War chronicle · March–October · Megiddo, Israel
The Ottoman defeat
The Ottomans fall as Britain wins its biggest victory of the war.
Sixty thousand troops from the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) are sent to the Western Front to counter the German spring offensives.
Left behind with the remaining EEF is the New Zealand Rarotongan Company, made up of 300 Cook Islanders. They have the dangerous job of bringing ammunition up to the front line.
Their comrades, the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, spend most of the year guarding the front line in the malaria-infested Jordan Valley. They take part in two attempted raids on Amman in March and May, but both fail.
By September, the EEF is ready to launch another big attack. The Battle of Megiddo (19–25 September) is the greatest British victory of the war. Three Ottoman armies are destroyed. Eighty thousand prisoners are taken. And Palestine is completely overrun.
Just one month later the EEF’s mounted troops, including the New Zealanders, have Turkey in their sights. The Ottomans, utterly defeated, call for an armistice.
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