 During the night of 3 / 4 August 1916 , the advancing force including the German Pasha I formation and the Ottoman 3rd Infantry Division launched an attack from Katia on Romani . Forward troops quickly became engaged with the screen established by the 1st Light Horse Brigade ( Anzac Mounted Division ) . During fierce fighting before dawn on 4 August , the Australian light horsemen were forced to slowly retire . At daylight , their line was reinforced by the 2nd Light Horse Brigade , and about mid morning , the 5th Mounted Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade joined the battle . Together these four brigades of the Anzac Mounted Division , managed to contain and direct the determined attackers into deep sand . Here the attackers came within range of the strongly entrenched 52nd ( Lowland ) Division defending Romani and the railway . Coordinated resistance by all these EEF formations , the deep sand , the heat and thirst prevailed , and the German , Austrian and Ottoman advance was checked . Although the attacking force fought strongly to maintain its positions the next morning , by nightfall they had been pushed back to their starting point at Katia . The retiring force was pursued by the Anzac Mounted Division between 6 and 9 August , during which the Ottomans and Germans forces fought a number of strong rearguard actions against the advancing Australian light horse , British yeomanry and New Zealand mounted rifle brigades . The pursuit ended on 12 August , when the German and Ottoman force abandoned their base at Bir el Abd and retreated back to El Arish . 
