Battle of Arara

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Battle of Arara
Part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Date 19 September 1918[1]
Location Wadi Ara (near Nablus), Palestine
Result French-Armenian-British victory
Belligerents
 German Empire
 Ottoman Empire		  France,
Armenia French Armenian Legion
 British Empire
Commanders and leaders
German Empire Oberst G. von Oppen FranceColonel P. de Piépape
Lieutenant Colonel Romieu
British EmpireMajor General S. W. Hare
Strength
16th and 19th Divisions, Asia Corps Yıldırım Army Group 54th (East Anglian) Division
Détachment Français de Palestine et de Syrie (DFPS) including the French Armenian Legion
Casualties and losses
218 Ottoman soldiers including six officers taken prisoner by the DFPS among 700 prisoners[2] 535 including 23 French Armenian Legion dead
76 wounded[3]

The Battle of Arara took place on September 19, 1918 between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the French Armenian Legion (La Légion Arménienne) during the military operations of the Battle of Megiddo. The Armenian's' role during this battle was so prominent that their efforts were recognized by the top commanders of the Allied Force.[4]

Contents

[edit] Background

In September 1918, on the Palestinian front, the Ottoman army was crumbling before the British expeditionary forces in the Middle East, which contained an Armenian contingent commanded by a French colonel and French officers, as well as Armenian officers. Many of the Armenian's were survivors from Musa Dagh, where Armenian's had resisted against Turkish massacres during the Armenian Genocide.[5] The legion had landed at Jaffa in the middle of September and was prepared to take part in the final British offensive to evict the Ottomans from Palestine.

[edit] Prelude

[edit] Deployment of 54th Division and DFPS

Under cover of a British barrage, the 54th (East Anglian) Division, on a frontage between Mejdel Yaba and Rafat, with the Détachment Français de Palestine et de Syrie (DFPS) on the right, the 163rd Brigade in the centre and the 161st Brigade on the right pivoting on the Rafat salient, were to advance through Crown Hill north east of Kufr Qasim. While the 162nd Brigade on the left would move eastwards on Bidya and capture the crossings of the Wadi Qana south of Kh. Kefar Thilth towards Kefr Kasim before advancing north east.[6][7]

[edit] Deployment of Asia Corps

The 16th Division one of the four front–line Ottoman divisions of the Eighth Army was attacked by part of the 54th Division and the DFPS. This division's 47th and 48th Infantry Regiments with the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry, part of the 48th Regiment's machine–gun company, and the divisional assault, engineer, and cavalry companies in reserve, held the front line during the night of 18/19 September, expecting an attack.[8]

German General Otto Liman von Sanders commander of the Palestine Ottoman army at Nazareth, despatched a battalion of the 125th Regiment to the north of 'Azzun Ibn 'Atme shortly after heaving about the breakthrough. In the afternoon, German Colonel Gustav von Oppen commander of the Asia Corps despatched a German lieutenant with clerks, orderlies and transport men with some machine guns to Kh. Kefar Thilth to rally the retreating 19th Division which had been near Jaljulye.[6][7]

[edit] Battle

The 19th Division (von Oppen Group) was attacked by the British 54th Division which was to push forward and act as the pivot for the infantry advance across the coastal plain of Sharon. The 19th Division was shelled heavily and subjected to infantry assaults which resulted in both of von Oppen's divisions; the 19th and 16th Divisions retreating intact.[9]

The 162nd Brigade less the 11th Battalion, London Regiment escorting divisional artillery covered the gap between the division's left and the right of the 3rd (Lahore) Division (see Battle of Tabsor) at Ras el Ain, where they were heavily shelled south west of Kufr Qasim by long range guns. On hearing of the capture of Kufr Qasim at 09:30 they began an advance between Sivi Wood and Crown Hill but was directed to support the 161st Brigade attack at Sivri Wood which was captured. Subsequently three battalions advanced steadily eastwards to the Wadi Qana where three howitzers were captured. Later in the day Azzun Ibn Atme was captured and during the early morning Kh es Sumra was reached.[10]

The advance of the 161st Brigade on Kufr Qasim was checked but eventually they managed to captured it by 07:00 along with Jevis Tepe to the west. The 6th and 7th Battalions, Essex Regiment then moved up to attack the next line of trenches with their right near Crown Hill, where they encountered obstinate resistance but after another bombardment the whole position was occupied.[11]

The 163rd Brigade advanced towards the front line trenches and at 04:20 just as the 4th and 5th Battalions, Norfolk Regiment reached these, the British barrage lifted and began to move forward. Their first objective was taken so quickly they had to wait for the barrage's next lift then the 5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment captured a position north of the Wadi el 'Ayun. A very strong Ottoman counter-attack north of this wadi became critical until units in the Détachment Français de Palestine et de Syrie (DFPS) appeared on Scurry Hill and opened fire on the Ottoman attackers who were forced to surrender. By 14:00 it was found that Ottoman defences to the north had been captured and a move towards Mesha, Bidya and Kh. Sirisia began. This fighting continued on into the night and by 03:00 20 September Mesha had been occupied and Bidya entered.[12]

