Charge at Haritan The Charge at Haritan occurred on 26 October 1918 at the end of the Pursuit to Haritan after the Capture of Damascus ( 1918 ) during the final stages of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War . Two regiments of the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade , 5th Cavalry Division , charged into retreating remnand column of the Ottoman Army ' s Yildirim Army Group . Subsequently six squadrons of the same brigade charged into an Ottoman rearguard position but were counterattacked and forced to retreat . After the British Empire ' s victory at the Battle of Megiddo the remnants of the Ottoman Empire ' s Yildirim Army Group from Amman was pursued by Prince Feisal ' s Sherifial Force which captured Deraa on 27 September , on the right flank of the 4th Cavalry Division . Meanwhile the pursuit by the Australian Mounted Division followed by the 5th Cavalry Division of Yildirim Army Group remnants retreating from the Judean Hills , captured Damascus on 1 October 1918 , many thousands of German and Ottoman prisoners and many miles of formerly Ottoman Empire territory . A remnant force of Yildirim Army Group managed to escape Damascus , to concentrate at Rayak before retreating back through Homs and Hama towards Aleppo . Huge losses in Desert Mounted Corps from sickness , delayed and depleted their pursuit from Damascus which was continued by 24 cars in three batteries of armoured cars , and three light car patrols armed with machine guns . They were supported by the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade with the remainder of the division following with the Australian Mounted Division moving north to reinforce them . Prince Feisal ' s Sherifial Force successfully attacked Aleppo during the night of 25 October . Background . Following the comprehensive success of the Battle of Megiddo , Sir Henry Wilson , Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office encouraged General Allenby , commanding the Egyptian Expeditionary Force ( EEF ) with the idea that the EEF could do anything and asked him to consider a cavalry raid to Aleppo . Wilson added that the War Cabinet was prepared to take full responsibility for any unsuccessful outcomes . About 19 , 000 Ottoman soldiers had retreated northwards by 1 October , no more than 4 , 000 of whom were equipped and able to fight . Otto Liman von Sanders transferred his headquarters to Baalbek and ordered the remnants of Yildirim Army Group from Haifa and Deraa to concentrate at Rayak . The 146th Regiment was the last formation to leave Damascus on 30 September . After hearing the Barada Gorge was closed von Hammerstein left Damascus by the Homs road , following the III Corps , the 24th Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division to Rayak where even remnants of the 43rd Division of the Second Army which had not been involved in fighting , were " infected with panic . " Only the remnants of von Oppen ' s Asia Corps and the 146th Regiment marching to Homs remained " disciplined formations " by 2 October . Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel ' s Desert Mounted Corps at Damascus was already away from its main supply base while Aleppo was a further away . Allenby was prepared to advance only in stages as supply and geography dictated . He estimated on 25 September that there were 25 , 000 enemy troops in the Aleppo and Alexandretta area . Prelude . Yildirim Army Group . Remnants of the Seventh Army commanded by Mustapha Kemal which had escaped Megiddo , Damascus and Aleppo , were now deployed to the north and northwest of that city . The Second Army of about 16 , 000 armed troops commanded by Nihad Pasha was located to the west in Cilicia and the Sixth Army with another 16 , 000 armed troops commanded by Ali Ihsan which had withdrawn from Mesopotamia was to the north - east around Nusaybin . These Ottoman forces grossly outnumbered the 5th Cavalry Division and attached armoured cars . British Empire and allied force . This force which conducted the pursuit was made up of Prince Fisal ' s Sherifial Force ; one column of 1 , 500 commanded by Colonel Nuri Bey and a second column of 1 , 500 commanded by Sherif Nasir , the 2nd , 11th and 12th Light Armoured Motor Batteries and the 1st ( Australian ) , 2nd and 7th Light Car Patrols consisting of 24 armoured cars , and the 5th Cavalry Division ' s 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade which accompanied the armoured cars to Hamma on 21 October , while the 13th and 14th Cavalry Brigades followed in support . The 5th Cavalry Division and the armoured cars were organised into two columns . Column " A " consisted of the Major General H . J . Macandrew ' s division headquarters , all the armoured cars and the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade . The 13th and 14th Cavalry Brigade s formed Column " B . " Macandrew planned to attack Aleppo from three sides on 26 October . The armoured cars were to attack along the road from the south , Prince Feisal ' s Sherifial forces were to attack from the east while the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade moving round to the west of Aleppo was to cut the Alexandretta road . However , during the night of 25 October , Nuri Bey ' s Arab Sherifial Force attacked the city from the east , and the Arab Sherifial Force commanded by Sherif Nazir advanced round the entrenched Ottoman defences , entered the city to make contact with supporters . Aleppo was captured by these Sherifial Forces after a night of hand – to – hand fighting through the streets on 26 October , having suffering 60 killed . Macandrew arrived in Aleppo shortly after 10 : 00 with the armoured cars . Battle . On 21 October the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade were issued orders to continue the advance to Aleppo . The brigade was proceeded by seven light armoured cars , but the remainder of the division was following a day behind . On 24 October the armoured cars advance was stopped by Turkish defences near Khan Tuman . The Turks held a strong defensive line , on a ridge line to the south and west of Aleppo . The brigade was ordered to occupy a position on the Aleppo - Alexandretta road and to clear Turkish trenches on the ridge to the west of Aleppo . However when they reached the ridge line on 26 October the position had been evacuated . Intelligence from locals suggested that a force of 1 , 000 men with two small artillery guns were heading north out of Aleppo , so the brigade set off in pursuit . At 11 : 00 the leading two Jodhpur Lancers squadron and a machine - gun section reached a position overlooking Haritan to the north of Aleppo , when they came under Turkish small arms fire . Brigadier Harbord in command ordered an immediate brigade attack , the Mysore Lancers would move around to the east of the ridge and charge the village followed up by the other two Jodhpur Lancer squadrons . While the remainder of the Brigade Machine - Gun Squadron would move onto the ridge to provide covering fire , with the two other Jodhpur squadrons . The armoured cars of No . 12 Light Armoured Motor Battery arrived at 11 : 30 and were ordered along the main road to support the attack . As the attack started the leading armoured car developed a fault and returned to their start position , a misunderstanding resulted in the rest of the battery following them , taking them out of the attack . The Mysore Lancers had also started their advance but discovered the Turkish line was longer than expected and had to move further east , out of range of their supporting machine - guns , to get into a position to charge . At 12 : 00 the lancers charged the Turkish position , killing fifty men and capturing another twenty prisoners . But without any fire support from their machine - gun squadron they were unable to penetrate into the Turkish defences and were forced to withdraw to the rear , dismount and keep the Turkish position under observation . The extent of which had not until then been fully appreciated and was now estimated to be held by a force of 3 , 000 infantry , 400 cavalry , up to twelve artillery guns and between thirty and forty machine - guns . One group of Turkish soldiers started towards the Mysore Lancers position , but halted about short and started to dig new defensive trenches . Unable to progress against the larger force the brigade kept the position under observation and at 21 : 00 the Turks were observed to be withdrawing and had completely evacuated their positions by midnight . Just prior to that at 23 : 15 the 14th Cavalry Brigade arrived , setting up their own observation lines , until daylight when they took over the 15th Brigades positions . In the days battle Turkish casualties were estimated to be around 100 men , while the brigade had four British officers killed including Lieutenant - Colonel Holden , the senior Special Service Officer , attached to the Jodhpur Lancers , one Indian Officer and sixteen other ranks were also killed . Twelve officers , six of them British , and forty - four other ranks were wounded , another three other ranks were reported missing . That night the Turkish forces withdrew to Deir el Jemel to the north - west of Aleppo . The 5th Cavalry Division was not strong enough by itself to continue the advance and halted waiting for the Australian Mounted Division to catch up with them . However the day after their unsuccessful charge , 27 October the