Key Facts
- Date
- 1 October 1918
- Campaign
- Sinai and Palestine Campaign, World War I
- Preceding victory
- Battle of Megiddo (September 1918)
- Armies neutralised
- Ottoman Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies
- Pursuit start
- 26 September 1918 from Irbid
Strategic Narrative Overview
The pursuit began on 26 September as the 4th Cavalry Division attacked rearguards at Irbid and Er Remta, while Prince Feisal's Sharifian Army seized Deraa on 27 September. The Australian Mounted Division cleared rearguards along the main road through Quneitra, Sa'sa', and the Barada Gorge. The 5th Cavalry Division attacked at Kiswe on 30 September. By the morning of 1 October, Allied forces had encircled Damascus.
01 / The Origins
Following the decisive Egyptian Expeditionary Force victory at the Battle of Megiddo in late September 1918, the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies were shattered at Tulkarm and Tabsor, forcing the Fourth Army east of the Jordan to retreat from Amman. General Allenby ordered the Desert Mounted Corps to exploit the breakthrough and pursue the remnants of three broken Ottoman armies northward toward Damascus.
03 / The Outcome
Faced with encirclement by Indian British troops under Barrow, Chauvel's Desert Mounted Corps, and Arab forces under Feisal and Sharif Nasir, the German and Turkish garrison surrendered swiftly. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade marched through the city to cut the road to Homs. The fall of Damascus triggered immediate political manoeuvring among British, French, and Sharifian Arab representatives over control of Syria.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
3 belligerents
General Edmund Allenby, Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel, General George Barrow, Prince Feisal, Sharif Nasir of Medina.
Side B
2 belligerents
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.