The Battle of Nablus took place, together with the Battle of Sharon during the set piece Battle of Megiddo between 19 and 25 September 1918 in the last months of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in the Judean Hills where the British Empire's XX Corps attacked the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army Group's Seventh Army defending their line in front of Nablus. This battle was also fought on the right flank in the Jordan Valley, where Chaytor's Force attacked and captured the Jordan River crossings, before attacking the Fourth Army at Es Salt and Amman capturing many thousands of prisoners and extensive territory. The Battle of Nablus began half a day after the main Battle of Sharon, which was fought on the Mediterranean section of the front line where the XXI Corps attacked the Eighth Army defending the line in front of Tulkarm and Tabsor and the Desert Mounted Corps which rode north to capture the Esdrealon Plain. Together these two battles, known as the Battle of Megiddo, began the Final Offensive of the war in the Sinai and Palestine campaign.
By the afternoon of 19 September, it was clear that the breakthrough attacks in the Battle of Sharon by the XXI Corps had been successful, and the XX Corps was ordered to begin the Battle of Nablus by attacking the well-defended Ottoman front line, supported by an artillery barrage. These attacks continued late into the night and throughout the next day, until the early hours of 21 September when the continuing successful flanking attack by the XXI Corps, combined with the XX Corps assault and aerial bombing attacks, forced the Seventh and Eighth Armies to disengage. The Ottoman Seventh Army retreated from the Nablus area down the Wadi el Fara road towards the Jordan River, aiming to cross at the Jisr ed Damieh bridge, leaving a rearguard to defend Nablus. The town was captured by the XX Corps and the 5th Light Horse Brigade, while devastating aerial bombing of the Wadi el Fara road, blocked that line of retreat. As all objectives had now been won, no further attacks were required of the XX Corps, which captured thousands of prisoners in the area and at Nablus and Balata.
Defending the right flank and subsidiary to the Nablus battle, the Third Transjordan attack began on 22 September when Meldrum's Force, a section of Chaytor's Force captured the 53rd Ottoman Division on the Wadi el Fara road, running from Nablus to the bridge at Jisr ed Damieh over the Jordan River. Further sections of the retreating Seventh Army column were attacked and captured, during the subsequent battle for the bridge when several fords were also captured along with the bridge, cutting this main Ottoman line of retreat eastwards. As the Fourth Army began its retreat, Chaytor's Force supported by reconnaissance and attacking aircraft, advanced from Jisr ed Damieh to the east to capture Es Salt on 23 September. This force continued its advance eastwards, to capture Amman on 25 September, after a strong Fourth Army rearguard was defeated there. The southern Hedjaz section of the Fourth Army was captured to the south of Amman, at Ziza on 29 September, ending military operations in the area.
Following the victory at Megiddo, the Final Offensive continued when Damascus was captured on 1 October, after several days of pursuit by the Desert Mounted Corps. A further pursuit resulted in the occupation of Homs. On 26 October, the attack at Haritan, north of Aleppo, was under-way when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, ending the Sinai and Palestine campaign.
Background
After the Ottoman Army's defeat at the Battle of Beersheba, the loss to the Central Powers of southern Palestine, the retreat to the Judean Hills and the loss of Jerusalem at the end of 1917, several Ottoman army commanders in Palestine were replaced. The Yildirim Army Group's German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced by the German General Otto Liman von Sanders. The commander of the Eighth Army, Kress von Kressenstein, was replaced by Djevad Pasha and Cemal commander of the Ottoman Army, appointed Cemal Kucjuk Pasha to command the Fourth Army. Mustafa Kemal had resigned as commander of the Seventh Army in 1917 but was back by early September 1918.
Following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, which ended the war on the Eastern Front between Imperial Russia and Imperial Germany, the main focus of the Ottoman Army turned to the Anatolian provinces and territories lost in 1877–1878 during the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Army embarked on a series of territorial conquests in the Caucasus beginning in northern Persia. Erzerum which had been captured by the Russians in 1916, was retaken on 24 March 1918, followed by Van on 5 April and later Batum, Kars and Tiflis. Reoccupation of these former possessions brought little strategic advantage to the Ottoman Empire, compared with the potential benefits of military success in Palestine.
