palestine campaign

The Imperial Camel Corps

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  The Imperial Camel Corps, which included two New Zealand companies, played a vital role in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns during the First World War. Between 400 and 450 New Zealanders fought in the Corps, and 41 died before the two New Zealand companies were disbanded in mid-1918.

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• Page 3 – New Zealand Camel Companies

  In August 1916 No 15 (New Zealand) Company, Imperial Camel Corps, was formed from men originally intended as reinforcements for the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.

• Page 4 – End of the Imperial Camel Corps

  The New Zealand camel companies served with the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade in Palestine until it was disbanded in June 1918. At that point the Kiwi cameliers were reorganised

• Page 6 – Imperial Camel Corps organisation

  Reflecting their ad hoc origins, the camel companies used a unique mixture of infantry and mounted rifles organisation and nomenclature.

Palestine campaign

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  The British invasion of Ottoman-held Palestine in 1917-18 was the third - and last - campaign launched by the Allies against the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East during the First World War.

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• Page 2 – Overview

  Victory in Sinai led to pressure from the British government, led by new Prime Minister Lloyd George, to invade Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1917.

• Page 3 – First Battle of Gaza

  The commander of Eastern Force mistakenly thought that the Egyptian Expeditionary Force could capture Gaza in March 1917 by using essentially the same tactics as those employed

• Page 4 – Second Battle of Gaza

  The Second Battle of Gaza three weeks after the First Battle, was an even bigger disaster – a frontal attack by British infantry divisions resulted in their suffering some 6000

• Page 5 – Third Battle of Gaza

  The third, successful attempt by the British to capture Gaza began in late October 1917.

• Page 6 – The Trans-Jordan raids

  Two raids east of the Jordan River cost 3000 casualties. They are the first real defeats suffered by the EEF since the Second Battle of Gaza.

• Page 7 – Battle of Megiddo

  The final battle of the Palestine campaign in September 1918 resulted in arguably the most decisive British victory of the war.

• Page 8 – Further information

  Further reading relating to New Zealand's role in the Palestine campaign of the First World War

The Ottoman Empire

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  Few Kiwis today know much about one of our main First World War enemies, the Ottoman Empire - a sophisticated but often forgotten empire whose soldiers fought against New Zealand troops for four years in the Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

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• Page 5 – Ottoman Empire at war

  How the Ottoman Empire fared during the First World War

• Page 8 – The Arab Revolt, 1916-18

  The rise of its Arab subjects against the Ottoman Empire in the later years of the First World War saw them fight alongside the British forces, though ultimately they were

British Empire

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  Key information and statistics about countries who fought as part of the British Empire during the First World War

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• Page 3 – Commonwealth of Australia

  Key information and statistics about the Commonwealth of Australia during the First World War

• Page 5 – British India

  Facts and statistics about India during the First World War

Pacific Islanders in the NZEF

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  Cook Islanders, Niueans, Fijians and Gilbert Islanders all took their place in the ranks of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force during the First World War. As well as the dangers of war, Pacific soldiers faced language difficulties, an unfamiliar army diet and European diseases.

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• Page 3 - The Rarotongan CompanyInformation on the New Zealand Rarotongan Company, which served in the Sinai and Palestine campaigns

NZ Railways at war

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  The railway system and its workforce was one of the most valuable assets available to the New Zealand state to support the national effort during the First World War

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• Page 2 - Railways in the First World WarThe steam railway was a driving force of the industrial revolution and European imperialist

Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment timeline

• Timeline for the Wellington Mounted Rifles in 1915

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• Page 4 – 1918

  The Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment (WMR), along with the rest of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (NZMR), moves east across Palestine into the Jordan Valley in early

Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment timeline

• The Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment actions in 1915, from Sinai to Gallipoli

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• Page 4 – 1918

  The Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment (AMR) and the rest of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (NZMR) move east across Palestine into the Jordan Valley in early 1918 as part

The Post and Telegraph Department at war

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  The Post and Telegraph Department (the government agency from which New Zealand Post, Telecom and Kiwibank are descended) was crucial to this country’s participation in the First World War.

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• Page 6 – Communications on the Western Front

  In April 1916, the recently formed New Zealand Division was transported by troopship across the Mediterranean from the Egyptian port of Alexandria to Marseille in the south of

Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment timeline

• In May the CMR and the rest of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (NZMR) are thrown – as infantry – into the desperate struggle to seize the commanding heights of the Gallipoli Peninsula. In the next four months the regiment suffers more than half of all its casualties in the war.

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• Page 4 - 1918The Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment (CMR) and the rest of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (NZMR) move east across Palestine into the Jordan Valley in early 1918 as part

NZ's First World War horses

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  Between 1914 and 1916 the New Zealand government acquired more than 10,000 horses to equip the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They served in German Samoa, Gallipoli, the Middle East and on the Western Front. Of those that survived the war, only four returned home.

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• Page 6 - Sinai and PalestineSeveral thousand of the New Zealand forces’ horses remained in the Middle East when the New Zealand Division sailed to France. These horses served with the New Zealand Mounted