Battle between British and Ottoman forces in 1917
The Third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of 1–2 November 1917 between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I and came after the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the Battle of Beersheba had ended the Stalemate in Southern Palestine. The fighting occurred at the beginning of the Southern Palestine Offensive, and, together with attacks on Hareira and Sheria on 6–7 November and the continuing Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, which had been launched by General Edmund Allenby on 1 November, it eventually broke the Gaza-to-Beersheba line defended by the Yildirim Army Group. Despite having held this line since March 1917, the Ottoman Army was forced to evacuate Gaza and Tel el Khuweilfe during the night of 6–7 November. Only Sheria held out for most of 7 November before it too was captured.
Following British defeats at the First and Second battles of Gaza in March and April 1917, Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode commanding the EEF's Eastern Force and Kress von Kressenstein's Ottoman Empire force had each adopted a defensive posture and a stalemate had developed in Southern Palestine. Entrenched defences approximately on the lines held at the end of the second battle were strengthened, and both sides undertook regular mounted reconnaissances into the open eastern flank. In late June, Allenby replaced General Archibald Murray as commander of the EEF, which he quickly reorganised. At about the same time, the Ottoman Fourth Army was also restructured. As the stalemate continued in terrible conditions through the summer, reinforcements began to arrive to replace the large number of casualties suffered by the EEF during the previous fighting for Gaza, while several additional divisions also arrived. The Ottoman defenders were also reinforced at this time, and both sides carried out training while manning the front lines and monitoring the open eastern flank. By mid-October, as the Battle of Passchendaele continued on the Western Front, the last of the British reinforcements arrived as Allenby's preparations to commence a campaign of manoeuvre neared completion.
Prior to the Second Battle of Gaza, the town had been developed into a strong modern fortress, with entrenchments, wire entanglements and a glacis on its south and south–eastern edges. A series of field works, mutually supported by artillery, machine guns and rifles, extended from Gaza eastwards to within of Beersheba. Beginning on 27 October, the EEF began a heavy and almost continuous bombardment of Gaza. During this time, the EEF's XXI Corps, holding the Gaza section of the line, had been mostly passive until the night of 1/2 November, when a series of determined night-time assaults were mounted against the Gaza defences. Yet these attacks were only partially successful due to the strength of the garrison. The bombardment of Gaza intensified on 6 November and during the night of 6/7 November successful attacks were launched on several trench systems. On the morning of 7 November, Gaza was found to have been evacuated during the night. The Gaza to Beersheba line subsequently collapsed and the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies were forced into retreat. Following several battles during the pursuit, the EEF captured Jerusalem on 9 December 1917.
Background.
Gaza was "a strong modern fortress, well entrenched and wired, with good observation and a glacis on its southern and south–eastern face." These defences which were too strong for a daytime attack were extended eastwards by a series of "field works" to from Beersheba. These fortifications were between apart, each mutually supported by fire from artillery, machine guns and rifles.
As the troops of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) began to concentrate in preparation for their attacks, they left their camps standing to deceive German and Ottoman aerial reconnaissances. The EEF assumed their opponents thought there were still six infantry divisions in the Gaza area and one in the eastern sector towards Beersheba. However, according to Falls, "[t]here is evidence that the [Yildirim Army Group] were fairly accurately informed of the British dispositions." On 28 October, they knew the camps at Khan Yunis and Rafa were empty and accurately placed three infantry divisions east of the Wadi Ghuzzee with a fourth, the 10th (Irish) Division approaching the wadi. They estimated more cavalry at Asluj and Khalasa than was actually there.
The loss of Beersheba on 31 October stunned the Yildirim Army Group commander and staff. The Beersheba garrison withdrew either to the Ottoman defences around Tel es Sheria or northwards to Tel el Khuweilfe to defend the Hebron road. Here a considerable force, including all available reserve units, was deployed in the Kuweilfeh area to stop a threatened advance up the Hebron road to Jerusalem about to the north. According to Powles, " ... the Turkish line had been thrown back on its left, but not broken." The remainder of the Ottoman line stretching westward to the Mediterranean coast continued to be strongly defended, particularly at Hareira, Sharia and Gaza, but the loss of Beersheba had placed EEF mounted units across the Beersheba to Hebron and Jerusalem road, and three Eighth Army infantry battalions were sent by the German General Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein to reinforce the Ottoman troops fighting at Khuweilfe to protect the road. They established a new defensive line north of Beersheba, and the 19th Division was sent from the XXII Corps defending Gaza to reinforce the new line at Ebuhof. However, the objective of the EEF advance north of Beersheba was to separate the Ottoman forces supplied by the roads and railways from Ramleh on the maritime plain from those supplied by the motor road from Jerusalem north of Beersheba. Such an advance would also place the EEF infantry corps in a position to begin to "roll up" the Ottoman flank.
Prelude.
The EEF controlled the coastal sea lanes, and the Intelligence Service spread rumours about possible sea landings in the rear of Gaza. Ships were seen taking soundings off the coast and a fleet of small boats was located near Deir el Belah. During the late afternoon of 1 November, an embarkation of members of the Egyptian Labour Corps onto motor launches, trawlers and tugs at Deir el Belah was staged as a feint, giving the appearance of continuing into the night. The next morning, two trawlers appeared off the mouth of the Wadi el Hesi north of Gaza. To add to the confusion, between the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October and the main attacks at the Battle of Hareira and Sheria beginning on 6 November, the Ottoman left flank north of Beersheba was being fiercely contested during the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe for control of the road to Hebron and Jerusalem. According to Wavell, "an assault on a portion of the Gaza defences was to be made by the XXI Corps." The date of this attack, which was primarily a feint, was scheduled for between 24 and 48 hours before the attack on Sheria.
