Battle of Megiddo (1918)
_Destroyed_Turkish_transport.jpg)
Turkish ammunition transport destroyed by the British Air Force
| date | September 19, 1918 to September 21, 1918 |
|---|---|
| place | Megiddo |
| output | Allied victory |
| consequences | Collapse of the Ottoman Front in Palestine |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 12,000 mounted 57,000 infantry 540 cannons Number of rebellious Arabs unknown |
Turkish 7th and 8th Army with 3,000 mounted 32,000 infantry 402 cannons |
| losses | |
|
782 dead |
mostly caught |
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1915: Suez Canal
1917: Rafah - Gaza (1) - Gaza (2) - Beersheba - Gaza (3) - El Mughar - Jerusalem
1918: Jericho - Tell 'Asur - Jordan (1) - Jordan (2) - Abu Tellul - Megiddo
The Battle of Megiddo , also known as the Battle of Palestine , was the last major battle of the First World War in the Middle East from September 19-21, 1918 . It led to the complete collapse of the Ottoman front. The following day, the British under General Allenby took the Ottoman headquarters in the West Bank . The biblical Megiddo , after which the battle was later named, was not directly on the attack front, but further north, but after the successful breakthrough of the British in the direction of Nazareth , the small town got into the battlefield.
prehistory
The British had already succeeded in conquering Baghdad in what is now Iraq in 1917 . In addition, Gaza , Jaffa and Jerusalem were occupied. British superiority has been overwhelming ever since. The Mediterranean to the west was ruled by the Royal Navy . British troops were deep in Palestine . In the back they had their supply base Egypt with the Suez Canal . After General von Falkenhayn's replacement , the German General Otto Liman von Sanders assumed command of the Turkish army in Palestine on February 19, 1918 . After the German counter-attacks on the western front had stalled until mid-July, the English troops in Palestine were reinforced again in order to be able to initiate the decisive offensive there.
Attack planning
After the reorganization and incorporation of Indian battalions, General Allenby was able to significantly strengthen his Egyptian Expeditionary Force . The breakthrough on the Palestine Front was to be made on the western section of the front, where the terrain offered favorable conditions for the cavalry advancing after the breakthrough of the infantry. The main attack was carried out by the XXI Corps under Lieutenant General Bulfin north of Jaffa on the coastline and near Tulkarem . The Desert Mounted Corps under Lieutenant General Chauvel was relocated from the right to the left wing before the start of the battle and the three mounted divisions behind the XXI Corps were massed. After the breakthrough, it was to be pulled forward with the aim of taking the Messudjeh railway junction. The two divisions of the XX Corps under Lieutenant General Chetwode had to lead the attack in the highlands of Samaria to the north, in order to divert the Turkish attention from the Jordan Valley and to cross the Jordan with the right wing in order to allow the Ottoman 7th Army to retreat from Nablus to the east relocate. The cavalry of "Chaytor Force" was supposed to secure the bridge at Jisr ed Damieh in the Jordan section with a pincer movement.
The Arab Bedouin tribes under Emir Faisal , allied with the British, had already succeeded on September 16 in cutting off the important railway line ( Hejaz Railway ) in the Dera (Darʿā) area. The Arab irregular cavalry was successfully deployed in the eastern section by TE Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia ) in guerrilla warfare against the Turkish lines of retreat.
