Key Facts
- Dates
- 19–25 September 1918
- Part of
- Battle of Megiddo, Sinai and Palestine Campaign
- Attacking formation
- EEF XXI Corps and French Détachement
- Defending formation
- Yildirim Army Group Eighth Army XXII Corps
- Cavalry divisions committed
- 3 (4th, 5th, Australian Mounted)
Strategic Narrative Overview
On 19 September 1918 a Western Front-style artillery bombardment opened the assault. XXI Corps infantry, including the 60th, 3rd (Lahore), 7th (Meerut), and 75th Divisions, breached Ottoman trench lines at Tulkarm and Tabsor. A gap was created, allowing the Desert Mounted Corps—led by the 5th and 4th Cavalry Divisions with the Australian Mounted Division—to ride north through the Plain of Sharon, cross the Mount Carmel Range, and seize the Esdraelon Plain by 20 September.
01 / The Origins
By mid-1918 the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group held a defensive line in Palestine stretching from the Mediterranean coast east into the Judean Hills. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Allenby planned a decisive offensive—Battle of Megiddo—to shatter Ottoman resistance in the final months of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I, coordinating simultaneous infantry and cavalry operations across a wide front.
03 / The Outcome
Allied cavalry captured Afulah, Beisan, and Jenin, severing Ottoman lines of communication and trapping defending forces. The Yildirim Army Group headquarters at Nazareth was overrun, forcing commander Otto Liman von Sanders to flee. Haifa and Acre fell shortly after. The collapse of the Eighth Army's front opened the way for the broader encirclement of Ottoman forces and contributed directly to the Ottoman armistice in October 1918.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
3 belligerents
Side B
2 belligerents
Otto Liman von Sanders.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.