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Introduction mber 2011}}The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Entente Powers.On 26 January 1915, an Ottoman force invaded the Sultanate of Egypt, a British protectorate, and unsuccessfully attempted to interrupt the vital supply line running through the Suez Canal, due to the defenders strength. While remaining on the defensive, early in 1916 British Empire units began to push their front line eastwards from the Suez Canal into the Sinai Peninsula. This eastward movement of the British front line, was contested when several engagements were fought about Katia and other oases around the middle of the year. By August 1916, two British Empire divisions had been established in a strongly entrenched defensive position at Romani, where they were attacked by a substantial German commanded Ottoman army, which was defeated. The two defending divisions; the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division (Anzac Mounted Division) and the 52nd (Lowland) Division, subsequently pursued the retreating German and Ottoman force back across the northern Sinai, to Bir el Abd where the mounted division attacked a substantial Ottoman rearguard, which retired. The defensive strategy of the British Empire forces having changed to the offensive, employed strategic manoeuver when the remaining Ottoman garrisons in the Sinai, at Magdhaba in December 1916 and at Rafa (on the border of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire) in January 1917, were successfully encircled by the Anzac Mounted Division and captured, to reclaim the Sinai Peninsula. In 1917 British Empire forces extended their area of operation to invade Ottoman Palestine, fighting two unsuccessful battles against strong Ottoman defences at Gaza in March when mounted brigades again employed manoeuver to successfully encircled the town, and in April. At the end of October, after six months of preparations, reconnaissances and minor operations the Egyptian Expeditionary Force succeeded in employing strategic manoeuver to encircle Beersheba with infantry and mounted divisions, resulting in the capture of the town. After a week's determined fighting the whole Gaza to Beersheba line was captured and during the successful pursuit the Egyptian Expeditionary Force conducted a fighting advance northwards, to capture Jaffa by mid November, then into the Judean Hills to capture Jerusalem in December 1917. The front line which now ran from just north of Jaffa to just north of Jerusalem was extended in February 1918 into the Jordan Valley when Jericho was captured, beginning the seven month's long occupation of the valley. During this time a British Empire infantry and mounted force advanced eastwards into the hills of Moab to capture Es Salt and attach Ottoman lines of communication at Amman at the end of March and at the end of April a slightly larger infantry and mounted force attacked Shunet Nimrin and recaptured Es Salt. The territory captured during both these operations could not be held and both ended in the withdrawal of three divisions of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force back to the Jordan Valley. In mid September 1918 during the successful encirclement of two German and Ottoman armies in the Judean Hills, Amman was again attacked w Introduction Egypt had been part of the Ottoman Empire for 300 years, until in the 19th century, as a result of their defeat in the Anglo-Egyptian War (1882), Egypt was occupied and became a British protectorate. When World War I began, the Ottoman Empire was keen to be reinstated in Egypt. Ottoman forces attacked Egypt in 1915. The Suez Canal was the main objective, but unrest was also fomented with German backing among the Senussi in what is now Libya, when they attacked western Egypt and threatened the Sudan during the Senussi Campaign.The Commander?in?Chief of the British Protectorate of Egypt, Major?General Sir John Maxwell, who had previously served in Egypt (having fought at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in 1882), and in the Sudan in 1885 and 1898, described his appointment and the situation in Egypt when he arrived:The Suez Canal very quickly became of great importance to both sides. To Germany and the Ottoman Empire the canal represented the closest and weakest link in British communications. To the British the Canal was of vital strategic importance. Instead of having to travel around the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal cut the travelling time from Britain to India, New Zealand and Australia. In addition to facilitating the supporting of the British war effort in the European sector by the Colonies and Dominions, it was also a major base particularly during the Gallipoli campaign.However at the beginning of the war, defence of the Suez Canal posed a number of problems. There was no road to the canal from Cairo, only one railway track crossed the of desert from Cairo to Ismaïlia on the Canal before branching north to Port Said and south to Suez. These three Canal towns relied on fresh water from the Nile via the Sweetwater Canal to the main gates and sluices near Ismailia, making control of the central area around Ismailia of great strategic importance. At the beginning of the war, the Sinai Peninsula was policed by a token defence force which very quickly evacuated the area at the beginning of hostilities between Britain and the Ottoman Empire, in November 1914.The 30,000 strong defenders of the Suez Canal consisted of the 10th Indian Division, the 11th Indian Division, the Indian princely states' Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, and the Bikaner Camel Corps, three batteries of Indian mountain artillery and one Egyptian artillery battery supported by the guns of Allied shipping in the canal. This force was required to defend the Canal from damage or destruction along its entire length, with their main defences mounted on the western or Cairo side of the canal. German and Ottoman force occupy Sinai At the urging of their German ally, the Ottomans mounted an attack against the British and Egyptian forces in Egypt to shut the Suez Canal in the First Suez Offensive.The Bavarian Colonel Kress von Kressenstein had been appointed Chief of Staff of the VIII Corps on arrival from Constantinople on 18 November 1914.In order to move large numbers of troops quickly and resupply them more effectively the railway was pushed to the southern border of the Ottoman Empire on the Egyptian frontier. Railhead had reached Sileh during the autumn of 1914 about from the Suez Canal. (By May 1916 it was extended to Beersheba and Hafir El Auja.) Suez Canal Campaign begins Fighting began on 26 and 27 January 1915 when two smaller flanking columns of the Ottoman Army made secondary attacks near Kantara in the northern sector of the Suez Canal and near the town of Suez in the south. and the British did not pursue them until they were out of reach.The Ottoman Suez Expeditionary Force suffered the loss of some 1,500 men including 716 prisoners. led the Staff of Fourth Army to the realization of the difficulties that would wait for further expeditions to Egypt and the heavily fortified canal. They decided to only maintain advance troops and outposts on the Sinai peninsula on a line between El Arish and Nekhl in order to unsettle the British, while the main forces were to stay at Gaza and Bersheba. von Kressenstein received mobile units accordingly, to launch a series of raids and attacks to disturb traffic on the Suez Canal. Suez Canal defences extended In November 1915, Lord Kitchener, the, Secretary of State for War had identified the weakness of defending the Suez Canal from the western side of the canal, and von Kressenstein's raiding parties confirmed it. However it was not until towards the end of 1915, as the Gallipoli campaign was drawing to its conclusion, that the War Cabinet in London authorised new positions to be established about east of the Canal in the desert, to strengthen defence of the canal against long range guns, and to provide additional troops.Port Said became Headquarters of these new defences, with an Advanced Headquarters at Kantara. The defences were organised into three sectors: German and Ottoman operations in Sinai Colonel Kreß von Kressenstein stayed commander of Ottoman forces on the Sinai Peninsula. His tasks were to keep the British forces occupied and to prepare another expedition against the Canal. To achieve the latter, he demanded for German special forces, which were promised to arrive in February 1916. In the meantime he did all he could to embarrass the British. Notable attacks took place on 8 April 1915 with a mine that was placed in the Canal, but disabled by a patrol, and on 5 May to 13 May 1915 with a charge led personally by von Kressenstein. Since the continuous advances and retreats demoralized the Syrian auxiliaries, these tactics were abandoned soon. von Kressenstein moved to the headquarters of the Fourth Army in Ain Sofar in August, then to the new headquarters in Jerusalem, and waited for the German specialists for a serious advance on the Suez Canals defenses. Suez Canal defences in 1916 At the end of 1915 General Sir John Maxwell commanded the Force in Egypt with headquarters at Cairo. He was responsible for troops in the Egyptian Delta, the Western Desert and the Sudan and administered martial law over the whole region including the Suez Canal. The British War Office was responsible for the Levant Base which was responsible for the British Empire forces in Salonika, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and India had its headquarters at Alexandria. The retreating forces on Gallipoli and