Place of Great War memory for 1/4th Essex Regiment: a bridge in a park in Tel Aviv

This article is adapted from research that I carried out for a private client in 2018. It concerns Corporal 37167 Frederick Hart, who was killed in action in Palestine on 25 November 1917 while serving with the 1/4th Battalion of the Essex Regiment. He had oriiginally enlisted as a boy soldier in 1908 and went to France as a Drummer with the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Frederick was wounded in the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 and was eventually transferred to the Essex in May 1917. He arrived in the Middle East as part of a reinforcement draft in the July of that year and was killed in action, by then aged 26, on 25 November 1917.

The 1/4th Battalion was a unit of the Territorial Force and was under orders of the 161st (Essex) Infantry Brigade of the 54th (East Anglian) Division. It had, by the time that Frederick joined it , seen service in the Gallipoli campaign (1915) and the First and Second Battles of Gaza (spring 1917). The battalion received several drafts to bring it back up towards full strength after suffering casualties in the Gaza fighting, as well as to the malaria and other diseases which plagued the British units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Events

The 54th (East Anglian) Division played a part in the major British and Commonwealth offensive known as the Third Battle of Gaza: the official dates of this battle are 27 October to 7 November 1917. The 161st Infantry Brigade was held in reserve during the first phase, and it was only on 3 November that the 1/4th Essex finally participated when it took part in an attack on the Belah Ridge. It soon came out of action and went back into reserve. The offensive had broken the defences in front of Gaza and opened the way to a deep advance into Palestine which would soon capture Jerusalem and the Judean hills, and by war’s end in 1918 have taken the British as far north as Damascus.

Part of a map from the British Official History of Military Operations, illustrating the position on 28 November 1917. The red forces are British and Commonwealth; green are Ottoman Turkish. The key location to note is the ancient city of Jaffa (now Yafo) and to the north of it the river Nahr el Auja. Note the position of 161st Infantry Brigade, on the left of the British line and positioned south of the river. All of the ground shown that is occupied by British and Commonwealth forces had been captured since the recent breakthrough at Gaza, and those elements of 161st Infantry Brigade – including Frederick’s battalion – which had crossed the river had been forced back across it by a determined counter attack. Note too the location of Ramleh, shown here as Er Ramle

On 19 November 1917 the battalion moved to Ramleh and went into bivouac camp. It began to move forward four days later and relieved a unit of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles (fighting dismounted at this time) south of the Nahr-el-Auja river on 24 November. The brigade was at this point placed under temporary tactical command of the ANZAC Mounted Division. At 1pm, two companies of the battalion moved further forward, crossed to the north side of the river Auja at Jerishe and captured an enemy post near Sheikh Muwannis. They soon moved on to support the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, the latter now being positioned at an advanced post near Khurbet Hadra. At 5.30am on 25 November 1917, Ottoman Turkish forces attack this advanced post, forcing the two companies to withdraw. Heavy shellfire fell as the companies re-crossed the Auja to its southern side, and it was during this period of operations that the battalion sustained serious casualties.

The battalion’s war diary covering these events. Not the greatest of its type. National Archives WO95/4650. Crown Copyright.

Also from the Official History but I have zoomed in to pick out the locations of Jerishe and Sheikh Muwannis. Two companies of the 1/4th Essex had reached an outpost near the latter place before being forced back across the river early on 25 November 1917.

Later in the day, the battalion was relieved and moved out for rest. Five officers and 97 men were reported as casualties, and we now know from Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that 28 of these men were dead. Reports at the time listed some of them as “wounded and missing” and it was only gradually that their actual status was confirmed: the latest one we found was not until April 1918. 16 of the men, including Frederick Hart, are buried in Ramleh War Cemetery, while the rest have no known grave and are commemorated at the Jerusalem Memorial.

This Official History map describes the eventual crossing and securing of the Nahr el Auja in December 1917 but is valuable as it gives a clearer view of the area in which Frederick Hart lost his life. The 1/4th Essex crossed the river by a bridge at Jerishe. This area is now part of the much expanded area of Tel Aviv and all of the names have been modified: to a large extent the ancient Palestinian names have been eradicated. The Nahr el Auja is now called the Yarkon river; Jerishe is Tel Gerisa; Sheikh Muwannis is Al-Shaykh Muwannis or Sheikh Munis.

Imperial War Museum image Q12299: “A barrel bridge for heavy traffic across the River Auja, completed south of Sheikh Muwannis on the morning of 22 December 1917, by the 52nd Divisional Engineers.”

A present day map. The area is scarcely recognisable except for the line of the river, as it is now completely built over. The spot where the battalion crossed is now within the Ganei Yehoshua Park, near the green text marked as Sheva Tanahot. The outpost reached by the battalion is within the area named Ramat-Aviv.

Google Maps: the south bank of the river at the battalion’s crossing point, today.

Imperial War Museum photograph Q12306. “A pillar erected on south side of the Auja, showing the position from which the 156th Brigade, 52nd Division, started before crossing the Auja [in December 1917]. The village of Sheikh Muwannis appears in the distance”. It is apparent that Frederick Hart and his comrades lost theirlives in the vicinity, and possibly within the area depicted in this image.

The casualties

War Office list of men died of wounds, 19 December 1917. Lance Corporal Debbage was of the 1/4th Battalion.

War Office list of killed, issued 22 December 1917. All three are of 1/4th Battalion.

War Office list of wounded, issued 22 December 1917. Not all are of 1/4th Battalion. Some (my highlights) were of the battalion and had in fact been killed.

War Office list of missing men, issued 17 January 1918. Not all are of 1/4th Battalion. Some (my highlights) were of the battalion and had in fact been killed.

War Office list of wounded and missing men, issued 17 January 1918. Not all are of 1/4th Battalion. Most (my highlights) were of the battalion and had in fact been killed.

Links

Essex Regiment

Palestine campaign