Ottoman military railroad in Palestine

The Ottoman military tracks in Palestine were a railway system that the replenishment of the Ottoman forces in Palestine in the First World War served. The starting point was the Afula-Silat eẓ-Ẓahr Samaria Railway .

Route map

Initial military situation

During the First World War, it was extremely important for the Ottoman government to supply the garrisons opposite the British in the border area with the Sultanate of Egypt by land. The Ottoman thrust was the Suez Canal . This should be made unusable for the Royal Navy in order to interrupt the connection between Britain, the Persian Gulf , British India and East Africa . Ottoman troops and supplies from Turkey also had to be brought to the front, as the British fleet had absolute naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean and prohibited any supplies to the Levant by sea.

A continuous rail link between Turkey and Palestine could not be established before and during the First World War. The travel time for troop reinforcements between Istanbul and the Sinai and Palestine fronts was between four and six weeks. There were hardly any paved roads and road traffic was not possible on the existing roads during the rainy season in winter. Troops and goods had to be reloaded several times before they could reach the front. From the southern extremity of the line in Palestine, by Silat EZ-Zahr , the troops had to walk through Jerusalem, Hebron and Beersheba march to the front. The supplies were transported by camel caravans . The different gauge of the existing railway sections between Turkey, Syria and Palestine were an additional problem.

Mabahnūdiyya – Sinai military railway
Gauge :	1050 mm
Track width: from 1918/1920	1,435 mm ( standard gauge ) from Tulkarm to Wadi Surar (Eastern Railway)
States:	Palest. Auton.-born , Israel , Egypt
Legend Samaria Railway Afula – Nablus from Afula 0.0 23.5 Maṣʿūdiyya Samaria Railway to Nablus Anabta 15th Only esch-shams of forests near Hadera u. Kafr Qara 1915–18 Hadera  Eastern Railway 1918–1948 19th Tulkarm Green line Eastern Railway of Hadera since 1949 Tayyibe new from 2026 Tira - Kochav Ja'ir – Zur Jig'al from 2026 Qalqiliya 1915–1948, then the   Green Line separated the station and town of  Ejal from 1948–1968 Kfar Saba Zafon new from 2026 Sharon orbit of Raʿanana Rosh ha-Ayin Zafon since 2003 Jarqon Railway to Tel Aviv Ras el-ʿAin 1915–1948  Rosh ha-ʿAjin 1948–93 and 2000–03  Rosh ha-ʿAjin Darom from 2026 Elʿad from 2026 Rantiya 1915-1933  Rinnatia 1954-1998 to quarries near Tirat Jehuda Branch line from Yahudiya to the supply base at Beit Nabala   1918–1949 to al-Lubban Kafr  Dschinnis 1915–1933 Teʿufah from 2026 Tel Aviv – Jerusalem high-speed line from high speed line from Tel Aviv Lod Zafon from 2026 J&J line from Jaffa / Tel Aviv Lod since 1891 (end of the Eastern Railway) Sinai Railway to Ashqelon   until 1948 on to El Qantara ( Egypt ) Ramleh since 2005 Ramleh (old) 1891-1998; partly to  distinguish also Ramla East called Naʿaneh around 1920–1992 Main line to Be'er Scheva (from 1956) Wadi Surar 1917-1930-er   as operating depot. Nachal Soreq since 1948 J&J line to Jerusalem Main line of Nahariyya et-Tina 1915–1927  Qirjat Mal'achi -Jo'av since 2018 Railway line et-Tina – coast to el-Hudsch  or Beit Hanun ( railway in the Gaza Strip ) and  this on to Rafah ( Sinai railway ) s. u. ʿIraq el-Manschiyya 1915–1927   Qirjat Gat 1960–1979 and since 1997 Chelez Railway from Ashqelon (freight trains only) Main line to Beer Sheva Tell el-Ḥaṣi Ameidat Branch line to Harira Tell esch-Sheria Ashkelon – Beer Sheva railway line Abu Irgeig (Abu ʿIrqaiyiq) Railway line from Rafah 164.0 Beersheba (old) 1915–1927 Be'er Sheva Merkaz since 2000 Main line to Nahariyya Ramat Chovav freight yard ʿAsludsch 1916–1917 Hafir el-ʿAudja 1916–1917 Branch line to Magdhaba Border between Egypt and Israel el-Qusaima 1916-1917 256.0 Egyptian front in Sinai

The Ottoman troops withdrew from Be'er Scheva on January 14, 1915 and reached the British positions on the canal on February 3, 1915. This attack on the Suez Canal failed - also because of the poor infrastructure on the Ottoman side. The Hejaz Railway was able to cope with the demands at the beginning; there were sufficient stocks of coal, oil and operating resources. There were 9 military trains running daily and public transport was suspended. With the withdrawal from the attack on the Suez Canal in March 1915, however, the coal reserves of the railway were running out.