On the right of the 54th Division's 163rd Brigade, the DFPS fought against the German Pasha 11 Group which held a ridge opposite the Rafat salient captured and held by the British since April 1918.[13][14][7] Here, the DFPS attacked the col west of Rafat and the sites known as Three Bushes and Scurry Hills; these last two being quickly captured at 05:10 and 05:45 respectively. Although Kh. Deir el Qassis east of Scurry Hill was occupied soon after it had to be abandoned due to heavy artillery beyond the reach of the French artillery. During the night of 19 September the DFPS occupied Arara north east of Rafat having captured almost all their objectives and 212 prisoners.[6]

The DFPS and the 54th Division eventually captured their objectives and established a secure pivot on the ridge for the XXI Corpss' line of attack which stretched across five divisions to the Mediterranean Sea. In the process they captured about 700 prisoners, nine guns and 20 machine guns suffering 535 casualties.[13][14][7][15]

[edit] Aftermath

The Seventh Army reported it had repelled virtually all attacks on its front but was about to withdraw to its second line of defences between Kefar Haris and Iskaka, to conform with Oppen's retirement. Liman ordered the 110th Regiment at Nablus and any other troops the commander of the Seventh Army could spare to defend the Tul Karm to Nablus road at 'Anebta, at 12:30 ordering the occupation of the mouth of the Musmus Pass at El Lajjun by six companies and 12 machine guns.[16]

At the end of the day, the front of the British Empire's XXI Corps ran just west of the 54th Division at Bidya, Kh. Kefar Thilth and Azzun through Jiyus west of the 3rd (Lahore) Division at Felamiye through 7th (Meerut) Division at Et Taiyibe, Irta and 60th (2/2nd London) Division at Tul Karm; the heads of the corps' columns describing a virtual straight line from the DFPS at Rafat to Tul Karm.[17][18][19]

[edit] Commendation

General Edmund Allenby commended Armenian forces in his official dispatch to the Allied High Command, "On the right flank, on the coastal hills, the units of the Armenian Legion d'Orient fought with great valour. Despite the difficulty of the terrain and the strength of the enemy defensive lines, at an early hour, they took the hill of Dir el Kassis."[2] Allenby remarked, ""I am proud to have had an Armenian contingent under my command. They have fought very brilliantly and have played a great part in the victory."[20]

A monument for the Armenian troops killed during the battle was moved from its original location on the battlefield to Mount Zion in October 1925.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Walker, Christopher J. (1997). "World War I and the Armenian Genocide" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 299. ISBN 0-312-10168-6
  2. ^ a b c "Extract from the book Ir Ha-Menuhot" by Meron Benvenisti, Read at the Genocide Memorial evening." Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel Armenian Studies Program Genocide Commemoration 2004. Hebrew University of Jerusalem. April 28, 2004. Accessed May 22, 2009.
  3. ^ (Armenian) Torosyan, Sh. Արարայի ճակատամարտ 1918 (Ararahi chakatamart, Battle of Arara, 1918). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. i. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1974, p. 691.
  4. ^ Balakian, Grigoris (2009). Armenian Golgotha. Trans. Peter Balakian and Aris Sevag. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 389–392. ISBN 0-3072-6288-X. 
  5. ^ Walker. "World War I and the Armenian Genocide", p. 267.
  6. ^ a b c Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  p. 473
  7. ^ a b c d Wavell, Field Marshal Earl (1968). E.W. Sheppard. ed. The Palestine Campaigns. A Short History of the British Army (3rd ed.). London: Constable & Co..  p. 205
  8. ^ Erickson, Edward J. (2007). John Gooch and Brian Holden Reid. ed. Ottoman Army Effectiveness in World War I: A Comparative Study. No. 26 of Cass series: military history and policy. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-96456-9.  p. 149
  9. ^ Erickson, Edward J. (2007). John Gooch and Brian Holden Reid. ed. Ottoman Army Effectiveness in World War I: A Comparative Study. No. 26 of Cass series: military history and policy. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-96456-9.  p. 149
  10. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  pp. 475–6
  11. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  pp. 474–5
  12. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  pp. 473–4
  13. ^ a b Keogh, E. G.; Joan Graham (1955). Suez to Aleppo. Melbourne: Directorate of Military Training by Wilkie & Co.. OCLC 220029983.  p. 247
  14. ^ a b Bruce, Anthony (2002). The Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World War. London: John Murray Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7195-5432-2.  pp. 224–5
  15. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  p. 476
  16. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  p. 495
  17. ^ Falls, Cyril; A. F. Becke (maps) (1930). Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the War. Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. 2 Part II. London: HM Stationary Office. OCLC 256950972.  p. 488
  18. ^ Keogh, E. G.; Joan Graham (1955). Suez to Aleppo. Melbourne: Directorate of Military Training by Wilkie & Co.. OCLC 220029983.  p. 248
  19. ^ Bruce, Anthony (2002). The Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World War. London: John Murray Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7195-5432-2.  p. 227
  20. ^ Kerr, Stanley E. (1973) The Lions of Marash: Personal Experiences with American Near East Relief, 1919-1922. New York: State University of New York Press. p. 31 ISBN 0-87395-200-6.

[edit] Further reading

  • (Armenian) Boyajian, Dickran H. Հայկական լեգեոնը (Hahkakan lyegyeonĕ, The Armenian Legion). New York: AGBU Publishing Press, 1965.

Coordinates: 32°29′38.67″N 35°3′16.13″E / 32.494075°N 35.0544806°E / 32.494075; 35.0544806

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