General Edmund Allenby's Victory In The Battle Of Megiddo

Introduction The Battle of Megiddo represents a major and decisive victory for Allied forces in the First World War. General Edmund Allenby’s use of regular army units, armored cars, cavalry, airpower and irregulars led to a major victory that hastened the collapse of Turkey and the [Ottoman Empire].1 For the British Allied Forces, General Edmund Allenby entered the battle with 57,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and 540 artillery pieces and 1,000-3000 irregulars (numbers vary). For the Turkish Ottoman Empire, General Otto Liman Von Sanders entered the battle with 32,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 402 artillery pieces.2

History Five years into what would be known as World War I, British forces were fighting the Turkish armies of the Ottoman
Though his troops had slowed Chetwode's two day advance, his western and southern side was exposed to two separate forces, and he didn’t have the enough men to fight the XX Corps and the XXI Corps simultaneously. With few available reserves and his communication net crumbling, Von Sanders had little opportunity to effect the battle. He attempted to order his forces to retreat, but only the Fourth Army could be contacted. It was too late to save all but a corporal’s guard of the seventh and Eighth Armies as these two formations disintegrated under the withering attacks.20 Pulling out on the night of September 20th, his covering force defended his withdrawal successfully. However, on the 21st, RAF aircraft found Kemal's retreating force as is passed through a valley east of Nablus. he RAF attacked relentlessly, attacking with bombs and strafing runs every 3 minutes.21
This attack destroyed many of the Seventh Army’s remaining vehicles and blocked the valley, causing a deadly traffic jam. With the RAF overhead raining down withering fire, the remaining survivors of the Seventh Army abandoned their trapped vehicles and equipment and began to flee north, across the hills, on foot. Ninety artillery pieces,
Damascus was captured by the Northern Arab Army October 1st as the Ottoman forces crumbled.26 British forces captured Beirut on October 8th. Meeting only light resistance, Allenby pushed his units north and captured Aleppo on October 25.27 With their forces in complete disarray, the Ottomans signed the Armistice of Mudros after losing all of present day Palestine, Syria and Iraq to Allenby.28 With the Armistice in place, Allenby stopped his march towards Constantinople, the capitol of the Ottoman Empire, thus ending the African Campaign for Allied