Capture of Jenin | |||||||
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Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I | |||||||
Jenin on 21 September 1918 |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Ottoman Empire German Empire |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Edmund Allenby Harry Chauvel Lachlan Wilson |
Fevsi Pasha Otto Liman von Sanders |
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Units involved | |||||||
Egyptian Expeditionary Force Desert Mounted Corps Australian Mounted Division |
Yildirim Army Group Seventh Army Eighth Army |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | unknown casualties, 8,000 prisoners |
The Capture of Jenin occurred on 20 September 1918, during the Battle of Sharon which together with the Battle of Nablus formed the set piece Battle of Megiddo fought between 19 and 25 September during the last months of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. During the cavalry phase of the Battle of Sharon carried out by the Desert Mounted Corps, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade, Australian Mounted Division attacked and captured the town of Jenin located on the southern edge of the Esdraelon Plain (also known as the Jezreel Valley and the plain of Armageddon) 40–50 miles (64–80 km) behind the front line in the Judean Hills. The Australian light horse captured about 2,000 prisoners, the main supply base and the ordnance depot of the Seventh and the Eighth Armies in and near the town. They also cut the main road from Nablus and a further 6,000 Ottoman Empire and German Empire prisoners, were subsequently captured as they attempted to retreat away from the Judean Hills.