brigade became the division reserve and was ordered back to Aleppo . The Jodhpur and Mysore lancer regiments of the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade were ordered to move to the west of Aleppo at 07 : 00 on 26 October as part of Major General H . J . Macandrew ' s planned attack on Aleppo , at 07 : 00 . The regiments with a subsection of the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade Machine - Gun Squadron , but without artillery support advancing over a ridge to the west of the city to reach the Alexandretta road on the edge of Aleppo at 09 : 45 without encountering any opposition . The advanced guard ; the Jodhpur Lancers continued on to arrive north - west of Aleppo at a ridge about south - west of , and overlooking Haritan at 11 : 00 . Here , as a result of being heavily fired on by enemy machine guns , they dismounted to take up a position cutting the Alexandretta road . From this position the lancer regiments saw a 1 , 000 strong Ottoman column retiring north of Aleppo along the Alexandretta road at about 11 : 00 . Despite heavy enemy machine gun fire the Mysore and Jodhpur Lancers charged the column . Brigadier General Cyril Rodney Harbord in command of the 15th ( Imperial Service ) Cavalry Brigade , ordered the Mysore Lancers round the eastern end of the ridge with a view to charging the rearguard ' s left flank with two squadrons of the Jodhpur Lancers in support , while subsections of the Mysore , Jodhpur and the Hyderabad subsections of the Machine - Gun Squadron reinforced the advanced guard . The remainder of the regiments continued firing from the ridge . The Mysore Lancers advanced at the charge ; three squadrons in line of squadron columns , the fourth squadron in support to capture the rearguard position held by 150 Ottoman soldiers armed with rifles and artillery . About 50 survived and 20 were taken prisoner before a far stronger Ottoman force began to attack the Mysore Lancers , forcing them to withdraw , while the two Jodhpur squadrons halted in the rear . The Ottoman force occupied a strong position with a rocky knoll on their eastern flank which was beyond the range of the machine - guns . At first the Mysore Lancers ' charge succeeded in entering the position without great difficulty but as many as 2 , 000 reinforcements under the command of Mustapha Kemal Pasha , the commander of the Seventh Army , strengthened the Ottoman position putting both Indian regiments " under heavy and well – directed fire . " These reinforcements were probably the 1st and 11th Divisions of the new Ottoman XX Corps which had been deployed to defend Aleppo . On being informed the Mysore Lancers would charge again the Jodhpur Lancers squadrons commanded by Captain H . P . Hornsby , moved forward to cover their rally only to be heavily fired on and forced to withdraw . Hornsby rallied the two squadrons which began to charge , but he was shot and the Indian squadron commander wheeled the squadron about when a large number of reinforcement were seen to be moving forward . During these two charges 80 casualties were suffered by the Imperial Service troops . Fighting continued throughout the day until at about 23 : 00 when the 14th Cavalry Brigade arrived , the Ottoman force withdrew ending the last engagement of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War in the Middle East . " [ I ] t was probably only the great boldness of the 15th Cavalry Brigade which saved it from a heavy counter - attack . " Aftermath . While the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade withdrew to the Aleppo area where grain and meat was requisitioned , the 14th Cavalry Brigade and the 13th Cavalry Brigade conducted a reconnaissance on 27 October when a rearguard position was found north of Haritan which withdrew to Deir el Jemal the next day . A Sherifial Force of Arab soldiers occupied the strategically important railway junction of the Palestine and the Mesopotamian railway systems at Mouslimie Junction on 29 October , cutting Ottoman communications between Constantinople and Mesopotamia . The Ottoman rearguard position which had been reported by armoured cars at Deir el Jemal on 28 October had , by 30 October been reinforced beyond it , by a long defensive line stretching across the Alexandretta road . These positions were defended by a force six times greater than Macandrew ' s 5th Cavalry Division which could only keep the line under observation while waiting the arrival of the Australian Mounted Division which was on its way north from Damascus . The Armistice which ended fighting between the EEF and the Yildirim Army Group was negotiated at Mudros and " signed on the deck of the battleship Agamemnon on October 30 , 1918 . "