divisions from the United Kingdom formed the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Murray had his 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; this force was regarded as the strategic reserve for the whole Empire. In March 1916 Sir Archibald Murray took command of all these forces which were united into the new Egyptian Expeditionary Force. By the end of March or early in April of track including sidings had been laid. Sykes Picot When the possibility of an invasion of the Ottoman Empire territory of Palestine by the British was first mooted, it became necessary for the British to reach an understanding with France as the French had an interest in Palestine and Syria, to delimit the extent of French and British territorial interests. Sir Mark Sykes, who had made a study of the political problems of Mesopotamia and Syria, and M. Picot, formerly a French Consul at Beirut, were empowered to confer. They concluded their negotiations on 16 May 1916 agreeing to Britain accepting Palestine and the French, Syria. They agreed that a French contingent of all arms would be attached to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Jifjafa raid As long as the water cistern and wells on the central road remained intact, the enemy could move across the Sinai Peninsula to threaten the Canal at any time. Between 11 and 15 April 25 Bikaner Camel Corps, 10 Engineers with 12 men from 8th Light Horse Regiment and 117 men from 9th Light Horse Regiment (30 light horsemen armed as Lancers) Regiment, with 127 Egyptian Camel Transport Corps travelled to destroyed a well-boring plant, gyns erected on the wells, the water wells and pumping equipment at Jifjafa. In the process they captured an Austrian engineer officer and 33 men, four of whom were wounded, and killed six Ottoman soldiers. On 9 June 1916 units from 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 them refilling during next season's rains and returned on 14 June. At the same time a detachment of Middlesex Yeomanry advanced to Moiya Harab. As a result the central Sinai route became impossible and the area where Ottoman offensives might be expected narrowed down to the coastal or northern route. Suez Canal Campaign continues A surprise attack by a force commanded by Kress von Kressenstein occurred on Easter Sunday, also St George's Day, 23 April 1916, east of the Canal and north of El Ferdan Station. The 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigade had been sent to guard the water pipeline and railway being built out into the desert towards Romani. During the day, the widely dispersed regiments and squadrons, were surprised and overwhelmed by at Katia and Oghratina east of Romani. The three regiments suffered the loss of about two squadrons. Occupation of Romani The Affair of Katia reinforced the strategic importance of this oases area; it could support large amounts of troops which could threaten the Suez Canal, or the Sinai Peninsula. Neither side could afford to ignore such a large force in this area as a force would always be threatened by a flank attack. The Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade arrived at Romani on 28 May 1916.All this military activity on the western edge of the strategically sensitive oases area, from Bir el Abd to Romani, brought reprisal in the form of a bombing raid by Ottoman aircraft, the first of many, at the beginning of June. Eight troopers of the 1st Light Horse Brigade were killed and 22 wounded. About 100 horses were lost. At this time the forward Ottoman air base was at Bir el Mazar, east of Romani. Sinai reconnaissances from May to June 1916 Early reconnaissances by the Anzac Mounted Division covered considerable distances from Romani as far as Ogratina, to Bir el Abd and Bir Bayud. The longest raid was made by the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade to Salmana, covering in 36 hours.But conditions on the ground in the Sinai desert were extreme; after the middle of May and in particular from mid June to the end of July the heat in the Sinai desert ranged from extreme to fierce. The terrible heat was not so bad as the shocking Khamsin dust storms which blow once every 50 days for a few hours or several days; the atmosphere is turned into a haze of floating sand particles flung about by a hot southerly wind.During these early patrols and reconnaissances the troops and their commanders, unused to the conditions, suffered considerably from heatstroke and thirst. 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.An important innovation in the getting of water, which enabled the mounted units to operate more effectively over wide areas of rocky desert areas and sand dunes on reconnaissance, 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 by means of a small pulley bar and monkey, or by a sledge?hammer; 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 a number of them. Our men were thus enabled to get water at any of the hods in the desert in a very short space of time.Once the brackish 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 carried out reconnaissances to Bir Bayud, Sagia and Ogratina, to Bir el Abd, Hod el Ge'eila, Hod um el Dhauanin and Hod el Mushalfat. Another routine reconnaissance by 2nd Light Horse Brigade took place on 9 July to El Salmana. Just ten days later, El Salmana was occupied by the Ottomans as they concentrated for the battle of Romani.In the middle of June the No. 1 Australian 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 Romani east of the Suez Canal. It began shortly after midnight on the night of 3/4 August and ended with the invading force retiring during the late morning and afternoon of 5 August. The Central Powers force of Austrians, Germans and Ottomans sought to control or disrupt traffic on the Suez Canal by getting within artillery range and to stop the British Empire reclaiming the Egyptian territory of the Sinai Peninsula. It was led by Kress von Kressenstein and 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 canal was defended by the 5th Mounted Yeomanry, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades and the 5th Light Horse Regiment.Sustained fighting began in the early hours and by about 11:00 on 4 August, the advancing Austrian, German and Ottoman force had pushed the two Australian brigades back to a point where the 52nd (Lowland) Division in their trenches were able to attack the attackers' right flank, and the New Zealand Mounted Rifle and 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigades arrived in time to extend the Australian Light Horse's line. The Ottoman advance was stopped by the fire brought to bear on them by the combined forces of the determined defence by British infantry and Australian and New Zealand mounted infantry and mounted rifle units, the deep sand, the mid summer mid day heat and thirst. In mid summer desert conditions, the British infantry were unable to move effectively the next day and alone, the Anzac Mounted Division was unable to stop Von Kressenstein's large force making an orderly retreat to Katia and eventually back to their base at Bir el Abd. Their base at Bir el Abd was abandoned on 12 August 1916 after fierce fighting, at the extremity of British Empire lines of communication, by the Anzac Mounted Division on 9 August. This was the first substantial Allied victory against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. It ended the Defence of the Suez Canal campaign and this vital waterway was never again threatened by land forces during the remainder of the war. Thereafter the Allies were on the offensive for seven months; pushing the Ottoman Army back across the Sinai to the Battle of Magdhaba and the Battle of Rafa before being stopped on Ottoman soil at the First Battle of Gaza in March 1917. Arab Revolt The British were keenly interested in the activities of the Sherif Hussein, Amir of Mecca, whose Sharifian Army took over Mecca and Jeddah in the south western Arabian Peninsula from their Ottoman garrisons, on 5 and 16 June 1916. A large Ottoman garrison held out at Taif until towards the end of September when they capitulated, and Sherif Hussein's third son Feisal attacked the Ottoman garrison at Medina.On the basis of this success the British hoped to extend the Arab Revolt and bring instability along the enemy's Hejaz Railway which runs north ? south from Istanbul to Damascus and on to Amman, Maan, Medina and to Mecca. Built by the Ottomans with German assistance for the transportation of pilgrims, the railway was an important element in the Ottoman Army's lines of communication, as well as a strategically important support for both defensive and offensive operations; the station buildings being solidly built of stone and capable of being strong 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 widespread action throughout the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire, encouraged General Murray's plan to advance to El Arish. Sinai Campaign (1916?1917) At the conclusion of 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 enemy's main forward base was pushed back to El Arish, with a fortified advanced post at Bir el Mazar, where a small group of wells provided reliable water. The movement of the infantry across Sinai was eased by construction of wire netting roads also used by Egyptian Labour Corps, light vehicles, cars and ambulances. 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 reasonable track.