First Battle of Gaza

First Battle of Gaza
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Ottoman officers who successfully defended Gaza during the first battle
Date 26 March 1917 Location Gaza, southern Palestine Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
British Empire  Canada  British India  Australia  New Zealand  United Kingdom	Ottoman Empire  German Empire  Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Archibald Murray Philip Chetwode Charles Dobell	Tala Bey (nominal) Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein (actual)
Units involved
Eastern Force 52nd (Lowland) Division 54th (East Anglian) Division No. 7 Light Car Patrol Nos. 11 and 12 Armoured Motor Batteries Desert Column 53rd (Welsh) Division Anzac Mounted Division Imperial Mounted Division Imperial Camel Corps Brigade	Fourth Army 79th Infantry Regiment 2nd Battalion, 81st Infantry Regiment 125th Infantry Regiment Reinforced by 3rd Infantry Division 31st and 32nd Infantry Regiments 16th Infantry Division 47th and 48th Infantry Regiments
Strength
31,000	19,000
Casualties and losses
523 killed 2,932 wounded 512 missing	16 dead or wounded, 41 missing 300 killed, 750 wounded, 600 missing

The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and the Force in Egypt (1914–15), at the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in and around the town of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast when infantry and mounted infantry from the Desert Column, a component of the Eastern Force, attacked the town. Late in the afternoon, on the verge of capturing Gaza, the Desert Column was withdrawn due to concerns about the approaching darkness and large Ottoman reinforcements. This British defeat was followed a few weeks later by the even more emphatic defeat of the Eastern Force at the Second Battle of Gaza in April 1917.

In August 1916, the EEF victory at Romani ended the possibility of land-based attacks on the Suez Canal, first threatened in February 1915 by the Ottoman Raid on the Suez Canal. In December 1916, the newly created Desert Column's victory at the Battle of Magdhaba secured the Mediterranean port of El Arish and the supply route, water pipeline and railway stretching eastwards across the Sinai Peninsula. In January 1917, the victory of the Desert Column at the Battle of Rafa completed the capture of the Sinai Peninsula and brought the EEF within striking distance of Gaza.

Two months later, in March 1917, Gaza was attacked by Eastern Force infantry from the 52nd (Lowland) Division reinforced by an infantry brigade. This attack was protected from the threat of Ottoman reinforcements by the Anzac Mounted Division and a screen from the Imperial Mounted Division. The infantry attack from the south and southeast on the Ottoman garrison in and around Gaza was strongly resisted. While the Imperial Mounted Division continued to hold off threatening Ottoman reinforcements, the Anzac Mounted Division attacked Gaza from the north. They succeeded in entering the town from the north, while a joint infantry and mounted infantry attack on Ali Muntar captured the position. However, the lateness of the hour, the determination of the Ottoman defenders, and the threat from the large Ottoman reinforcements approaching from the north and north east resulted in the decision by the Eastern Force to retreat. It has been suggested that this move snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.