Capture of Jisr ed Damieh cut the main Ottoman retreat route from the Judean Hills, enabling Chaytor's Force to advance and seize Es Salt and Amman.
Key Facts
- Date
- 22 September 1918
- Conflict
- Battle of Nablus, Battle of Megiddo
- Commanding force
- Meldrum's Force (Chaytor's Force)
- Commander
- Brigadier-General William Meldrum
- Strategic result
- Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies' retreat cut off
- Follow-on operations
- Capture of Es Salt and Second Battle of Amman
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the Battle of Megiddo, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force launched its main assault along the Mediterranean coast and Judean Hills. As the breakthrough at Tulkarm and Tabsor succeeded, the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies were forced to retreat eastward through the Judean Hills toward the Jordan River crossing at Jisr ed Damieh, their most direct escape route.
On 22 September 1918, Meldrum's Force, a component of Chaytor's Force, attacked and captured the Jisr ed Damieh bridge over the Jordan River while Ottoman units from the Seventh and Eighth Armies were actively crossing it. The assault seized the bridge and severed the primary Ottoman line of retreat from the Judean Hills.
With the bridge captured, Chaytor's Force advanced along the Nablus–Es Salt road, taking Es Salt and continuing to victory at the Second Battle of Amman. Approximately half of the Ottoman Fourth Army was captured at Amman and Ziza, and the remnants retreated in disarray toward Damascus, where most were subsequently taken prisoner.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Brigadier-General William Meldrum, General Edmund Allenby.
Side B
1 belligerent