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.'German airmen 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 and "C" Flight moved to Kantara on 27 September 1916. Bir el Mazar Raid, September 1916 A great reconnaissance in force to Bir el Mazar was carried out by the 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades, the 1st (Australian) Battalion, the New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron and the ICCB's Hong Kong and Singapore Battery, without the ICCB, on 16?17 September 1916. At the limit of their line of communication the light horse, infantry, machine guns and artillery were not able to 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 Anzac Mounted Division's Headquarters at Bir Sulmana to the west. The Ottoman force abandoned Bir el Mazar shortly after.The report of the 2nd Light Horse Brigade 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 were unable to 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 tough the Ottomans resorted to this extreme measure, turning their anti?aircraft guns away from the attacking planes. The Ottomans withdrew to the Wady El Arish, with garrisons at Lahfan and Magdhaba.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 there was no anti?aircraft fire reported over El Arish and reductions in the enemy force based there were apparent.By this time the railway construction was well passed 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 were reconnoitring Rafa. Maghara Hills Raid, October 1916 As the Allies advanced, an Ottoman-occupied position on the right flank at Bir El Maghara south east of Romani, began to be a threat to 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 nights march via Zagadan and Rakwa to the Maghara Hills.On arrival A and C Squadrons of the 12th Light Horse Regiment positioned 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 then scaled the heights and surprised the defenders but failed to capture the main defensive position. The 11th Light Horse Regiment captured seven Ottoman prisoners and three Bedouins, retiring the way they came to base on 17 October and back to railhead Ferdan on the Suez Canal, on 21 October 1916. Creation of Eastern Frontier Force In September, 1916 General Murray moved his headquarters from Ismailia on the Suez Canal back to Cairo in order to more efficiently command the continuing threat from the Senussi in the Western Desert. General Lawrence was transferred to France where he served as Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Haig in 1918. By 19 October the Anzac Mounted Division Headquarters was at Bir el Abd where the 52nd (Lowland) Division joined them on 24 October. Aerial bombing and reconnaissance patrols On 25 October 1916 an aerial patrol over El Arish discovered signs that the Ottomans were withdrawing, which was confirmed 2 days later. By this time the railway was well forward of Salmana where a new aerodrome was under construction.On 30 October Masaid was photographed. On 4 November the whole El Arish to Magdhaba line was photographed and 2 days later Rafa was under aerial scrutiny. Cutlack 1941, p.? Aerial bombing of Beersheba, November 1916 On 11 November a Martinsyde and nine B E.'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 a raiding force of five B.E.'s and the Martinsyde formed the largest force yet organised by Australians or any other air squadron in the East, filled up with petrol and bombs and set off in formation towards Beersheba. Over Beersheba the anti?aircraft guns engaged them with high explosive and shrapnel, and the raiders flew through a flurry of white, black, and green bursts. The Martinsyde dropped a 100?lb. bomb fair in the centre of the aerodrome; two 20?lb. 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 decisively beaten. After photographing Beersheba and the damage caused by the bombs, the airmen returned, reconnoitering Khan Yunis and Rafa on the way. All machines arrived safely, after having spent seven hours in flight. Two days later a German aeroplane retaliated by bombing Cairo. Advance to Bir el Mazar On 17 November railhead had reached east of Salmana from Kantara; the water pipeline had reached Romani.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 from Kantara. Battle of Magdhaba, December 1916 On 21 December after a night march of 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 had retreated to Madghaba where the mounted force won a fierce day-long engagement against strong well constructed defences manned by determined defenders. About the same time, after a telephone conversation between Chauvel and Chetwode pressure was continued to be pressed and an attack by all units took place by which time there was no doubt that the Ottoman soldiers were losing the fight. Both the 1st Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades made progress capturing about 100 prisoners and by 15:30 the Ottomans were beginning to surrender. By 16:30 the Ottoman garrison had surrendered, having suffered heavy casualties, and the town was captured. The victory had cost 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 enemy force near Weli Sheikh Nuran.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 major reorganisation of the Ottoman Army's defences were observed after the capture of El Arish and Battle of Magdhaba, on 28 December 1916 when reconnaissance planes found Ottoman forces moving their headquarters from Beersheba. 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 being slightly increased. But between 14 and 19 January Beersheba was bombed several times by No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps in day and night raids; during one of these raids dropping twelve 20?lb. bombs directly on the biggest German hangar. After these raids the German airmen evacuated Beersheba and moved their aerodrome to Ramleh. And on 19 January air reconnaissance reported the enemy had evacuated El Kossaima and were in decreased strength at the major desert base at El Auja.One of many retaliatory air raids carried out by German/Ottoman airmen, occurred over El Arish on the same day, 19 January when the horse lines were targeted. Horse lines were an easy and obvious targets from the air; they continued to suffer 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 Martinsydes. Junction Station was also reconnoitred on 27 January.By the end of January both sides were carrying out heavy air attacks; dropping bombs on the stores depot at the main base at El Arish, and No. 1 and No. 14 Squadrons regularly retaliating on Beersheba, Weli Sheikh Nuran, and Ramleh. The Germans were also bombing the Egyptian Labour Corps and delaying the building of the railway now near El Burj half way between El Arish and Rafa with the wire road nearly at Sheikh Zowaiid. As a consequence on 3 February, Major General Chauvel was forced to order Allied bombing to cease 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 observed 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. Raid on Nekhl The final actions of the Sinai Campaign were ordered by General Murray against Nekhl and El Hassana. Southern Palestine Campaign begins Popularly known as the Palestine campaign, the term refers to operations which took place during World War I from just north of the frontier between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, commencing early in 1917 and ending with the armistice in 1918. These operations form a series of campaigns which stretched along the length and across the breadth of the geographic area known as the Levant; they were fought from Gaza to Jerusalem, in and around the Jordan Valley and to Es Salt and Amman, from just north of Jaffa to Damascus and on to Aleppo when the war ended.With the victory at Rafa, Murray had successfully accomplished all his and the War Office's objectives; he had secured the Suez Canal and Egypt from any possibility of a serious 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. an Anglo?French conference at Calais on 26 February 1917, decided to encourage pressure to be placed on 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 but without replacing the departed infantry division or offering any other reinforcements and the attack could not take place until 26 March.While these political machinations were running their course, the Anzac Mounted Division returned to El Arish not far from the Mediterranean Sea, where there was easy access to plentiful 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 together with interest in the 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 strongly held all the territory they occupied. By the end of February 1917, 388 miles of 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 5 inch pipe to Dueidar, through a 6 inch pipe to Pelusium, Romani and Mahemdia and through a 12 inch pipe the main supply was pushed across the desert from pumping station to pumping station. At Romani a concrete reservoir contained a further 6,000,000 gallons, at Bir el Abd 5,000,000 and at Mazar 500,000 and another of 500,000 at El Arish. And with railhead at Rafa, Gaza was by then just twenty miles away, five to six hours for infantry and mounted units at a walk and 2 hours distant for horses at a trot The 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigade had moved on from El Arish along the coast a few miles to El Burj on 28 January, remaining there until 22 February when it joining the Anzac Mounted Division and General Mott's 53rd (Welsh) Division at Sheik Zowaiid. The next day, 23 February the 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigade returned to El Burj from Sheikh Zowaiid being replaced by the 22nd Mounted (Yeomanry) Brigade which had recently arrived.On 23 February the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and 2nd Light Horse Brigades commanded by Chaytor, made a reconnaissance in force to Khan Yunis which was part of a line of strong posts held by the Ottoman Army to protect the southern