The 1917 Palestine campaign saw Britain's Army rise from defeat to achieve stunning victory. After two failed attacks on Gaza using tactics employed on the Western Front, a new commander was appointed. General Allenby reinvigorated the Army and led it to stunning success in the Third Battle of Gaza. This offensive would see an innovative use of cavalry and all-arms co-operation push the Ottoman defenders all the way back to Jerusalem. This campaign is seldom examined outside of dry assessments of strategy and movements, or studies of T.E. Lawrence's peripheral role. This work will bring the campaign to life in a broader and deeper sense, analysing the 'war fighting' and logistical aspects while also telling the stories of the men who lived and fought in the harsh desert conditions. As well as military historians, this work is aimed at the growing market of genealogists beginning to explore this theatre.
Autorentext
STUART HADAWAY is a professional military historian who has spent the past eight years working with regimental museums around the UK, including as curator of the RAF Museum. He is currently Senior Researcher to the official historians of the RAF, as well as being a prolific writer with articles published in many magazines, including Britain at War, Military Illustrated and Your Family Tree. He lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Zusammenfassung
The Palestine campaign of 1917 saw Britain's armed forces rise from defeat to achieve stunning victory. After two failed attempts in the spring, at the end of the year they broke through the Ottoman line with an innovative mixture of old and new technology and tactics, and managed to advance over 50 miles, from Gaza to Jerusalem, in only two months. As well as discussions of military strategy, Stuart Hadaway's gripping narrative of the campaign gives a broad account of the men on both sides who lived and fought in the harsh desert conditions of Palestine, facing not only brave and determined enemies, but also the environment itself: heat, disease and an ever-present thirst. Involving Ottoman, ANZAC, British and Arab forces, the campaign saw great empires manoeuvring for the coveted Holy Land. It was Britain's victory in 1917, however, that redrew the maps of the Middle East and shaped the political climate for the century to come.