Major offensive operations in Palestine also became a low priority for the British Army in March; being postponed because of the German spring offensive in France, but by July, it was clear that the German offensive had failed resulting in a return to the battle of attrition in the trenches. This coincided with the approach of the campaign season in Palestine. General Edmund Allenby, commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) was "very anxious to make a move in September" when he expected to capture Tulkarm and Nablus, the headquarters of the Seventh and Eighth Armies, along with the road to Jisr ed Damieh and Es Salt. "Another reason for moving to this line is that it will encourage both my own new Indian troops and my Arab Allies."
Reorganisation of EEF infantry
To replace British losses suffered during the Spring Offensive the 52nd (Lowland), the 74th (Yeomanry) Divisions and nine British infantry battalions from each of the 10th, 53rd, 60th and the 75th Divisions were sent to France between April and August 1918. The resulting vacancies in the divisions were filled by British Indian Army battalions. The 75th Division had received the first Indian battalions in June 1917. Infantry brigades were now reorganised with one British battalion and three Indian battalions. Except one brigade in the 53rd Division which had one South African and three Indian battalions. The British Indian Army's 7th (Meerut) Division arrived from the campaign in Mesopotamia in January 1918 followed by the 3rd (Lahore) Division in April 1918. Only the 54th (East Anglian) Division remained, as previously, an all British division.
By April 1918, 35 infantry and two pioneer battalions were being prepared to move to Palestine. Some of these battalions, numbered from 150 upwards, were formed by removing complete companies from experienced regiments then serving in Mesopotamia and forming new battalions. The 2/151st Indian Infantry, was one such battalion formed from one company each from the 56th Punjabi Rifles, the 51st, 52nd and 53rd Sikhs. One regiment the 101st Grenadiers formed a second battalion by dividing itself into two with two experienced and two new companies in each battalion. The parent battalions also supplied first line transport and experienced officers with war time service. The 3/151st Indian Infantry, had the commanding officer, two other British and four Indian officers included in the 198 men transferred from the 38th Dogras. The sepoys transferred were also very experienced, in September 1918 the 2/151st Indian Infantry had to provide an honour guard for Allenby, among the men on parade, were some who had served on five different fronts since 1914, and on eight pre war campaigns.
Of the 54 Indian battalions deployed to Palestine, 22 had recent experience of combat, but had each lost an experienced company, which had been replaced by recruits. Ten battalions were formed from experienced troops who had never fought or trained together. The other 22 had not seen any prior service in the war, in total almost a third of the troops were recruits. Within 44 Indian battalions, the "junior British officers were green, and most could not speak Hindustani. In one battalion only one Indian officer spoke English and only two British officers could communicate with their men." Not all of the Indian battalions served in the infantry divisions, some were employed in defence of the lines of communication.
Front line
In September 1918, the front line began near sea level on the Mediterranean coast about 12 miles (19 km) north of Jaffa and Arsuf, extending about 15 miles (24 km) south-eastward across the Plain of Sharon, then eastward over the Judean Hills for about 15 miles (24 km), rising to 1,500–2,000 feet (460–610 m) above sea level along the way. From the Judean Hills, the front line dropped down to 1,000 feet (300 m) below sea level, to cross the Jordan Valley for approximately 18 miles (29 km), ending in the foothills of the Mountains of Gilead/Moab.
Railway
The Ottoman railway from Istanbul travelled south to Deraa where it branched into two lines. One line continued east of the Jordan River in a southerly direction to supply the Ottoman Fourth Army headquarters and the garrisons and forces scattered along the southern Hedjaz railway several hundred miles to the south. The second railway line turned westward to supply the Ottoman Seventh and the Eighth Armies in the Judean Hills. This second line crossed the Jordan at Jisr Mejamie, ran southwards down the west bank of the Jordan River to Beisan, then turned westward to run parallel to the front line in the Judean Hills, across the Esdraelon Plain to Afulah. From Afulah the railway forked again into two lines: a branch line running north-westerly to Haifa, while the main line turned south to Jenin. From Jenin the railway wound through a narrow pass in the foothills to climb to Messudieh Junction in the Judean Hills where it again branched into two lines. One line ran westward to Tulkarm and the Eighth Army headquarters before turning south to reach railhead behind the Eighth Army' front line on the coastal plain, while the second line continued south-eastward to Nablus. Here, the headquarters of the Seventh Army was located, north of Jerusalem on the main road to Nazareth and Damascus.
