When the Egyptian Expeditionary Force Got a New Commander

On the Western Front, Lt. General Edmund Allenby
Describes Enemy Dispositions for King Albert of Belgium

On the Western Front, Lt. General Edmund Allenby's Third Army had minimal responsibility for 1916's Battle of the Somme. The following year, however, it had principal responsibility for the British portion of the main Allied initiative. Third Army was to drive east from Arras and hopefully hook up with the French forces of General Nivelle, which were to be concurrently attacking the Chemin des Dames and breaking through from the south.

His plans, however, were undermined by the German retreat to their new defenses along the Hindenburg Line. Allenby's superior, General Haig, refused his request for a delay to allow for re-planning the offensive

At first, though, the Arras offensive went well with the Third Army breaking through the German lines and advancing three-and-a-half miles in one day. However, the Germans reinforced the sector and sent staff officers with expertise in defensive tactics. There followed weeks of heavy fighting that deteriorated into trench-fighting positional warfare with heavy casualties to Third Army. Allenby and Haig mutually lost confidence in one another. Haig expressed the opinion that Allenby "was lacking in aptitude for high command." His time on the Western Front was not to extend much longer.

Allenby was dismayed by the criticism he was receiving, but his skills were better suited for open warfare than the trenches and no one appreciated this more than Chief of the Imperial General Staff William Robertson. Earlier in 1917, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), under the command of Sir Archibald Murray, was having problems. It failed twice in its efforts to take Gaza. Murray's failure at Second Gaza left officials in London no choice but to replace him with a commander who could achieve much-needed results in an otherwise gloomy war effort. 

Prime Minister David Lloyd George initially offered command to Gen Jan Smuts, but the South African declined in the belief that he would not receive support from the War Office for a "sideshow" effort. Upon Chief of Staff Robertson's recommendation, command fell to General Allenby. He was relieved of command of the Third Army, awarded a fourth star, and sent to relieve General Murray.

After arriving in Egypt on 27 June 1917, Allenby kept up a vigorous pace his first few weeks in theater, visiting units, making corrections, and developing a general framework for his first campaign His temper and impatience soon became legendary. One division commander said, "What angered him was stupidity, negligence, and, most of all, disregard of orders." War correspondent Hamilton Fyfe described his arrival at his new assignment:

He found the Turks strongly entrenched, and our men entrenched just as strongly opposite to them—position warfare in its most tedious form. Headquarters had been in Cairo, 300 miles away, and it seemed as if stagnation might continue forever. With Allenby's coming the atmosphere changed. He declined to stay in Cairo. He trundled across the desert in a Ford car and set up his headquarters in a wooden hut ten miles from the front line. He set to work at once to organize railways and make roads. He commandeered all the beer in Egypt for his thirsty troops and road-makers. Over [the next] four months he prepared to strike a heavy blow.

Allenby with His EEF Staff

While logistical constraints such as water supplies dominated operational maneuver in Palestine, the desert offered opportunities not found on the exhausting Western Front. It would be a war of movement, the type of fighting Allenby was most suited for. His first challenge, however, was the same that had frustrated him at the Somme and Arras. Turkish defenders and their German advisers ensured there were at least some parallels to the fighting in the West. Around Gaza, the trench system that had defeated his predecessor at Gaza was still deadly and elaborate. How would Allenby choose to capture Gaza and clear the road to Jerusalem? We will address those questions in future postings on Roads to the Great War. (Spoiler Alert:  He would enter Jerusalem as a victor within six months.)

Sources: Over the Top, June 2010