Sinai and Palestine campaign

The Sinai and Palestine campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought by the Arab Revolt and the British Empire against the Ottoman Empire and its Imperial German allies. It started with an Ottoman attempt at raiding the Suez Canal in 1915 and ended with the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, leading to the cession of Ottoman Syria.

Fighting began in January 1915, when a German-led Ottoman force invaded the Sinai Peninsula, then part of the British Protectorate of Egypt, to unsuccessfully raid the Suez Canal. After the Gallipoli campaign, British Empire veterans formed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), and Ottoman Empire veterans formed the Fourth Army to fight for the Sinai Peninsula in 1916. In January 1917, the newly formed Desert Column completed the recapture of the Sinai at the Battle of Rafa. This recapture of substantial Egyptian territory was followed in March and April by two EEF defeats on Ottoman territory at the First and Second Battles of Gaza in southern Palestine.

After a period of stalemate in Southern Palestine from April to October 1917, General Edmund Allenby captured Beersheba from the III Corps. The Ottoman defences were captured by 8 November, and the pursuit began. EEF victories followed at the Battle of Mughar Ridge, 10 to 14 November, and the Battle of Jerusalem, 17 November to 30 December. Severe losses on the Western Front in March 1918, during Erich Ludendorff’s German spring offensive, forced the British Empire to send reinforcements from the EEF. The advance stalled until Allenby’s force resumed the offensive during the manoeuvre warfare of the Battle of Megiddo in September. The successful infantry battles at Tulkarm and Tabsor created gaps in the Ottoman front line, allowing the pursuing Desert Mounted Corps to encircle the infantry fighting in the Judean Hills and the Battle of Nazareth and Battle of Samakh, capturing Afulah, Beisan, Jenin and Tiberias. In the process, the EEF destroyed three Ottoman armies during the Battle of Sharon, the Battle of Nablus and the Third Transjordan attack, capturing thousands of prisoners and large quantities of equipment. Damascus and Aleppo were captured during the subsequent pursuit before the Ottoman Empire agreed to the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, ending the Sinai and Palestine campaign. The British Mandate of Palestine and the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon were created to administer the captured territories.

The campaign was generally not well known or understood during the war. In Britain, the public thought of it as a minor operation, a waste of precious resources which would be better spent on the Western Front, while the people of India were more interested in the Mesopotamian campaign and the occupation of Baghdad. Australia did not have a war correspondent in the area until Captain Frank Hurley, the first Australian Official Photographer, arrived in August 1917 after visiting the Western Front. Henry Gullett, the first Official War Correspondent, arrived in November 1917.

The long-lasting effect of this campaign was the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire when France won the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. In contrast, the British Empire won the mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine. The Republic of Turkey existed in 1923 after the Turkish War of Independence ended the Ottoman Empire. The European mandates ended with the formation of the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932, the Lebanese Republic in 1943, the State of Israel in 1948, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan and the Syrian Arab Republic in 1946.

Background of Sinai and Palestine Campaign

Since 1805, Egypt had been a de facto independent state under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, though it remained part of the Ottoman Empire. The United Kingdom’s occupation of Egypt from 1882 severely curtailed Egypt’s de facto independence. Still, it did not alter its legal status, with the Egyptian Khedive technically remaining a vassal of the Ottoman Sultan. Seeking to end the British occupation of the country, Khedive Abbas II sided with the Ottoman Empire upon the latter’s entry into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. This prompted the United Kingdom to depose Abbas, terminate the persisting legal fiction of Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, and declare the re-establishment of the Sultanate of Egypt, with Hussein Kamel, uncle of the deposed Khedive, as Sultan.

The sultanate was to be administered as a British protectorate, with all matters about the war effort controlled exclusively by the United Kingdom. The Suez Canal was vital to the British, reducing the sailing time from India, New Zealand and Australia to Europe. As a result, Egypt became a significant base during the war, particularly during the Gallipoli campaign. The Canal was the closest and weakest link in British communications to Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The Defence of the Suez Canal posed several problems, with its size alone making it hard to control. There was no road from Cairo, while only one railway track crossed the 30 miles (48 km) of the desert from Cairo to Ismaïlia on the Canal before branching north to Port Said and south to Suez. Control of the central area around Ismaïlia was strategically important because these three canal towns relied on fresh water from the Nile via the Sweet Water Canal to the main gates and sluices nearby.

At the beginning of hostilities between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, the 30,000-strong British defence force evacuated the part of the Sinai Peninsula east of the Canal, concentrating their defences on the western side of the Suez Canal. The British force comprised the 10th and 11th Indian Divisions, the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, the Bikaner Camel Corps, three batteries of Indian mountain artillery and one Egyptian artillery battery. These were supported by the guns of Allied ships in the Canal. Opposing them were around 25,000 men, including the 25th Division. The Ottoman Empire demonstrated its interest in being reinstated in Egypt in 1915 when Ottoman forces attacked British forces in Egypt. The Germans also helped to foment unrest among the Senussi in what is now Libya when they attacked western Egypt and threatened Sudan during the Senussi campaign.

Egypt’s contribution to the war effort

Egypt was neither an independent ally nor a member of the British Empire and, as such, held a unique position amongst the belligerents. The recently appointed High Commissioner Sir Reginald Wingate and Murray agreed that Egypt’s contributions would be restricted to using the country’s railway and Egyptian personnel. However, on 6 November 1914, Maxwell proclaimed that Egypt would not be required to aid Britain’s war effort. Martial law allowed the British administration to control foreign European residents and monitor foreign agents and dangerous intern persons who were the subjects of hostile nations. The powers were also used to police prostitution and the sale of alcohol. The Capitulations, however, provided some protection to the Europeans who controlled both these industries. In the autumn of 1917, GHQ was transferred from Cairo to the front, leaving garrison battalions. This move took the commander in chief of the EEF, who was responsible for martial law, out of touch with the civil authorities, and unrest in Egypt became severe during the winter of 1917/18.

By 1917, 15,000 Egyptian volunteers were serving in the Egyptian Army, deployed mainly in Sudan with three battalions in the EEF and 98,000 labourers, 23,000 of whom were serving overseas. The number of Egyptian enlistments could not be increased as conscription could threaten the production of much-needed food and cotton and the stability of Egypt. Also, by this time, many of the railway lines in Egypt that were not crucial to the production of cotton, sugar, cereals and forages had already been lifted and used on the military railway, except the Khedivial Railway from Alexandria to Dabaa, which was available for emergencies.

The Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps had performed invaluable service during the Sinai campaign. During the coming Palestine campaign, they would achieve even more excellent service and hardships. As the war dragged on and the fighting moved beyond the Egyptian border, many Egyptians felt the war no longer concerned them. At the same time, the increasing need for Egyptian personnel turned volunteers into forced labour, although “highly paid,” in a system controlled by the local mudirs.

Defence of the Suez Canal (1915–16)

From 26 January to 4 February 1915, the Suez Canal was attacked by a large force of the Ottoman Army. Beginning on 26 and 27 January, two smaller flanking columns of the Ottoman Army made secondary attacks near Kantara in the northern sector of the Canal and Suez in the south. These were followed by the primary attacks on February 3 and 4 on the Suez Canal east of the Suez to Kantara Railway. Kress von Kressenstein’s Ottoman Suez Expeditionary Force advanced from Southern Palestine to arrive on the Canal on February 2, when they crossed the Canal near Ismailia on February 3, 1915.

Only two Ottoman companies successfully crossed the Canal, the rest of the advance party abandoning attempts to cross due to the strong British Defence by 30,000 men[citation needed] of the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade and the Bikaner Camel Corps supported by the Egyptian Army and Indian mountain artillery. The British then amassed troops at the scene, which made another crossing impossible. The Ottoman companies held their positions until the evening of 3 February 1915, when the commanding officer ordered them to withdraw. The retreat proceeded “orderly, first into a camp ten km east of Ismailia”.

Subsequently, Ottoman advance troops and outposts were maintained on the Sinai peninsula, between El Arish and Nekhl, with forces at Gaza and Beersheba. During the next few months, Kress von Kressenstein commanded mobile units and launched a series of raids and attacks to disrupt traffic on the Suez Canal.

Colonel Kress von Kressenstein did all he could to keep the British occupied, launching an attack on 8 April 1915 when a mine was placed in the Suez Canal, which was located and disabled by a patrol, and between 5 and 13 May 1915, he led a charge. During the Gallipoli campaign, these tactics were abandoned. Von Kressenstein also demanded German special forces, promising to arrive in February 1916 to prepare another expedition against the Canal. He moved to the headquarters of the Fourth Army in Ain Sofar in August, then to the new offices in Jerusalem, and waited for the German specialists. However, the Ottoman line of communication was extended towards Egypt with the completion of the 100-mile (160 km) section of the Ottoman railway to Beersheba, which was opened on 17 October 1915.

British defences extended

Von Kressenstein’s raids confirmed the impracticality, identified by Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, in November 1914, of defending the Suez Canal from the western side. Near the end of 1915, with the Gallipoli campaign drawing to an end, the Cabinet authorised new positions to be established in the desert about 11,000 yards (10 km) east of the Canal, strengthening the Defence of the Canal against long-range guns and agreed to provide additional troops.

Port Said became the headquarters of these new defences, with an advanced headquarters at Kantara. The defences were organised into three sectors:

• No. 1 (Southern): Suez to Kabrit HQ Suez – IX Corps
• No. 2 (Central): Kabrit to Ferdan HQ Ismailia – I ANZAC Corps (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps)
• No. 3 (Northern): Ferdan to Port Said – XV Corps

At the end of 1915, General Sir John Maxwell, with headquarters at Cairo, was responsible for troops in the Egyptian Delta, the Western Desert, and Sudan and administered martial law over the whole region, including the Suez Canal. The British War Office controlled the Levant Base, which was responsible for administering British Empire forces in Salonika, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and India, and its headquarters at Alexandria. The retreating troops on Gallipoli and divisions from the United Kingdom formed the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Murray, with headquarters at Ismailia. After the evacuation from Gallipoli, the total British force in Egypt was nearly 400,000 men in 13 infantry and mounted divisions, a force regarded as the strategic reserve for the whole Empire. In March 1916, Sir Archibald Murray took command of all these forces and united them into the new Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Murray believed a British advance into the Sinai to occupy Qatiya/Katia would be more cost-effective than the static defences recently established. The War Office agreed to this but not his more ambitious plan to advance to the Ottoman border. He believed the area captured in advance to El Arish or Rafa could be held with fewer troops than would be needed for a passive defence of the Suez Canal. Murray had estimated a force of 250,000 could cross the Sinai and that 80,000 troops could be maintained in the Katia area. If such a large Ottoman force were to reach Katia, the British would need a large force to defend the Suez Canal. British occupation of the oasis area, which stretched eastwards from Romani and Katia to Bir el Abd along the ancient Silk Road, would deny any Ottoman invasion force drinking water.

Murray planned a 50,000-strong garrison in the Katia area. He obtained authority to build a pipeline to pump fresh Nile water and a railway to transport the infantry divisions and their supplies. He also decided to empty the water cisterns at Moya Harab so the central Sinai route could not again be used by Ottoman columns advancing from Palestine and to maintain some troops at Suez to defend the town. These operations began in February 1916 when construction started on the 25-mile (40-km) stretch of 4-foot, 8-inch standard gauge Sinai railway and water pipeline from Qantara/Kantara to Qatiya/Katia. By the end of March or early April, 16 miles (26 km) of the track, including sidings, had been laid.

