The Battle of Mughar Ridge, officially known by the British as the action of El Mughar, took place on 13 November 1917 during the Pursuit phase of the Southern Palestine Offensive of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War. Fighting between the advancing Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the retreating Yildirim Army Group, occurred after the Battle of Beersheba and the Third Battle of Gaza. Operations occurred over an extensive area north of the Gaza to Beersheba line and west of the road from Beersheba to Jerusalem via Hebron.Battles Nomenclature Committee 1922, p. 32
Strong Ottoman Army positions from Gaza to the foothills of the Judean Hills had successfully held out against British Empire forces for a week after the Ottoman army was defeated at Beersheba. But the next day, 8 November, the main Ottoman base at Sheria was captured after two days' fighting and a British Yeomanry cavalry charge at Huj captured guns; Ottoman units along the whole line were in retreat.
The XXI Corps and Desert Mounted Corps attacked the Ottoman Eighth Army on an extended front from the Judean foothills across the Mediterranean coastal plain from 10 to 14 November. Beginning on 10 November at Summil, an Ottoman counterattack by the Seventh Army was eventually blocked by mounted units while on 13 November in the centre a cavalry charge assisted by infantry captured two fortified villages and on 14 November, to the north at Ayun Kara an Ottoman rearguard position was successfully attacked by mounted units. Junction Station (also known as Wadi es Sara) was captured and the Ottoman railway link with Jerusalem was cut. As a result of this victory the Ottoman Eighth Army withdrew behind the Nahr el Auja and their Seventh Army withdrew toward Jerusalem.
Background After the capture of Beersheba on 31 October, from 1 to 7 November, strong Ottoman rearguard units at Tel el Khuweilfe in the southern Judean Hills, at Hareira and Sheria on the maritime plain, and at Gaza close to the Mediterranean coast, held the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in heavy fighting. During this time the Ottoman Army was able to withdraw in good order; the rearguard garrisons retiring under cover of darkness during the night of 8/9 November 1917.Grainger 2006, p. 159
The delay caused by these rearguards may have seriously compromised the British Empire advance as there was not much time to conclude military engagements in southern Palestine. The winter rains were expected to start in the middle of the month and the black soil plain which was currently firm, facilitating the movements of large military units would with the rains become a giant boggy quagmire, impassable for wheeled vehicles and very heavy marching for infantry. With the rains the temperatures which were currently hot during the day and pleasant at night would drop rapidly to become piercingly cold. In 1917 the rains began on 19 November just as the infantry began their advance into the Judean Hills.Gullett 1941, p. 491
The strength of the Seventh and Eighth Ottoman Armies, before the attack at Beersheba on 31 October, was estimated to have been 45,000 rifles, 1,500 sabres and 300 guns. This force had been made up of the Seventh Army's incomplete III Corps. The III Corps' 24th Infantry Division was at Kauwukah (near Hareira–Sheria) and its 27th Infantry Division was at Beersheba. Its 3rd Cavalry Division, as well as the 16th, 19th, and 24th Infantry Divisions were also in the area to the east of the Gaza–Beersheba line. The Seventh Army was commanded by Fevzi Çakmak.Bruce 2002, p. 125Wavell 1968, p. 114Erickson 2007, pp. 115–6 The Eighth Army's XXII Corps (3rd and 53rd Infantry Divisions) was based at Gaza while its XX Corps (16th, 26th and 54th Infantry Divisions) was based at Sheria in the centre of the Gaza–Beersheba line. Supporting these two corps had been two reserve divisions; the 7th and 19th Infantry Divisions. The Eighth Army was commanded by Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein and at that time had an estimated 2,894 officers; 69,709 men; 29,116 rifles; 403 machine-guns and 268 guns.Erickson 2007 p. 128
Prelude
During 7–8 November rearguards of the Seventh and Eighth Ottoman Armies delayed the advance of Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel's Desert Mounted Corps, Major General Edmund Hakewill-Smith's (or Major General J. Hill's) 52nd (Lowland) Division, and Major General Philip C Palin's 75th Division.Preston 1921, p. 58 The Desert Mounted Corps consisted of the Anzac Mounted Division (Major General Edward Chaytor), the Australian Mounted Division (Major General Henry W Hodgson) and the Yeomanry Mounted Division (Major General George Barrow). The 52nd (Lowland) Division and 75th Division formed part of Lieutenant General Edward Bulfin's XXI Corps.
