The Battle of Magdhaba took place on 23 December 1916 during the Defence of Egypt section of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War. The attack by the Anzac Mounted Division took place against an entrenched Ottoman Army garrison to the south and east of Bir Lahfan in the Sinai desert, some 18–25 miles (29–40 km) inland from the Mediterranean coast. This Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory against the Ottoman Empire garrison also secured the town of El Arish after the Ottoman garrison withdrew.
The 42nd Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force (TF), originally as the East Lancashire Division, and was redesignated as the 42nd Division on 25 May 1915. It was the first TF division to be sent overseas during World War I. The division fought at Gallipoli, in the Sinai desert and on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Disbanded after the war, it was reformed in the Territorial Army (TA), in World War II it served as the 42nd Infantry Division with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and fought in Belgium and France before being evacuated at Dunkirk. The division was later reformed in the United Kingdom and, in November 1941, was converted into the 42nd Armoured Division, which was disbanded in October 1943 without serving overseas. A 2nd Line duplicate formation, the 66th Division, was created when the Territorials were doubled in both world wars.
The Second Battle of Gaza was fought between 17 and 19 April 1917, following the defeat of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) at the First Battle of Gaza in March, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Gaza was defended by the strongly entrenched Ottoman Army garrison, which had been reinforced after the first battle by substantial forces. They manned the town's defences and a line of strong redoubts which extended eastwards along the road from Gaza to Beersheba. The defenders were attacked by Eastern Force's three infantry divisions, supported by two mounted divisions, but the strength of the defenders, their entrenchments, and supporting artillery decimated the attackers.
The XXI Corps was an Army Corps of the British Army during World War I. The Corps was formed in Egypt in June 1917 under the command of Lieutenant General Edward Bulfin. It formed part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), that served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign.
The Battle of Katia, also known as the Affair of Qatia by the British, was an engagement fought east of the Suez Canal and north of El Ferdan Station, in the vicinity of Katia and Oghratina, on 23 April 1916 during the Defence of the Suez Canal Campaign of World War I. An Ottoman force led by the German General Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein made a surprise attack on three and a half squadrons of the British 5th Mounted Brigade, which was widely scattered to the east of Romani. The mounted brigade had been ordered to the area to protect the new railway and water pipeline being built from Kantara on the Suez Canal, as this infrastructure extended out past the Canal's zone of defences into the Sinai Peninsula towards Romani. Kress Von Kressenstein's attack was completely successful, decimating the equivalent of little more than a regiment. On the same day, an associated Ottoman attack on Duidar, very close to the Suez Canal, failed when it met with strong British opposition.
The 15th Cavalry Brigade was a brigade-sized formation that served alongside British Empire forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, during World War I. Originally called the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade it was formed from Imperial Service Troops provided by the Indian Princely States of Hyderabad, Mysore, Patiala, Alwar and Jodhpur, which each provided a regiment of lancers. A maximum of three regiments served in the brigade at any one time. The states of Bhavnagar, Kashmir, Kathiawar and Idar provided smaller detachments for the brigade, which was at times reinforced by other British Empire regiments and artillery batteries when on operations.
Chaytor's Force named after its commander, Major General Edward Chaytor, was a composite division-sized force which served in the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. The force of 11,000 men, consisted of a division headquarters, three mounted and one infantry brigades, four independent infantry battalions and four artillery batteries and was detached from the Desert Mounted Corps for deception operations.
The Battle of Aleppo was fought on 25 October 1918, when Prince Feisal's Sherifial Forces captured the city during the Pursuit to Haritan from Damascus, in the last days of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War.
The Charge at Haritan occurred on 26 October 1918 at the end of the Pursuit to Haritan during the final stages of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Two regiments of the 15th Cavalry Brigade, 5th Cavalry Division, charged into the retreating remnant column of the Ottoman Turkish Army's Yildirim Army Group. Subsequently, six squadrons of the same brigade charged into a Turkish rearguard position but were counterattacked and forced to retreat.
The Force in Egypt was a British Army formation established in August 1914 to administer garrisoning armed forces in Egypt at the beginning of the First World War. The force had the objective of protecting the Suez Canal and was originally commanded by Major General Julian Byng, but he was replaced by General J. Maxwell, who took command on 8 September 1914. Initially, the main threat to the Suez came from Germany and throughout the early months several of the force's elements were sent to Europe to take part in the fighting on the Western Front. On 5 November 1914, Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire, after which the Force in Egypt faced a direct threat from Ottoman forces, which was realised in February 1915 with a raid on the Suez Canal. This threat remained until 1916 when the British forces went on the offensive.
The Stalemate in Southern Palestine was a six month standoff between the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the Ottoman Army in World War I. The two hostile forces faced each other along the Gaza to Beersheba line during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, with neither side able to force its opponent to withdraw. The stalemate began in April 1917 with the defeat of the EEF by the Ottoman Army at the Second Battle of Gaza and lasted until the EEF offensive began with the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917.
The Battle of Bir el Abd or the Abd well was fought between the forces of the British Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War.
IV Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery , along with its sister III Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery (T.F.), was a Royal Horse Artillery brigade of the Territorial Force that was formed in Egypt in April 1916 for the ANZAC Mounted Division.
XVIII Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery was a Royal Horse Artillery brigade of the Territorial Force that was formed by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine in July 1917 for the ANZAC Mounted Division. It served with the division thereafter in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and was broken up after the end of World War I.
XIX Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery was a Royal Horse Artillery brigade of the Territorial Force that was formed by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in Palestine in January 1917 for the Imperial Mounted Division. It served with the division thereafter in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and was broken up after the end of World War I.
The Ayrshire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Ayrshire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign with the ANZAC Mounted Division from 1916 to 1918. It was disembodied after the end of the war and was not reconstituted in the post-war Territorial Force.
The Inverness-shire Royal Horse Artillery was a Territorial Force Royal Horse Artillery battery that was formed in Inverness-shire in 1908. It saw active service during the First World War in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign with the ANZAC Mounted Division from 1916 to 1918. A second line battery, 2/1st Inverness-shire RHA, served in the United Kingdom throughout the war. It was disembodied after the end of the war and was reconstituted as a Royal Field Artillery battery in 1920.
Bir al-Abed is one of the cities of North Sinai in the north east of Egypt. It is the capital of Bir al-Abd Markaz, located on the international coastal road on the shores of Lake Bardawil.