Ottoman Empire. These posts, consisting of well dug trenches were located in addition to those at Khan Yunis, at a particularly strongly fortified position at Shellal, at Weli Sheikh Nuran and at Beersheba (also referred to as the Hans Yonus?El Hafir line).Chaytor's troops forced enemy detachments from the area to retreat into the town and then surrounded and captured Khan Yunis. As a consequence of this action and the arrival of British railhead at Sheikh Zowaiid on 5 March, the Ottoman Army garrisons realised this line was too weak to be defended against increasing Allied pressure. Enver Pasa, Kress von Kressenstein and Cemal Pasa decided to evacuate Khan Yunis and the system of defences stretching to Shellal on the Wadi Ghuzzeh. The Ottoman Army retiring north to establish a defensive line between Gaza and Beersheba to cover any Allied advance up the coast or inland through Beersheba to Jerusalem. This withdrawal began in February and the Ottoman Fourth Army was in position in its new defensive line by mid-March 1917. Southern Levant Khan Yunis was one of several villages in this fertile area, located north of Rafa and the Egyptian?Ottoman frontier on the main road to Gaza. In this village was found the largest and deepest well in the area and after the Engineers had installed a pumping machine, it gave an unlimited supply of water to both men and horses making the village an important forward site for supply depots and bivouacs.At Khan Yunis gardens, orchards, fig plantations and grazing were carried on, in the Rafa and Sheikh Zowaiid areas barley and wheat were grown, and at Gaza an important depot for cereals with a German steam mill, barley, wheat, olives, vineyards, orange groves and wood for fuel were grown as well as many goats grazed. Barley was exported to England for brewing into English beer and in 1912 the 40,000 inhabitants of Gaza imported £10,000 of yarn from Manchester. Maize, millet, beans and water melon all harvested in early autumn were cultivated in most of these localities.Firmer ground meant it was possible for the infantry to play an active part in the planned engagements of this new campaign; it also made it possible to use wheeled vehicles and the pedrails came off the guns and their teams of eight and ten horses were reduced to six. General service and limber wagons drawn by horses or mules began to replace some of the camel?trains although they remained important throughout the war and were used together with pack mules and donkeys where roads were bad; in hilly trackless terrain where the horse and mule drawn wagons, motor lorries and tractors could not go. In difficult country the transport wagons of the regiments, the machine?gun squadrons and the field ambulances travelled together in a separate column on an easier less direct route. All these animals requiring vast quantities of food and water which had to be transported forward and although it was found during the advance across the Sinai, that horses did better with two drinks a day rather than three, they drank more doing nothing for the problems of water supply. Eastern Force and Desert Column reorganisation With the departure of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division for the Western Front, its place at El Arish was taken by 53rd (Welsh) Division which transferred from garrison duties in Upper Egypt following the defeat of the Senussi. And the 54th (East Anglian) Division, which had been in the Southern Section of the Suez Canal Defences also moved eastwards to El Arish, while the new 74th (Yeomanry) Division was being formed from dismounted yeomanry brigades in Egypt.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 as well as 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 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 and 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, which outclassed Allied aircraft and gave the Ottomans local air mastery.Between the victory at Rafa and the end of February 70 deserters entered the British lines and it was believed that this represented a small proportion as the majority of Arabs and Syrians disappeared into the towns and villages of Palestine and the Transjordan. Ottoman retreat from Shellal No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps and No. 14 Squadron bombed Beersheba in mid February destroying 3 German planes and on 25 February assisted a French battleship which shelled Jaffa, by directing the ship's fire and the German aerodrome at Ramleh was bombed on the same day. On 5 March six planes bombed the enemy railway at Tel el Sheria and although the damage was not great this main enemy base continued to be bombed by relays of raiders in the moonlight of the night of 7 March and the following morning 6 planes bombed Junction Station an important railway junction and supply depot; it was also bombed on 9, 13 and 19 March .On 20 March Dobell moved his headquarters to Rafa. On 24th Dobell issued orders for the battle. First Battle of Gaza, March 1917 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 area to Beersheba; to the north east, east, and south east at Hareira, Tel el Sheria, Jemmameh, Tel el Negile, Huj and Beersheba. In the afternoon, after being reinforced by the Anzac Mounted Division, the all 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. Second Battle of Gaza, April 1917 The entrenchments at Gaza were rapidly improved and credit for the Ottoman defence is given to the German chief of staff Kress von Kressenstein.A second attack on Gaza was launched one month later on 17 April 1917. This attack, supported by naval gunfire, chlorine gas and even a few early tanks, was also a failure. It was essentially a frontal assault on a fortified position, and its failure was due more to inflexibility in operations than to faults in planning; yet it cost some 6,000 British casualties. As a result both Dobell and Murray were removed from command. General Allenby The new man put in charge was General Sir Edmund Allenby and his orders were clear: take Jerusalem by Christmas. After personally reviewing the Ottoman defensive positions, Allenby requested reinforcements: three more infantry divisions, aircraft, and artillery. This request was granted and by October, 1917, the British were ready for their next attack.The Ottoman army had three active fronts at this time: Mesopotamia, Arabia, and the Gaza front. They also had substantial forces deployed around ?stanbul and in the (now quiet) Caucasus front. Given all these demands, the army in Gaza was only about 35,000 strong, led by the Ottoman General Mustafa Kemal and concentrated in three main defensive locations: Gaza, Tel Es Sheria, and Beersheba. Allenby's army was now much larger, with some 88,000 troops in good condition and well-equipped. Battle of El Buggar Ridge The occupation of Karm by the Allies on 22 October 1917 created a major point for supply and water for the troops in the immediate area. For the Ottoman forces, the establishment of a railway station at Karm placed the defensive positions known as the Hureira Redoubt and Rushdie System which formed a powerful bulwark against any Allied action under threat.To forestall this threat, General Erich von Falkenhayn, the Commander of the Yildirim Group, proposed a two phase attack. The plan called for a reconnaissance in force from Beersheba on 27 October, to be followed by an all out attack launched by the 8th Army from Hureira. This second phase was ironically scheduled to occur on the morning of 31 October 1917, the day when the Battle of Beersheba began. Battle of Beersheba, October 1917 A key feature of the British plan was to convince the Ottomans that once again, Gaza was to be attacked. This deception campaign was extremely thorough and convincing. The Battle of El Buggar Ridge, initiated by the Ottomans, completed the deception. When the Allies launched their attack on Beersheba, the Ottomans were taken by surprise. In one of the most remarkable feats of planning and execution, the Allies were able to move some 40,000 men and a similar number of horses over hostile and inhospitable terrain without being detected by the Ottomans. The climax of the battle was one of the last successful cavalry charges of modern warfare, when two Australian Light Horse regiments (4th Light Horse Regiment and 12th Light Horse Regiment) charged across open ground just before dusk and captured the town.The Ottoman defeat at Beersheba on 31 October was not a complete rout. The Ottomans retreated into the hills and prepared defensive positions to the north of Beersheba. For the Allies, the following days were spent fighting a difficult and bloody battle at Tel el Khuweilifeh, to the north east of Beersheba.To break through the Ottoman defensive line, the Allied forces attacked the Ottoman positions at Tel Es Sheria on 6 November, and followed this up with a further attack at Huj the following day. With the imminent collapse of Gaza at the same time, the Ottomans quickly retreated to a new line of defence. Third Battle of Gaza On 7 November the Ottoman held Gaza ? Hareira/Sheria ? Tel el Khuweilfe line taken up after the capture of Beersheba on 31 October 1917, was abandoned. They were concerned about being cut off and retreated in the face of continued British pressure. Gaza was finally captured and the once formidable Ottoman defensive positions were lost. Advance to Jaffa and Judean Hills 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 at Sausage Ridge and Gaza on the Mediterranean coast held the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in heavy fighting. During this time the Ottoman Armies were able to withdraw in good order. And the rearguard garrisons themselves, were able to retire under cover of darkness during the night of 6/7 or 7/8 November. Their was a small engagement the Charge at Huj on 8 November between British cavalry and the Ottoman rearguard. Allenby ordered the Egyptian Expeditionary Force to advance and capture the retreating Ottoman VII and VIII Armies but they were delayed by strong rearguards.