Page 83 - All About History - Issue 70-18
P. 83
Battle of Megiddo
Central
Endgame for Advances east Powers
10 the Ottomans Deraa 08 of the Jordan
The ragtag remnants of three New Zealand Major General Edward
f
routed armies fall back towards 09 alls is tasked with protecting the Allied TROOPS 32,000
Damascus but there is no respite A defensive stand at Deraa right flank. His 11,000-strong mounted
from the harrying allied pursuers. becomes impossible when its infantry advance when it is clear that CAVALRY 3,000
The city is captured on 1st October, airstrip and German planes Ottoman communications are too
a prelude to hostilities ceasing when are wrecked by bombs from disrupted to organise a counter-attack. GUNS 402
the Armistice of Mudros is signed Allied aircraft. The town is Instead, the Ottoman Fourth Army
later that month, ending Ottoman abandoned to Arab rebels as hastily retreats, ordered back by Liman.
involvement in World War I. the Ottomans flee. While the disorganised withdrawal is
harried by air strikes and Arab forces,
Chaytor captures the city of Amman.
10
09
GENERALOTTOLIMAN
VONSANDERS
LEADER
Born in 1855, this Prussian-born
general commanded the immovable
Ottoman defence during the bloody
Gallipoli Campaign.
Strengths: Liman knew how to
frustrate an Allied advance despite
the odds being stacked against him.
Weaknesses: By September 1918,
the German was commanding a
07 Carnage battered Ottoman force.
07 along the
escape route
Following its initial move, the
53rd Division redeploys to
block any eastern Ottoman
retreat, but stiff resistance
prevents it reaching the Wadi
Fara, a route into the Jordan
Valley. Mustafa Kemal’s force OTTOMANFOURTH
rushes down the narrow
gorge, but is seen from ARMY
above. Allied aircraft bomb KEY UNIT
and machine-gun the column.
Rapidly wrecked vehicles and This field army was divided in two,
wagons totally block the road. with one half confronting the Allied
Death and destruction ensues. bridgeheads, while the other half
defended the vital Hejaz Railway.
Strengths: The Fourth Army was
sent to defend a key position.
Weaknesses: Unfortunately
the Fourth Army was badly
understrength by this point.
08
The Eigth Army 01
06 disintegrates
The Allied infantry continues to advance
on the Ottoman Eighth Army, while its
northerly retreat route is blocked by the
rapid cavalry advance. Practically encircled, MG08MAXIM
it is further harried by RAF raids. With KEY WEAPON
many men killed, captured or fleeing the This reliable sled-mounted machine
battlefield, effective resistance subsides,
leaving the Seventh Army commanded by gun saw action in many conflicts.
Mustafa Kemal (the future Turkish leader) Strengths: This German weapon
desperately exposed. There is one avenue featured a range calculator, meaning
of retreat – east into the Jordan Valley. it could be fired from behind cover.
© Alamy,EdCrooks
Weaknesses: The MG08 was a
heavy gun to carry.
83
