made much difference; the Ottomans did not assgin much importance to this theater, and all the best troops were being diverted to the Caucasus, leaving mostly Arab levies.

Any delay though, increases French influence inthe region, threatening British gains.
 
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