At 11:30 Brigadier William Grant's 4th Light Horse Brigade arrived at Iswaiwin, where men and horses rested while the battle was being fought by the XX Corps and the Anzac Mounted Division, until 15:45 when they were ordered to saddle up "at once". At 16:00 Grant sent for the commanders and seconds-in-command of the 4th and 12th Light Horse Regiments, issuing orders for their attack on Beersheba. The 4th Light Horse Regiment of Victorians and the New South Wales' 12th Light Horse Regiment were from Beersheba when they formed up behind a ridge about north of Hill 1280. On the left of the Anzac Mounted Division, the 4th Light Horse Regiment deployed north of the Iswaiwin-to-Beersheba road (also known as the Black W road), with the 12th Light Horse Regiment south of the road on their left. They were armed with "neither sword nor lance bayonets in their hands". The regiment's "A", "B" and "C" squadrons formed three squadron lines (in that order) between apart, each squadron line extended to . One subsection of the 4th Machine Gun Squadron was attached to each regiment, although Lieutenant Colonel Murray Bourchier (commander of the 4th Light Horse Regiment which fought in the trenches and redoubt) said "The Hotchkiss guns were useless, the fast pace affording no time to get them into action".