Meanwhile, preparations for the main attacks on the Gaza line at Hareira and Sharia, began on 1 November when the 53rd (Welsh) Division, with the Imperial Camel Brigade on the right, advanced northwards to occupy a line to the west without opposition. This placed the infantry in a position from which they could cover the right flank of the proposed attack by the XX Corps on Hareira and Sheria.
Defenders.
After the second battle for Gaza in April 1917, Kress von Kressenstein — commander of the victorious 3rd, 16th and 53rd Divisions—was reinforced by the 7th and 54th Divisions. The 7th Infantry Division (later part of the Eighth Army) had experienced four months of strategic movement, similar to that of the 54th Division. Having arrived at Jerusalem, in early May the 20th Infantry Regiment began company-level training. After moving to Beersheba where they remained in reserve, they participated in theatre-specific training until late June, when they went into the front line. Training in fortification, reconnaissance, and counter–reconnaissance continued. The 21st Infantry Regiment received similar training, and on 6 August the regimental colours of the 20th and 21st Infantry Regiments were awarded military medals for service in the Gallipoli Campaign. At Beersheba on 28 June, the 7th Infantry Division inactivated the fourth company of each infantry battalion, before activating a machine gun company armed with light machine guns, in every infantry battalion on 10 August. Every Ottoman infantry division in Palestine repeated this reorganisation, with one quarter of their rifle strength being replaced by light machine guns, considerably increasing their fire power and strengthening their offensive and defensive capabilities. Following orders from von Kressenstein commanding the Gaza to Beersheba line defences, assault detachments equivalent to the German "Stosstruppen" (Stormtroopers) were formed. The 7th Division activated an assault detachment of fifty men on 17 July 1917.
The Yildirim Army Group under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Falkenhayn was responsible for the defence of Palestine. On the western flank the Ottoman Eighth Army was composed of the XXII Corps' 3rd and 53rd Divisions defending Gaza and the XX Corps' 26th and 54th Divisions defending the line stretching to the east of Gaza, under the command of von Kressenstein. The defence of Gaza was the responsibility of XXII Corps, which had two divisions in the front line (53rd, 3rd from west to east) and two in reserve (7th and 19th). The XXII Corps' four regiments had 4,500 rifles, which were reinforced by two divisions to bring the total to 8,000 defenders, deployed thus:
These three divisions were supported by the 116 guns of the Ottoman XXII Corps artillery, six large naval guns and several batteries of 150 mm howitzers.
On the left of the XX Corps the Ottoman Seventh Army defended Beersheba, under the command of Fevzi Pasa.
Attackers.
The EEF comprised 200,000 men including Arab workers, 46,000 horses, 20,000 camels, more than 15,000 mules and donkeys, and hundreds of artillery pieces. The fighting strength of the EEF was 100,189:
*52nd (Lowland) Division (veteran of the First and Second Battles of Gaza)
*54th (East Anglian) Division (veteran of the First and Second Battles of Gaza)
*75th Division
* Composite Force of almost a division, consisting of the 25th Indian Infantry Brigade, a West Indian battalion, the French "Détachement français de Palestine" and the Italian "Distaccamento italiano di Palestina", was camped east of the 75th Division.
*Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade 1,000 sabres
*XXI Corps Cavalry Regiment, also known as the Composite Regiment, consisted of one squadron each from the Royal Glasgow Yeomanry, the Duke of Lancaster Yeomanry, and the 1/1st Hertfordshire Yeomanry.
The majority of General Edmund Allenby's infantry were Territorial divisions, mobilised at the outbreak of the war. Most had fought the Ottoman Army before. During the Gallipoli Campaign, the 52nd (Lowland) Division fought at Cape Helles, the 53rd (Welsh) Division and the 54th (East Anglian) Division fought at Suvla Bay, while the 60th (London) Division had served on the Western Front and on the Salonika front. The recently formed 74th (Yeomanry) Division was raised from eighteen under-strength yeomanry regiments, all of which had fought dismounted at Gallipoli. The 10th (Irish) Division was a New Army (K1) division, and had also fought at Suvla Bay and at Salonika. All three of the brigades of the Anzac Mounted Division and the two light horse brigades of the Australian Mounted Division had also fought at Gallipoli.
Army Wing aircraft were assigned to carry out strategic reconnaissances, to report on Ottoman reserves well behind their lines, to carry out daily photography, and to conduct air raids. Fighter and bombing squadrons were established for these purposes while the Corps Squadrons were attached to the two infantry corps carried out artillery and contact patrols, along with tactical reconnaissance.
Sherifial Forces.
In July, Allenby was hopeful that T. E. Lawrence and the Sherifial Arab force could support a September attack by the EEF, recognising that harvests were being collected before that time, and that after the end of September they normally moved to camel-grazing lands in the Syrian desert. He wrote, "They, naturally, won't and can't do much unless I move; and it is not much use their destroying the Turks' communications unless I take immediate advantage of such destruction ... If I bring them into the fight and do not make progress myself, this will also expose them to retaliation—which to some tribes, such as the Druzes, S. of Damascus, may mean annihilation." The EEF encouraged the Bedouin to defect:
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