![Falls sketch 24](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Falls_sketch_24.jpeg)
The Battle of Hijla (21 March 1918) was fought by the forces of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
s during the
Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Hijla (now called Makhadet Hijla', lit. 'Partridge Ford'; cf. nearby
Deir Hajla) is on the
River Jordan
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
a few miles upriver from the
Dead Sea. Today the river is the boundary between Jordan and the "
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
" area presently administered by
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the
Palestinian Authority, but in 1918 it was territory of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. The British invasion had succeeded in taking
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
at the end of 1917. British General
Edmund Allenby
Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...
attempted a
"raid" across the Jordan toward
Amman in an effort to sever the railroad and resistance was met at Hijla and to the north at Ghoraniyeh, where fords provided means to cross.
The river crossing was resisted by the Ottomans at both sites. The
2/19th Battalion (St. Pancras) London Regiment of the
60th Division tried to cross at Hijla, sending swimmers repeatedly across with ropes to attempt the construction of a pontoon bridge. Major
Vivian Gilbert reported the events later. Many of the British soldiers were shot in the Jordan before the bridgehead could be established. Once established, the bridgeheads were maintained against the Ottomans, but the raids on Amman basically failed. This was the prelude to the
Battle of Megiddo farther north in what is now Israel.
[Eames, pp. 132–41.]
Notes
References
* Eames, F.W. (1930/2005). ''Second Nineteenth, being the History of the 2/19th London Regiment During the Great War''. London: Waterlow, 1930, reprinted by Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2005, .
* Gilbert, Vivian (1923). ''The Romance of the Last Crusade: With Allenby to Jerusalem'', New York: D. Appleton.
* Woodward, David (2006). ''Hell in the Holy Land: World War 1 in the Middle East'', University Press of Kentucky.
Battles of World War I involving the Ottoman Empire
Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom
Battles of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
1918 in the Ottoman Empire
March 1918 events
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