South Arabia during World War I

Campaign in South Arabia

Part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

A QF 15 pounder emplacement of B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company at Sheik Othman in 1915

Date

10 November 1914 – June 1916

Location

South Arabia

Result

Stalemate

Ottoman occupation of Lahij
British retention of Aden

Belligerents

Ottoman Empire

British Empire

Hejaz rebels

Emirate of Asir

Commanders and leaders

Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
(Commander of the VII Corps)
Ali Sait Pasha
(Taiz Operational Region)
Hüseyin Ragıp Bey
(Tehame Operational Region)

H. V. Cox
(Commander of the 29th Indian Brigade)
D. G. L. Shaw
(Commander of the Aden Brigade)
George J. Younghusband
(Commander of the Aden Brigade)
Percival Hill-Thompson
(Captain of HMS Philomel)

Fadhl ibn Ali al Abdali (Lahij)
Sharif Hussein (Hejaz)

Strength

34,500 (total)

Casualties and losses

1,263+
647 killed/missing
584+ wounded
32 captured

Stalemate

British Empire

Hejaz rebels

The campaign in South Arabia during World War I was a minor struggle for control of the port city of Aden, an important way station for ships on their way from Asia to the Suez Canal. The British Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 5 November 1914, and the Ottomans responded with their own declaration on 11 November. From the beginning, the Ottomans had planned an invasion of Britain's Aden Protectorate in cooperation with the local Arab tribes. The Ottomans had gathered in some strength on the Cheikh Saïd, a peninsula which juts out into the Red Sea towards the island of Perim.

...
Wikipedia