Capture of Jericho | |||||||
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Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I | |||||||
Breakfast meeting of Generals Chaytor, Chauvel and Chetwode on the morning of the capture of Jericho, 21 February 1918 |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Ottoman Empire | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Edmund Allenby Philip Chetwode John Shea Edward Chaytor |
Otto Liman von Sanders Djemal Pasha Ali Fuad Bey Refet Bey |
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Units involved | |||||||
Egyptian Expeditionary Force and Desert Mounted Corps's |
Yildirim Army Group
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Strength | |||||||
6,800 | 3,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
510 | 144 prisoners, 8 machine guns |
Egyptian Expeditionary Force
XX Corps
and Desert Mounted Corps's
Yildirim Army Group
Seventh Army
XX Corps
The Capture of Jericho occurred between 19 and 21 February 1918 to the east of Jerusalem beginning the Occupation of the Jordan Valley during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in an area bordered by the Bethlehem–Nablus road in the west, the Jordan River in the east, and north of a line from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Here a British Empire force attacked Ottoman positions, forcing them back to Jericho and eventually across the Jordan River.
Winter rains put an end to campaigning after the advance from the Gaza–Beersheba line to the capture of Jerusalem in December 1917. This lull in the fighting offered the opportunity for the captured territories to be consolidated. Extensive developments were also required along the lines of communication to ensure that front-line troops were adequately supplied, approximately 150 miles (240 km) from their main bases at Moascar and Kantara on the Suez Canal.