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 strong defensive 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 6th Mounted Brigade (Yeomanry Mounted Division). And on 14 November the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade defeated a substantial rearguard; the 3rd Ottoman Infantry Division at Ayun Kara. The combined effects 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 while their 7th Army withdrew into the Judean Hills to defend Jerusalem. They had withdrawn approximately , losing 10,000 prisoners and 100 guns and suffering heavy casualties. 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. These battles were ultimately successfully fought by the XX, XXI and the Desert Mounted Corps against the Ottoman 7th Army in the Judean Hills and their 8th Army. Battle lines extended from north of Jaffa on the Mediterranean Sea across the Judean Hills to Bireh and east of the Mount of Olives.The battlefield over which the Battle of Nebi Samwil was fought continued to be subject to attacks and counterattacks until early December when Jerusalem was occupied by the British. Fighting also continued in the vicinity 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, but now, defeated as Enver Pasha had been at the Battle of Sarikamis, 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. Report on condition of animals During the lull in operations after the end of the Jerusalem campaign, the Director of Veterinary Services, Egyptian Expeditionary Force requested the General Officer Commanding Desert Mounted Corps (Chauvel) details regarding the condition of animals between 1 November and 31 December 1917 ? Westerners versus Easterners By the end of 1917 all the objectives of the campaign 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. But the Easterners asserted that during two years of war the Allies had superiority in numbers and material greater than the numbers the Germans could bring from the Russian front and they had failed to break the German lines. They argued that the Palestine theatre might be wasteful of shipping but the Western Front was wasteful of lives; that 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 or an advance to Aleppo to cut the Ottoman communications with Mesopotamia. On 14 December Allenby reported that the rainy season would prevent any 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 the implementation of the Joint Note. The French imposed an important qualification on the Joint Note; that 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. Administration of captured territory 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 a suitable 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 immediate needs of the people were provided for, seed grain and live?stock were imported and distributed, finance on easy terms was made available through the Army bankers, a stable currency was set up and postal services restored.On 15 January 1918 Allenby reported to DMI regarding attitudes to the occupation of Jerusalem. The Moslems were for the most part non?committal, partisans of Sheriff are genuinely pleased but worried by Jewish influence. The attitude of Bedouin from East of Jerusalem to Bir El Saba (Beersheba) varies some are unsatisfactory but the protection of the sacred Moslem places is generally accepted as satisfactory. The Jews are overjoyed by the support contained in the Balfour Declaration for Zionism and Christians are happy with the occupation.Allenby was under pressure to set up foreign administrations in Palestine. Already the French representative in Palestine, Picot was pressuring for a share in the administration of a French Protectorate in the Holy Land by pushing to assume the rights and dignities in church which the French representative enjoyed before the war. His presence and behaviour was resented by the Italians and the church representatives became angry. Allenby was aware that in Jerusalem angry priests came to blows in the Holy Places from time to time. He insisted that while military administration was required it must be under the British Commander in Chief alone. Condition of British infantry in Judean Hills British soldiers serving in Palestine believed they would be better off if they were serving in France mainly because they would be nearer home and be able to get leave and letters more often. They also thought that in France they would enjoy comfortable billets whenever they were out of the front line and be close to the central theatre of the war. And spending a night pushing out the line with only slight opposition by building a line of sangars three hundred yards in front of our old line before artillery shelling sent him to hospital. "Johnny began to shell our bivvies and watched our worldly goods being blown to bits. We heard another shell coming and ducked behind an olive-tree ? the brute burst within a few yards and was just congratulating myself on a lucky escape, when I saw blood trickling down my tunic, and found that they had got me in the cheek. Directly I was hit one of the company stretcher bearers dressed me, and from there I went to the regimental aid-post, where the M.O. had an ineffectual probe or two. I walked up an awful wadi for about to the advanced aid-post which was full. They gave me a mule and an orderly, and sent me on to the field ambulance, which was at Bethel, a horrible journey in the dark over slithery hills ? of them. A large tot of brandy settled me off, and I slept until they were ready to send me on to Jerusalem, which I reached after various adventures. One night in the Italian hospital there, and now I am at railhead waiting to go down the line to-morrow." Aerial superiority Since the arrival of Pasha I just before the Battle of Romani in early August 1916, Ottoman forces had enjoyed aerial superiority. By the end of January, 1918, however, No. 1 Australian Squadron was equipped with nine Bristol Fighters, two R.E.8?s. five Martinsydes, and five B.E's and by the end of March all older aircraft had been replaced and the squadron comprised eighteen Bristol Fighters. The Mark I Bristol Fighters (190-h p. Rolls?Royce engines) were gradually replaced during 1918 by Mark 111 type (260-h.p. Rolls?Royce).These faster aircraft enabled air raids to be carried out well behind Ottoman lines. On 3 January 1918 an R.E.8, accompanied by a combined raid of 16 aircraft (eight from No. 1 Squadron AFC) on El Afule aerodrome in the Esdraelon plain to the north of the Judean Hills. There they dropped 1,200 lbs of bombs on hangars, a two seater aircraft and an ammunition dump which exploded, killing 40 Ottoman soldiers. The raiding aircraft were escorted by at least one Bristol Fighter which attacked two Albatros one of which was shot down near the railway between El Afule and Jenin, the other was also attacked by the R.E.8. During another raid the next day against Jenin aerodrome Albatros scouts made a surprise attack resulting in losses to both sides On 2 February a large camp of 400 tents were reported at Miske immediately behind the Ottoman lines near the Mediterranean coast. The next day 60 bombs were dropped by five aircraft from No. 1 Squadron making 32 direct hits; this raid was repeated the next morning.With the improved aircraft regular reconnaissance was possible far in the rear of Ottoman lines. The whole disposition of their armies from the front lines back to Jenin and the Esdraelon plain, along the valley of the Jordan across to Es Salt and Amman and over the desert along the railway to El Kutrani, had to be recorded and watched from day to day. The strength at each important point was estimated and the tactical condition of the country ascertained. These air reports showed that existing army maps were so inaccurate that they would have to be redrawn. The positions of important roads and villages near the front line were wrongly given and points of military significance located by aircraft observers were not shown on the maps at all. It was resolved that most of the front line region must be re?mapped. This entailed the photographing of a strip of country deep comprising an area of about 624 square miles. The task was allotted to No. 1 Australian Squadron and took two weeks from 15 January while daylight bombing raids continued to be made on selected points. The method of reconnaissance photography was for five aircraft; Martinsydes and B.E.12.a's, to fly in line 1,000 yards apart at a height of 12,000 feet, thus ensuring an overlap of the exposures of each camera. Day after day this patrol worked under the escort of three Bristol Fighters ? two of them from No. 1 Squadron. This work was opposed by Albatro Allenby's forces were paralysed by a breakdown in logistics and he had to send two mounted divisions and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade south of Gaza. He wrote: "I can't feed them, with certainty, and even now, a fortnight's heavy rain would bring me near starvation."On 1 January the Australian Mounted Division started the journey back to Deir el Belah with 5th Mounted Brigade began moving back through the rain and slush followed by the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance. Led horses arrived on 5 January and the division moved on in continuous rain back to Ramle at noon and Deiran in the afternoon of 6 January. The trip the next day took them through a wadi with