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Born-Richmond

Gaza War Cemetery, Palestine

After the Western Front, the second largest theatre of war between 1914 and 1918 was Egypt and Palestine. Britain had long had a foothold in Egypt guarding the vitally important Suez Canal and when war was declared against Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) who controlled all of what is now known as the Middle East, British troops were sent to guard the canal from attacks from the north. For the first two years of the war the British forces were on the defensive as the Turks, backed by the Germans, made a number of attempts against the canal but an important victory in August 1916 at Rumani relieved the pressure and the British force was then able to move onto the offensive and advance north into Palestine. There followed the First and Second Battles of Gaza in March and in April, 1917 in which the British tried but failed to break through the Turkish line that stretched from the coast at Gaza across the desert to Beersheba.

Third Battle of Gaza   October-November, 1917

Throughout the hot summer of 1917, both sides strengthened their forces in Palestine and command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) was handed over to General Allenby who was ready to make his move at the end of October. On 31st October, British and ANZAC troops attacked and captured Beersheba and its vital water supply. Attention was now turned to Gaza where a four day artillery bombardment of the city had begun on 28th October. On 1st November, Scottish troops from 52nd Division captured Umbrella Hill, which gave them a commanding view of Gaza city and then on the night of 1st-2nd November it was attacked. The Turks fought fiercely but in the end they were overwhelmed by a numerically superior British force. By 8th November all resistance along the Gaza-Beersheba line had been broken and the route was now open for an advance on Jerusalem. However the victory had come at the cost of 2.700 British casualties including 700 either killed or missing.

The action on 2nd November was never intended to capture the town, but to keep the enemy garrison in place after the capture of Beersheba. The EEF attacked the southern and western defences of Gaza and captured the front line trenches there and a series of strongholds or redoubts. 54th Division attacked the western defences using 161 and 162 Brigades. The attack of 162 Brigade, which included the 4th Northamptonshire battalion, was completely successful despite the lack of tanks which had been put out of action in the earlier phases. The brigade had a sharp struggle for Gun Hill which was taken with the bayonet but by 6am they were ready to attack Sheikh Hassan and this they captured with little difficulty after a fifteen minute bombardment, taking 182 prisoners. A company of 4th Northamptonshire captured Lion Trench (3/4 mile north-east of the shrine at Sheikh Hassan) by 7.30am in order to clear the wire from the beach and allow exploitation by the cavalry, but the Turks then counter attacked in strength and they were forced to withdraw. That afternoon 4th Northamptonshire captured Yunis Trench but driven out by a counter attack. Turkish resistance meant that there were casualties and one of these was John Hambleton of 4th Northamptonshire.