Battle of Buqqar Ridge
1917 battle of the Sinai and Palestine campaign of WWI
The Battle of el Buqqar Ridge took place on 27 October 1917, when one infantry regiment and cavalry troops of the Yildirim Army Group, attacked the 8th Mounted Brigade of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) in the last days of the stalemate in Southern Palestine during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I.
The commander of the Yildirim Army Group ordered the reconnaissance in force, which greatly outnumbered the Yeomanry in the mounted brigade, holding the outpost line. Despite a large number of casualties, one group made a slight withdrawal to subsequently hold their ground, until reinforcements arrived and the attackers withdrew. However another group of Yeomanry was overwhelmed and killed.
Four days later, two infantry and two mounted divisions launched the EEF's Southern Palestine Offensive, with the Battle of Beersheba on 31 October 1917.
Background
During the six months stalemate following the Second Battle of Gaza, the el Buqqar ridge had been the objective of Desert Column/Desert Mounted Corps strategic marches on 5–7, 10 May and 2–3, 6–7, 14 and 24–5 June. On 19 July, the Anzac Mounted Division with the Australian Mounted Division advanced towards el Buqqar to engage an Ottoman force of two regiments of cavalry supported by infantry and four light guns, occupying the area. The 1st Light Horse Brigade attacked the force capturing 11 prisoners before the Ottoman force withdrew behind entrenchments. One of the prisoner described the attacking force as part of the Ottoman 16th Division which had been protecting a new corps commander while he made a personal reconnaissance. By the next morning the area was clear of Ottoman troops. Ottoman patrols were dispersed from el Buqqar ridge on 21 and 29 September, and on 12–14 October.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4870951. Authority coordinates are 31.204, 34.535. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Buqqar Ridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.