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The Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe, part of the Southern Palestine Offensive, began on 1 November 1917, the day after the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the Battle of Beersheba during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. After the Stalemate in Southern Palestine a series of coordinated attacks were launched by British Empire units on the Ottoman Empire's German commanded Yildirim Army Group's front line, which stretched from Gaza inland to Beersheba. During fighting for the town, the road from Beersheba to Jerusalem via Hebron, was cut just north of the town in the southern spur of the Judean Hills. Here Ottoman units strongly defended the road and the Seventh Army headquarters at Hebron. Over the next week, attacks by the 53rd (Welsh) Division, the Anzac Mounted Division, and the 5th Mounted Brigade (Australian Mounted Division) attempted to capture the Khuweilfe position. Attacks were launched by the British infantry and Yeomanry cavalry, and Australian and New Zealand mounted brigades. Despite their failure to dislodge the Ottoman defenders, the continuing pressure drew in Ottoman reserves, which could have made the EEF attacks at Gaza during the night of 1/2 November, and at Hareira and Sheria on 6–7 November, more strongly contested. On 6 November, in coordination with the attacks on Hareira and Sheria, the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, with the Imperial Camel Brigade covering their flanks, made another inconclusive assault with artillery support. This fighting continued the following day, until the Ottoman defenders began to withdraw, as a consequence of the loss of Hareira, the evacuation of Gaza, and the weakening of the Sheria position, all of which threatened to outflank the Tel el Khuweilfe position. == Background == After the two EEF defeats at Gaza in March and April, the defences held at the end of the Second Battle of Gaza were fortified, while the severely depleted infantry divisions were reorganised and reinforced.〔Falls 1930 Vol. 1 p. 351〕 Both sides constructed extensive entrenchments, which were particularly strong where the trenches almost converged, near Gaza. These trenches resembled those on the Western Front, except they were not as extensive and they had an open eastern flank.〔Bruce 2002 p. 106〕〔Woodward 2006 pp. 88–9〕 However, the conditions on the northern edge of the Negev desert were extremely difficult, with both sides camped in the open during the summer.〔Bruce 2002 p. 121〕 Although the EEF railway, which had reached Deir al-Balah before the second battle of Gaza, was extended by a branch line to Shellal to aid the supply of the front line,〔Powles 1922 pp. 108–9〕 serious food shortages and the prevalence of sandfly fever (a debilitating illness) were made almost intolerable by the regular hot desert winds known as khamsin, which swept off the Negev Desert.〔〔''The Fifty-second (Lowland) Division'' by Lieutenant Colonel R. R. Thompson gives a good description of the summer conditions. (1930 Vol. 2 p. 25 note )〕 Just prior to the arrival of General Edmund Allenby in July, Desert Column was expanded and reorganised into three divisions, with the establishment of the new Yeomanry Mounted Division.〔Falls 1930 Vol. 1 p. 357〕〔Wavell 1968 pp. 91–2〕〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 7〕 Allenby reorganised the EEF to reflect contemporary thinking, deactivating Eastern Force to establish two infantry and one mounted corps, all under his direct command:〔Allenby to Robertson 12 July 1917 in Hughes 2004 p. 35〕〔Erickson 2007 pp. 112–3〕 the XX Corps, the XXI Corps and the Desert Mounted Corps.〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 16〕 The Ottoman forces in the area were also reorganised into the Yildirim Army Group in June, commanded by German General and Ottoman Marshall Erich von Falkenhayn,〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 pp. 4–5〕 and reinforced by surplus Ottoman units transferred from Galicia, Macedonia, Romania, and Thrace.〔Erickson 2001 pp. 159, 171, 2007 p. 115〕〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 4〕 Within Yildirim Army Group, while the Fourth Army headquarters and units in Syria commanded by Cemal Pasa, continued to operate as previously, the Fourth Army in Palestine was renamed and reorganised into the Seventh Army commanded by Fevzi Çakmak after the resignation of Mustafa Kemal and the Eighth Army, commanded by Kress von Kressenstein with responsibility for the Palestine front. Although these were significant organisational changes, they did not change the tactical deployments of the Ottoman III, XX and XXII Corps, defending the Gaza to Beersheba line.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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