13 nov 1917 anni - Battle of Mughar Ridge

Descrizione:

The Battle of Mughar Ridge, known to the British as the action of El Mughar, took place on November 13, 1917, during the Pursuit phase of the Southern Palestine Offensive in World War I's Sinai and Palestine Campaign. This engagement between the advancing Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the retreating Yildirim Army Group occurred after key battles at Beersheba and Gaza. It unfolded over a broad area north of the Gaza-Beersheba line and west of the road leading from Beersheba to Jerusalem.

Following the victory at Beersheba, Ottoman forces managed to hold strong defensive positions from Gaza to the Judean foothills for a week. However, the capture of Sheria on November 8 and a successful cavalry charge at Huj marked a significant turning point, setting the stage for a general Ottoman retreat. The subsequent British offensive from November 10 to 14 targeted the Ottoman Eighth Army along a front that extended from the Judean foothills to the Mediterranean coastal plain.

This period also witnessed determined rearguard actions by the Ottomans, particularly at Tel el Khuweilfe, Hareira, and Sheria, which delayed the EEF but could not prevent the capture of strategic locations such as Junction Station. This station's fall severed the Ottoman railway link to Jerusalem, significantly undermining their operational capacity.

The aftermath of these engagements led to a substantial withdrawal of Ottoman forces toward Jerusalem, with their strategic position increasingly compromised by relentless Allied pressure. The British captured numerous prisoners and gained ground, but the onset of winter rains soon after posed new challenges, turning the battlefield into muddy terrain that hindered further advances.

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