Battle of Ayun Kara
1917 CE.
Shown on the map at 31.948°, 34.776°.
The Battle of Ayun Kara (14 November 1917) was an engagement in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign during the First World War. The battle was fought between the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade and a similar-sized rearguard from the Turkish 3rd Infantry Division, which was part of the XXII Corps of the Ottoman Eighth Army under Kress von Kressenstein. Following their success in the battles of Beersheba, Gaza, and Mughar Ridge, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force was pursuing the retreating Turkish forces north. The New Zealanders, part of the ANZAC Mounted Division, were on the division's left heading towards Rishon LeZion, when nine miles (14 km) south of Jaffa they encountered the Turkish rearguard on the edge of sand dunes to the west of the villages of Surafend el Harab and Ayun Kara. The Turkish forces consisted of around 1,500 infantry, supported by machine-guns and artillery. The battle started in the afternoon with the New Zealanders caught in the open. Despite Turkish artillery, machine-gun fire, and infantry assaults, the New Zealanders gradually fought their way forward. The New Zealanders won the battle for the cost of 44 dead and 81 wounded.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Ayun Kara, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.