Raid on Jifjafa

The intact water cistern and wells on the central road across Sinai still enabled Ottoman Army forces to threaten the Canal anytime. Between 11 and 15 April, 25 Bikaner Camel Corps, 10 Engineers with 12 men from the 8th Light Horse Regiment and 117 men from the 9th Light Horse Regiment (30 light horsemen armed as Lancers), with 127 Egyptian Camel Transport Corps travelled 52 miles (84 km) to destroy a well-boring plant, guns erected on the wells, the water wells and pumping equipment at Jifjafa. They captured an Austrian engineer officer and 33 men, four wounded, and killed six Ottoman soldiers. On 9 June 1916, units from the No. 2 Section of the Canal Defences formed the Mukhsheib column, consisting of part of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, 900 camels, non-fighting units and camel transport escorted by one squadron of 9th Light Horse Regiment and 10 Bikaner Camel Corps. The engineers drained pools and cisterns of five million gallons of water in the Wadi Mukhsheib, sealed the cisterns to prevent refilling during next season’s rains and returned on 14 June. At the same time, a detachment of Middlesex Yeomanry advanced to Moiya Harab. With the central Sinai route denied them, Ottoman forces could only advance towards the Suez Canal along the northern coast.

Occupation of Romani

Kress von Kressenstein launched a surprise attack on Easter Sunday, Saint George’s Day, 23 April 1916, east of the Canal and north of El Ferdan Station. The yeomanry 5th Mounted Brigade guarded the water pipeline and railway built in the desert towards Romani. While the three regiments were widely dispersed, squadrons were surprised and overwhelmed at Katia and Oghratina, east of Romani, suffering the loss of about two squadrons.

Fighting for the oases area during a raid on Katia and Oghratina demonstrated its importance to both sides. From a base in the oases, many Ottoman troops could threaten the Suez Canal and control the Sinai Peninsula with the threat of a flank attack. The Australian 2nd Light Horse Brigade and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades of Major General Harry Chauvel’s Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division (Anzac Mounted Division) were ordered to occupy the Romani area the day after the fighting at Katia and Oghratina. The Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade arrived at Romani on May 28, 1916. They aggressively patrolled and reconnoited the area for 23 miles (37 km) from Kantara.

Until the railway and water pipeline to Pelusium Station and Romani were built, all water, food (mainly bully beef and biscuits, as packing and transport methods did not allow fresh meat and vegetables), shelters, other equipment and ammunition had to be carried to this position by the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps. With flies attracted to horse litter, etc., providing safe sanitation was a constant battle. Incinerators were constructed to burn refuse by stacking used bully beef tins filled with sand. During this period, men had to patrol constantly despite poor diet, severe weather conditions, little shelter from the sun and very few rest periods.

April 1916 – Everything is being hurried up. The big English flying school near our camp has been ordered to turn out as many pilots as quickly as possible, and there is an average of eighteen planes in the air all day long, just over our heads. The din is indescribable, but the horses never look up or take the slightest notice of the planes. The life of a pilot, computed in flying hours, is pitifully short; many of them are killed while learning. My wife is working as voluntary aid at a hospital in Ismailia, and she and her associates are constantly making shrouds for these boys that have perhaps made one little mistake in their first solo flight and have paid for it with their lives. The army will do anything in reason for these youngsters. We are ordered to let them have riding–horses, and we occasionally turn out quite a creditable hunt with Saluki hounds after jackals.

— A. B. Paterson, Remounts Officer

In May 1916, Ottoman aircraft flew over the Suez Canal, dropping bombs on Port Said, which caused 23 casualties. On 18 May, the Ottoman occupied the town, and the aerodrome at El Arish was bombed by Colonel W.G.H. Salmond, commander of the 5th Wing, in reprisal for the first Ottoman raids. On 22 May, the Royal Flying Corps bombed all camps on a 45-mile (72 km) front parallel to the Canal. By the middle of May, the railway had been completed to Romani, making it possible to bring up enough stores and equipment to deploy the 52nd (Lowland) Division there. As soon as they arrived, they began to dig trenches in the sand, creating a defensive line with redoubts from Mahemdia near the Mediterranean coast, south to Katib Gannit, a high point in front of Romani.

Ottoman Army units retaliated to the increased British Empire presence at the beginning of June, with the first of many air raids on Romani, killing eight troopers from the 1st Light Horse Brigade and wounding 22. About 100 horses were also lost. The forward Ottoman air base was at Bir el Mazar, 42 miles (68 km) east of Romani.

Sinai reconnaissances May and June 1916

Early reconnaissances by the ANZAC Mounted Division covered considerable distances from Romani as far as Oghratina to Bir el Abd and Bir Bayud. The longest raid was made on 31 May 1916 by the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade to Salmana, covering 100 kilometres (62 mi) in 36 hours.

After the middle of May, particularly from mid-June to the end of July, the heat in the Sinai desert ranged from extreme to fierce. The ANZAC troops and their commanders, unused to the conditions, suffered considerably from heatstroke and thirst during these early patrols. One such patrol, returning during the hottest part of the day after a sleepless night far from base and very little water, suffered casualties of 160 men who collapsed from heat exhaustion. Even worse for the British were the Khamsin dust storms, which blow once every 50 days for a few hours or several days, turning the atmosphere into a haze of floating sand particles flung about by a hot southerly wind.

An important innovation in the getting of water, which enabled the mounted units to operate more effectively over vast areas of rocky desert areas and dunes on surveillance, was the Spear Point, developed by Australian Engineers designed to be attached to a pump:

A 2 ½ inch pipe was pointed, perforated and covered with a sheet of fine perforated brass. This was driven down into the water area using a small pulley bar and a monkey or by a sledgehammer, and additional lengths of pipe were added if necessary. The ordinary General Service “Lift and Force Pump” was then attached. This arrangement proved so efficient that “Spear Points” were issued to every Squadron in the Division, and the RE Troops carried several of them. Our men were thus enabled to get water at any of the hods in the desert in a concise space.

Once the salty water was found, a medical officer assessed it as either drinking water, horse water or not fit for horses, and signs were erected.

In June, the 1st Light Horse Brigade reconnaissances to Bir Bayud, Sagia and Oghratina, to Bir el Abd, Hod el Ge’eila, Hod um el Dhauanin and Hod el Mushalfat. Another routine surveillance by the 2nd Light Horse Brigade occurred on 9 July in El Salvadora. Ten days later, El Salmana was occupied by Ottoman Army units as they concentrated on the Battle of Romani.

In the middle of June, the No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, began active service with “B” Flight at Suez doing reconnaissance work, and on 9 July “, A” Flight was stationed at Sherika in Upper Egypt with “C” Flight based at Kantara.

Battle of Romani

The battle of Romani took place near the Egyptian town of that name, 23 miles (37 km) east of the Suez Canal, from midnight on 3/4 August until the invading force retired during the late morning and afternoon of 5 August. The Central Powers force of Austrians, Germans and Ottomans, led by Kress von Kressenstein, sought to stop the British Empire from reclaiming the Egyptian territory of the Sinai Peninsula and cut the Suez Canal by bringing it within artillery range. It numbered 12,000, mainly from the 3rd Infantry Division, with Bedouin irregulars, German machine-gunners and Austrian artillery from Pasha 1. Romani was defended by the 52nd (Lowland) Division and the 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades. The 5th Mounted, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades, and the 5th Light Horse Regiment defended the Canal.

Sustained fighting began in the early hours, and by about 11:00 on 4 August, the Austrian, German and Ottoman forces had pushed the two Australian brigades back to a point where the 52nd (Lowland) Division in their trenches was able to attack the attackers’ right flank. The New Zealand Mounted Rifle and 5th Mounted Brigades arrived in time to extend the Australian Light Horse’s line. The combined Allied fire from the Infantry and mounted troops stopped the Ottoman advance, deep sand, the mid-summer mid-day heat and thirst. In mid-summer desert conditions, the British Infantry was unable to move effectively to pursue the retreating columns the next day and alone, the Anzac Mounted Division was unable to attack and capture Von Kressenstein’s large force, which made an orderly retreat to Katia and eventually back to their base at Bir el Abd.

Bir el Abd was abandoned on 12 August 1916 after fierce fighting during an attack by the Anzac Mounted Division on 9 August at the extremity of British Empire lines of communication. This was the first substantial Allied victory against the Ottoman Empire in World War I, ending the Defence of the Suez Canal campaign. Land forces never again threatened the Canal during the remainder of the war. The Allies then went on the offensive for seven months, pushing the Ottoman Army back across the Sinai Peninsula, fighting the Battles of Magdhaba and Rafa before being stopped on Ottoman soil in southern Palestine at the First Battle of Gaza in March 1917.

Arab Revolt

In early June 1916, the Sharifian Army of Sherif Hussein, Amir of Mecca, launched attacks on the Ottoman garrisons in Mecca and Jeddah in the southwestern Arabian Peninsula. Jeddah fell quickly, allowing the Royal Navy to use the port. Fighting in Mecca lasted three weeks. A sizeable Ottoman garrison held out at Taif until late September, when they capitulated, while Sherif Hussein’s third son, Feisal, attacked the Ottoman garrison at Medina. The British were keen to extend the Arab Revolt by destabilising sections of the Ottoman Empire through which the Hejaz Railway ran north-south, from Istanbul to Damascus and on to Amman, Maan, Medina and Mecca. The railway, built with German assistance to carry pilgrims, was necessary for Ottoman communications and contained solidly built stone station buildings that could form defensive positions. With the balance of power in northern Sinai moving in favour of the British, the Sherif was encouraged to seek support for his Revolt from as far north as Baalbek, north of Damascus. In London, the War Office, hoping to foment unrest throughout the Ottoman Arab territories, encouraged Murray’s plan to advance to El Arish.

Sinai campaign of manoeuvre warfare

After the Battle of Romani on 12 August 1916, the Ottoman Army had been pushed back to its forward position at Bir el Abd, the last oasis in the series stretching from the Romani area. The Ottomans’ main forward base was pushed back to El Arish, with a fortified advanced post at Bir el Mazar, where a small group of wells reliably provided water. El Arish was the target of an air raid on 18 June 1916 by 11 aircraft of the 5th Wing under Colonel W. G. H. Salmond. The planes flew out to Sea until east of El Arish, then turned inland to approach from the southeast. Two Ottoman aircraft were on the ground, and two of the ten aircraft hangars were set on fire; bombs hit four others and troops were also attacked. Three British aircraft were forced to land, one in the Sea.

The Egyptian Expeditionary Force required vast ammunition, supplies, and a reliable water source to advance to El Arish. To provide this, the British Royal Engineers built a railway and pipeline across the Sinai Peninsula to El Arish under the leadership of Brigadier-General Everard Blair. From the middle of August to the Battle for Magdhaba on 23 December 1916, British forces waited for this necessary infrastructure to be implemented. These four months have often been described as a rest period for the Anzac Mounted Division, as there were no significant battles. However, the mounted troops were busy providing screens for the construction, patrolling newly occupied areas and carrying out reconnaissances to augment aerial photographs to improve maps of the newly settled areas.

Suez Canal to El Arish

During one of the patrols, on 19 August, a group of 68 Ottoman soldiers was found half dead from thirst by the 5th Light Horse Regiment (2nd Light Horse Brigade), who, rather than attacking them, gave them water and their rides. The commanding officer and his men led the Ottoman Army soldiers on their horses for 5 miles (8.0 km) through deep sand until met by transport. “This was a very queer sight and worthy of a moving picture [of these] poor sacrifices of the Huns.”

