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The Battle of Rafa - The First World War - 1917

The Battle of Rafa was fought between Turkish forces and Allied troops, including many Australian forces. It was one of many lesser known Battles that formed part of the Allies attempts to remove the Turks from Palestine and the Sinai region. Accounts of this battle are limited but seem to agree that the Allied forces had become scattered during an overnight march. Upon receiving fire from the entrenched Turks they quickly went onto the attack, with some units sweeping around the Turkish position to block off there escape route. The Turkish troops were then charged and overwhelmed, surrendering relatively quickly.

The Battle of Rafa is a reminder that the War was being fought in many places, not just on the Western Front. Here the conditions were quite different. Instead of the incessant bombardments and the rigors of living in a trench the troops sent to the Middle Eastern theatre of war had to contend with major communications problems, poor supply routes and the constant threat of disease. Note how quickly the Turkish trenches here were taken, and the fact that they were encircled. In the desert there was much more mobility than on the Western Front, here it was a more 'traditional' kind of warfare.

Battle of Rafa - Links - War memories of Robert Ellwood, New South Wales Lancers