Raid on the Suez Canal
| Raid on the Suez Canal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign | |||||
Ottoman camel corps at Beersheba, 1915 | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
|
Assyrian volunteers |
| ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
John Maxwell Agha Petros Ahmad Helmy † |
Djemal Pasha F. K. von Kressenstein | ||||
| Strength | |||||
|
Before reinforcements: 130,000 or 25,000 After reinforcements: 250,000 or 280,000 or 150,000 |
25,000 Other estimates: 11,400 (400 officers and 11,000 soldiers) | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 32 killed, 130 wounded | 1,296 or 1,360 | ||||
The raid on the Suez Canal, also known as actions on the Suez Canal, took place between 26 January and 4 February 1915 when a German-led Ottoman force advanced from southern Palestine to attack the British Empire-protected Suez Canal, marking the beginning of the Sinai and Palestine campaign (1915–1918) of World War I (1914–1918).
Substantial Ottoman forces crossed the Sinai Peninsula, and a few managed to cross the Canal, The attack was overall successful, as the primary objective of the Ottoman forces was not to capture Egypt, but to compel the British Empire to divert troops from the European front to reinforce the Middle East. In this regard, the operation achieved its goal.