Prelude
"Concentration, surprise, and speed were key elements in the blitzkrieg warfare planned by Allenby." Victory at the Battle of Megiddo depended on the success of an intense British Empire artillery barrage to cover the front line infantry attack and drive a gap in the line so the cavalry could advance to quickly reach the Esdraelon Plain 50 miles (80 km) away during the first day of battle. Control of the skies was achieved and maintained by destroying or dominating German aircraft activity and reconnaissances, and constant bombing raids by the Royal Flying Corps (RAF) and Australian Flying Corps (AFC) on Afulah and the Seventh and Eighth Army headquarters at Tulkarm and Nablus respectively and cutting communications with their commander, Liman von Sanders at Nazareth.
During the first 36 hours of the Battle of Megiddo's Battle of Sharon, between 04:30 on 19 September and 17:00 on 20 September, the German and Ottoman front line had been cut by infantry, and the cavalry had passed through the gap to reach their objectives at Afulah, Nazareth, and Beisan. Without communications, no combined action could be organized by the Ottoman forces. The continuing British Empire infantry attack from the south forced the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies in the Judean Hills to withdraw northwards towards Damascus, along the main roads and railways from Tulkarm and Nablus which ran through the Dothan Pass northwards to Jenin. Having captured the town, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade were to wait for them.
British Empire deployments
XX Corps
The XX Corps commanded by Lieutenant General Phillip Chetwode consisting of the 10th and 53rd Divisions, was deployed on both sides of the road from Jerusalem to Nablus, in the Judean Hills.
Chetwode was to capture Nablus by launching attacks on both Ottoman flanks, with the aim of converging about 7 miles (11 km) to the north. The 10th Division on the left was to attack the inter-army boundary with the XXI Corps 5 miles (8 km) east of Furkhah, heading for Nablus along a spur parallel with the 53rd Division on the right, which was to move east following the watershed to the Wadi el Fara. Between these two divisions was a 7 miles (11 km) gap lightly held by Watson's Force; a detachment improvised from Corps Troops' 1/1st Worcestershire Yeomanry, two Pioneer battalions, and details from the Corps Reinforcement Camp.
Chaytor's Force
On 5 September 1918 the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade took over the left sector of the valley defences, continuing active patrolling. And on "the 16th September the General Officer Commanding Anzac Mounted Division took over command of the whole of the Jordan Valley defences as well as Desert Mounted Corps camps at Talaat ed Dumm and Kilo 17 Jericho Jerusalem Road and Desert Mounted Corps Reinforcement Camp, Jerusalem, the force being designated 'Chaytor's Force.'"
Chaytor's Force commanded by Major General Edward Chaytor, consisted of the Anzac Mounted Division, 20th Indian Brigade, 1st and 2nd Battalions British West Indies Regiment, 38th and 39th Battalions Royal Fusiliers (Jewish Volunteers), A/263 Battery Royal Field Artillery (RFA), 195th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA), 29th and 32nd Indian Artillery Mountain Batteries, No. 6 (Medium) Trench Mortar Battery, three anti-aircraft sections Royal Artillery (RA), two sections of captured 75 mm Ottoman guns, one section of captured 5.9 Ottoman guns and No. 35 Army Troops Company Royal Engineers (RE).
On establishment, the force consisted of one mounted division, one infantry brigade and four infantry battalions (equivalent to a second infantry brigade without brigade support troops or a command structure), five batteries, six sections of artillery and transport consisting of 20 lorries, 17 tractors, 34 trucks, 300 donkeys, 11,000 horses and mules. Eight days later an additional 70 donkeys, 65 lorries in the 1040 Motor Transport Company, 110 camels in 'M' Company Camel Transport Corps, were added.
Chaytor's Force was detached from the Desert Mounted Corps for independent operations. Primary responsibilities included the continuing occupation of the Jordan Valley and the protection of the eastern flank of the EEF's front line. Further, Chaytor's Force was to exploit any withdrawal by the Ottoman Fourth Army from their positions at Shunet Nimrin, Es Salt and their headquarters at Amman.
Air support
On 18 September, the Royal Air Force's 5th (Corps) Wing and the 40th (Army) Wing, both headquartered at Ramle, were deployed to the area and responsible for cooperation with artillery and contact patrols, tactical and strategic reconnaissance, photography, escorts, offensive patrols and bombing operations. No. 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps (AFC), No. 111 Squadron RAF and a flight of No. 145 Squadron RAF were based at Ramle, while No. 144 Squadron RAF was based at Junction Station.