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The Jewish Chronicle

On this day: Allenby captures Jerusalem

December 9 1917: Allenby’s troops push the Ottomans from Jerusalem

December 9, 2010 08:00
allenby jerusalem

By

Jennifer Lipman,

Jennifer Lipman

2 min read

Before the First World War, Jerusalem, as indeed the region, had been under the control of the Ottoman Empire for some four centuries. 1917 saw the fall of the Ottoman regime and, just weeks after the Balfour Declaration in Britain, saw Jerusalem be captured by the British army’s Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshall Sir Edmund Allenby.

British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George had already called on his army to secure Jerusalem by Christmas. Allenby improved on that wish.

In mid-November, he directed his troops east towards the Judean Hills around Jerusalem. Despite three days of near-continuous rain which, as Allenby later noted, rendered the roads “quite impassable, indeed, for mechanical transport and camels in many places”, on December 8 they were able to attack.

Within a day the majority of Jerusalem had been secured and the Turkish army had largely relinquished control, although the Ottomans did attempt a counter-attack later in the month. Losses on both sides were great; some 25,000 Turkish casualties, some 18,000 of the Allied forces died.