Capture of Jericho
Who Fought
* * *: 6,800
3,000
History & Significance
The Capture of Jericho occurred between 19 and 21 February 1918 to the east of Jerusalem beginning the Occupation of the Jordan Valley during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in an area bordered by the Bethlehem–Nablus road in the west, the Jordan River in the east, and north of a line from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Here a British Empire force attacked Ottoman positions, forcing them back to Jericho and eventually across the Jordan River.
Winter rains put an end to campaigning after the advance from the Gaza–Beersheba line to the capture of Jerusalem in December 1917. This lull in the fighting offered the opportunity for the captured territories to be consolidated. Extensive developments were also required along the lines of communication to ensure that front-line troops were adequately supplied, approximately 150 miles (240 km) from their main bases at Moascar and Kantara on the Suez Canal.
General Edmund Allenby's initial strategic plans focused on his open right flank. If attacked with sufficiently large forces, he could be outflanked by an attack from the east—unlike his left flank which rested securely on the Mediterranean Sea to the west. His aim was to capture the territory east of Jerusalem stretching to the Dead Sea, where his right flank could be more secure. The area was garrisoned by Ottoman troops entrenched on hill-tops which the British infantry, Australian light horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades attacked. The infantry captured Talat ed Dumm on the main Jerusalem to Jericho road, while the light horse and mounted rifle brigades captured Jericho and the area to the south bordered by the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.
The advance from Beersheba came to a halt in December. On 14 December Allenby reported to the War Cabinet that the rainy season would prevent any further operations, after Jerusalem was secured, for at least two months. At this time, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was paralysed by a breakdown in logistics forcing Allenby to send the Anzac and the Australian Mounted Divisions, along with the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade south of Gaza to shorten their lines of communication. He wrote: "I can't feed them, with certainty, and even now, a fortnight's heavy rain would bring me near starvation." On 1 January, the 5th Mounted Brigade began moving back through the rain and slush followed by the 4th Light Horse Brigades Field Ambulance, beginning the Australian Mounted Division's journey back to Deir el Belah south of Gaza. The Anzac Mounted Division did not move back quite so far; the 1st and possibly 2nd Light Horse Brigades moved back to Esdud while the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade bivouacked near Ayun Kara (also known as Rishon LeZion) not far from Jaffa.
The ground they fought on
The site of Capture of Jericho lies on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.
- * * *: 510
- 144 prisoners, 8 machine guns
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