of water; all the floors of carts were awash and the mud had to be cut from the wheels. They moved on again the next day to Mejdel on 9 January eventually reaching Gaza on 11 January; in 11 days.On 12 January the Anzac Mounted Division moved back; the 1st and possibly 2nd Light Horse Brigades to Esdud (where Frank Hurley took 'mud pictures' on 7 January) with its New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade in its old bivouac near Ayun Kara (Rishon le Zion). Conscription issue in Australia While conscription in New Zealand kept the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade up to strength numbers of volunteers from Australia for the Australian divisions did not. The shortfall of reinforcements after the Somme on the Western Front threatened the breakup of the 3rd Division forcing the Australian Prime Minister William (Billy) Hughes to go to the people in October 1916 and again in December 1917. At both failed referenda, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) favoured conscription but the people did not. By 1918, Australian formations were desperate for reinforcements. Consolidation of EEF territorial gains The weather was beginning to improve 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 of Allenby's headquarters west of Ramleh. He wrote on 25 January: "I want to extend my right, to include Jericho and the N. of the Dead Sea."The whole British advanced base of operations had moved north from Deir el Belah to the new railhead and at Ramleh the Director of Medical Services' headquarters were 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 and by March 1918 ambulance trains ran to Kantara from Ludd. Capture of Jericho, February 1918 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 (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. 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 attacking enemy positions at el Muntar and a strong position protecting Neby Musa while the 1st Light Horse reached the Jordan Valley and entered Jericho. EEF front line extended northwards 8?12 March Also known as the Battle of Turmus 'Aya, this action pushed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force' front line all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to Abu Tellul and Mussalabeh on the edge of the Jordan Valley northwards. Allenby's right flank was secure but was not sufficiently broad to support the planned operations across the Jordan to the Hedjaz railway; further territory was required to give more depth. During this operation a general advance on a front of and up to a maximum of 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. First Transjordan battle March?April 1918 Before Jericho had been captured Allenby was already planning to push across the Jordan River and 'throw a big raid past Salt against the Hedjaz Railway.' The First Attack on Amman, as it is known to the British, is known to the Central Powers as the First Battle of the Jordan, occurred between 21 and 30 March.Shea's Force consisting of the 60th (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 east of Jericho.The Ottoman 48th Infantry Division together with 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. Some consequences for the EEF of the Spring Offensive 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 and captured 600 guns; in total 1,000 guns and 160,000 suffered the worst defeat of the war. The British War Cabinet recognised at once that the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire must be at least postponed.The effect of this offensive on the Palestine Campaign was described by Allenby 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 insignificant affair in comparison with events in Europe." Overnight Palestine went from being the British government's first priority to a "side show." Reorganisation of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force The War Office in London sent the following cipher to Allenby: Reorganisation of British infantry divisions The British infantry divisions which continued to be deployed in Palestine were the 10th, 53rd, 54th, 60th and 75th and each of them was modified to reflect the structures used in India, except for the 54th with continued unchanged. Each division consisted of nine Indian battalions and three British battalions, organised on the Indian Army pattern of one British to two or three Indian battalions. A training programme was immediately instituted and a number of small scale raids were made by these new divisions on the coast, and other significantly larger attacks were carried out in the Judean Hills to improve the front line. But many British officers believed that the changes had seriously weakened the efficiency of the infantry. State of the Ottoman Army The Ottoman Army had been weakened by considerable losses suffered between 31 October and 31 December 1917. The 7th Ottoman Army lost 110 officer and 1,886 men killed, 213 officer 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 and 73 heavy machine guns and 29 guns. The 8th Army reported 2,384 wounded but no rifles, machine guns or artillery guns missing. Total Ottoman casualties for the period 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 in spite of odds in favour of the British of well over two to one in infantry and eight to one in cavalry as well as a 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.The Ottoman Army was still a competent fighting force at the beginning of 1918. Every infantry division which had 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 had 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 the toughest, most obdurate and most professional of fighters. Training continued and in early February, the 20th Infantry Regiment at regimental level received intensive training in day and night fortification and battle drill.While Enver Pasa and the Ottoman General Staff remained focused on the offensive, the Ottoman Army remained aggressive and confident. Their front line was held by the 8th Army with headquarters at Tul Keram defending the Mediterranean coastal sector, the 7th Army with headquarters at Nablus defending the Judean Hills sector while the 4th Army with headquarters at Amman (until after the first Transjordan attack on Amman when its headquarters was moved forward to Es Salt) defending the Transjordan sector. But German air superiority ended with the arrival of Bristol fighters, one of which on 12 December destroyed three German Albatros scouts, and the S.E.5.a. From January 1918 these British planes increasingly dominated the skies.The Ottoman high command was dissatisfied with von Falkenhayn the commander of the Ottoman Army in Palestine. He was seen to have been 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 Marshall Otto Liman von Sanders and under this new leader changed the established 'active, flexible defence' style to a more unyield General Liman von Sanders took over command of the Ottoman Army in Palestine from von Falkenhayn on 1 March 1918. While holding the front line on the Jordan River the 48th Infantry Division continued training, organising and conducting training courses on battle tactics and training with machine guns, hand grenades, and flame throwers. When the 37th Infantry Division arrived from the Caucasus, the division, at the individual level, received a two?week course near Nablus in the use of stick grenades. 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 and despite the failure of the Amman attack proceeded with plans to capture Tulkarm. Three days' fighting from 9 to 11 April proved once again that in the Judean Hills German and Ottoman machine guns could make any advance slow and expensive.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 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 Ottoman dead on the battlefield and 27 Ottoman and German prisoners. German and Ottoman operations in Jordan Valley 11 April The 60th (London) Division moved back into the Judean Hills after the Amman operations while the Anzac Mounted Division and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade remained to garrison the Jordan Valley under the command of Chaytor, the commander of the Anzac Mounted Division. Some defensive work was carried out including wire.Shortly after the withdrawal from Amman a force of seven Ottoman aircraft bombed the Jordan Valley garrison and on 11 April 1918 a series of Ottoman attacks were made on Ghoraniyeh bridgehead, on El Mussallabeh hill and on the Auja position. Ghoraniyeh bridgehead This defensive position covered the bridge and consisted of trenching and barbed wire and was covered by guns from the western bank. The 1st Light Horse Brigade was heavily attacked at 04:00 by the Ottoman 48th Division. They pushed forward to within of the line but were heavily shelled by covering artillery and at 12:30 a regiment of light horse rode out and attacked their flank.The British section guns were on the Pimple and the other to the left with the old road to the Ghoraniyeh crossing leading straight to our gun on the Pimple. At dawn a fairly large and close formation of Ottoman soldiers advanced straight at the Pimple gun which opened fire supported by light horse Hotchkiss light machine guns on the right. Although the action did not end for some hours the first 10 minutes decided it. Auja position German and Ottoman guns heavily shelled the lines on the Wadi Auja to the north of Jericho and the Ottoman attacks were beaten off. Mussallabeh hill Here the Ottomans launched an infantry assault by a composite force of four battalions and several batteries after an hour's bombardment. At one or two places they gained a footing, but after a day of close fighting