British Infantry was brought forward to fortify and provide garrisons along the length of the railway. They formed a firm base for mobile operations and Defence in depth for the enormous administrative organisation advancing with the railway, supporting the Anzac Mounted Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Division. The construction of wire netting roads used by the Egyptian Labour Corps, light vehicles, cars, and ambulances eased the infantry movement across Sinai. This reasonably stable surface, which did not sink, was constructed from two or four rolls of rabbit wire, one-inch mesh wire rolled out side by side, wired together with the edges fixed into the sand with long steel or wooden pegs to produce a soundtrack.

Although the front had moved eastwards across the Sinai, it was still necessary to maintain defence units on the Canal. While serving as part of Canal Defence at Gebel Heliata, Serapeum, the 12th Light Horse Regiment commemorated 28 August: “Today being the Anniversary of the Regiment landing on Gallipoli, a little latitude was given to all hands, and an enjoyable evening was spent in the men’s canteen.” By September 1916, the German and Ottoman Empires had renegotiated their agreements to recognise the increasing Ottoman forces deployed in Europe. German and Austrian aid and equipment were increased to strengthen the Ottoman Army in Palestine.

German aircrews of the Luftstreitkräfte bombed Port Said on 1 September 1916, and Australian and British airmen answered with a bombing raid on Bir el Mazar three days later, when twelve bombs silenced the anti-aircraft guns and blew several tents to pieces. Bir el Mazar was again bombed on 7 September. As part of the advance across the Sinai, the Australian Flying Squadron’s “B” Flight moved their hangars from Suez forward to Mahemdia (4 miles from Romani) on 18 September; “C” Flight moved to Kantara on 27 September 1916.

Medical support

Advances in military medical techniques included the surgical cleaning (or debridement) of wounds, with delayed primary surgical closure, the Thomas Splint, which stabilised compound leg fractures, the use of intravenous saline, which had begun in 1916 and blood transfusions to prevent or even reverse the effects of shock. Casualties were transported from the regimental aid post close to the firing line to an advanced dressing station in the rear by the stretcher-bearers of the field ambulances attached to the light horse and mounted brigades. Evacuations back to the railway line, which stretched across the Sinai, were undertaken in horse-drawn ambulances, in sand sledges or cacolets on camels, described as “a form of travel exquisite in its agony for wounded men because of the nature of the animal’s movement”.

Condition of the horses

There was a progressive improvement in horsemanship during the summer and autumn of 1916, indicated by the small number of animals evacuated from the Anzac Mounted Division after the strenuous marching and fighting from August after the Battle of Romani, during the capture of El Arish and the Battle of Magdaba. This improvement was augmented by regular inspections by veterinary administrative officers when regimental commanders followed the advice offered. During the year, the average loss of sick horses and mules from the Sinai front was approximately 640 weekly. They were transported in trainloads of thirty trucks, each holding eight horses. Animals which died or were destroyed while on active service were buried 2 miles (3.2 km) from the nearest camp unless this was not practicable. In this case, the carcasses were transported to suitable sites away from troops, where they were disembowelled and left to disintegrate in the desert air and high temperatures. Animals which died or were destroyed in veterinary units at Kantara, Ismalia, Bilbeis and Quesna were dealt with this way. After four days of drying in the sun, the carcasses were stuffed with straw and burnt after the skins were salvaged and sold to local contractors.

Creation of Eastern Frontier Force

In September 1916, General Murray moved his headquarters from Ismailia on the Suez Canal back to Cairo to deal more efficiently with the threat from the Senussi in the Western Desert. General Lawrence was transferred to France, serving as Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Haig in 1918. Field Marshal William Robertson, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, set out his global military policy in a letter to Murray of 16 October 1916, stating, “I am not intent on winning in any particular quarter of the globe. My sole objective is to win the war; we shall not do that in the Hedjaz or Sudan. Our military policy is clear and simple … [It] is offensive on the Western Front and therefore defensive everywhere else”.

In this climate of defensive military policy, Major-General Sir Charles Dobell, who had acquired a reputation for sound work in minor operations, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, given the title of GOC Eastern Frontier Force and put in charge of all the troops on the Canal and in the desert. His headquarters was established at Ismailia, and he began to organise his command into two parts: the Canal Defences and Desert Column. In October, Eastern Force began operations into the Sinai desert and onto the border of Palestine. Initial efforts were limited to building a railway and a waterline across the Sinai. The Egyptian Labour Corps constructed the railway at about 15 miles (24 km) a month, and the British front moved eastward at the same speed. By 19 October, the Anzac Mounted Division Headquarters was at Bir el Abd, where the 52nd (Lowland) Division joined them on 24 October.

Raid on Bir el Mazar

A reconnaissance in force to Bir el Mazar was carried out by the 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades, the 1st Battalion of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB), the New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron and the ICCB’s Hong Kong and Singapore Battery, on 16–17 September 1916. At the limit of their line of communication, the light horse, Infantry, machine guns, and artillery could not capture the 2,000-strong, well-entrenched garrison, which made a determined stand. After demonstrating the strength of the advancing Army, they successfully withdrew back to the Anzac Mounted Division’s Headquarters at Bir Sulmana, 20 miles (32 km) to the west. The Ottoman force abandoned Bir el Mazar shortly after.

The 2nd Light Horse Brigade report described their 5th Light Horse Regiment being fired on by anti-aircraft guns during the operations and reported one man killed and nine wounded. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade recorded that the troops of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade and the artillery battery could not move quickly enough to take part in the attack, and their Brigade lost three killed, three wounded, and two injured. Airmen of No. 1 and No. 14 Squadrons confirmed anti-aircraft guns fired on the light horse, describing the ground engagement as so brutal the Ottoman Army soldiers resorted to this extreme measure, turning their anti-aircraft firearms away from the attacking planes. The Ottoman soldiers withdrew to the Wadi El Arish, with garrisons at Lahfan and Magdhaba.

Raid on Maghara Hills

As the Allies advanced, an Ottoman-occupied position on the right flank at Bir El Maghara, 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Romani, threatened their advance. Major-General A.G. Dallas was put in command of a column of 800 Australian Light Horse, 400 City of London Yeomanry, 600 Mounted Camelry and 4,500 camels from the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps, with another 200 camels for the Army Medical Corps. The column formed at Bayoud and moved off on 13 October on a two-night march via Zagadan and Rakwa to the Maghara Hills.

On arrival, A and C Squadrons of the 12th Light Horse Regiment deployed in the centre, with the 11th Light Horse Regiment on the right and the Yeomanry on the left flanks, dismounted at the foot of the hills. Handing over their lead horses in excellent cover, these dismounted men scaled the heights and surprised the defenders but failed to capture the central defensive position. The 11th Light Horse Regiment captured seven Ottoman prisoners and three Bedouins, retiring the way they came to the base on 17 October and back to railhead Ferdan on the Suez Canal on 21 October 1916.

Aerial bombing of Beersheba

Subjected to further bombing air raids, by 2 October, aerial reconnaissance photographs revealed the German aircraft hangars formerly at El Arish had disappeared. By 25 October, no anti-aircraft fire was reported over El Arish, and reductions in the Ottoman–German force were apparent. By this time, the railway construction was well past Salmana, where a British forward aerodrome was under construction and No. 1 Squadron were involved in photographing the area around El Arish and Magdhaba, and No. 14 Squadron was reconnoitring Rafah.

On 11 November, a Martinsyde and nine B.E.2c’s, loaded with bombs and petrol, left the Kantara and Mahemdia aerodromes at dawn and assembled at Mustabig, just west of Bir el Mazar. There was a raiding force of five B.E.2c’s, and the Martinsyde formed the most significant force yet organised by Australians or any other air squadron in the East, filled with petrol and bombs and set off in formation towards Beersheba. Over Beersheba, the anti-aircraft guns engaged them with high explosives and shrapnel; the raiders flew through a flurry of white, black and green bursts. The Martinsyde dropped a 100 lb (45 kg) bomb fair in the centre of the aerodrome; two 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs hit tents; others made direct hits on the railway to Beersheba and the station. A Fokker and an Aviatik took to the air but were driven off. After photographing Beersheba and the damage caused by the bombs, the airmen returned, reconnoitring Khan Yunis and Rafah on the way. All machines arrived safely after spending seven hours in flight. Two days later, a German aeroplane retaliated by bombing Cairo.

Railway building: Sinai

On 17 November, the EEF railhead reached 8 miles (13 km) east of Salmana and 54 miles (87 km) from Kantara. The water pipeline had reached Romani with its complex associated pumping stations built by Army Engineers and the Egyptian Labour Corps. Bir el Mazar, formerly the forward base of the Ottoman Army, was taken over by the Anzac Mounted Division on 25 November 1916, the day before railhead. By 1 December, the end of the most recently laid railway line was east of Mazar, 64 miles (103 km) from Kantara. The Ottomans constructed a branch railway line running south from Ramleh, on the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, to Beersheba by relaying rails taken from the Jaffa–Ramleh line. German engineers directed the construction of stone ashlar bridges and culverts when the line was extended from Beersheba. It had almost reached the Wadi el Arish in December 1916 when Magdhaba was captured.

Battle of Magdhaba, December 1916

On 21 December, after a night march of 30 miles (48 km), part of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade and the Anzac Mounted Division commanded by Chauvel entered El Arish, which had been abandoned by the Ottoman forces, who retreated to Magdhaba.

The Turkish outpost of Magdhaba was some 18 miles (29 km) southeast of the Sinai desert from El Arish on the Mediterranean coast. It was the last obstacle to the Allied advance into Palestine.

The Desert Column under Chetwode also arrived that day. With Chetwode’s agreement, Chauvel set out to attack the Turkish forces at Magdhaba with the Anzac Mounted Division. Leaving at about midnight on 22 December, the Anzac Mounted Division was in a position by 0350 on 23 December to see Ottoman campfires still some miles away at Magdhaba.

With the 1st Light Horse Brigade in reserve, Chauvel sent the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade to move on Magdhaba by the north and northeast to cut off retreat. At the same time, the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade followed the telegraph line straight on Magdhaba. The 1st Light Horse Brigade reinforced the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade in an attack on the redoubts, but fierce shrapnel fire forced them to advance up the wadi bed. Aerial reconnaissance to scout the Ottoman positions greatly assisted the attack, although the six redoubts were well camouflaged. By midday, all three brigades and a section of the Camel Brigade, with Vickers and Lewis Gun sections and HAC artillery, were engaged in fierce fighting.

After tough fighting on the morning of 23 December, at about 13:00, Chauvel heard that the Turks still controlled most of the water in the area. It is claimed that he decided to call off the attack. But at about the same time, after a telephone conversation between Chauvel and Chetwode, all British units attacked, and there was no doubt that the Turks were losing. Both the 1st Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade made progress, capturing about 100 prisoners, and by 15:30, the Turks were beginning to surrender. By 16:30, the whole garrison had surrendered, having suffered heavy casualties, and the town was captured. The victory had cost the EEF 22 dead and 121 wounded.

Battle of Rafa, January 1917

On the evening of 8 January 1917, mounted units of Desert Column, including the Anzac Mounted Division, the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, the 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigade, No. 7 Light Car Patrol and artillery, rode out of El Arish to attack the next day 9 January, a 2,000 to 3,000-strong Ottoman Army garrison at El Magruntein also known as Rafa or Rafah.

