From 27 August 1917 to 27 May 1918 Thomson served as Commander Royal Engineers (CRE) of &lt;a href="60th%20%282/2nd%20London%29%20Division"&gt;60th (2/2nd London) Division&lt;/a&gt; in Palestine, commanding the divisional engineers in the Battle of Beersheba, the attack on the Sheria position, and the Capture of Jerusalem. He distinguished himself at the Capture of Jericho.