Raid on the Suez Canal

Raid on the Suez Canal
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Ottoman camel corps at Beersheba, 1915
Date26 January – 4 February 1915
(1 week and 2 days)
Location
Suez Canal, Egypt
Result British victory
Belligerents

 British Empire

 Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders
British Empire John Maxwell
 Egypt Ahmad Helmy †		 Ottoman Empire Djemal Pasha
German Empire F. K. von Kressenstein
Strength
30,000 20,000
Other estimates:
11,400 (400 officers and 11,000 soldiers)[1]
Casualties and losses
32 killed, 130 wounded[2] 1,500 casualties (including ~700 prisoners)[3]

The Raid on the Suez Canal, also known as Actions on the Suez Canal, took place between 26 January and 4 February 1915 when a German-led Ottoman Army force advanced from Southern Palestine to attack the British Empire-protected Suez Canal, marking the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918) of World War I (1914–1918).

Substantial Ottoman forces crossed the Sinai peninsula and a few managed to cross the Canal, but the overall attack failed because of strongly held British defences manned by alert defenders.

  1. ^ Atlas Tarih, Mısır'ın yeniden fethi hayali: Cemal Paşa ve ordusu, Süveyş Kanalı yolunda, edition February-Mart 2012, number 11, page 24-25 (in Turkish)
  2. ^ Falls 1930 Vol. 1 pp. 46–50
  3. ^ Bruce 2002 pp. 23–4