March
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The Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Allenby, which focused on the left wing on the coast north of Jaffa, attacked the enemy in the following battle order:
Left wing: XXI Corps (Lieutenant General Sir Edward Bulfin ) (coastline north of Jaffa)
- 60th (2 / 2nd London) Division (Maj. Gen. Sir JSM Shea)
- 5th Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General GM MacArthur Onslow)
- 7th (Meerut) Division (Major General Sir VB Fane)
- 3rd (Lahore) Division (Maj. Gen. AR Hoskins)
- 75th Division (Major General PC Palin)
- 54th (East Anglian) Division (Maj. Gen. SW Hare)
Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir Henry George Chauvel )
- 4th Cavalry Division (Major General Sir G. de S. Barrow)
- 5th Cavalry Division (Maj. Gen. HJM MacAndrew)
-
Australian Mounted Division (Major General HW Hodgson)
- 3rd Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General Lachlan C. Wilson)
- 4th Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General William Grant)
Center: XX Corps (Lieutenant General Sir Philip Chetwode )
- 10th (Irish) Division (Maj. Gen. JR Longley)
- 53rd (Welsh) Division (Major General SF Mott)
- Watson's Force (Lieutenant colonel GB Watson)
Right wing:
Chaytor's Force (room north of Jericho)
-
Anzac Mounted Division (Major General Edward Chaytor )
- 1st Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General CF Cox)
- 2nd Light Horse Brigade (Brigadier General G. de L. Ryrie)
- New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (Brigadier General W. Meldrum)
- 20th Indian Brigade (Brigadier General ERB Murray)
In August 1918, the opposing Ottoman Army Group Yildirim had a front strength of 40,600 men, of which around 32,000 men with 273 light and 696 heavy machine guns and 402 guns were available in the front defensive trenches. In the west stood the 8th Army under Cevat Çobanlı from the Mediterranean coast to the highlands of Judea with five divisions and a cavalry brigade. To the east closed the Turkish 7th Army under Mustafa Kemal , which defended the front across the highlands from Judea to the Jordan. The 4th Army under Cemal Mersinli held on the east side of the Jordan and was divided into two groups: the western group blocked the British bridgeheads over the Jordan with two divisions, while the other group was deployed at Amman and Maʿan and the Hejaz Railway defended against the attacks of the Arab camel corps.
The battle
September 19th
The infantry attack of the British XXI Corps under General Bulfin began on September 19 at 4.30 a.m. after two hours of artillery bombardment. The British 60th Division deployed on the left wing under General Shea penetrated several miles deep through the front of the Turkish 7th Division via Arsuf through the Sharon Plain to the north within two hours . The 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions of General Chauvel's Desert Mounted Corps were immediately brought in to push north on the front line to cut off the enemy's rear connections. The 181st Brigade of the 60th Division swiveled northeast to take Tulkarem , which was the headquarters of the Turkish 8th Army. The 5th Light Horse Brigade covered the right flank. The left wing of the Ottoman XXII. Corps (20th and 46th divisions under Refet Bey ) was quickly broken on the first day by the attack of the Indian 3rd (Lahore), 7th (Meerut) and 75 - divisions near Tabsor and pushed out of the Jezreel plain . As a result, the flank of the left group of the 8th Army, which was formed by the German Asia Corps , was open and its southern front untenable. The superiority of the English air squadrons was able to destroy the Ottoman telephone exchanges with bombs and then work successfully against the retreating columns of Turkish troops in several missions. As a result of the rapid action of the Chauvel group on the coastline, the ruins of the Turkish 8th Army could not move to the north as required, but had to go back east to Anebta, a circumstance which rolled up the entire Ottoman front. The Indian 7th Brigade of the 3rd (Lahore) Division began their advance towards Azzun at 5:00 a.m., while the Indian 8th Brigade advanced along Wadi Azzun. Meanwhile, the Indian 9th Brigade advanced through the rocky wadi Sir Baqa to Deir Sheraf. The location of the headquarters of the Asia Corps was in Azzun and was taken in conjunction with the 47th Sikh Regiment (8th Brigade) and the 91st Punjab Light Regiment (7th Brigade). The 8th Brigade continued its advance to Jinsafut in the evening, while the 7th Brigade secured the crossroads northeast of El Funduq. On the evening of September 19, the Turkish troops flooded back north to Djenin via Messudije and ancient Megiddo . For the German Asia Corps, now acting as the right wing of the Ottoman Army Group, there was still the faint hope of being able to stop the enemy on the heights of Nazareth. While the 7th Army was able to hold on the first day of the attack their positions essentially in the left Transjordan subsequent front of the VIII. Corps (Turkish 4th Army) provisionally unmolested.
September 20th
In the early morning hours of September 20, the 4th Cavalry Division, which was already operating deep in the hinterland, was able to occupy El Afula . Together with the 5th Cavalry Division, it continued its advance eastward and was able to reach a raid of 137 kilometers until the afternoon Occupy Beisan . Chauvel's cavalry already penetrated Nazareth , the first raid on the German headquarters there and the planned capture of Liman did not succeed completely. The attack on the headquarters nevertheless had serious consequences: from early morning to late afternoon on September 20, the connection to Nablus with the Turkish 7th Army was completely interrupted. Mustafa Kemal Pascha found himself completely on his own in leading his army, and the breakthrough of Chauvel's cavalry from the north-west threatened the complete encirclement of his troops.
