page_title: Battle of Rafa
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Rafa / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Ambulance wagons returning to El Arish from Rafa
context_page_description: The Battle of Rafa, also known as the Action of Rafah, fought on 9 January 1917, was the third and final battle to complete the recapture of the Sinai Peninsula by British forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. The Desert Column of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force attacked an entrenched Ottoman Army garrison at El Magruntein to the south of Rafah, close to the frontier between the Sultanate of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, to the north and east of Sheikh Zowaiid. The attack marked the beginning of fighting in the Ottoman territory of Palestine.
  After the British Empire victories at the Battle of Romani in August 1916 and the Battle of Magdhaba in December, the Ottoman Army had been forced back to the southern edge of Palestine as the EEF pushed eastwards supported by extended lines of communication. This advance depended on the construction of a railway and water pipeline. With the railway reaching El Arish on 4 January 1917, an attack on Rafa by the newly formed Desert Column became possible.
context_section_description: Following the battle, a strong rearguard position manned by two light horse regiments, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Cecil Maygar, was established. Meanwhile, the bulk of the Desert Column returned to Sheikh Zowaiid for water and rations, arriving about midnight. The two light horse regiments that had remained at Rafa stood guard, while the battlefield was cleared by the light horse field ambulances, whose stretcher bearers worked into the night. The 3rd Light Horse Field Ambulance, covered by the 8th Light Horse Regiment (3rd Light Horse Brigade), remained on the battlefield, as all available ambulance carts and empty wagons were sent up from Sheikh Zowaiid to help transport the wounded to hospital.
  The ANZAC Mounted Division's field ambulance units had been reorganised before the battle, and were equipped with 10 pairs of litters, 15 pairs of cacolets, 12 sand-carts, 12 cycle stretchers and six sledges. With this, they were able transport 92 patients at a time, and they set about the task of evacuating the wounded. The following morning, the 8th Light Horse Regiment was attacked by Ottoman cavalry and camel units. After a period of fighting, the attackers were forced to withdraw, leaving 14 prisoners behind. The whole of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade returned to the battlefield on 10 January with the 7th Light Car Patrol and wagons to collect captured material.
caption: British Empire ambulance wagons returning to Sheikh Zowaiid from Rafa
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