The Structure of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force over the course of the First World War is shown below.
Canal Defences (General A. Murray)
No.1 Section, Headquarters Suez – IX Corps (January to March)
No.2 Section, Headquarters Ismailia – I Anzac Corps (January to March)
(incomplete)
No.3 Section, Headquarters Port Said – (Major General H.A. Lawrence)
Until almost the end of 1917, No. l Squadron, A.F.C., and No. 14 Squadron, R.F.C., were the sole flying units east of the Suez Canal. [8]
General Headquarters
General Headquarters
Headquarters of Administrative services and departments Army Signals, Work, Supplies and Transport, Railways, Ordnance, Remounts, Veterinary Services, Medical Services, Army Postal Services, Paymaster Inspector General of Communication and Levant Base
Divisional Troops
IX Corps GOC Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) F. J. Davies
42nd (East Lancashire) Division GOC Major General W. Douglas
Divisional Troops
3rd Dismounted Brigade (attached) GOC Lieutenant Colonel Lord Kensington (Acting)
54th (East Anglian) Division GOC Colonel (temp. Major General) S. W. Hare
Divisional Troops
20th Indian Brigade (attached) GOC Brigadier General H. D. Watson
29th Indian Brigade GOC Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) P. C. Palin
II Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (II ANZAC) GOC Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) A. J. Godley
4th Australian Division GOC Major General H. V. Cox
GOC Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) J. Monash
Divisional Troops
5th Australian Division GOC Colonel (temp Major General) J. W. McCay
Divisional Troops
11th (Northern) Division GOC Major General E. A. Fanshawe
Divisional Troops
No. 3 Section Canal Defences GOC etc Headquarters 52nd Division
52nd (Lowland) Division GOC Major General H. A. Lawrence
Divisional Troops
1st Dismounted Brigade (attached) GOC Temp Brigadier General Marquess of Tullibardine
Western Frontier Force GOC Major General W. E. Peyton
North Western Section GOC etc Headquarters 53rd Division
53rd (Welsh) Division GOC Colonel (temp. Major General) A. G. Dallas
Divisional Troops
4th Dismounted Brigade (attached) GOC Temp Brigadier General John Stewart-Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine
Provisional Infantry Brigade (less Headquarters)
17th Motor Machine Gun Battery No. 1 Armoured Train
South Western Section GOC Colonel (temp Brigadier General) H. W. Hodgson
General Headquarters Troops
Artillery
Engineers
Signal Service
ASC
Transport
Lines of Communication Defence Troops
Alexandria District
and Lines of Communications units of Infantry, Signal Service, Engineers, ASC, Medical Units, Ordnance Units, Veterinary Units and Postal Units. [10]
Eastern Frontier No. 1 Section
No. 2 Section
No. 2a Section
No. 3 Section
Western Frontier
Canal Defences No. 3 Section Headquarters Kantara (included Romani) (Major General H.A. Lawrence)
Force Defending Romani on 4 August
Force moved to Romani during 4 August and took part in the battle
Force moved to Romani during 4 August and took part in the battle on 5 August
Eastern Frontier Force, also known as Eastern Force, was formed in Cairo on 18 October 1916 with headquarters at Ismailia. The force was commanded by Lieutenant General Charles Dobell, who had commanded Western Frontier Force. [14] Eastern Force consisted of
Western Desert Force (Major General William Watson)
Desert Column Headquarters El Arish (Lieutenant General Sir Philip Chetwode)
Royal Flying Corps in Egypt in January 1917
By January 1917 there were three smaller commands directly under GHQ EEF.
