Third Battle of Gaza casualties

[clive_hughes]

I'm having some difficulty in discovering the casualty statistics for the Third Battle of Gaza - mainly the operations on 6-7 November 1917, but also overall.  Websites and books detail the course of the action, but don't say what were the figures for losses on both sides.  

Eleven Anglesey men died on 6.11.17, mainly with 1/6th RWF, but two in 1/7th RWF.  Several more of the 1/6th died of their wounds in the succeeding few days.  Neither the 53rd (Welsh) Divisional History nor the Regimental history of the RWF talk about their casualties either: detailed chart by battalion for First Gaza, but nothing for the Third.   

Can anyone please provide some general stats. for the battle, and even better, for 53rd Division, and the units of 158th Brigade?  I don't think the Palestine unit war diaries are free-to-view online.

Clive

 

 

[stevenbecker]

Clive,

I surpose from our side, the 3rd Gaza battle was not one battle, but a series of Battles fought over many miles and days, over an large area from Beersheba to Gaza

The date you give are the explotation phase of those battles, that push two Ottoman Armies back over Palestine.

I am sure the blokes can give figures of these battles as I have only AIF losses.

S.B

[michaeldr]

Clive,

There's a paragraph in “The Work of the Medical Services” chapter of 'The Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force' (p.104) which might start you off;

“The casualties during these early operations, though not as heavy as had been prepared for, were quite enough to keep the medical department busy in all its branches. From Oct. 28 to Nov. 11, 1917, Desert Mounted and XXth Corps had 245 officers and 4,674 other ranks wounded, and XXIst Corps 126 officers and 2,947 other ranks. During the same period as equal number of sick was dealt with.”

Prof. Eran Dolev also gets into some detail in his 4th chapter of his ALLENBY’S MILITARY MEDICINE Life and Death in World War I Palestine - 
see  http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/78132/1/24.pdf & in particular on these battles from page 71 onwards;-

page 73 - “Most of the casualties during the attack of the XX Corps were caused by shrapnel and machine-gun fire while the troops were approaching the enemy’s trenches. During this first day of the offensive, the XX corps sustained 1,146 casualties: 136 dead and 1,010 wounded. A high percentage of walking casualties was noted. They were treated at the various stations and evacuated to Imara according to the medical plan .”

page 76 - “The battle of Tel Khuweilfe included several attacks and counter-attacks by the opposing forces and heavy casualties were inflicted on both. The 53rd Division bore the lion’s share of this battle, its 158th Brigade sustaining 620 casualties during two days, the 6th and 7th of November.”

page 78/9 -  “During the operations between 31 October and 9 November, including the capture of Beersheba and Gaza and the destruction of the Turkish front line, the EEF suffered 13,099 casualties. The XX Corps sustained 5,484 casualties: 932 dead, 4,444 wounded, and 108 missing in action. The XXI Corps sustained 2,696 casualties: 361 dead, 1,963 wounded, and 372 missing. The Desert Mounted Corps sustained 4,919 casualties, only a few of them during the battle of Beersheba – 53 dead and 144 wounded, the rest being inflicted on the Corps during the advance northwards.”

[clive_hughes]

Thank you all for your assistance.  I woke this morning remembering that I can at least get the individual unit dead as stats from CWGC/SDGW, but I did really want some overall figures, which you've kindly supplied.

Clive