Liman Pascha left Nazareth on September 20 at around 1 p.m. with his Chief of Staff Kiazim Pascha, while the High Command of the Army Group had already withdrawn to Tiberias and later to Damascus . In the center, the British XX Corps (10th and 53rd Divisions) under General Chetwode also achieved a breakthrough against the Ottoman 7th Army (III and XX Corps) in the Battle of Nablus . During the successful breakthrough in the coastal plain, the Turkish 8th Army was crushed, 12,000 prisoners, 149 guns and large quantities of ammunition and war material were brought in. The withdrawal of the few remnants of the 8th Army was covered by the Asian Corps. After two days of fighting, the English XXI Corps had suffered losses of 3,378 men, of which 446 men were killed.
Liman Pascha ordered the withdrawal of the Turkish 4th Army, which was still holding in the East Bank, to try to build up a new front between Samach and Darʿā , while the 7th Army, flowing back west of the Jordan, was on the Tiberias section from Lake Hule to Samach am Sea of Galilee should hold. On the evening of September 20, the English 60th Division stood in Tulkarem and in front of Anebta, the Indian 7th (Meerut) Division stopped at Beit Lid and brought the way to Deir Sheraf under control, while the 5th Light Horse Brigade the railway line at Djenin and cut off south of Arrabe.
21st September
Nablus was occupied by the Irish 10th Division and the Australian 5th Light Horse Brigade on September 21st. English cavalry already blocked the retreat routes through the Wadi el Fara, so Colonel von Oppen decided to lead the retreat 11 kilometers southeast of Nablus via Beisan and the Jordan. In the early afternoon the resistance of Army Group Yildirim collapsed completely in the Judean Hills. While most of the Turkish 8th Army had already surrendered, the 7th Army tried to move east via the Wadi el Fara. The Turkish 16th and 19th Divisions, retreating to the north, tried to join the Asian Corps in the west of Nablus. Mustafa Kemal had the futile hope of being able to bring his troops across the Jordan at Jisr ed Damieh and thereby join the 4th Army. Meanwhile, Chaytor's cavalry was pushing north through the Jordan Valley to the east. East of the Jordan, the 2nd Light Horse Brigade led the advance on Shunet Nimrin and Derbasi, while the 1st Light Horse Brigade advanced on Umm esh Shert. Al-Salt , where the headquarters of the Turkish 4th Army was located, was occupied.
consequences
The 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade of the Desert Mounted Corps occupied the port of Haifa on September 23. As a result of the withdrawal of the Ottoman 4th Army, Chaytor's Force was able to cross the Jordan almost without a fight and occupy Amman by September 25th . Arab camel and rider troops succeeded in taking Darʿā in the eastern section on September 27th , resulting in severe massacres by irregular Arab troops against the already disbanding Ottoman units during the persecution battles. The Arab troops of Faisal and Chauvel's cavalry marched into the unstoppable Damascus on October 1st .
Meanwhile, the Indian 3rd (Lahore) Division advanced along the coast towards Beirut , the 7th (Meerut) Division came across Baalbek through the Bekaa Valley . Beirut fell on October 8, Tripoli on October 18, and from October 25 to 31, the British and Arabs attacked the newly organized line of defense of the Turkish 7th Army near Aleppo . The troops under Mustafa Kemal Pascha had regained a certain combat strength and repelled several enemy attacks. The Ottoman 2nd Army under Nehad Pascha organized new support in the Adana area . Before the Battle of Cilicia opened, the new Ottoman government under Ahmed İzzet Pasha concluded the Mudros armistice on October 30th .
literature
- Cyril Falls : Armageddon, 1918: The Final Palestinian Campaign of World War I , University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 2003, ISBN 9780812218619
- Cyril Falls: History of the Great War: Military Operations, Egypt & Palestine , Volume 2, From June 1917 to the End of the War Part II 1930
- Matthew Hughes: Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East 1917-1919 , Frank Cass Publishers, Abingdon 1999, ISBN 0-7146-4920-1 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150109153754/http://orbat.com/site/history/open4/uk_eygptianexpeditionaryforce1918.pdf