Also, on 9 January, four British aircraft bombed the German aerodrome at Beersheba during the afternoon and in the evening, on the way back, saw a considerable Ottoman force near Weli Sheikh Nuran.

The British had reclaimed the northern section of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula virtually to the frontier with the Ottoman Empire. Still, the new British government of David Lloyd George wanted more. The British Army in Egypt was ordered to go on the offensive against the Ottoman Army partly to support the Arab revolt, which had started early in 1916, and to build on the momentum created by the victories won at Romani in August and Magdhaba in December 1916.

This next strategic objective was on the border of the British Protectorate of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, some 30 miles (48 km) distant, too far for the Infantry. So, the newly formed Desert Column commanded by Chetwode was to attack the Ottoman position along the coast.

The Allied troops captured the town and the fortified position by nightfall, with the loss of 71 killed and 415 wounded. The Ottoman garrison suffered heavily, with 200 killed and another 1,600 taken prisoner.

End of Sinai campaign

The first signs of a significant reorganisation of the Ottoman Army’s defences were observed after the capture of El Arish and the Battle of Magdhaba on 28 December 1916, when reconnaissance planes found Ottoman forces moving their headquarters back. Days before the victory at Rafa, on 7 January, air reconnaissance reported Ottoman forces still at El Auja and El Kossaima, with the garrison at Hafir El Auja slightly increasing. But between 14 and 19 January, Beersheba was bombed several times by the No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps in the day and night raids; during one of these raids, it dropped twelve 20–-lb. Bombs directly on the most significant German hangar. After these raids, the German airmen evacuated Beersheba and moved their aerodrome to Ramleh. On 19 January, air reconnaissance reported the Ottoman Army had evacuated El Kossaima and were in decreased strength at the significant desert base at El Auja.

One of many German/Ottoman airmen retaliatory air raids occurred over El Arish on the same day, 19 January, when the horse lines were targeted. Horse lines were easy and obvious targets from the air; they suffered heavily from air raids throughout the war.

Also on 19 January, the first air reconnaissance of the Ottoman army rear over the towns of Beit Jibrin, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Jericho was carried out by Roberts and Ross Smith, escorted by Murray Jones and Ellis in Martinsyde’s. Junction Station was also reconnoitred on 27 January.

By January, both sides were carrying out heavy air attacks; the German and Ottoman pilots were dropping bombs on the store’s depot at the main base at El Arish, and Nos. 1 and 14 Squadrons regularly retaliated Beersheba, Weli Sheikh Nuran, and Ramleh. The Germans were also bombing the Egyptian Labour Corps and delaying building the railway near El Burj, halfway between El Arish and Rafa, with the wire road nearly at Sheikh Zowaiid. Consequently, on 3 February, Major General Chauvel was forced to order the cessation of Allied bombing in the hope that retaliations would also cease so that the work on the rail line and pipeline could continue. The pipeline reached El Arish on 5 February.

In February 1917, the Ottoman Army was also building a light railway line from Tel el Sheria to Shellal, near Weli Sheikh Nuran, Sheria becoming the main Ottoman base midway along the Gaza–Beersheba defensive line.

The two final actions of the Sinai campaign took place in February 1917 when General Murray ordered attacks on the Ottoman garrisons at Nekhl and Bir el Hassana. The 11th Light Horse Regiment conducted the raid on Nekhl on 17 February. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion (British) of the Imperial Camel Corps and the Hong Kong and Singapore (Mountain) Battery conducted the raid on Bir el Hassana, which surrendered with minimal resistance on 18 February.

Palestine campaign begins

The Palestine campaign began early in 1917 with active operations resulting in the capture of Ottoman Empire territory stretching 370 miles (600 km) to the north, being fought continuously from the end of October to the end of December 1917. Operations in the Jordan Valley and into the Transjordan, fought between February and May 1918, were followed by the British occupation of the Jordan Valley while stalemated trench warfare continued across the Judan Hills to the Mediterranean Sea. The final Palestine offensive began mid-September, and the Armistice with the Ottoman Empire was signed on 30 October 1918.

With the victory at Rafa, Murray had accomplished all his and the War Office’s objectives; he had secured the Suez Canal and Egypt from any possibility of a severe land attack, and his forces controlled the Sinai Peninsula with a series of strongly fortified positions in-depth, along a substantial line of communication-based around the railway and pipeline, from Kantara on the Suez Canal to Rafa.

However, within two days of the victory at Rafa on 11 January 1917, General Murray was informed by the War Office that, rather than building on the momentum created over the last two and a half weeks by the victories at Magdhaba and Rafa by encouraging him to further advances with promises of more troops, he was required to send the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division on 17 January, to reinforce the Western Front. In this decisive theatre, the strategic priority was planning for a spring offensive.

But just a week after the 42nd Division departed, an Anglo-French conference at Calais on 26 February 1917 encouraged all fronts in a series of offensives to begin more or less simultaneously with the beginning of the spring offensive on the Western Front. And so the British War Cabinet and the War Office agreed to Murray’s proposal to attack Gaza without replacing the departed infantry division or offering any other reinforcements. The attack could not take place until 26 March.

While these political machinations ran their course, the Anzac Mounted Division returned to El Arish, near the Mediterranean Sea, with easy access to fresh water and supplies. During this period of much-needed rest and recuperation after the demanding desert campaign of the preceding ten months, sea bathing, football and boxing, and interest in advance of the railway and pipeline were the main occupations of the troops from early January to the last weeks of February 1917.

As the British war machine pushed on across the Sinai Peninsula, the infrastructure and supporting British garrisons firmly held all the territory they occupied. By the end of February 1917, 388 miles of the railway (at a rate of 1 kilometre a day), 203 miles of metalled road, 86 miles of wire and brushwood roads and 300 miles of water pipeline had been constructed. The pipeline required three huge pumping plants working 24 hours a day at Kantara, near a reservoir of 6,000,000 gallons. For local use, the pumps forced the water through a 5-inch pipe to Dueidar, a 6-inch pipe to Pelusium, Romani and Mahemdia, and a 12-inch pipe. The main supply was pushed across the desert from the pumping station to the pumping station. At Romani, a concrete reservoir contained an additional 6,000,000 gallons; at Bir el Abd, 5,000,000; at Mazar, 500,000; and 500,000 at El Arish. And with the railhead at Rafa, Gaza was twenty miles away, five to six hours for Infantry and mounted units at a walk and 2 hours distant for horses at a trot.

Sykes–Picot and Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

When the possibility of a British invasion of Palestine was first raised, it became necessary to reach an understanding with France, which also had an interest in Palestine and Syria. As early as 16 May 1916, Sir Mark Sykes, who had studied the political problems of Mesopotamia and Syria, had agreed with M. Picot, formerly a French Consul at Beirut, that Britain would occupy Palestine and France would occupy Syria. They also decided an all-arms French contingent would be attached to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Italy’s initial efforts to participate on the ground in Palestine were rebuffed. Still, in a secret accord at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, her allies promised to include her in negotiations concerning the government of Palestine after the war. In the fall of 1918, Allenby was willing to accept more Italian help, but although the Italian foreign minister, Sidney Sonnino, made promises, nothing came of them. On 9 April 1917, Italy’s ambassador in London, Guglielmo Imperiali, finally approved sending no more than “some three hundred men … for representative purposes only” to Palestine. In the end, 500 infantry were sent. This included some Bersaglieri, whose famous capercaillie feathers are visible in photographs from the fall of Jerusalem. Their “mainly political” role was to assert “hereditary ecclesiastical prerogatives in connection with the Christian churches at Jerusalem and Bethlehem”.

Eastern Force reorganisation

With the departure of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division for the Western Front, its place at El Arish was taken by the 53rd (Welsh) Division, which transferred from garrison duties in Upper Egypt following the defeat of the Senussi. The 54th (East Anglian) Division, which had been in the Southern Section of the Suez Canal Defences, also moved eastwards to El Arish. At the same time, the new 74th (Yeomanry) Division was being formed from dismounted yeomanry brigades in Egypt.

The arrival of the 6th and 22nd Mounted Brigades from the Salonika front prompted a reorganisation of the Desert Column; instead of grouping the two new brigades with the 4th Light Horse Brigade (in the process of formation) and the 5th Mounted Brigade to form the new Imperial Mounted division (established 12 February 1917 at Ferry Post on the Suez Canal under the command of British Army Major General H.W. Hodgson) the Anzac Mounted Division’s 3rd Light Horse Brigade was transferred. The newly arrived 22nd Mounted Brigade was attached to the Anzac Mounted Division.

Desert Column commanded by Chetwode consisting of the 53rd (Welsh) Division commanded by Major General Dallas, Anzac Mounted Division commanded by Chauvel now made up of 1st and 2nd Light Horse, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, and 22nd Mounted Yeomanry Brigades, and the Imperial Mounted Division commanded by Hodgson now made up of the 3rd, and 4th Light Horse with the 5th and 6th Mounted Brigades and two Light Car Patrols. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade resented the change, as they lost the connection with their service on Gallipoli via the old name of Anzac. Thus, by March 1917, General Charles Dobell, commander of Eastern Force, had the 52nd (Lowland) and 54th (East Anglian) Divisions and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade directly in his command.

The Imperial Mounted Division moved up from Ferry Post to join Desert Column at el Burj just past El Arish on the road to Gaza between 28 February and 9 March; the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was coming under their orders on 2 March and the Imperial Mounted Division coming under orders of Desert Column on 10 March 1917. The 4th Light Horse Brigade, in the process of formation at Ferry Post, planned to leave on 18 March.

Transport was also reorganised; the horse-drawn supply columns were combined with the camel trains so that Eastern Force could operate for about twenty-four hours beyond railhead. This was a vast undertaking; one Brigade (and there were six) of Light Horse at war establishment consisted of approximately 2,000 soldiers and a division of Infantry, all requiring sustenance.

Ottoman Army units

During February, British intelligence reported the arrival in the region of two divisions of the Ottoman Army: the 3rd Cavalry Division (from the Caucasus) and the 16th Infantry Division (from Thrace). They joined three infantry divisions in the area; along the 30 kilometres (19 mi) long Gaza–Beersheba line, the Fourth Army had about eighteen thousand soldiers. Kress von Kressenstein allocated some troops to both Gaza and Beersheba but held the majority in reserve at Tell esh Sheria and Jemmameh. By mid-March, the Ottoman Army’s 53rd Infantry Division was on its way south from Jaffa to augment these troops. The garrison at Gaza, consisting of seven battalions, could muster 3,500 rifles, machine gun companies, and five batteries of 20 guns, supported by a squadron of newly arrived German Halberstadt fighter aircraft that outclassed Allied aircraft and gave the Ottoman Army local air mastery.

It was believed the Ottoman Army had 7,000 rifles supported by heavy field machine guns with reserves close by at Gaza and Tel el Sheria.

Between the victory at Rafa and the end of February, 70 deserters entered the British lines. It was believed that this represented a small proportion as most Arabs and Syrians disappeared into Palestine and the Transjordan towns and villages.

First Battle of Gaza, 26 March

The Ottoman Army gave up a small area of the southern Ottoman Empire to retire to Gaza on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, holding large garrisons spread across the region to Beersheba, to the northeast, east, and southeast at Hareira, Tel el Sheria, Jemmameh, Tel el Negile, Huj and Beersheba.

