Battle of Megiddo (1918) order of battle

Yildirim Army Group carts and gun carriages destroyed by EEF aircraft on the Nablus-Beisan road

This is the order of battle for the Battle of Megiddo (1918), the concluding engagement of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. The Entente's Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Edmund Allenby and composed mainly of British, Indian, Australian and New Zealand troops, with a small French and Armenian contingent, cooperated with the Arab Northern Army, which was part of the Arab Revolt and was under the overall command of the Emir Feisal, in an all-out offensive against the Yıldırım Army Group, part of the army of the Ottoman Empire.

After preliminary attacks beginning late on 16 September 1918, Allenby's main attack overran the Ottoman front lines on 19 September. British Indian Army and Australian mounted divisions seized objectives far behind the front line, while British and Australian aircraft crippled the Ottoman armies' headquarters and attacked retreating Ottoman troops, turning their retreat into a rout.

Most of the Ottoman formations were destroyed by 26 September. Allenby's mounted divisions and Arab irregulars captured Damascus on 1 October. The surviving Ottoman troops were pursued to Aleppo, and the war in the Middle East ended on 31 October.

Order of battle

On 17 September 1918, the opposing armies in Palestine, Trans Jordan and Syria were deployed as follows:

Ottoman[1]

Yildirim Army Group (Otto Liman von Sanders)

Allied[4]

Egyptian Expeditionary Force (General Edmund Allenby)

Chief of Staff – Lieutenant General Louis Bols
Arab forces

Arab Northern Army (Emir Feisal)

  • Regular Forces (Jafar Pasha el-Askari)[8]
    • 1st Division (Aqaba) (Brigadier General Amin al-Asil)
      • Hashemite Infantry Brigade (800)
    • 2nd Division (Quwayra) (Lieutenant Colonel Majid Hasun)
      • Hashemite Infantry Brigade (800)
    • Hejaz Camel Corps battalion (400) (part of T. E. Lawrence's detachment)
    • Small artillery, machine gun, mule-mounted infantry, medical and logistical detachments
  • Irregular Forces

Notes

  1. ^ Ericson (2001), p.197
  2. ^ Ericson (2001), p.196
  3. ^ Erickson, p.196, but this unit was not noted in any Allied accounts
  4. ^ Hanafin, James. "Order of Battle of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, September 1918" (PDF). orbat.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  5. ^ "Chapitre VI: Renforcement du détachement français de Palestine". Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Tome IX. 1er Volume. Théatre d'opérations du Levant (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 1936. p. 97. Retrieved 30 July 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. ^ The 20th Indian Brigade included Imperial Service Troops raised by Indian princely states and attached to the British Indian Army for service overseas.
  7. ^ Woodward, Pat. "The Story of the 113 Crusader Squadron". Retrieved 9 March 2009.
  8. ^ Murphy, David (2008). The Arab Revolt 1916–18. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-339-1.

References