Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Extract from the AWM London website - see link in Sidebar

" The final campaign, which would be officially known as the Battles of Megiddo, was ready to be launched. At dawn on 19 September, the British-Indian infantry, supported by an air and ground bombardment, broke the Turkish line at its coastal end. At 9 am, the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions passed through the lines and along the coast, then across the Carmel range to reach the plain of Esdraelon, 50 kilometres behind the Turkish front, before dawn on the 20th. By evening the two divisions reached Nazareth, where General Liman von Sanders, the former commander on Gallipoli now commanding the Turkish forces in Palestine, had his general headquarters. Liman von Sanders and his staff managed to escape just in time.

The Australian Mounted Division was Chauvel’s reserve. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade reached Jenin by the evening of 20 September in a position to catch the main part of the retreating Turkish centre. The railway line behind the Turkish centre was destroyed by the 5th Light Horse Brigade. Aerial bombing of Turkish signal centres blacked out news of the breakthrough. The Turkish 8th Army on the coastal flank was completely destroyed, while the 7th Army in the centre, was routed. The capture of Deraa, the crucial railway junction, cut off both the survivors of the 7th Army and those of the 4th Turkish Army east of Jordan. The Anzac Mounted Division advanced from the Jordan valley, captured Amman on the 25th and the remnant of the Turkish army from Arabia, 5000 strong, surrendered to the Anzacs on 29 September."

 Success at Megiddo opened up the 'road to Damascus',  the final phase of the Light Horse's war in the Middle East.

compiled by Steve Larkins Sep 2015