While Desert Column’s Anzac and partly formed Imperial Mounted Divisions stopped Ottoman reinforcements from pushing through to join the Ottoman garrison at Gaza, on 26 March, the 53rd (Welsh) Division, supported by a brigade from the 54th (East Anglian) Division attacked the strong entrenchments to the south of the town. After being reinforced by the Anzac Mounted Division in the afternoon, the arms attack quickly began to succeed. With most objectives captured, night stopped the attack, and the withdrawal was ordered before the commanders were fully aware of the gains captured.

The government in London believed reports by Dobell and Murray indicating a substantial victory had been won and ordered Murray to move on and capture Jerusalem. The British were in no position to attack Jerusalem as they had yet to break through the Ottoman defences at Gaza.

Hiatus

We have moved camp from a hill above the village of Deir Beulah to a lonely spot in the grove by the shores of a sweet water lake and close to the sea. The trees and tangles of most luxuriant creepers and bushes also conceal some field batteries, hundreds of tons of shells, and high explosives. Behind us are our heavies and cavalry and very near in front our entrenched infantry with whom we are in touch. Absurdly near to these are the Turkish positions, trenches and redoubts. As we crossed the plain and a little ridge of hills to my new position on Palm Sunday, [1 April] Turkish HE [High Explosive] shells were falling pretty freely, but in a seemingly rather aimless way, and the same desultory fire kept up all Monday. Aircraft and anti-aircraft guns were busy nearly all the time, keeping up a constant hubbub. The next day, Tuesday, 3 April, the Turks attacked, and I was lucky enough to have a sort of front seat for the whole show, including the repulse of their infantry onslaught.

— Joseph W. McPherson, Egyptian Camel Transport Corps

Surrounded by palms and olive groves, Deir el Belah is 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Khan Yunis and 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Gaza. From Deir el-Belah, active patrolling towards Sharia and Beersheba continued. Here, the 1st Light Horse Brigade rejoined the Anzac Mounted Division; three Hotchkiss light machine guns were issued to every squadron, substantially increasing the firepower of the mounted Infantry and training in their use and gas helmets was carried out. Deir el Belah became the headquarters of the Eastern Force after the railhead reached there on 5 April, and the arrival of the 74th (Yeomanry) Division increased the force to four infantry divisions.

This misunderstanding of the actual position in southern Palestine “rests squarely on General Murray for, whether he intended it or not, the wording of the reports fully justifies the interpretation placed upon them.” General Murray had created the impression that the First Battle of Gaza had ended better than it had. The defenders had suffered more, with the Imperial General Staff William Robertson Chief in London. Continuing inconclusive fighting in France resulted in Murray being encouraged on 2 April to begin a major offensive, to aim for Jerusalem, hoping to raise morale. By 18 April, it was clear Nivelle’s offensive had not succeeded, the newly democratic Russia could no longer be relied on to attack the German or Ottoman empires, freeing them to reinforce Palestine and Mesopotamia, and the resumption of unrestricted German U-boat warfare was sinking 13 British ships a day when the average during 1916 had been only three.

Second Battle of Gaza, 17–19 April

The mounted divisions had fought the First Battle of Gaza during an “encounter battle” when speed and surprise were emphasised. Then Gaza had been an outpost garrisoned by a strong detachment on the flank of a line stretching eastwards from the Mediterranean Sea. During the three weeks between the First and Second Battles of Gaza, the town quickly developed into the most vital point in a series of firmly entrenched positions extending to Hareira 12 miles (19 km) east of Gaza and southeast towards Beersheba. The Ottoman defenders increased the width and depth of their front lines and developed mutually supporting strong redoubts on the ideal defensive ground.

The construction of these defences changed the nature of the Second Battle of Gaza, fought from 17 to 19 April 1917, to a frontal infantry attack across open ground against well-prepared entrenchments, with mounted troops supporting. The Infantry was strengthened by a detachment of eight Mark I tanks and 4,000 rounds of 4.5-inch gas shells. The tanks were deployed along the front to shelter the Infantry advancing behind them, but as they became targets, they also suffered. Two tanks succeeded in reaching their objectives. Although the gas shells were fired during the first 40 minutes of the bombardment on a woodland area, they appear ineffective.

The Ottoman fortifications’ strength and their soldiers’ determination defeated the EEF. The EEF’s strength, which before the two battles for Gaza could have supported an advance into Palestine, was now decimated. Murray, commanding the EEF, and Dobell, commanding the Eastern Force, were relieved of their commands and sent back to England.

Stalemate

From April to October 1917, the Ottoman and British forces held their lines of Defence from Gaza to Beersheba. Both sides constructed extensive entrenchments at Gaza and Beersheba, particularly strong where the trenches almost converged. In the centre of the line, the defences at Atawineh, Sausage Ridge, Hareira, and Teiaha supported each other. They overlooked a nearly flat plain devoid of cover, making a frontal attack virtually impossible. The trench lines resembled those on the Western Front, except they were not so extensive and had an open flank.

Both sides reorganised their armies in Palestine during the stalemate and appointed new commanders. The Yildirim Army Group (also known as Thunderbolt Army Group and Army Group F) was established in June and commanded by the German Empire General Erich von Falkenhayn. General Archibald Murray was sent back to England, replaced by Edmund Allenby in June to command the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Allenby created two separate headquarters; one stayed in Cairo to administer Egypt, while his battle headquarters was established near Khan Yunis. He also reorganised the force into two Infantry and one mounted corps. By 28 October 1917, the ration strength of the EEF fighting troops was 50,000. There were a further 70,000 unattested Egyptians.

Raid on Ottoman railway

The main line of communication south from Beersheba to Hafir el Aujah and Kossaima was attacked on 23 May 1917 when Royal Engineers of the Anzac and Imperial Mounted Divisions demolished substantial sections of the railway line. The two mounted divisions covered this raid, including a demonstration towards Beersheba.

Battle of Buqqar Ridge

The occupation of Karm by the Allies on 22 October 1917 created a significant point for supply and water for the troops in the immediate area. For the Ottoman forces, establishing a railway station at Karm placed the defensive positions known as the Hareira Redoubt and Rushdie System. This formed a mighty bulwark against any Allied action under threat.

General Erich von Falkenhayn, the Commander of the Yildirim Group, proposed a two-phase attack to forestall this threat. The plan called for a reconnaissance in force from Beersheba on 27 October, followed by an all-out attack launched by the 8th Army from Hareira. Ironically, this second phase was scheduled for the morning of 31 October 1917, when the Battle of Beersheba began.

Southern Palestine Offensive

Battle of Beersheba, 31 October

The Southern Palestine Offensive began with the attack on the headquarters of the Ottoman III Corps at Beersheba. The town was defended by 4,400 rifles, 60 machine guns, and 28 field guns, including cavalry lancer and infantry regiments. They were deployed in well-constructed trenches protected by some wire, strengthened by fortified defences to the northwest, west, and southwest of Beersheba. This semicircle of defences included well-sited redoubts on a series of heights up to 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town. These included Tel el Saba, east of Beersheba, defended by a battalion of the Ottoman 48th Regiment and a machine gun company. Forty-seven thousand five hundred rifles attacked them in the XX Corps’ 53rd (Welsh) Division, the 60th (2/2nd London) Division and the 74th (Yeomanry) Division, with the 10th (Irish) Division and the 1/2nd County of London Yeomanry attached, and about 15,000 troopers in the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions (Desert Mounted Corps).

After extensive and complex arrangements to support the infantry advance, the 60th (2/2nd London) and the 74th (Yeomanry) Divisions were to attack Beersheba from the west. In contrast, with the Australian Mounted Division in reserve, the Anzac Mounted Division attacked the town from the east after riding between 25 and 35 miles (40 to 56 km) to circle Beersheba. The infantry attacks began with a bombardment and the capture of Hill 1070, which enabled the guns to move forward to target the trenches defending Beersheba. Intense hand-to-hand fighting continued until 13:30 when the Ottoman trench line on the western side of Beersheba was captured. Meanwhile, the Anzac Mounted Division advanced, circling Beersheba, to cut the road north to Hebron and Jerusalem to prevent reinforcement and retreat from Beersheba, and launched their attack on Tel el Saba. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade initially attacked the firmly entrenched defenders on Tel el Saba, but by 10:00, they had been reinforced by the 1st Light Horse Brigade. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade (Australian Mounted Division) was later ordered to reinforce the Anzac Mounted Division’s attack on this Ottoman position. Still, before they could get into position, a general attack began at 14:05, capturing Tel el Saba at 15:00.

Orders were issued for a general attack on Beersheba by the dismounted 1st and 3rd Light Horse Brigades and the mounted 4th Light Horse Brigade. The leading squadrons of the 4th Light Horse Regiment of Victorians and the New South Wales’ 12th Light Horse Regiment, preceded by their scouts between 70 and 80 yards (64–73 m) in front, came within range of the Ottoman riflemen in defences “directly in their track,” several horses were hit by sustained rapid fire. While the 4th Light Horse Regiment attacked these fortifications and dismounted after jumping the trenches, most of the 12th Light Horse Regiment on the left rode through a gap in the defences to gallop into Beersheba to capture the garrison.

After the capture of Beersheba

[Allenby was] to press the Turks opposed to you to the fullest extent of your resources so as to force the enemy to divert troops to Palestine and thus relieve pressure upon Maude and to take advantage of the Arab situation. In deciding on the extent to which you will be able to carry out the policy safely, you will be guided by the fact that an increase in the forces now at your disposal is improbable.

— Robertson to Allenby, received 2 November 1917

From 1 to 6/7 November, strong Ottoman rearguards at Tel el Khuweilfe in the Judean Hills, at Hareira and Sheria on the plain and Sausage Ridge and Gaza on the Mediterranean coast held the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in heavy fighting. During this time, the Ottoman Armies withdrew in good order, covered by solid rearguard garrisons, which could retire under darkness on 6/7 November. The British Yeomanry cavalry Charge at Huj was launched against an Ottoman rearguard on 8 November. Allenby ordered the Egyptian Expeditionary Force to advance and capture the retreating Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies, but the strong rearguards prevented them from doing so.

The Tel el Khuweilfe battle was an “important sideshow to the collapse of the entire Turkish front from Gaza to Beersheba,” as it diverted Ottoman reserves to the Khuweilfe area, preventing them from being used to strengthen the centre of the Ottoman line at Hareira and Sheria. It also threatened an attack on Jerusalem and placed pressure on the Ottoman command, who moved considerable forces eastwards from Sheria to reinforce the Defence of the road to Jerusalem and Tel el Khuweilfe, too far away to come to the aid of Gaza. By weakening the force defending Sheria, it became possible for two infantry divisions and Desert Mounted Corps, all that could be deployed so far from base, to attack the remaining Ottoman forces, “to defeat and pursue it, and hustle it northward to Jaffa.”

Advance to Jaffa and Judean Hills

An attempt on 12 November by four divisions of the Ottoman 8th Army to counterattack and stop the British advance in front of the vital Junction Station (Wadi Sara) on the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway was held by the Australian Mounted Division reinforced with two additional brigades.

