The origins of the British breakthrough into South Palestine: The Anzac raid on the ottoman railway, 1917

Abstract

Following two failed attacks on the Ottoman defence line in Gaza in the first part of 1917, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force successfully broke through the enemy eastern flank at Beersheba in October 1917 and occupied South Palestine. Traditional historiography has placed the shift of the British focus from the coast to the east immediately after the failure of Second Gaza, in April 1917. This article argues that the tentative idea of turning east matured into a solid operational concept only after, and as a result of, a successful mounted raid on the Ottoman Beersheba‐'Awja railway in May. A minor operation, aimed at achieving tactical gain, recovering personal prestige and placating an activist War Cabinet, the railway raid unintentionally affected the entire Palestine Campaign.