On the coast the 52nd (Lowland) Division was fought a fierce action after crossing the Wadi el Hesi on the coast north of Gaza. By the morning of 8 November, two infantry brigades had crossed the Wadi el Hesi near its mouth and, despite some opposition established themselves on the sand dunes to the north towards Askelon. Sausage Ridge, on their right stretched from Burberah to Deir Sineid, was held in considerable strength, as the ridge covered the road and railway from Gaza to the north. During the afternoon the 155th Brigade moved to attack Sausage Ridge, but it was threatened by a counterattack on the left forcing, the brigade to halt and face north to meet this attack. When the 156th Brigade arrived from Sh. Ajlin on the Wadi el Hesi, the 157th Brigade attacked the southern portion of the ridge, and gained a footing as darkness fell. They lost this precarious position four times to fierce Ottoman counterattacks, before strongly attacking and throwing the defenders off the ridge by 21:00. The two attacking brigades lost 700 men in this action.Wavell 1968 pp. 148–9
The Ottoman rearguards were able to safely get away during the night of the 8/9 November, but during the following day the only infantry unit capable of advancing was the 52nd (Lowland) Division's 156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Archibald Herbert Leggett. The division's other brigades were regrouping after the fierce fighting at the Wadi Hesi. The brigade moved to Ashkelon, which was found to be deserted. By evening advance troops had pressed on to Al-Majdal, from Gaza, where they secured abandoned stores and water.Grainger 2006, p. 158Preston 1921, p. 60 By 9 November the Eighth Army had retreated while the Seventh Army "had lost hardly any ground."Erickson 2001 p. 173
Most of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's infantry divisions were at the end of their lines of communication and were not able to follow up the Ottoman withdrawal. XXI Corps's 54th (East Anglian) Division was forced to rest at Gaza and the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade at Beit Hanun. In the rear, Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode's XX Corps had transferred its transport to XXI Corps. XX Corps's 60th (2/2nd London) Division (Major General John Shea) was resting at Huj and its 10th (Irish) (Major General John Longley) and 74th (Yeomanry) (Major General Eric Girdwood) Divisions were at Karm. The only units in the field were the 53rd (Welsh) Division (Major General S. F. Mott), corps cavalry, the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, deployed in the front line near Tel el Khuweilfe in the foothills of the Judean Hills north of Beersheba.Wavell 1968, pp. 150–1Bruce 2002, pp. 147–9New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade War Diary 8 and 9 November 1917 AWM4-35-1-31
Mounted troop movements on 9 November
Chaytor's Anzac Mounted Division moved off across the maritime plain towards the coast soon after daylight on 9 November, having watered their horses the previous evening.Preston 1921, p. 59 The advance was led by two brigades—on the left the 1st Light Horse Brigade and on the right the 2nd Light Horse Brigade rode in line, each responsible for their own front and outer flanks; the attached 7th Mounted Brigade formed a reserve.Preston 1921, pp. 59–60Powles 1922, p. 144The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade was fighting north of Beersheba near Tel el Khuweilfe with the XX Corps Cavalry Regiment and infantry from the 53rd (Welsh) Division.[Falls 1930 Vol. 2 Part I p. 126]
By about 08:30 the 1st Light Horse Brigade had entered Bureir and around an hour later the 2nd Light Horse Brigade was approaching Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein's Eighth Army headquarters at Hulayqat. Here Ottoman soldiers were discovered to be occupying a strong position on high ground north-west of the village; the brigade made a dismounted attack capturing 600 prisoners along with large amounts of supplies, materiel and an abandoned German field hospital.While fighting on foot, one quarter of the light horsemen were holding the horses, a brigade became equivalent in rifle strength to an infantry battalion. [Preston 1921 p.168] At midday El Mejdel, north-east of Gaza, was occupied with little difficulty by the 1st Light Horse Brigade, who captured 170 prisoners and found a good well with a steam pump enabling the brigade to water all horses expeditiously. After passing the ancient town of Ashkelon a message was received from the Desert Mounted Corps notifying the Anzac Mounted Division that the British XXI Corps were marching towards El Mejdel and Julis. The main Ottoman road and railway leading north from Gaza were both cut and as a consequence, Chauvel ordered the division to advance towards Bayt Daras. The division duly turned north-east with the 1st Light Horse Brigade entering Isdud close to the Mediterranean Sea. On the right, the 2nd Light Horse Brigade captured the villages of Suafir el Sharkiye and Arak Suweidan, a convoy and its escort (some 350 prisoners). While the brigade was reorganising, Ottoman guns further north opened fire, shelling both captors and captives alike. Just before dark the 2nd Light Horse Brigade captured a further 200 prisoners. The Anzac Mounted Division took up a night battle outpost line along high ground south of the Wadi Mejma, from near Isdud to Arak Suweidan.
During its journey across the maritime plain to Isdud, the Anzac Mounted Division captured many prisoners but met no large organised Ottoman force.Wavell 1968, pp. 149–50Bruce 2002, p. 147 As the day progressed, the captured Ottoman units were found to be increasingly disorganised with many soldiers suffering severely from thirst and exhaustion and some from dysentery.
Meanwhile, Hodgson's Australian Mounted Division, spent most of 9 November searching for water, which was eventually found at Huj. After most of the horses had been watered, they advanced to the Kastina–Isdud line capturing prisoners, guns, and transports on the way. This march during the night of 9/10 November was the only night march made through Ottoman territory of the campaign.Wavell 1968, pp. 150–1Keogh 1955, p. 168