On 13 November, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force attacked a 20,000-strong Ottoman force deployed on a hastily constructed but naturally defensive solid line. The main attack was carried out by the XXIst Corps’s 52nd (Lowland) and 75th Divisions in the centre, with the Australian Mounted Division on the right flank and the Anzac and Yeomanry Mounted Divisions on the left. The Infantry in the centre prevailed, supported by a cavalry charge by the 6th Mounted Brigade (Yeomanry Mounted Division). On 14 November, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade defeated a substantial rearguard, the 3rd Ottoman Infantry Division, at Ayun Kara. The combined effect of this series of devastating failures by the Ottoman Army was to see their 8th Army give up Jaffa and retire across the Nahr el Auja. At the same time, their 7th Army withdrew into the Judean Hills to defend Jerusalem. They had withdrawn approximately 50 miles (80 km), losing 10,000 prisoners and 100 guns and suffering heavy casualties.

Although the No. 2 Australian Stationary Hospital at Moascar was organised, equipped, and staffed for medical or surgical work, the DMS and EEF retained it as a Camp Clearing Hospital. During the first EEF offensive from October to November 1917, Australian wounded were treated in the 1,040 beds of No. 14 Australian General Hospital at the Abbassia Barracks, Cairo. In November 1917, the venereal section of No. 14 General Hospital was transferred to it.

Capture of Jerusalem

Jerusalem operations began with the Battle of Nebi Samwill, fought between 17 and 24 November, were continued by the subsidiary Battle of Jaffa between 21 and 22 December and ended with the Defence of Jerusalem from 26 to 30 December 1917. Battle lines extended north of Jaffa on the Mediterranean Sea across the Judean Hills to Bireh and east of the Mount of Olives. The XX, XXI and the Desert Mounted Corps fought these battles against the Ottoman 7th Army in the Judean Hills and their 8th Army.

The battlefield over which the Battle of Nebi Samwil was fought continued to be subject to attacks and counterattacks until early December when the British occupied Jerusalem. Fighting continued near Bireh and the main Ottoman supply line running along the Jerusalem to Nablus road north of the city.

After the Ottoman Army had evacuated Jerusalem, the city was occupied on 9 December 1917. This was a major political event for the British government of David Lloyd George, one of the few real successes the British could point to after a year of bitter disappointments on the Western Front.

On the Ottoman side, this defeat marked the exit of Djemal Pasha, who returned to Istanbul. Djemal had delegated the actual command of his Army to German officers such as von Kressenstein and von Falkenhayn more than a year earlier. Still defeated as Enver Pasha had been at the Battle of Sarikamish, he gave up even nominal command and returned to the capital. Less than a year remained before he was forced out of the government. Falkenhayn was also replaced in March 1918.

Winter 1917–18

When Allenby first assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, he quickly joined the Army in the field, leaving the political and administrative problems related to the Egyptian Mandate to a Government appointee with qualified staff. The area of formerly Ottoman territory now under occupation also required management, and with the approval of the Government, Allenby appointed a Chief Administrator for Palestine. He divided the country into four districts: Jerusalem, Jaffa, Majdal and Beersheba, each under a military governor. Under this administration, the people’s immediate needs were provided, seed grain and livestock were imported and distributed, finance on easy terms was made available through the Army bankers, a stable currency was set up, and postal services were restored.

On 15 January 1918, Allenby reported to DMI regarding attitudes to the occupation of Jerusalem. The report recounted that the Moslems were non-committal primarily, while the partisans of Sherif were genuinely pleased but worried by Jewish influence. The attitude of Bedouins from East of Jerusalem to Bir El Saba (Beersheba) varied; some were unsatisfactory, but protecting the sacred Muslim places was generally accepted as satisfactory. The Jews were overjoyed by the support of the Balfour Declaration for Zionism, and Christians were happy with the occupation.

Allenby was under pressure to set up foreign administrations in Palestine. The French representative in Palestine, Picot, was already pressuring for a share in the administration of a French Protectorate in the Holy Land by pushing to assume the rights and dignities in the church that the French representative enjoyed before the war. The Italians resented his presence and behaviour, and the church representatives became angry. Allenby was aware that angry priests occasionally came to blow in the Holy Places in Jerusalem. He insisted that while military administration was required, it must be under the British Commander in Chief alone.

Consolidation of EEF territorial gains

The weather improved, and railways and roads were being repaired and developed. A lateral line of communication north of the Jaffa to Jerusalem road required the complete reconstruction of the track from Amwas through Beit Sira by the Egyptian Labour Corps. The standard gauge line reached Ludd and was within .25 miles (400 m) of Allenby’s headquarters, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Ramleh. He wrote on 25 January: “I want to extend my right to include Jericho and the N. of the Dead Sea.” On 3 January, two Australian aircraft discovered boats carrying corn and hay produced on the east and southeast of the Dead Sea plains for the forces at Amman. The boats moving from Ghor el Hadit (behind Point Costigan) and Rujm el Bahr at the northern end of the Sea were bombed and sprayed with bullets by the Australian aircraft, which repeatedly returned until the boat service stopped.

Allenby’s next strategic moves were to extend his right to include Jericho, then to cross the Jordan River and advance to Amman and destroy 10–15 miles (16–24 km) of the Hedjaz railway to isolate Ottoman forces near Medina and encourage further Arab uprisings.

The whole British advanced base of operations had moved north from Deir el Belah to the new railhead. At Ramleh, the Director of Medical Services’ headquarters was also the headquarters of the Motor Ambulance Convoy. Thirteen casualty clearing stations and stationary hospitals had been established along the lines of communication from Jaffa and Jerusalem to Kantara. By March 1918, ambulance trains ran to Kantara from Ludd.

Westerners versus Easterners

By the end of 1917, all the campaign’s objectives to capture Jerusalem had been achieved; Ottoman-German operations against Baghdad had been frustrated, the last reserves of Ottoman soldiers were engaged, and the British nation’s morale had been boosted.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George, wished to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war in 1918. Already, the 7th (Meerut) Division from Mesopotamia was ordered to Palestine, and many were worried that if significant forces were diverted from the Western Front to Palestine, England might protect her colonies but lose the war.

The Westerners argued that the real heart of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, still lay hundreds of miles from an advance to Damascus or even Aleppo. If the Ottoman Empire saw Germany overrunning France simultaneously, it would not be enough to force the Ottoman Empire from the war. With Russia out of the war, the Dardanelles were no longer an objective for the British Empire, as access to the Russian fleet was no longer critical.

The Easterners accepted that it was essential to maintain the forces in France and Belgium on the Western Front but were already sufficient to keep the front intact. They argued that ‘surrendering the initiative everywhere and concentrating on a purely passive defence policy along the whole battle line was a counsel of despair.’ Thanks to the Armistice between Russia and Germany, Germany would have a brief window of opportunity to attack the Allied forces on the Western Front before the United States, which had already entered the war, could bring sufficient numbers to end Germany’s war. However, the Easterners asserted that during two years of fighting, the Allies had superiority in numbers and material more significant than the numbers the Germans could bring from the Russian front. They had failed to break the German lines. They argued that the Palestine theatre might be wasteful of shipping. Still, the Western Front was wasteful of lives. It would be folly to take seasoned troops from Palestine, where a decisive victory could be won, to die in the stalemate.

On 13 December 1917, the War Cabinet instructed the General Staff to consider two policies: the conquest of Palestine involving an advance of about 100 miles (160 km) or an advance to Aleppo to cut the Ottoman communications with Mesopotamia. On 14 December, Allenby reported that the rainy season would prevent further attacks for at least two months.

Qualified approval from the Supreme War Council for a decisive offensive to annihilate Ottoman armies and crush resistance was contained in Joint Note No. 12. It was claimed that the destruction of the Ottoman Empire ‘would have far-reaching results upon the general military situation.’ Early in February 1918, General Jan Christiaan Smuts (a member of the Imperial War Cabinet) was sent to confer with Allenby regarding implementing the Joint Note. The French imposed an essential qualification on the Joint Note: no British troops in France could be deployed to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Smuts informed Allenby the intention was to reinforce the Egyptian Expeditionary Force with one and possibly a second Indian cavalry division from France, three divisions from Mesopotamia and more artillery and aeroplanes. Smuts also suggested crossing the Jordan, capturing the Hejaz Railway and using it to outflank Damascus.

Judean Hills operations

Allenby’s right flank was secure but was not sufficiently broad to support the planned operations across the Jordan to the Hedjaz railway; another territory was required to give more depth. Also known as the Battle of Turmus ‘Aya, this action fought between 8 and 12 March pushed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force’s front line from the Mediterranean Sea to Abu Tellul and Mussalabeh on the edge of the Jordan Valley northwards. During this operation, a general advance on a front of 14–26 miles (23–42 km) and up to a maximum of 5–7 miles (8.0–11.3 km) in depth by both the XX and XXI Corps pushed the 7th and 8th Ottoman Armies north from the River Auja on the Mediterranean coast, from Abu Tellul and Mussallabeh on the edge of the Jordan Valley and up the Jerusalem to Nablus road capturing Ras el Ain.

The action of Berukin, 9–11 April

General Allenby intended to follow the cutting of the Hedjaz Railway at Amman with an advance to Tulkarm and Nablus. Despite the failure of the Amman attack, they proceeded with plans to capture Tulkarm.

Known by the Ottoman Army as the action of Berukin, the attack between 9 and 11 April was planned to begin with the 75th Division capturing the villages of Berukin, Sheikh Subi and Ra-fat together with the high ground at Arara. The 7th (Meerut) Division would then advance 2,000 yards (1,800 m) on a 5-mile (8.0 km) front and prepare gun positions from which to shell Jaljulia and Tabsor. The 54th and 75th Divisions would then advance to the Wadi Qarna with their left flank towards Qalqilye and Jaljulye, with the 54th (East Anglian) Division sweeping westward along the Ottoman defences as far as Tabsor. As soon as Jaljulye and Qalqilye were cleared, the Australian Mounted Division would ride hard for Et Tire and vigorously pursue the withdrawing Ottoman units as far as Tulkarm.

The 75th Division’s attack launched at 05:10 on 9 April, ran into fierce Ottoman resistance supported by three German field batteries. German battalions were active in counterattacks using mortars and machine guns.

All three infantry brigades carried out the initial assault in line against Berukin, El Kufr, Ra-fat and Three Bushes Hill, which were successfully captured. In contrast, Berukin was finally captured at 16:00. The delay in capturing Berukin slowed the attack of the other infantry brigades. It gave the German and Ottoman defenders time to strengthen their defences, and as a result, the attacks on Mogg Ridge, Sheikh Subi and Arara were postponed till the next day. During the night, there were almost constant counterattacks, but the attack continued at 06:00 on 10 April when the 2/3rd Gurkhas (232nd Brigade) reached the western edge of Mogg Ridge. Fighting here continued all day, and at Sheikh Subi, the attack broke down, while further west, the attack on Arara had 09:30 been partly successful. Almost the whole of Mogg Ridge was eventually captured. Still, it was successfully counterattacked, the German and Ottoman Infantry being caught by determined British Defence, and a heavy British artillery barrage prevented them from following up on their success. Again, during the night, determined Ottoman and German counterattacks continued and were partly successful. On 11 April, Defence was chosen to contest all attacks strenuously, and it decided that the cost of continuing would be too high. Still, a long-range artillery duel between British and Ottoman/German guns continued for the next seven days. Finally, on 21 April, Three Bushes Hill was evacuated while Berukin, El Kufr, and Ra-fat, including the Ra-fat salient, were retained and consolidated.

At the end of two days of bitter hand-to-hand fighting, the 75th Division was still to gain its objectives and was having difficulty holding on to the little it had gained because of fatigue and depleted numbers. Three days of fighting from 9 to 11 April proved that German and Ottoman machine guns could make any advance slow and expensive in the Judean Hills.

