Berukin, Palestine 9-30th April 1918

[ddycher]

All

Does anybody have any detail on this battle. Outside limited ref's in Atkinson's "History of the Devons" have been able to get very little detail on it. This surprised me given indications that it was a running three week struggle with attacks and counter attacks back and forth.

Anybody have any detail they are prepared to share ? I have the following that I have been able to piece together so far but would appreciate critique / corrections. As you can see my own focus is with the 1/5th Devons but am now looking for other Bn ref's to support further research.

[*] April 1918

[*] 9th - 232nd Brigade attack Berukin and El Kufr

[*] 9.45am Br-Gen Huddleston sends 1/5th Devon to attack Berukin.

[*] D Coy supplying covering fire from Tin Hat Hill

[*] 1.30pm 1/5th Devons storm Berukin

[*] Led by Capt Spooner

[*] 3 companies advance up the Wadi el Mutwy, leave it at the bend south of the village and rush across the open.

[*] A&B Coy

[*] C Coy supporting

[*] Berukin captured at 4pm

[*] Berukin becomes a salient with 1/5th Devons taking fire from both flanks

[*] 6pm Devons moves theirs HQ to Berukin

[*] No telephone communication due to lack of cable.

[*] Turks counter attack heavily around midnight.

[*] 1/5th Devon heavily attacked

[*] House to house fighting lasting all night.

[*] 10th

[*] Bastow unhappy with artillery support.

[*] B Coy position hit by shelling.

[*] Assisted by 2/4th Somerset the 1/5th Devons clear the village having lost half of it during the previous night.

[*] Spooner killed by machine gun fire

[*] 232nd continue advance at 6am

[*] Devons counter-attack led by Capt Winnicot and 2nd Lt’s Edgar and Treacher.

[*] 8am 1/5th Devons withdraw to the Wadi Ballut.

[*] B Coy remain behind with the Somersets.

[*] 11th

[*] Turkish counter attacks on the 75th Division.

[*] 75th Division casualties stated at 1500

[*] Total 1/5th Devon alone casualties at Berukin given at

[*] 8 officers

[*] 80 OR

[*] 12th

[*] TBD.

[*] 14th

[*] TBD.

[*] 16th – 17th

[*] Devons out of the line

[*] 17th

[*] Devons return to Berukin

[*] 17th – EOM

[*] Devons hold Berukin.

[*] 30th

[*] Turks again counter attack heavily at Berukin

Believe there were three Divisions involved - the 75th, 54th and A.N.Other. Lots of work to do to get a better picture and would appreciate any assistance / advice on ow to progress.

Regards

Dave

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Dave

Just a few notes from the 75th Div War Diary regarding the Devons. You might already have all of this. There is not much unfortunately.

Notes for 9th April 1918

Maps 1/40,000 Sheets 3 and 4

1225 - 100 Turks reported by 232nd Brigade to have been seen advancing about A. 9.b.7.4. and engaged by our guns. Enemy guns were shelling Devons advancing up the Wadi in A. 22. a. towards Berukin

1420 - 232nd Brigade reported that 1/5 Devons were attacking Berukin.

1520 - 232nd Brigade reported that attack of 1/th Devons on Berukin being held up by MG fire.

1530 - Corps informed that Devons attack on Berukin held up by MG fire. gun barrage being arranged to assist attack but registration slow owing to map being inaccurate. Also that 10th Division reported enemy movement at Kurawa Ibn Zeid and attack anticipated. 29th Infantry Brigade were arranging MG barrage to assist 1/5th Devons.

1600 - 232nd Brigade reported Berukin captured.

1635 232nd Brigade reported heavy MG fire from A.10.b and A.8.b on Berukin.

On the 232nd Infantry Brigade front, the 2/3rd Gurkha Rifles, after some sharp fighting, seized El Kefr but the attack an Hill in A.15.b, met with strong resistance and its capture by the 2/4th Somerset LI. was not completed until 0945. At 1100 the 1/5th Devons advanced from Deir Ghussaneh to attack Berukin, they immediately came under very heavy shell fire which together with the nature of the country made progress very slow. At 1600 two companies assaulted the village with one company in support and the remaining company was placed on Hill in A.15.b. to give covering fire, In spite of very heavy machine gun fire the assault was successful and the village consolidated.