Western Force
Alexandria District
Delta District
With the front line approaching Gaza, the defence of the Suez Canal was still part of Eastern Force but had been reduced to:
Northern Section Suez Canal
Southern Section Suez Canal
Desert Column (Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode)
Eastern Force (Lieutenant General Sir C. M. Dobell)
Desert Column (Lieutenant General P. Chetwode)
Artillery
General Headquarters
1st Garrison Battalion, Essex Regiment at Khartoum [47]
General Headquarters Commander in Chief Lieutenant General (temp. General) A. J. Murray
Eastern Force GOC Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) C. M. Dobell Brigadier General General Staff Brevet Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) G. P. Dawnay
52nd (Lowland) Division GOC Brevet Colonel (temp. Major General) W. E. B. Smith
53rd (Welsh) Division GOC Major General S. F. Mott
(troops same as April 1916 oob)
54th (East Anglian) Division GOC Colonel (temp. Major General) S. W. Hare
(troops same as April 1916 oob)
74th (Yeomanry) Division GOC Brevet Lieutenant Colonel (temp. Major General) E. S. Girdwood
Desert Column GOC Major General (temp. Lieutenant General) P. W. Chetwode
Divisional Troops
Northern Canal Section GOC Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) H. D. Watson commander of 20th Indian Brigade
Delta and Western Force GOC Brevet Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) H. G. Casson
Alexandria District GOC Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) R. C. Boyle
General Headquarters Troops
Southern Canal Section GOC Brevet Colonel (temp. Brigadier General) P. C. Palin in addition to GOC 29th Indian Brigade
Cyprus Detachment
and Lines of Communications controlled by GHQ including RFC "X" Aircraft Park (5th Wing), "X" Aircraft Depot for all Middle East units RFC, Engineers, Signal Service, ASC, Medical Units, Ordnance, Veterinary, Remounts and Postal Units. [48]
Desert Column was expanded to three divisions, commanded by Chauvel –
At the end of June 1917 General Allenby took command. At that time the Egyptian Expeditionary Force consisted of the British XX Corps and the British XXI Corps, under the command of Lieutenant Generals Philip Chetwode and Edward Stanislaus Bulfin, respectively, along with the Desert Mounted Corps commanded by Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel. The air component was the Palestine Brigade of the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) and the Australian Flying Corps.[ citation needed ]
XX Corps (Lieutenant General Sir R.W. Chetwode, Bart.)
XXI Corps (Lieutenant General Sir E.S. Bulfin)
Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir H. Chauvel)
On establishment in 1916 and 1917, the first two mounted divisions had been supplied with 18–pounder artillery guns. In September 1917 these guns were replaced with 13-pounders, making the divisions "even more capable", according to Erickson. [49] [51] [52]
Also in General Headquarters Troops were the
The force initially consisted mostly of British and Egyptian troops, but most of the former were sent to the Western Front in early 1918 to help repel Germany's Spring Offensive. In the meantime, new troops were then dispatched from India, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular who made up a large portion of the army. Though it was feared that mostly Muslim Indian troops might desert and join Ottoman Empire forces in the region (who had declared a jihad against the Allies early in the war), this fear proved unfounded, as the Indians fought valiantly on the front lines of most of the army's major engagements. The force also included a small contingent of French and Italian troops. (These were known as the Détachement Français de Palestine et de Syrie and Distaccamento Italiano di Palestina commanded by Colonel Gilles de Philpin de Piépape & Lieutenant Colonel Francesco D'Agostino respectively.) The forces of the Arab Revolt, led by Prince Feisal of Mecca, were also unofficially attached during Allenby's Damascus offensive.[ citation needed ]
The force's role evolved from a defense of Egypt to the invasion of Palestine which involved: the capture of Beersheba and Gaza in October–November 1917 (see Third Battle of Gaza), entering Jerusalem on 11 December 1917, and Allenby's successful campaign of 1918, resulting in the defeat of the Turks at Megiddo, and the capture of Damascus, Beirut, and Aleppo. The force's successes ultimately led to Turkey's exit from the war and the creation of the British Mandate of Palestine.[ citation needed ]
The Palestine Brigade RAF was reorganised at the end of 1917 or during the summer of 1918, as follows:
West of the Jordan
XX Corps (Lieutenant General Sir P. Chetwode)
XXI Corps (Lieutenant General Sir E. Bulfin)
Generally –
Desert Mounted Corps (Lieutenant General Sir H. Chauvel)
Chaytor's Force (Major General E.W.C. Chaytor)
This is the Operation Telic order of battle, which lists the British forces that took part in Operation Telic, including
The 9th (Scottish) Division, was an infantry division of the British Army during the First World War, one of the Kitchener's Army divisions raised from volunteers by Lord Kitchener to serve on the Western Front during the First World War.