This action of Berukin occurred in a section of the line which would become part of the final offensive five months later when the infantry attack would pivot on the Ra-fat salient, which would at that time be held by the Détachment Français de Palestine et de Syrie. In this case, the losses were heavy: 1,500 British casualties, with about 200 Ottomans dead on the battlefield and 27 Ottoman and German prisoners.

Summer in the Judean hills

During the summer of 1918, the main focus of the war was naturally on the Western Front; the Chief of the General Staff (CIGS) at the War Office in London could only offer Allenby railway construction workers and a possible increase in shipping to increase Allenby’s supplies. Sir Henry Wilson planned to extend the railways after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. “I want to see Aleppo joined to Mosul joined to Baku joined to the Urals joined to the Japanese army, and from that base an advance against the Boches.”

At this time, the front line stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead Sea. From the middle of May to about the middle of October, the country through which the line passed was virtually dry, but temperatures could vary greatly. The maritime plain’s climate is almost sub-tropical, with sea breezes and an average temperature of 80 °F (27 °C). In the Judean Hills, temperatures can vary by as much as 20 °F (11 °C) during a single day, and in the Jordan Valley shade temperatures of between 100–120 °F (38–49 °C) are common, with high humidity. Dust and insect pests accompany This heat in all sections of the line, including sandflies and malarial mosquitoes, which are common along the front line.

The Palestine front was relatively quiet during the late spring and summer of 1918, except for some brief fighting in midsummer. During the hot summer months of 1918, several British, mainly small-scale raids were made to improve Allied positions on the coastal plain and in the Judean Hills. There was one minor British attack designed to strengthen the front on the coast and several British raids, including one very large-scale raid and one minor Ottoman attack.

On 8 June 1918, the 7th (Meerut) Division attacked two hills 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Sea. The two hills, helpful observation posts to the Ottoman Army units, were consolidated and remained in British control. Their objectives were quickly taken after the 03:45 assault on 9 June by the 21st (Bareilly) Brigade, but the Ottoman defenders counterattacked at 06:40 after heavily shelling the Indian Brigade; these counterattacks were repulsed. British casualties were 63 killed and 204 wounded; 110 prisoners were captured along with two heavy and five light machine guns.

On 13 July, an Ottoman attack on the Ra-fat salient held by the 3/3rd Gurkha Rifles (232nd Brigade) was preceded by one of the heaviest bombardments experienced in Palestine. The bombardment, lasting for just over an hour, began at 17:15 and resulted in the village burning, but the Gurkhas met the attackers by immediately rushing their defences. The fighting continued until after dark, during which 52 soldiers were killed.

During the night of 27 July, a successful raid was carried out by five platoons of 53rd Sikhs (Frontier Force) (28th Indian Brigade) against Ottoman trenches on “Piffer Ridge” 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the Mediterranean shore at El Haram. The Ottoman garrison was taken by surprise, and 33 were captured at the cost of four casualties.

After thorough training, on the night of 12/13, 10 August (Irish) Division carried out a raid which consisted of a series of attacks on Ottoman defences on the 5,000 yards (4,600 m) long Burj–Ghurabeh Ridge just west of the Jerusalem to Nablus road and about 2,000 yards (1,800 m) from the front line by regiments, brigades, companies and platoons of Indian troops. They were supported by 147 guns and howitzers of the 53rd Divisional Artillery (fewer than two howitzer batteries and the IX British Mountain Artillery Brigade).

One of these attacks on 12 August was on a 4,000-yard (3,700 m) long, steep-faced ridge west of the Nablus road, which included Khan Gharabe and formed a part of the XX Corps’ front where Ottoman defences were virtually continuous. The opposing line was held by 600 rifles of the Ottoman 33rd Regiment (11th Division). The British and Indian infantry force descended several hundred feet before climbing steep rocky ground. Despite the Ottoman defences being firmly held and well-wired, fierce fighting at close quarters ensued, during which the attacks from both flanks were ultimately successful. Heavy losses estimated to have been 450 inflicted on the Ottoman units and 250 prisoners captured.

A wire-cutting bombardment began at 21:55 on 12 August. Shortly after, the 54th Sikhs (Frontier Force) and two companies of 6th Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment were deployed southeast of the ridge on the right flank, while the 1/101st Grenadiers and two companies of 6th Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment at the western end, were over 2.5 miles (4.0 km) away. The two Indian regiments advanced simultaneously, capturing the flanking Ottoman entrenchments; then, the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment companies turned inwards accompanied by a barrage, which also turned inwards from either flank in front of them. Although the two left-hand companies did not reach their objectives, the attack was successful, and the forces withdrew at about 12:15 on 13 August. Captures included 239 prisoners and 14 machine guns, and Ottoman casualties were estimated at 450, while the 29th Brigade suffered 107 casualties.

At the same time as the attack was being made to the west of the Nablus Road, the 179th and 181st Brigades of the 60th (2/2nd London) Division attacked a front of 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the Nablus Road mainly without artillery support when a 9 miles (14 km) front from Keen’s Knoll to Kh. ‘Amuriye was attacked. Table Hill, Bidston Hill, Forfar Hill Fife Knoll, Kh. ‘Amuriye and the village of Turmus ‘Aya were all successfully attacked, although only eight prisoners were captured at the cost of 57 casualties.

Jordan Valley operations

Allenby wished to extend his right to include Jericho and the northern part of the Dead Sea. In mid-February, the 53rd (Welsh) and 60th (2/2nd London) Divisions, with the 1st Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades, attacked German and Ottoman defences to the east of Jerusalem held by their XX Corps’ 53rd (Welsh) Division.[300] As the infantry attack on Talat ed Dumm and Jebel Ekteif progressed, the mounted brigades moved towards the Jordan Valley from Bethlehem; the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade successfully attacked positions at el Muntar and a strong position protecting Neby Musa while the 1st Light Horse reached the Jordan Valley and entered Jericho.

Occupation of the Jordan Valley

In February, the occupation of the valley began, with the Auckland Mounted Rifles Brigade (New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade) remaining to patrol the area after the Capture of Jericho. During the two Transjordan attacks, the Jordan Valley was garrisoned by the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions, the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions, and the 20th Indian Brigade until September, when Chaytor’s Force began the Third Transjordan attack by advancing to capture Jisr ed Damieh, Es Salt and Amman.

First Transjordan advance

Before Jericho had been captured, Allenby planned to push across the Jordan River and ‘throw a big raid past Salt against the Hedjaz Railway.’ The First Attack on Amman, known to the British, was referred to by the Ottoman Army as the First Battle of the Jordan. It took place between 21 and 30 March.

Shea’s Force consisting of the 60th (2/2nd London) and the Anzac Mounted Divisions successfully forced a crossing of the Jordan River, occupied Es Salt, attacked Amman and partly destroyed sections of the Hedjaz Railway some 30–40 miles (48–64 km) east of Jericho.

The Ottoman 48th Infantry Division, the 3rd and 46th Assault Companies and the German 703rd Infantry Battalion successfully defended Amman and stopped the advance of Shea’s Force. With his lines of communication threatened by 2,000 reinforcements moving towards Es Salt from the north, the successful retirement was eventually ordered, even though the principal objective, the destruction of a large viaduct at Amman, had not succeeded.

The retirement was complete by the evening of 2 April, leaving the only territorial gains two bridgeheads at Ghoraniye and Makhadet Hajla. This was the first defeat of units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force since the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917. Along with the Second Transjordan attack on Es Salt the following month, these two attacks focused attention away from the Mediterranean coastal sector of the line where the British Empire attack in September 1918 would be comprehensively successful.

Second Transjordan advance

Following the unsuccessful first Transjordan attack on Amman by Shea’s force, Allenby ordered a reluctant Chauvel to attack Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt with force one-third more significant than that which attacked Amman. But in the five weeks between these two operations, British GHQ estimated the German and Ottoman forces in the area had doubled.

The second Transjordan attack was equally unsuccessful; it risked capturing one of Allenby’s mounted divisions but is widely accepted as fulfilling his strategic aim of focusing his opponent’s attention on the Transjordan area and away from the Mediterranean coast where he would make a successful breakthrough in September.

German and Ottoman attack

On 14 July, two attacks were made by German and Ottoman forces; one in the hills on a salient held by Australian Light Horse, which protected front-line positions in the valley, where the main German force was routed. A second operation was east of the Jordan River on the plain, where an Ottoman cavalry brigade deployed six regiments to attack the El Hinu and Makhadet Hijla bridgeheads. They were attacked by Indian lancers and routed.

The focus moves to the Western Front.

The German spring offensive was launched by Ludendorff on the Western Front the same day the First Transjordan attack on Amman began and completely eclipsed its failure. The powerful assault launched on both sides of the Somme by a force of 750,000 collapsed the British front in Picardy, held by just 300,000 men. Gough’s Fifth Army was forced back almost to Amiens. On one day, 23 March, German forces advanced 12 miles (19 km) and captured 600 guns; the British lost 1,000 guns and 160,000 men, suffering the worst war defeat. The British War Cabinet once recognised that the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire must be at least postponed.

Allenby described the effect of this offensive on the Palestine campaign on 1 April 1918: “Here, I have raided the Hedjaz railway 40 miles East of Jordan & have done much damage, but my little show dwindles now into a very insufficient affair in comparison with events in Europe.” Overnight, Palestine went from being the British government’s priority to a “sideshow.”

Reorganisation of EEF infantry

The 52nd (Lowland) Division was sent to France in early April. The 74th (Yeomanry) Division and nine British infantry battalions from the 10th, 53rd, 60th and 75th Divisions were sent to France between May and August 1918. What remained of the divisions was reinforced by British Indian Army battalions to reform the divisions. Infantry brigades were reformed with one British battalion and three British Indian Army battalions, except one Brigade in the 53rd Division, which consisted of one South African and three British Indian Army battalions.

By April 1918, 35 Indian infantry and two pioneer battalions prepared to move to Palestine. Those battalions, with numbers from 150 upwards, were formed by removing complete companies from experienced regiments and then serving in Mesopotamia to form new battalions. The parent battalions also supplied first-line transport and trained officers with wartime service. The 198 men transferred from the 38th Dogras to the 3/151st Indian Infantry, including the commanding officer, two other British officers, and four Indian officers. The sepoys transferred were also very experienced. In September 1918, when the 2/151st Indian Infantry provided an honour guard for Allenby, some men on parade had served on five different fronts since 1914 and in eight pre-war campaigns. Not all of these Indian battalions served in the infantry divisions; some were employed in Defence of the lines of communication.

The complexity of reorganising and reforming these battalions was not without consequences. Of the 54 British Indian Army battalions deployed to Palestine, 22 had recent experience in combat but had each lost an experienced company, which recruits had replaced. Ten battalions were formed from professional troops who had never fought or trained. The other 22 had not seen any prior service in the war. In total, almost a third of the forces were recruited. Within 44 British Indian Army battalions, the “junior British officers were green, and most could not speak Hindustani. Only one Indian officer spoke English in one battalion, and only two British officers could communicate with their men.”

Two British Indian Army divisions arrived from the Mesopotamia campaign in January and April 1918. They were the 7th (Meerut) Division and the 3rd (Lahore) Division. Only the 54th (East Anglian) Division remained, as previously, an all-British division.

