Palestine
Part III: Farewell to Palestine and Syria

The Yıldırım Army Group was now consisting of three armies: the Fourth, the Seventh and  the Eighth. However their total manpower was less than the normal size of a single army. Only the Seventh Army was to be deployed in Syria and it would be assembled in Aleppo. The XV Corps arrived from Galicia and a new III Corps was established. There were problems with the entrainment of forces to Aleppo and the explosion at the Haydarpaşa train station in Istanbul on 6 September 1917 was a big shock, because it blew up large quantities of supplies needed by the Yıldırım Army Group.

The total strength of the Seventh Army was 18,350 men, 7,724 animals, 14,839 rifles and 74 artillery pieces. The Eighth Army had only 6,572 men and the Fourth Army was nothing but a shadow.

The British had superior artillery plus naval support whereas the Turks held a supremely defensible position. Critically the British were superior in both quantity and quality of mounted troops. Seven infantry divisions plus a Light Horse unit were assembled, a total of 88,000 men. Meanwhile General Allenby was tasked by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George with the capture of Jerusalem (TR: Kudüs) by Christmas 1917. In order to ensure this, he needed first to break the Turkish line at Gaza-Beersheba and he would use the plans formulated by General Chetwode following the failure of the two frontal assaults against Gaza.  

The Turkish defences were formidable in the vicinity of Gaza but in the east there was a wide gap between the last redoubt and the Beersheba fortifications. The Turks trusted that the lack of reliable water in this region, other than at the wells in Beersheba, would limit British operations to mounted raids. In Gaza, there was the Turkish Eighth Amy, commanded by Colonel von Kress, composed of the XX Corps and the XXII Corps. The Seventh Army, commanded by Fevzi Paşa, held Beersheba. This army was composed of the III Corps, commanded by Colonel Ismet Bey, and the 16th Division. 19th and 24th Divisions were kept in reserve. The total manpower at Beersheba was only 3,500 men, 44 machine guns and 4 batteries.

The Third Battle of Gaza, also referred to as the Battle of Beersheba, was initiated early on the morning of 31 October 1917. General Allenby’s attack, carried out by two infantry divisions of the XX Corps and two mounted divisions of the Desert Mounted Corps (Anzac Mounted Division and Australian Mounted Division) caught the Turks by surprise. The infantry attack quickly reached all its initial objectives and so was in position for the main assault with the Australian light horse and New Zealanders.

The mounted attack began with attempts to capture Turkish outposts to the east of Beersheba. The advance of the Anzac Mounted Division was held up at the Tel-es-Saba redoubt and by the time it was captured the attack was running many hours behind schedule. The Australian 4th and 12th Light Horse Brigades were ordered to launch the charge on Beersheba.

The Turkish defenders opened fire from long range but it was ineffective against the widely spaced Australian horsemen and the charge was not checked. Machine guns that opened fire were quickly destroyed by a battery of horse artillery. The later waves continued through the town where the charge was finally halted by the Turks, however resistance in the town soon collapsed and Beersheba fell. Before abandoning the town, they managed to destroy only 2 out of 17 water wells. 38 Turkish officers and 700 men were taken prisoner, whereas 31 Australians were killed during the charge.

After the fall of Beersheba, the Turkish defensive line began to collapse. The first action at Gaza took place before dawn on 2 November when British forces attacked the Turkish trench system in the sand dunes between Gaza and the sea. Falkenhayn realised that the tactical situation was lost and ordered a fighting withdrawal. Both Gaza and Tel-es-Sharia fell on 7 November. Two days later, the Turkish Eight Army was driven back 20 kilometers. The headquarters of the Yıldırım Army Group retired to Jerusalem and the Seventh Army’s headquarters moved to Bethlehem (TR: Beytülahim).

Jerusalem Falling
 
General Allenby continued his offensive driving the Eighth Army along the coast. The Seventh Army was worried about a flanking attack and therefore decided to withdraw. The British were heading towards the holy city of Jerusalem. On 13 November 1917, they won the battle that took place at El-Mughar Ridge, where the Haifa-Jerusalem line branches to Beersheba.

Erich von Falkenhayn, commander of the Turkish forces in Palestine had recently received reinforcements and was quickly planning to launch a counter offensive against Allenby. Falkenhayn and Fevzi Paşa lost little time in launching attacks with the Seventh Army, succeeding in slowing the British advance to some extent.  

British attack on Jerusalem began on 8 December. The city was defended by the XX Corps, commanded by Ali Fuad Paşa. Falkenhayn did not send reinforcements to Jerusalem because he did not want the relics and the holy places damaged because of severe fighting. The British assault took two forms: a central thrust from Nebi-Samweil, a commanding series of heights some 13 kilometers to the west; and a secondary attack south at Bethlehem.

Jerusalem fell after a single day's fighting, with the Turkish morale having plummeted in the face of continuous British success combined with the failure of Turkish counterattacks. General Allenby entered the city on foot on 11 December 1917. He placed the city under martial law, and posted guards at several points within the city and in Bethlehem to protect sites held sacred by the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions.

After withdrawing from Jerusalem, Ali Fuad Paşa sent a cable to Cemal Paşa: “Since my first day as the commander of the defense of Jerusalem, I did not receive any support, except one single cavalry regiment, from the Yıldırım Army Group. The British, who  benefited from the fatigue of my poor soldiers who had to fight at the first line without having an opportunity to rest, invaded the beautiful town of Jerusalem. I believe that the responsibility of this disaster belongs completely to Falkenhayn Paşa!”

Falkenhayn put the blame on Von Kressenstein and his chief of staff, Colonel Refet Bey. He accused them with ‘cowardice’. Refet Bey managed to keep his post thanks to Cemal’s intervention. Von Kress was dismissed and later replaced by Brigadier General Cevat Paşa.
 
