War chronicle · March–December · Gaza, Palestine
The Palestine Campaign
The Allies invade Palestine, and capture Jerusalem.
The Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) draws the Sinai Campaign to a successful close in January – thanks to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade capturing the last Ottoman outpost in a daring raid.
Buoyed, the British Government orders the EEF to keep going and invade Ottoman-controlled Palestine. The EEF’s first two attempts to capture Gaza – the gateway to southern Palestine – are defeated in March and April with heavy losses.
Ottoman defences at Gaza and the surrounding countryside begin to resemble the trenches of the Western Front. Palestine risks becoming another deadlocked theatre of war.
Then the EEF’s new commander, General Edmund Allenby, orchestrates a stunning victory in the Third Battle of Gaza (31 October–7 November). Retreating Ottoman forces try to make a stand in front of Jerusalem. But the EEF captures the holy city before its advance finally runs out of steam in late December.
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