An Ottoman surprise attack destroyed much of a British mounted brigade near the Suez Canal, prompting a major buildup that led to the Battle of Romani.
Key Facts
- Date
- 23 April 1916
- Campaign
- Defence of the Suez Canal Campaign, WWI
- British force attacked
- Three and a half squadrons, 5th Mounted Brigade
- Ottoman commander
- Gen. Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein
- Associated attack
- Ottoman attack on Duidar failed same day
- Imperial reinforcement
- 2nd Light Horse, NZ Mounted Rifles, 1st Light Horse Brigades sent forward
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Since the First Suez Offensive of early 1915, Ottoman forces under German commander Kress von Kressenstein had remained active east of the Suez Canal. The British were extending a railway and water pipeline from Kantara through the Sinai toward Romani, and the scattered 5th Mounted Brigade had been deployed to protect this exposed infrastructure.
On 23 April 1916, Kress von Kressenstein led an Ottoman force in a surprise attack on three and a half widely dispersed squadrons of the British 5th Mounted Brigade near Katia and Oghratina. The attack was entirely successful, decimating the equivalent of a regiment. A simultaneous Ottoman assault on Duidar, closer to the Canal, was repulsed by strong British resistance.
The British Imperial response was to sharply increase forces in the area, dispatching the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, and later the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade and the 52nd (Lowland) Division to Katia and Romani. This buildup set the stage for the larger Battle of Romani in August 1916, fought over much of the same ground.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein.