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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.〔Battles Nomenclature Committee 1922 p. 33〕 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 from their main bases at Moascar and Kantara on the Suez Canal. General Edmund Allenby's initial strategic plans focused on his open right flank. If attacked with sufficiently large forces, he could be outflanked by an attack from the east—unlike his left flank which rested securely on the Mediterranean Sea to the west. His aim was to capture the territory east of Jerusalem stretching to the Dead Sea, where his right flank could be more secure. The area was garrisoned by Ottoman troops entrenched on hill-tops which the British infantry, Australian light horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades attacked. The infantry captured Talat ed Dumm on the main Jerusalem to Jericho road, while the light horse and mounted rifle brigades captured Jericho and the area to the south bordered by the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. ==Background== The advance from Beersheba came to a halt in December.〔Bou 2009, p. 185〕〔Powles 1922, pp. 172–3〕 On 14 December Allenby reported to the War Cabinet that the rainy season would prevent any further operations, after Jerusalem was secured, for at least two months.〔Grainger 2006, p. 218〕 At this time, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was paralysed by a breakdown in logistics forcing Allenby to send the Anzac and the Australian Mounted Divisions, along with the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade south of Gaza to shorten their lines of communication. He wrote: "I can't feed them, with certainty, and even now, a fortnight's heavy rain would bring me near starvation."〔Allenby to Robertson 25 January 1918 quoted in Woodward 2006, p. 160〕 On 1 January, the 5th Mounted Brigade began moving back through the rain and slush followed by the 4th Light Horse Brigades Field Ambulance, beginning the Australian Mounted Division's journey back to Deir el Belah south of Gaza.〔Hamilton 1996, p. 99〕 The Anzac Mounted Division did not move back quite so far; the 1st and possibly 2nd Light Horse Brigades moved back to Esdud while the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade bivouacked near Ayun Kara (also known as Rishon LeZion) not far from Jaffa.〔Powles 1922, p. 171〕〔Hurley, O'Keefe 1986, p. 112〕 Allenby wrote on 25 January: "I want to extend my right, to include Jericho and the N() of the Dead Sea."〔Allenby to Robertson 25 January 1918 in Hughes 2004, p. 127〕 This advance would remove the more serious threat to his right by pushing all the enemy across the Jordan River and securing the Jordan River crossings. It would also prevent raids into the country to the west of the Dead Sea and provide a narrow starting point for operations against the Hedjaz Railway.〔Falls 1930 Vol. 2 p. 303〕 General Jan Christiaan Smuts, a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, was sent to confer with Allenby regarding the implementation of a French qualification to the War Office's Joint Note No. 12—that no troops from France could be redeployed to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Smuts was on his way back to London in February when the first step was taken to accomplish his suggestion of crossing the Jordan River and capturing the Hedjaz Railway, and the front line was extended eastwards with the successful capture of Jericho.〔Woodward 2006, pp. 161–2〕〔Wavell 1968, pp. 176–7〕 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「Capture of Jericho」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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