The Battle of Megiddo was the decisive final Allied offensive in Palestine, breaking Ottoman military power and accelerating the end of World War I in the Middle East.
Key Facts
- Dates of battle
- 19–25 September 1918
- Allied force
- Egyptian Expeditionary Force (three corps)
- Ottoman force
- Yildirim Army Group (three armies)
- Damascus captured
- 1 October 1918
- Armistice signed
- Armistice of Mudros, ending Allied-Ottoman hostilities
- Result
- Tens of thousands of prisoners and miles of territory captured
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
By September 1918, the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group held defensive lines across Palestine, but its forces were overstretched and vulnerable. Forces of the Arab Revolt were disrupting Ottoman lines of communication, weakening coordination and distracting Ottoman attention from the coast, creating conditions ripe for a major Allied breakthrough.
British General Edmund Allenby launched a coordinated offensive beginning 19 September 1918. Infantry divisions broke through Ottoman coastal defenses at Sharon using creeping barrages, while the Desert Mounted Corps exploited the breach to encircle Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies in the Judean Hills. A simultaneous assault at Nablus and attacks on the Fourth Army east of the Jordan completed the destruction of organized Ottoman resistance in Palestine.
The battle resulted in the capture of tens of thousands of Ottoman prisoners and vast swaths of territory. Allied forces took Daraa on 27 September and Damascus on 1 October. Operations were still ongoing near Aleppo when the Armistice of Mudros was signed, ending hostilities between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire and effectively concluding the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
General Edmund Allenby.
Side B
1 belligerent