they withdrew back to the foot of the hills of Moab, to Shunet Nimrin on the eastern side of the Jordan. Arab attacks 15?17 April Arab attacks were made on Maan between 15 and 17 April during which they captured 70 prisoners and two machine guns, temporarily occupying the railway station but failed to capture the main position. Chetwode attack on Shunet Nimrin 18 April Chetwode (commander XX Corps) was ordered to demonstrate in force against the Shunet Nimrin position on the road from Ghoranyeh to Amman, with a view to encouraging the idea of further operations against Amman and attracting more Ottoman reinforcements to Shunet Nimrin rather than sending them against the Hedjaz Arabs at Maan. On 20 April Allenby ordered Chauvel (commander Desert Mounted Corps) to take over the Jordan section of the line from Chetwode, to destroy Ottoman forces around Shunet Nimrin and to capture Es Salt. Second Transjordan battle April?May 1918 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 a force one third larger 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; risked the capture of a mounted division but is widely accepted as fulfilling Allenby's strategic aim of focusing enemy attention on the Transjordan area and away from the Mediterranean coast where he would make a successful breakthrough in September. Front line operations during Summer 1918 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 men, and a possible increase in shipping to increase Allenby's supplies. Sir Henry Wilson had a plan for 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.After exhaustive training, on the night of 12/13 August the 10th (Irish) Division carried out a raid which consisted of a series of attacks on Ottoman defences on the long Burj?Ghurabeh Ridge just west of the Jerusalem to Nablus road and about 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 (less two howitzer batteries and the IX British Mountain Artillery Brigade.A wire-cutting bombardment began at 21:55 and shortly after the 54th Sikhs (Frontier Force)s and two companies of 6th Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment were deployed south east of the right flank of the ridge while the 1/101st Grenadiers and two companies of 6th Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment at the western end were over 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 completely successful and the forces withdrawn about 12:15 on 13 August. Captures included 239 prisoners, 14 machine guns and enemy 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 (Irish) Division carried out an attack on a front of east of the Nablus Road mainly without artillery support when a 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 a cost of 57 casualties. Jordan Campaign continues In February, after the Capture of Jericho the occupation of the valley began with the Auckland Mounted Rifles Brigade (New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade) remaining to patrol the area. After the two unsuccessful Transjordan attacks on Amman and Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt the Jordan Valley was garrisoned by the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions and the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions with the 20th Indian Brigade until September when Chaytor's force ended the occupation of the valley by advancing to capture Jisr ed Damieh, Es Salt and Amman. German and Ottoman attack 14 July 1918 During the occupation of the Jordan Valley, two attacks were made by German and Ottoman forces; in the hills on a salient held by Australian Light Horse which protected front line positions in the valley, where the mainly German force was routed, and a second operation to the east of the Jordan River on the plain, where an Ottoman cavalry brigade, had deployed six regiments to attack the El Hinu and Makhadet Hijla bridgeheads; they were attacked by Indian Lancers and routed. Preparations for Northern Palestine Campaign About the middle of July it became obvious that the Germans' attack on the Western Front had failed, and the opposing sides had returned to a continuation of trench warfare that had dominated fighting on that front for nearly four years and it seemed that the war would carry over into 1919. At this time the British Prime Minister Mr. Lloyd George revived his idea of borrowing divisions from the Western Front for a winter campaign in Palestine and restoring them in time for a spring campaign in France. It quickly became apparent that there would not be sufficient time to realise this project and Allenby was left to do the best he could with what he already had. Reorganisation of the Desert Mounted Corps The Yeomanry Division, the 5th Mounted Brigade and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade were disbanded 2,000 of the latter's camels were given to Feisal's Hedjaz Arab army. Two new cavalry divisions; the 4th and 5th were formed from newly transferred Indian units, and the remaining yeomanry regiments were reorganised into brigades numbering 10 to 15 with Indian cavalry regiments. The 5th Cavalry Division included the former Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, which became the 15th (Imperial Service) Brigade. The 5th Australian Light Horse Brigade, replaced the 5th Mounted Yeomanry Brigade, in the Australian Mounted Division. The new brigade was formed from the Australian and New Zealand battalions of the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade and a regiment of Mixte de Marche de Palestine et Syrie; two squadrons of French Chasseurs d?Afrique and one of Spahis. The Desert Mounted Corps increased from three to four divisions; the 4th Cavalry Division, the 5th Cavalry Division, the Australian Mounted Division and the Anzac Mounted Division. The eight Yeomanry regiments which were dismounted and fought in France in machine gun battalions were replaced by 13 Indian cavalry regiments. These included the 5th Cavalry Division, transferred from France along with five additional "regular Indian cavalry regiments," and the Imperial Service Brigade which had served since the first attack on the Suez Canal in 1915.The 5th Mounted Brigade was replaced in the Australian Mounted Division by the recently formed 5th Light Horse Brigade. The two light horse regiments were formed from Australians transferred from the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade. The third regiment was to have been New Zealanders but the New Zealand Government refused to raise the additional regiment nor transfer the Otago Mounted Rifles Regiment from the Western Front. They did however, provided the brigade's machine gun squadron; the 2nd New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron. Arrival of Jewish and Armenian units As a consequence of the Balfour Declaration of November 1917 three battalions of Jewish volunteers recruited from England, America and the Middle East arrived and were formed into the 38th, 39th and 40th Royal Fusiliers. Armenian refugees were added to the French contingent. Initially opposed by the War Office because of a possible increase in tensions with Arabs in Palestine, the War Cabinet later agreed. Morale Leave home to Britain and empire colonies and dominions from the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was, except on the smallest scale, impossible while leave to Egypt; to Cairo and Alexandria was fairly freely given. Comforts and small pleasures were not as well provided for to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force as those provided to the British Expeditionary Force in Europe. But canteens were established in all the main towns behind the front and kiosks with soda fountains selling tobacco, sweets and cakes were set up close to the line. In the year 1918 the troops in Egypt paid £4,500,000 for comforts bought from these canteens and kiosks.The Ottoman army took advantage of the collapse of Imperial Russia, by building on these territorial gains in a series of conquests in the Caucasus, reviving old pan?Ottoman ambitions towards northern Persia. In the first stage, Erzerum was retaken from the Russians on 24 March 1918, followed by Van on 5 April. Later captures included Batum, Kars and Tiflis, which were all former Ottoman possessions and although these victories had a huge emotional appeal they gave little strategic advantage compared with a military success in Palestine. Withdrawal of German contingents In the spring of 1918 'Pasha II Reinforcement', a strong contingent of German troops had arrived but Liman von Sanders was suddenly told that all German troops in the country were to be withdrawn as a result of the Ottoman Empire moving its interest and support from Palestine to Anatolia and the Trans-Caucasian territories. However, on 11 June Liman received an order to withdraw the 11th reserve Jäger Battalion. Despite threatening to resign and protesting that the leakage of troops will lose the whole of Arabia together with Palestine and Syria, as a result of extravagant enterprises in Trans?Caucasia, he lost the German battalion.By September its claimed that there were more deserters from the Ottoman army than soldiers in the army and that in Palestine the Ottoman army was starved of reinforcements and supplies, and the soldiers, many sick with malaria were "hungry, ragged, verminous, comfort-less, hopeless, and outnumbered."But the weak Ottoman infantry divisions had more heavy machine guns than the British ? about 60 per division so that west of the Jordan the Ottoman infantry had 600 against 350 in the British and French infantry. They were not so strong in light machine guns, but including the German troops, sic there were 450 west of the Jordan. The