stretch

Track width 1050 mm

Birüssebi station (today Be'er Scheva) , 1917

In order to remedy these logistical difficulties, the railroad was driven south at the highest possible speed. The starting point was a branch line of the Jezreel Valley railway , the railway Afula-Nablus in the mountains of Samaria (hence Samarienbahn ), the most time south-reaching railroad in the Hejaz railway in Palestine , which at the outbreak of the war until Silat EZ-Zahr passable was. There was a distance from the grid of Hedschasbahn in the track width mm 1050th

On January 15, 1915, work began to drive the railway south. The commanding general, Cemal Pascha , secured the help of Heinrich August Meißner Pascha, who was released from the Baghdad Railway Construction Company. The railway was continued from Silat eẓ-Ẓahr south to the lonely al-Maṣʿūdiyya station below the Patriarch 's Way (today Landstrasse 60) on the Samaria Railway .

Leaving Al-Maṣʿūdiyya to the east, the route took a 180 ° curve in the incision of a tributary of the Nablus sloping down to the west and followed its valley (Wadi az-Zaymar, also Wadi asch-She'ir) via Anabta to Tulkarm (Birat Soreqa ). Due to the sharp bend, the military railroad spared itself a time-consuming change of direction in north-south traffic. From Tulkarm in the Sharon Plain , where the railway construction is technically less complex, the route continues southwards over a section of the Jaffa – Jerusalem (J & J) line from Lod to Sinai .

Since new building material could no longer be delivered due to British maritime sovereignty, but the building material was running low, supplies were used that had been procured for the extension of the Hejaz Railway from Medina to Mecca in 1908, but were no longer used and were stored in Haifa. Sleepers were manufactured locally and fed to the Baghdad Railway from the construction sites. The latter had to be re-punched because of the different gauges in Damascus. Some militarily insignificant stretches were also dismantled in order to reuse the material for the extension of the railway to the south. These included the Haifa – Akko railway , the Jaffa – Lod section of the J&J line and the Hauran Railway in Syria .

In flat, structurally undemanding terrain, the railway continued from Tulkarm to Lod , always maintaining a sufficient distance from the sea to keep the route out of the reach of British naval guns . In Lod the railway joined the Jaffa – Jerusalem (J & J) line. Its route was re -gauged from here to Jerusalem from 1,000 mm to 1,050 mm and used as a continuation until the operational stop at Wadi es-Surar (today Nachal Soreq) . With the help of 2,000 trained soldiers, the Meißner Pasha had water towers built in Maṣʿūdiyya, Tulkarm, Ras el-ʿAin , Wadi Surar, et-Tina , Tell esch-Scheri'a ( Gerar ) and Be'er Scheva. On October 17, 1915, operations to the Birüssebi station (today Be'er Scheva) began.

The route el-Maṣʿūdiyya – Be'er Scheva was 165 km long and used 18 km of the J & J. The place Be'er Scheva was the main base of the Ottoman forces in the region. From there, construction continued south to Nessana (Hafir el-ʿAudscha) (92 km), which was reached in the summer of 1916, to the border with Egypt and to el-Qusaima on the Sinai Peninsula . The procurement of materials became more and more difficult and the speed of the track construction decreased. In el-Qusaima, the railway construction ended because of the approaching British. "Regular" rail operations only took place as far as Nessana (Hafir el-ʿAudscha), but it had to be abandoned in spring 1917.

Military railway et Tina coast
Gauge :	1,050 mm
Track width: from 1918	1,435 mm ( standard gauge ) from the Aschqelon junction to Beit Hanun
States:	Israel , Gaza Strip
Legend Military railway Maṣʿūdiyya – Sinai  from Maṣʿūdiyya (see above) Main line of Nahariyya 0.0 et-Tina 1915–1927  Qirjat Mal'achi -Jo'av since 2018 Main line to Be'er Scheva and line Maṣʿūdiyya – Sinai in the Sinai (see above) Railway line from Aschqelon Chelez Railway to Qirjat Gat (freight traffic only) Connection to the Dorad power plant Railway line to Beer Sheva El Jiya Barbara Beit Jirja Dayr Sunayd Ashkelon – Beer Sheva railway line Green line el-Hudsch 53.5 Beit Hanun

Route et-Tina – coast

From 1917 onwards the railway was driven by et-Tina in a south-westerly direction and forked at its tip, one to Beit Hanun and the other to el-Hudsch to supply the positions near Gaza, which was tough in the first and second battles for this city was contested. This branch had a total length of 53.5 km.

Route between at-Tina and Barbara, mostly dashed, map from 1944

In addition to the central section, the Ottoman military erected in addition a branch line from Tulkarm to Kafr Qara (24 km) and from that branch off to al-Dschalama (Gelenne) - Hadera (6 km). This line supplied the main line with firewood as fuel for the locomotives.