The 11th (Northern) Division, was an infantry division of the British Army during the First World War, raised from men who had volunteered for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. The division fought in the Gallipoli Campaign and on the Western Front. The division's insignia was an ankh or ankhus.
The Australian Mounted Division originally formed as the Imperial Mounted Division in January 1917, was a mounted infantry, light horse and yeomanry division. The division was formed in Egypt, and along with the Anzac Mounted Division formed part of Desert Column, Egyptian Expeditionary Force in World War I. The division was originally made up of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade, the reconstituted 4th Light Horse Brigade, and two British yeomanry brigades; the 5th Mounted Brigade and 6th Mounted Brigade.
The 27th Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised during the Great War, formed in late 1914 by combining various Regular Army units that had been acting as garrisons about the British Empire. The division spent most of 1915 on the Western Front in France before moving to Salonika where it remained with the British Salonika Army for the duration of the war. In 1916 its commander Hurdis Ravenshaw was captured by an Austrian submarine whilst sailing to England. In 1918 in Salonika the division took part in the Battle of Doiran. It carried out occupation duties in the Caucasus in the post-war before being withdrawn from the region in 1919.
The Desert Mounted Corps was an army corps of the British Army during the First World War, of three mounted divisions renamed in August 1917 by General Edmund Allenby, from Desert Column. These divisions which served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign had been formed by Australian light horse, British yeomanry, and New Zealand mounted rifles brigades, supported by horse artillery, infantry and support troops. They were later joined by Indian cavalry and a small French cavalry detachment.
The 61st Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised in 1915 during the Great War as a second-line reserve for the first-line battalions of the 48th Division. The division was sent to the Western Front in May 1916 and served there for the duration of the First World War.
The 34th Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was raised in 1914, during the First World War. The division was raised from volunteers for Lord Kitchener's New Armies, that was originally made up of infantry battalions raised by public subscription or private patronage. The division was taken over by the War Office in September 1915. It served in France and Belgium in the trenches of the Western Front for the duration of the war.
The 33rd Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was raised in 1914, during the First World War. The division was raised from volunteers for Lord Kitchener's New Armies, that was originally made up of infantry battalions raised by public subscription or private patronage. The division was taken over by the War Office in September 1915. It served in France and Belgium in the trenches of the Western Front for the duration of the war. The division's insignia was the "double-three" from a set of dominoes.
The 28th Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised for service in World War I.
The Order of battle of the East African campaign shows the ground forces of both sides in East Africa on the date that the Italians declared war on Britain and France, 10 June 1940 and for the British and Commonwealth forces involved in the 1941 offensive.
The British Expeditionary Force order of battle 1914, as originally despatched to France in August and September 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The British Army prior to World War I traced its origins to the increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Crimean War, which led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created an Expeditionary force and the Territorial Force.
The 3rd (Lahore) Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army and before 1895, the Bengal Army, first organised in 1852. It saw service during World War I as part of the Indian Corps in France before being moved to the Middle East where it fought against troops of the Ottoman Empire.
The following units of the British, French and German Empires fought in the First Battle of the Marne from 5–12 September 1914 on the Western Front of World War I.
The 59th Division was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I. It was formed in late 1914/early 1915 as a 2nd Line Territorial Force formation raised as a duplicate of the 46th Division. After training in the United Kingdom and saw service in the Easter Rising in April 1916, the division joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front in early 1917. It saw action at Ypres and Cambrai, and was almost destroyed during the German Army's Spring Offensive in March 1918. The reconstituted division took part in the final advances of the war.
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 Desert Column was a First World War British Empire army corps which operated in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign from 22 December 1916. The Column was commanded by Lieutenant General Philip W. Chetwode and formed part of Eastern Force. When Chetwode took command of Eastern Force after the Second Battle of Gaza, Harry Chauvel took command and oversaw the expansion of the column to three divisions.
71st Division was a short-lived infantry division of the British Army during the First World War. It served in the Home Defence forces and never went overseas.
This is an order of battle listing the Allied and Ottoman forces involved in the Gallipoli campaign during 1915.
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