page_title: Battle of Haifa (1918)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Haifa (1918) / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: An unidentified Indian Rajput mounted on the English gelding "Mortshire".
context_page_description: The Battle of Haifa was fought on 23 September 1918 towards the end of the Battle of Sharon which together with the Battle of Nablus formed the set piece Battle of Megiddo fought between 19 and 25 September during the last months of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. During the Battle of Haifa, the Indian 15th Cavalry Brigade, 5th Cavalry Division and part of the Desert Mounted Corps attacked rearguard forces of the Ottoman Empire that resulted in the capture of the towns of Haifa and Acre. This attack took place at the north western edge of the Esdraelon Plain 40–50 miles behind the front line in the Judean Hills after the Desert Mounted Corps had occupied the plain, during the cavalry phase of the Battle of Sharon.
  The Battle of Megiddo had begun with an attack by British Empire infantry along an almost continuous line from the Mediterranean Sea across the Plain of Sharon into the foothills of the Judean Hills. They attacked the Ottoman front line and captured the headquarters of the Ottoman Eighth Army at Tulkarm, the trenches at Tabsor and pivoted at Arara.
context_section_description: The 5th Cavalry Division were formed with three brigades, two of them composed of one British yeomanry regiment, and two British Indian Army cavalry regiments; one of which was usually lancers. Part of the Desert Mounted Corps, it was supported by machine guns, artillery, and light armoured car units. The division's third brigade was the 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade, normally comprising three cavalry regiments from the Indian Princely States of Jodhpur, Mysore and Hyderabad. However, the Hyderabad Lancers had been detached to escort prisoners and had been replaced by the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry from the divisions 14th Cavalry Brigade.
  Following the successful advance and virtual encirclement of the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies in the Judean Hills with the captures of Afulah and Nazareth, the Yildirim Army Group general headquarters was out of communication with its three armies. All direct routes northwards were controlled by the Desert Mounted Corps. Thus, the retreating Seventh Army and what remained of the Eighth Army were forced to withdraw along minor roads or tracks, eastwards across the Jordan River, towards the Hedjaz railway. The capture of Haifa was essential for any further advances by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force since the roads leading to the port were little more than tracks and its capture was urgently required for landing supplies.
caption: Jodhpur Lancer sowar and horse
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