The enemy kept up heavy machine gun fire on our line throughout the night and on the 232nd Infantry Brigade front their patrols were very active. El Kefr and Berukin were both attacked, the attack on the latter only being driven off by the 1/5th Devons and 1 Coy 2/4th Somerset LI after severe hand to hand fighting in the village itself.

I hope this helps a tad bit.

Cheers

Bill

http://alh-research.tripod.com/

[michaeldr]

Dave,

If you, or your library, can get hold of the British OH [Military Operations Egypt & Palestine (from June 1917 to the end of the war) Part I (ISBN: 0-89839-239-X)] then you will find it covered in Chapter XVI pages 350-357

regards

Michael

[ddycher]

Gents

Many thanks for this.

Bill - Great help - I have not seen the 75th Division War diaries. In fact I did not know they were available not be shown in the N.A's on-line. Would be invaluable re my ongoing research. Do you know where is the best place to obtain a copy ? Being based in Hong Kong a trip to Kew is a long way off.

Michael - I do have a copy of the OH and I have used it for general cross ref's todate to support what I been able to discover from Devon Regt ref. materials. Typically it deals more at the Divisional level though and I have been struggling to get a more detailed picture.

Again both many thanks for your help.

Regards

Dave

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Dave

Mate, you will be pleased to know that Kew is the place to be.

The 75th Division War Diary detail for the 9th is as you see it with the time stamps. It is basic and thin information. The latter two paragraphs come from a brief 2 page, Divisional post battle report. What I am getting at is that if your search is purely regarding the Devons, then the report above is as good as it gets. My thoughts would be to get the battalion War Diary for that month which may give a bit more specific detail. The other is to get the two maps mentioned to establish the points mentioned in the commentary.

Cheers

Bill

http://alh-research.tripod.com/

[ddycher]

Thanks Bill

What I feared - will have to wait "til my next trip home at xmas. Same with the Devon's War Diaries.

Re Berukin - you are right that my primary interest was in the Devons but has now grown to cover the battle in general and to advances and withdrawals in the Wadi / Deir Ballut at the time. Still surprised with the number of units who fought there through March, April and early May and how little is actually written on it.

So my immediate target is to identify Bde's and Bn's of the 3 Division's (I think) involved. Currently believe the 75th, 54th and 53rd Divisions all involved in fighting here during the period I am looking at.

Thanks for your help so far - much appreciated.

Regards

Dave

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Dave

You will also find that the 6th Leinster Regiment (29th Infantry Brigade) from the 10th Division also took part in the action. If you have a look at the 1530 entry for 9th April, you will see them mentioned.

Cheers

Bill

http://alh-research.tripod.com/

[ddycher]

Bill

Apologies missed the ref to the 10th Div in your earlier post. Just seeing what I expected to see I guess. Had no previous inclination that any aspect of the 10th div took part. Like the 53rd Div Berukin is not listed in their battles / engagements on my ref's. Any idea why ?

A quick google on the 10th and Berukin gave me this :

http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cgi-bin/showfile.e...ilename=231.pdf

on their activitities after the indianisation which I had not seen before either.

Thanks again.

Dave

[ddycher]

Michael

Owe you an apology - given the detail supplied by Bill I went back to the OH and got alot more out of it the second time round.

Now starting to get a better understanding of actions on the 9-11th (and have a few leads to follow) but am completely in the dark wrt activities between the 12th and Turkish counter attacks 30th April / 1st May. Anybody have any ideas on how the explore dates from the 11th - 30th ?

Regards

Dave

[ddycher]

Quick follow up on this.

Interestingly Turkish and German ref's seem to state that attacks make by the 75th on the 9th and 10th April 1918 were actually failures and were repulsed by the German Asia Corps. Little is made of actions on the Wadi Deir Ballut at this time. They state the offensive was to continue again at the end of April.

Regards

Dave

[michaeldr]

Dave

I have just came across these photographs which will give you some idea of the country in which your chaps were

http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/H00616

and

http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/H00625

and another

http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/H00617

regards

Michael

[michaeldr]

Yet another photo which may be of interest

http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/H00626

[ddycher]

Thanks Michael

I had not seen these before.

regards

Dave