In the wake of Allenby's success and due to torrential rainstorms in the region, the British War Office postponed operations in Mesopotamia in preparation for a renewed offensive in Palestine. For Turks, Jerusalem was gone and so was the prestige in the region. Between 31 October and 31 December 1917, the Yıldırım Army Group lost 25, 337 men in casualties, 3,540 of them dead. Allenby had lost about 18,000 men.

Battles of Jordan
 
Dissatisfaction with the advice and command of General Falkenhayn was growing. His inability had resulted in the loss of the Gaza-Beersheba line. His refusal to send reinforcements had resulted in the loss of Jerusalem. In addition, he was not allowing Turkish staff officers to take part in planning processes. On 6 February 1918, the first assistant chief of staff from the German High Command, General Von Seeckt, visited Falkenhayn’s headquarters and came away disappointed. Enver Paşa was losing his patience too. On 24 February 1918, he replaced Falkenhayn with General Liman von Sanders.

In his memoirs, General von Sanders described the conditions of Turkish soldiers at the time when he took the command of the Yıldırım Army Group: “Soldiers do not have summer uniforms and suitable underwear. They simply wrap their naked bodies with worn-out pieces of old clothes. The temperature is 55 degrees out there. Most of the soldiers wrap their feet with pieces of clothes. Sandals are found rare, let alone proper boots. Even battalion commanders walk around in sandals. The terrain is desert and in some places rocky.”

After a 5 day long trip from Istanbul, Liman Paşa arrived in Nazareth, where the headquarters of the Yıldırım Army Group was located, at Hotel Casanova. On 9 March 1918, the British launched another offensive towards Nablus. Three days of intense fighting was followed by a short period of silence and on 21 March, the British launched a new attack breaking through the Jordan River (also known as River of Şeria in Turkish) line in 5 days.

By 28 March, British forces were already at the outskirts of the city of Amman. However they had huge problems with transportation. The roads were all damaged and slippery because of the heavy rainfall. It was hardly possible to move the artillery guns under such conditions.

Meanwhile the city was defended by the 48th Division, which resisted well. Facing strong resistance, experiencing logistic problems and suffering from a Turkish counterattack, Allenby decided to withdraw on 31 March. It has to be noted, that during this phase of the war, and also later phases of the Palestinian campaign, German officers and troops fought with great dedication along with their Turkish comrades.

On 30 April, the British stroke back, but this time the Turks were reinforced with the 24th Division, commanded by German Colonel Boehme, and the 3rd Cavalry Division, commanded by Colonel Esat Bey. Turkish counterattacks between 2 and 4 May brought the British offensive to a quick termination.

Turkish units were getting weaker and weaker. For example, as of May 1918, two regiments of the 24th Division had only 150 men each. On 15 June, Enver Paşa cabled General von Sanders, informing him that the German High Command is considering to withdraw the German units from Palestine and deploy them to Caucasus. Liman Paşa said that he would prefer to resign instead of leaving Palestine. However he could prevent a group of German commanders, including Von Kressenstein, and the German Fighter Battalion to be sent to Tbilisi  (TR: Tiflis) in Georgia.

As of mid-1918, the Yıldırım Army Group disposed 40,598 men, 19,819 rifles, 273 light and 696 heavy machine guns. Allenby had 56,000 men, 11,000 cavalry and 552 artillery pieces.

Battle of Nablus
 
On the morning of 19 September, at 5:50 AM, General Allenby launched a major offensive, which started with heavy artillery fire pounding the units of the Eighth Army. Within only one hour the British had broken through the Turkish defenses. The 7th Division and two regiments from the 20th Division collapsed without even having contact with the British infantry. By 10 am two British cavalry divisions were riding towards the Turkish rear. By 20 September, the British cavalry captured Nazareth. The XXII Corps was destroyed.

Mustafa Kemal Paşa had returned to his post as the commander of the Seventh Army on 1 September. His forces retired towards the River of Jordan. Between 21-23 September, the III Corps fought a gallant rear guard action from Tubas to the river, buying enough time for the retreating Turkish troops.

The great coastal cities of Haifa and Accra fell by 25 September. So did Megiddo. This was a huge success for the British cavalry. Two days later, Allenby’s forces entered Syria and the Battle of Nablus was over.

Why did the Turkish forces melt away so quickly? Erickson gives three explanations: (a) The terrain was favourable for the attackers, (b) there was scope at the operational level for Allenby to shift corps-sized formations around the battlefield for deception and concentration, (c) the British Army had made mighty improvements in its tactical techniques at the lower battlefield level in 1917 and 1918.
 
Farewell to Syria
 
Allenby ordered his powerful cavalry to seize Damascus. The III Corps was supposed to defend the city, but it was completely worn down. Arabs were firing at Turkish troops in the city. Mustafa Kemal himself could hardly save his life. Damascus fell on 1 October 1918 and soon Beirut (TR: Beyrut) was occupied by the British.

The Eight Army had been destroyed and its headquarters was dissolved. On 16 October, the headquarters of the Fourth Army was encircled and destroyed in Homs. The 48th Division attempted to stop the British, but could not prevent the British army to enter Aleppo on 25 October. Syria was lost.

On 26 October, the headquarters of the Yıldırım Army Group was moved to the Anatolian town of Adana and 4 days later Liman von Sanders was recalled to Istanbul, leaving his post to Mustafa Kemal Paşa. With the remnants of the army, Mustafa Kemal established a defensive position at Iskenderun against the British. All the Ottoman territories in the Middle East were gone and now the only thing that had to be done was to protect the Turkish homeland of Anatolia.
 
The Yıldırım Army Group was dissolved on 7 November 1918.