Track 600 mm

These "main lines" were supplemented by field railways with a gauge of 600 mm. In detail, those were the routes

• Nessana ( Hafir el-ʿAudscha ) - Magdhaba who took care of Ottoman positions in Sinai;
• Tell esch-Scheri'a ( Gerar ) - Tell Abu Hurere (today: Tel Haror ) (probably 600 mm), built in March 1917 from material obtained during the dismantling of the line to En esch-Schellale as a connection to the 16th Turkish Division secure the important defensive position at Tell Abu Hurere ;
• Tell esch-Scheri'a (Gerar) - An esch-bowl (probably 600 mm), built in January 1917.

The entire construction of new lines in Palestine during the First World War amounted to 437 km on the Ottoman side, including the field railways in 600 mm gauge.

business

The biggest problem with railroad operations was keeping the locomotives fueled. There were only coal deposits in Lebanon, albeit in poor quality and small quantities. Because of the British naval blockade, nothing could be brought in by sea. The annual wood requirement for the company was 150,000 t. As early as 1916, all accessible trees along the railway lines had been burned, and many of the old olive groves were cut down. The entire interior of all the J & J's wagons was also burned, presumably when as many locomotives as possible were to be evacuated northwards as the British advanced. In order to obtain wood, men were exempted from military service in order to make use of trees that were far away.

Despite all efforts, the continuous rail link from Istanbul could not be completed until 1918, shortly before the end of the war, and so had no influence on the outcome of the fighting. Only about 100 wagons with German coal reached the Hejaz Railway before the collapse in 1918.

Over time, lubricants also became scarce. Therefore, they resorted to residues from olive oil production and castor plantations were created under the direction of the railway administration. These operating conditions led to considerable wear and tear on the locomotives as early as 1914/15.

In 1917/18 two German railway company (EBSK) were used on the Hejaz Railway:

• EBSK 11 under Captain Borck and
• EBSK 44/48 under Captain Pösentrup .

The companies consisted of German railway officials. EBSK 11 ran the entire operation between Samach and Tulkarm and provided the dispatchers.

In November 1917 the Ottoman armed forces had to give up the railway south of Tulkarm, so the Ottoman military railway only existed here from 1915 to 1917. The British military railways in Palestine spanned the sections between Be'er Scheva and Lod on the J&J line until 1917 and up 1918 from there to Tulkarm (Eastern Railway) on standard gauge. Between Wadi al-Surar and Be'er Scheva, operations were stopped again in 1918 due to a lack of traffic.

The Israeli state railway Rakkevet Israel (RI) included parts of the routes of this southern section with straightening in its main line to Be'er Scheva, which was extended southwards between 1954 and 1956 . In 2004, the RI restored a section between Be'er Scheva and Ramat Chovav south of the city as a freight railway with partly straightened routes in standard gauge.

Architectural relics

Old railway viaduct at Be'er Scheva

Only a few tracks of the Ottoman military railways survived the First World War. The following British took over some of the routes for the British Military Railways in Palestine , which laid the lines in standard gauge , and in some cases they tore down old routes without replacement. Only the short compounds of Samarienbahn between Afula and Nablus (Shechem) and the northern end of the military train Maṣ'ūdiyya Sinai but only up Tulkarm They continued to operate mm in the Mandate in 1050, far from achieving any meaning.

The British Military Railways re-gauged the route of the Maṣʿūdiyya – Sinai military line from Nachal Soreq (Wadi es Sarar) to Be'er Scheva between May and July 1918 to 1435 mm, but stopped operating three months later. The last Ottoman tracks south of Be'er Scheva were only dismantled in 1924, but had not been used since the war.

Cenotaph for the Ottoman fallen in front of the museum locomotive and the Ottoman station at Birüssebi (today Be'er Scheva) , 2015

The station buildings of the Ottoman military railway still stand in Be'er Scheva , made of extremely solid stone. In the 1990s the reception building was used as a cultural center, the station master's house as the office of a nature conservation organization. 400 meters away is the stone substructure of the old water tower, today surrounded by apartment blocks that tower above it. A large stone arch viaduct at the southern end of the city is also largely intact . Smaller bridges and dams can be seen from the road to Nitzana on the Egyptian border.

literature

• Paul Cotterell: Pave the way. A historical album of the railways in Israel . Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942271-20-2
• Paul Cotterell: The Railways of Palestine and Israel. Tourret Books, Abingdon 1986, ISBN 0-905878-04-3 .
• Walter Rothschild : Arthur Kirby and the last years of Palestine Railways: 1945–1948 , Berlin: Selbstverlag, 2009, plus London King's College Diss., 2009.