Raid on the Suez Canal

Raid on Suez Canal
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Ottoman camel corps at Beersheba, 1915
Date 26 January – 4 February 1915 Location Suez Canal, Egypt Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire	Ottoman Empire  German Empire
Commanders and leaders
John Maxwell	Djemal Pasha Friedrich von Kressenstein
Strength
30,000	20,000 Other estimates: 11,400 (400 officers and 11,000 soldiers)
Casualties and losses
32 killed, 130 wounded	1,500 casualties (including ~700 prisoners)

The Raid on the Suez Canal, also known as Actions on the Suez Canal, took place between 26 January and 4 February 1915 after a German-led Ottoman Army force advanced from Southern Palestine to attack the British Empire-protected Suez Canal, before the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I.

Substantial Ottoman forces crossed the Sinai peninsula, but their attack failed mainly because of strongly held defences and alert defenders.

Since its opening in 1869 the Suez Canal had featured prominently in British policy and concerns. Among its great advantages were as a line of communication and also the site for a military base as the well equipped ports at Alexandria and Port Said made the region particularly useful. However, the popularity of the British was in decline in Egypt as the people disliked the occupation and the imposition of a foreign country and alien religion in control of their country.

The Convention of Constantinople of 1888 by the European Powers guaranteed freedom of navigation of the Suez Canal. In August 1914 Egypt was defended by 5,000 men in the Force in Egypt.

Abbas Hilmi, the reigning Khedive, who had opposed the British occupation, was out of the country when the war started. When the British declared the Protectorate on 18 December 1914 they deposed Abbas Hilmi and promoted Prince Hussein Kamel as the Sultan of Egypt. The population agreed to these changes while the outcome of the war was unknown and the fighting continued.

From 2 August 1914 when the Ottoman armies mobilised, Brigadier General Zekki Pasha commanding the Ottoman Fourth Army at Damascus was planning to attack the Suez Canal, with the support of Djemal Pasha Commander in Chief of Syria and Palestine.

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Wikipedia