total machine gun personnel of a division was approximately 800 which increased the fighting strength of the force very considerably. The increasing use of machine guns from the beginning of the war meant that by 1918 the weak divisions of all sides were stronger than those of 1914.Overall, however, by September 1918 the British Empire force was considerably stronger than the Ottoman Empire force in Palestine. Jordan Valley deception As the Australian Mounted Division and the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions left the valley, at the end of their occupation of the Jordan Valley and in preparation for the coming Megiddo offensive, they moved under cover of darkness to olive groves around Jaffa. The Anzac Mounted Division, the 20th Indian Brigade, the 1st and 2nd Battalions British West Indies Regiment and the 38th, 39th and 40th Royal Fusiliers battalions of Jewish volunteers recruited from England America and the Middle East remained in the valley.Allenby's staff disseminated a mass of false information and clues, including a grand race meeting on 19 September, one of a number which took place in the coastal plan, which was announced but never took place. And Fast?s Hotel in Jerusalem was suddenly evacuated, sentry boxes placed at its entrances and rumours spread that it was to become Allenby?s advanced headquarters in preparation for a renewal of the Transjordan campaign.During this time Ottoman aircraft were unable to carry out reliable aerial reconnaissances as the British and Australian aircraft had virtual complete dominance of the skies. Only four of their aircraft succeeded in crossing the lines during the period of concentration, prior to Megiddo as against over 100 during one week in June. However, the long range guns at Shunet Nimrin known as "Nimrin Nelly" and "Jericho Jane" continued to send shrapnel shells to fall on Jericho and the Jordan Valley garrisons. Logistics Due to the continuing German submarine blockade in 1918 30,000 tons of wheat, 30,000 tons of barley, 6,000 tons of lentils, 12,000 tons of beans, 275,000 tons of tibben, 25,000 tons of millet were collected from the population and redistributed to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Desert Mounted Corps move out of the Jordan Valley On the 16 September Desert Mounted Corps headquarters closed at Talat ed Dumm, on the Jerusalem to Jericho road, leaving the camp standing complete with wireless station. Chauvel's headquarters were reopened at Jerishe on the Nahr el ?Auja.The cavalry had spent the summer occupying the Jordan Valley, during which many men suffered from malaria and other fevers, which were expected to recur when the advance moved into the cooler north, and while the horses were not in poor condition, they were certainly no where near completely fit. Swords issued to the Australian Mounted Division The Australian Mounted Division, commanded by Hodgson, was by now made up of eight Light Horse and one French Spahis and Chasseurs d?Afrique regiments. 10th Cavalry Brigade moves out of the Jordan Valley On 11 September the 10th Cavalry Brigade including the Seinde Horse Regiment, left the Jordan Valley. They marched via Jericho, to Talaat de Dumm, then a further to Enab, eventually reaching Ramleh on 17 September.This preliminary concentration in enormous orange and olive groves was completely concealed from the German and Ottoman observation. A hostile air reconnaissance on 15 September reported, "Some re?grouping of cavalry units apparently in progress behind the enemy's flank; otherwise nothing unusual to report." At this time three cavalry divisions, five infantry divisions, and the majority of the heavy artillery of the force were concentrated between Ramleh and the front line of the coastal sector, with 301 guns in place of the normal number of 70.Ottoman intelligence estimated the Egyptian Expeditionary Force' effective and mobile combat strength at 56,000 riflemen, 11,000 cavalry, and 552 artillery guns, although some of these may have been on the lines of communication, not the front line. Medical support planning No. 35 Motor Ambulance Convoy, the only one in the EEF, was placed under the headquarters of the Palestine Lines of Communication and special camps were opened for some 5,000 lightly wounded cases. Mobile sections of the light horse and mounted brigades' field ambulances were to accompany their brigades. Malaria The planned advance was to pass through one of the most malarious regions in the world, particularly in September and October when the malignant tertian type comes in epidemic numbers. It was decided that a prophylactic dose of ten grains of quinine daily, be given to all troops and it was recommended that mosquito nets continue to be used by the Desert Mounted Corps. Desert Mounted Corps' horses In comparison with the extremely good condition of the horses of the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions at the beginning of the Beersheba operations in October 1917 the condition of the animals prior to the Megiddo offensive was not good. Since their severe and prolonged exertion in the field during the Battle of Mughar Ridge and the attacks on Amman and Es Salt, the horses were unable to regain their extremely good condition. This was due to their occupation of the Jordan Valley, where continuous extreme conditions throughout the summer on a forage ration with a reduced nutritive value, and sickness amongst the men which made it impossible for the animals to be properly cared for and exercised. Deraa railway suppling all three Ottoman armies The Hedjaz railway reached Deraa from Damascus and from there one branch; the Hedjaz railway line continued south to supply the Fourth Ottoman Army east of the Jordan, while the second railway headed west across the Jordan River at Jisr el Mejamie to Beisan. From they the railway turned north?west through the Esdraelon Plain (also known as the Valley of Jezreel) to Afule. Between Deraa and Afule, the railway ran parallel to the front line, although a considerable number of miles behind it. From Afule a branch line ran north?west across the Plain to Haifa, while the main line turned south to Jenin. From Jenin the railway passed through a narrow pass in the foothills to Messudieh Junction where it again split, one branch to the west to Tulkarm and then south to the railhead of the Eighth Army in the front line on the coastal plain. The second branch from Messudieh Junction ran south?east to Nablus the headquarters of the Seventh Army in the Judean Hills. Northern Palestine Campaign As the dry season approached General Allenby had intended to advance to secure Tiberias, Haifa and the Yarmuk Valley towards Hauran and the Sea of Galilee towards Damascus.Allenby finally launched his long-delayed attack on 19 September 1918. The campaign has been called the Battle of Megiddo (which is a transliteration of the Hebrew name of an ancient town known in the west as Armageddon). Again, the British made major efforts to deceive the Ottomans as to their actual intended target of operations. This effort was, again, successful and the Ottomans were taken by surprise when the British attacked Meggido in a sudden storm. 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 had ceased to exist as a military force.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, while 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 Official Surrender of the City at 7 am at the Serai. Later that day, Lawrence's irregulars entered Damascus to claim full credit for its capture.The war in Palestine was over but in Syria lasted for a further month. 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. It was only after the surrender of Bulgaria, which put Ottoman Empire into a vulnerable position for invasion, that the Ottoman government was compelled to sign an armistice on 30 October 1918, and surrendered outright two days later. Six hundred years of Ottoman rule over the Middle East had come to an end. Comparisons between Beersheba and Megiddo A number of historians have claimed these two operations were similar. Firstly, that they were both a cavalry envelopment of the Ottoman flank. And secondly, that the breakthroughs were the reverse of the other; at Gaza?Beersheba, because the breakthrough occurred at Beersheba instead of the expected Gaza at the eastern end of the front line, while at Megiddo the breakthrough occurred on the Mediterranean coast at the western end of the front line when it was expected across the Jordan. In popular media This campaign has been depicted in several films. The most famous is Lawrence of Arabia (1962), though it focused primarily on T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. Other films dealing with this topic include Forty Thousand Horsemen (1941), and The Lighthorsemen (1987), with Peter Phelps and Nick Waters, both of which focused on the role of the ANZAC forces during the campaign. Summary The British suffered a total of 550,000 casualties: more than 90% of these were not battle losses but instead attributable to disease, heat and other secondary causes. Total Ottoman losses are unknown but almost certainly larger: an entire army was lost in the fighting and the Ottomans poured a vast number of troops into the front over the three years of combat.Despite the uncertainty of casualty counts, the historical consequences of this campaign are hard to overestimate. The British conquest of Palestine led directly to the British mandate over Palestine and the Trans-Jordan which, in turn, paved the way for the creation of the states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. See also Notes Footnotes Citations |
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