Reorganisation of EEF cavalry

The British Indian Army’s 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions, which had fought on the Western Front since 1914, were disbanded. They were reformed in the Middle East, with yeomanry regiments replacing British regular cavalry regiments on the Western Front. Nine yeomanry regiments from the Yeomanry Mounted Division (Desert Mounted Corps) were sent to France to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force fighting the Spring Offensive.

Three of the remaining yeomanry regiments, the 1/1st Dorset Yeomanry, the 1/1st County of London Yeomanry, and the 1/1st Staffordshire Yeomanry, which had previously formed part of the 6th, 8th, and 22nd Mounted Brigades, along with newly arrived British Indian Army units transferred from France, formed the 4th Cavalry Division. Another two of the remaining yeomanry regiments, the 1/1st Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and 1/1st Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, which had belonged to the 5th and 7th Mounted Brigades, with newly arrived British Indian Army units transferred from France, and the renamed 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, formed the 5th Cavalry Division. The 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade had served as the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade during the Ottoman Raid on the Suez Canal and in the Sinai and Palestine since December 1914. The 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions were assigned to the Desert Mounted Corps, which had lost the Yeomanry Cavalry Division during the reorganisation.

Five of the six brigades in the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions comprised one British yeomanry and two Indian cavalry regiments. The sixth Brigade (in the 5th Cavalry Division), the 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, consisted of three regiments of Imperial Service Troops, which were wholly maintained by the Indian Princely states of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad. Eight of the 18 regiments in the six brigades were armed with and called lancers. The Australian Mounted Division’s 5th Mounted Brigade was also dismounted and sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force in France. It was replaced by the newly formed 5th Light Horse Brigade, which consisted of the 14th and 15th Light Horse Regiments, formed from Australians transferred from the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade and the French Régiment Mixte de Marche de Cavalerie. Completing this Division, the 3rd and 4th Light Horse Brigades consisted of three light horse regiments of a headquarters and three squadrons. To conform with the 5th Light Horse Brigade, the 522 troopers in each regiment were armed with swords instead of bayonets and Lee–enfield rifles.

Yildirim Army Group

The Ottoman armies in the Yildirim Army Group had been weakened by considerable losses between 31 October and 31 December 1917. The Seventh Army lost 110 officers and 1,886 men killed, 213 officers and 5,488 men wounded, 79 officers and 393 men captured, and 183 officers and 4,233 men were missing. This army had also lost 7,305 rifles, 22 light guns, 73 heavy machine guns, and 29 guns. The Eighth Army reported 2,384 wounded, but no rifles, machine guns or artillery guns were missing. Total Ottoman casualties were 25,337 killed, wounded, captured or missing, while British losses for the same period amounted to 18,000 men. During the same period, the British reported 70 officers and 1,474 men killed, 118 officers and 3,163 men wounded, 95 officers and 5,868 men captured and 97 officers and 4,877 men missing. This was despite odds in favour of the British of well over two to one in infantry and eight to one in the cavalry, as well as massive artillery, logistical and naval superiority. It is, therefore, remarkable that any Ottoman units survived the onslaught and made the Ottoman fighting withdrawal under pressure a great accomplishment.

However, the Yildirim Army Group was still a capable fighting force at the beginning of 1918. Every infantry division that fought at Beersheba on 31 October was intact and still fighting, although some were considerably reduced in strength. To make up for these losses, reinforcements arrived in December 1917. The 2nd Caucasian Cavalry Division and the 1st Infantry Division had been transferred to Palestine from the Caucasus. Indeed, at the end of the Jerusalem campaign, the Ottoman soldiers appeared to be the most challenging, obdurate, and professional fighters. Training continued, and in early February, the 20th Infantry Regiment at the regimental level received intensive training in day and night fortification and battle drills.

While Enver Pasa and the Ottoman General Staff remained focused on the offensive, the Ottoman armies remained aggressive and confident. Their front line was held by the Eighth Army, with headquarters at Tul Keram, defending the Mediterranean coastal sector; the Seventh Army, with headquarters at Nablus, supporting the Judean Hills sector while the Fourth Army, with headquarters at Amman (until after the first Transjordan attack on Amman when its headquarters was moved forward to Es Salt), defended the Transjordan sector. But German air superiority ended with the arrival of the S.E.5.a and Bristol fighters, one of which destroyed three German Albatros scouts on 12 December. From January 1918, these British planes increasingly dominated the skies.

The Ottoman high command was dissatisfied with von Falkenhayn, the commander of the Yildirim Army Group in Palestine. He was considered responsible for the defeat at Beersheba, and his refusal to allow Ottoman staff officers to participate in planning combat operations rankled. Enver Pasa replaced him on 19 February with General Otto Liman von Sanders, and under this new leader, the established ‘active, flexible defence’ style was changed to a more unyielding defence.

The arrival of a new German commander

Liman von Sanders took command of the Ottoman Army in Palestine from von Falkenhayn on March 1, 1918. On arrival, he realised that the Ottoman front line was particularly weak west of the Jordan. He took immediate action to strengthen both flanks by redistributing his forces.

In May 1918, during the lull in fighting after the two Transjordan attacks, Liman took the opportunity to reorganise the Ottoman army forces in Palestine from his headquarters at Nazareth. The Eighth Army, which was headquartered at Tul Keram under the command of Djevad Pasha (Kress von Kressenstein’s successor), consisted of the XXII Corps (7th, 20th and 46th Divisions) and the Asiatic Corps (16th and 19th Divisions,701st, 702nd and 703rd German Battalions). This army held a line running eastwards from the Mediterranean shore for about 20 miles (32 km) into the hills at Furkhah. Mustafa Kemal Pasha’s (Fevzi’s successor) Seventh Army, whose headquarters were at Nablus, consisted of the III Corps (1st and 11th Divisions) and XXIII Corps (26th and 53rd Divisions) and held the rest of the Ottoman line eastwards from Furkhah to the River Jordan; this represented a front of about 20 miles (32 km), with its main strength on both sides of the Jerusalem to Nablus road.

While holding the front line on the Jordan River, the 48th Infantry Division continued training, conducting courses on battle tactics, machine guns, hand grenades, and flame throwers. When the 37th Infantry Division arrived from the Caucasus, the division’s troops undertook a two-week course on using stick grenades near Nablus.

Arab attacks

Arab attacks were made on Maan between 15 and 17 April. During these actions, they captured 70 prisoners and two machine guns and temporarily occupied the railway station but failed to capture the central position.

Megiddo offensive

As the dry season approached, Allenby intended to advance to secure Tiberias, Haifa and the Yarmuk Valley towards Hauran, the Sea of Galilee and Damascus. The people inhabiting the region of the Sharon battlefield varied greatly in their background, religious beliefs and political outlook. Living from Jericho northwards were indigenous Jews in Samaria, Moravians in Galilee, some Druse, Shi’a Metawals and a few Nussiri (pagans). In the east were the Bedouins. In Haifa town, about half the population was Muslim, and in Acre, almost all were Muslim. On the Esdraelon Plain, as far as Beisan, were Sunni Arabs and one new Jewish colony near Afulah. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in the foothills of Northern Galilee.

Christians of at least five denominations formed a large majority in and around Nazareth town. The inhabitants of the eastern part of this Northern Galilee area were predominantly indigenous Jews who had continually inhabited Tiberias and Safed. In the region of the Nablus battlefield, the inhabitants from Beersheba to Jericho were also quite diverse. The population was mainly Arab of the Sunni branch of Islam, with some Jewish colonists and Christians. At Nablus, they were almost exclusively Moslems, except for the less than 200 members of the Samaritan sect of original Jews. To the east of the Jordan Valley in the Es Salt district were Syrian and Greek Orthodox Christians, and near Amman, Circassians and Turkmans.

Allenby finally launched his long-delayed attack on 19 September 1918. The campaign has been called the Battle of Megiddo (a transliteration of the Hebrew name of an ancient town known in the West as Armageddon). The British made significant efforts to deceive the Ottoman Army regarding the target of their intended operation. This effort succeeded, and the Ottoman Army was surprised when the British attacked Megiddo. As the Ottoman troops started a full-scale retreat, the Royal Air Force bombed the fleeing columns of men from the air, and within a week, the Ottoman army in Palestine ceased to exist as a military force.

Despite its name, the actual battlefield of the Battle of Megiddo (1918) was relatively far from the site of the Biblical city. The emphasis on using the word “Meggido” was partly related to the overall propaganda effort to link victory in the Middle East to the domestically well-known locations from the Bible, thus boosting British morale at home. The battle for “Armageddon” did not receive nearly the attention which might have been expected, however, with Eiten Bar-Yosef stating that “[e]ven Cyril Falls’s Armageddon 1918 (1964), a detailed study of Allenby’s advance, does not elaborate on the metaphor, and it is not difficult to see why: Allenby’s swift progress up to Damascus was certainly not the bloody, colossal, definitive clash envisioned in John’s Revelation; that was taking place in the trenches of the Western Front.”

Several historians have claimed the offensive resulted in the capture of Gaza to the Beersheba line and Jerusalem, and the Megiddo operation was similar. In this regard, it is argued that they were both a cavalry envelopment of the Ottoman flank and that the breakthroughs came at unexpected locations. At Gaza–Beersheba, the breakthrough occurred at the eastern end of the front line at Beersheba instead of Gaza, as the Ottomans had expected. In contrast, at Megiddo, the breakthrough happened on the Mediterranean coast at the western end of the front line when expected across the Jordan.

Syrian campaign

Pursuit to Damascus

The war in Palestine was over, but in Syria, it lasted for a further month. The ultimate goal of Allenby’s and Feisal’s armies was Damascus. Two separate Allied columns marched towards Damascus. The first, composed mainly of Australian and Indian cavalry, approached from Galilee. In contrast, the other column, consisting of Indian cavalry and the ad hoc militia following T.E. Lawrence, travelled northwards along the Hejaz Railway. Australian Light Horse troops marched unopposed into Damascus on 1 October 1918, despite the presence of some 12,000 Ottoman soldiers at Baramke Barracks. Major Olden of the Australian 10th Light Horse Regiment received the city’s surrender at 7 am at the Serai. Later that day, Lawrence’s irregulars entered Damascus.

The region’s inhabitants varied greatly in their backgrounds, religious beliefs and political outlooks. In the Eastern Hauran, the bulk of the population was Druses, while in the Jaulan, more Circassians, Metawala and some Algerian colonists lived. The southern Jaulan district was poor and rocky, supporting a small population and groups of nomads from the Wuld Ali in the eastern desert. At the same time, the north is more fertile, with a sizeable Circassian colony in and around Kuneitra. The northwest Jaulan district contains some Metawala villages and some Algerian colonies in the east, introduced by the Emir Abdul Qadir after he had taken refuge in Damascus in the 1850s. Between these are settled Arabs similar to those in the Nukra plain, while in the east are Bedouin Arabs.

The advances to Amman, during the Third Transjordan attack of the Battle of Megiddo, and to Damascus towards the end of the war resulted in the highest incidence of malaria “that has ever been suffered by Australian forces.”

Capture of Aleppo

Aleppo, the third largest city in the Ottoman Empire, was captured on 25 October. The Ottoman government was quite prepared to sacrifice these non-Turkish provinces without surrendering. Indeed, while this battle was raging, the Ottoman Empire sent an expeditionary force into Russia to enlarge the ethnic Turkish elements of the empire. Only after the surrender of Bulgaria, which put the Ottoman Empire in a vulnerable position for invasion, was the Ottoman government compelled to sign an armistice at Mudros on 30 October 1918, and it surrendered outright two days later.

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