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| General Sir Edmund Allenby |
The Third Battle of Gaza in WWI began on the morning of October 31, 1917, when Allied forces launched an attack on Turkish positions in Beersheba.
This was the third attempt by British forces to capture Gaza, after two previous attempts ended with a deadlock. Following the failures of capturing Gaza, the British War Office dispatched General Sir Edmund Allenby in June 1917 to take command in the region, replacing General Sir Archibald Murray.
Allenby moved his headquarters from Cairo to the front line in a move which was designed to boost the troops' morale. He began accumulating forces and mid-fall the British General had managed to assemble almost 90,000 men which were now facing some 35,000 men, from the Ottoman Empire.
After capturing the town of Beersheba on October 31, the British General turned his focus on capturing the port city of Gaza.
In the following days his troops advanced towards the city, capturing the controlling hills around it.
At the dawn of November 6, he struck to the north, splitting the Seventh and Eighth Turkish Armies, while hoping to trap the Eighth Army at Gaza, but the Turks retreated further up the coast, abandoning Gaza.
The British entered Gaza on November 7, 1917, facing little to none resistance by Ottoman forces.
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| Ottomans forces in the second Battle of Gaza |
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