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    The Battle For Syria

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    druwid6
    The document details the Battle for Syria in September 1918, where British, French, and allied forces defeated the Ottoman forces. The British launched a surprise attack using artillery, infantry, cavalry, and aircraft. They cut off Ottoman communications and blocked their retreat, surrounding their forces. Towns in Syria fell soon after, and decisions were rapidly made about occupation, though there is still controversy around who made them and why.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    The Battle For Syria

    Uploaded by

    druwid6
    27 views1 page
    The document details the Battle for Syria in September 1918, where British, French, and allied forces defeated the Ottoman forces. The British launched a surprise attack using artillery, infantry, cavalry, and aircraft. They cut off Ottoman communications and blocked their retreat, surrounding their forces. Towns in Syria fell soon after, and decisions were rapidly made about occupation, though there is still controversy around who made them and why.

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    The document details the Battle for Syria in September 1918, where British, French, and allied forces defeated the Ottoman forces. The British launched a surprise attack using artillery, infantry, cavalry, and aircraft. They cut off Ottoman communications and blocked their retreat, surrounding their forces. Towns in Syria fell soon after, and decisions were rapidly made about occupation, though there is still controversy around who made them and why.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    27 views1 page

    The Battle For Syria

    Uploaded by

    druwid6
    The document details the Battle for Syria in September 1918, where British, French, and allied forces defeated the Ottoman forces. The British launched a surprise attack using artillery, infantry, cavalry, and aircraft. They cut off Ottoman communications and blocked their retreat, surrounding their forces. Towns in Syria fell soon after, and decisions were rapidly made about occupation, though there is still controversy around who made them and why.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    THE

    BATTLE

    FOR

    333

    SYRIA

    At 4:30 in the m o r n i n g of 19 S e p t e m b e r 1918 nearly 400 British


    cannon s u d d e n l y o p e n e d f i r e o n the s u r p r i s e d a n d o u t n u m b e r e d
    ( 4 5 , 0 0 0 against 8,000) O t t o m a n d e f e n d e r s of the coastal plain. Fifteen
    m i n u t e s later the infantry attack c o m m e n c e d . British, F r e n c h , and
    I n d i a n t r o o p s p u s h e d the o v e r w h e l m e d d e f e n d e r s a s i d e , as the cavalry
    p o u r e d through the g a p i n g hole in the O t t o m a n lines to win the
    battle of M e g i d d o t h e " A r m a g e d d o n " of the B i b l e .
    At d a w n , special b o m b e r s q u a d r o n s of the R o y a l Air F o r c e attacked
    telephone a n d telegraph e x c h a n g e s b e h i n d e n e m y lines, effectively
    cutting off all c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . Other R . A . F . w a r p l a n e s g u a r d e d the
    skies over e n e m y a i r p o r t s , keeping G e r m a n reconnaissance planes on
    the g r o u n d . L i m a n a n d his field c o m m a n d e r s were cut off from
    information a n d f r o m one another.
    As O t t o m a n units reeled b a c k w a r d , they found their lines of
    retreat blocked by British units which had raced before a n d behind
    t h e m t o s e c u r e control o f the key r o a d s . T h e A N Z A C cavalry galloped northward for thirty miles along the coastal plain, b u t then cut
    inland, threatening to cut off the O t t o m a n line of retreat toward
    D a m a s c u s . British military aircraft b o m b e d and strafed the retreating
    T u r k s . M e a n w h i l e the few units Allenby had d e p l o y e d in the east
    finally attacked inland. In the p r e d a w n d a r k n e s s of 23 S e p t e m b e r
    battalions of the J e w i s h L e g i o n seized control of the crucial U m m
    esh S h e r t ford across the J o r d a n river. T h e S e c o n d A u s t r a l i a n L i g h t
    H o r s e B r i g a d e went a c r o s s it, a n d by evening the O t t o m a n forces
    east of the river found themselves enveloped in a giant pincer.
    At M a ' a n , in the s o u t h of T r a n s j o r d a n , a b o v e A q a b a , the T u r k i s h
    garrison which h a d been beseiged by Feisal's forces ever since their
    arrival f r o m A q a b a the year before, held out until A u s t r a l i a n cavalry
    arrived to accept their s u r r e n d e r a n d protect them against the m a s sacre threatened by the A r a b besiegers. F u r t h e r north, Feisal's C a m e l
    C o r p s d i s r u p t e d the railroad lines u p o n which the m a i n T u r k i s h
    forces d e p e n d e d .
    On 25 S e p t e m b e r Allenby o r d e r e d an a d v a n c e on D a m a s c u s , while
    the r e m n a n t of the O t t o m a n forces b r o k e a n d fled. T h e occupation
    of the principal towns of the S y r i a n provinces was i m m i n e n t ; decisions a b o u t occupation policy were m a d e rapidly. T h e r e is still
    controversy as to who m a d e t h e m a n d why.
    1

    II
    In the s u m m e r Allenby had told L o n d o n that, subject to his own
    s u p r e m e military authority, he would accept F r e n c h a d v i s e r s to deal
    with civil a d m i n i s t r a t i o n in areas of special interest to F r a n c e , so
    long as L o n d o n would tell him what areas these were a n d whether

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