The battle of Arara Sept 1918

[stevebecker]

Mates,

I mate wants to know about this action?

Quote from Wikipedia: On the right of the 54th (East Anglian) Division's 163rd Brigade, the DFPS fought against the German Pasha 11 Group which held a ridge opposite the Rafat salient, captured and held by the British since April 1918. Here, the DFPS attacked the col west of Rafat and the sites known as Three Bushes and Scurry Hills; these last two being quickly captured at 05:10 and 05:45 respectively. Although Kh. Deir el Qassis east of Scurry Hill was occupied soon after it had to be abandoned due to heavy artillery beyond the reach of the French artillery. During the night of 19 September, the DFPS occupied Arara north east of Rafat having captured almost all their objectives and 212 prisoners.

most of the fighting was north-west of Rafat, towards Kh. Deir el Qassis. The movement on Arara itself (High, dominating hill north-east of Rafat), is not even described on the map, and the quote from Wikipedia claims it happened that night (New piece of info for me)

The BOH (pages 352 to 357) shows that Col Hussein Husni (called commander 46th Div) reports the loss of 9 officers and 193 men, they must mean LtCol Hüseyin Hüsnü Emir (Erkilet).

Tosun,

Do you have any accounts of this action?

Does the Turkish Offical History mention this fight?


Cheers

S.B

[Tosun Saral]

I dont know much about Arara. Liman von Sanders Pasha writes in his book 5 Jahre Türkei (5 Years in Turkey)about the battle and mentions the name as "Anebeta or Anabeta" Arara must be a name given by armenians who fought there. Armenians give a great pride on that battle. Liman Pasha dont mention about any armenians in his book.. the Armenian Legion "Légion d’Orient (Eastern Legion) occupied by the help pf french south of Turkey called Cilicia to day Adana, Mersin area. Finaly they were beaten by turkish kemalist partizans in 1920's.I wrote the story in my book " Vatan Nasıl Kurtarıldı". (How Motherland was saved and liberated)
cheers.