The Arabs take Taif
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Middle East
- Date:
- 22 September 1916
- Author:
- Natalia
- Tags:
- Ottoman Empire, Arab Revolt, Egypt
On 22 September 1916 the Turkish garrison of Ta’if, a mountain town south-east of Mecca, surrendered unconditionally to the forces of Emir Abdullah, the second son of the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali. The Turkish Governor-General of the Hejaz, Ghalib Pasha, was taken prisoner. This is the date given for the capitulation by the British official history of the campaign in Egypt and Palestine (MacMunn and Falls) and by the Turkish historian Mustafa Bostancı. The Lebanese historian George Antonius and Ahmad al-Siba’i, the author of a history of Mecca, give 21 September. The Sharif announced the victory in a communiqué that Reuters circulated from Cairo only a few days later.
The governor’s summer capital
Ta’if lies in the mountains, about 110 kilometres from Mecca. Because of its cooler climate the Turkish Governor-General moved there every summer with most of the Mecca garrison. So it was in 1916 too, which made it much easier for the insurgents to take Mecca. Ta’if, on the other hand, was a much harder target. According to the British official history the town was strongly fortified and surrounded by trenches, and the garrison numbered 3,000 soldiers with ten 75-millimetre Krupp guns. Bostancı writes of 3,500 soldiers.
Abdullah began the siege of the town in June, at the same time as the rising broke out in Mecca. According to MacMunn and Falls he had about 5,000 tribal fighters, but he did not attempt an assault, because the poorly armed and undisciplined Bedouin stood no chance against trenches and artillery. He confined himself to sealing off the town. Early reports from Cairo, repeated in June by the press all over the world, that Ta’if had fallen and only two small forts were holding out, proved very premature.
The Egyptian guns
What changed the situation was artillery. As at Mecca, it came from across the Red Sea: Egyptian mountain batteries and a battery of previously captured Turkish howitzers, sent from Egypt and likewise manned by Egyptians. On 16 July, five weeks after the siege began, the guns opened fire and quickly silenced two Turkish guns in advanced positions north of the town. The next day they were moved closer to the fortifications, which they shelled for ten days. The Turkish guns were completely dominated and the fortifications seriously damaged.
The Arabs threatened an assault several times, but none took place. The British official history considers that Abdullah had no intention of assaulting at all. He knew that the garrison was bound to fall anyway, and that heavy losses might dishearten his fighters. Antonius likewise writes that the emir wisely waited. The siege therefore dragged on for another two months, with intermittent shelling. The Turks proposed a ceasefire several times, but Abdullah rejected every offer, until finally the garrison surrendered unconditionally.
The capitulation
According to the Sharif’s communiqué, published by Reuters, 50 officers and 1,800 men were taken prisoner at Ta’if, and the victors captured 10 guns and large military stores. The most valuable prisoner was Ghalib Pasha. According to MacMunn and Falls the Sharif by then held more than 5,000 prisoners, according to Antonius about 6,000. Some of them, Arabs and Syrians, volunteered to fight against the Turks.
The Ottoman authorities long concealed the defeat. Antonius quotes a communiqué that the Damascus daily Al-Sharq published on 24 September, three days after the fall of the town. It claimed that all was quiet at Ta’if and that the Bedouin under Emir Abdullah had been repulsed with heavy losses.
Significance
The capture of Ta’if closed the first stage of the Arab Revolt. The Sharif held all the main towns of the Hejaz except Medina, where the strong garrison of Fahreddin Pasha, linked by rail to Damascus, not only held out but also drove the Arabs back from the town’s surroundings. Antonius notes that after the fall of Ta’if and the successful pilgrimage to Mecca at the beginning of October, attended by many Muslims from Egypt, Cairo began to treat the revolt as a serious blow to Turkey. The following months, however, proved the hardest for the insurgents, because the Turks from Medina threatened the road to Mecca.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 20 September 1916 · Balkan FrontEssad Pasha's government in SalonikaThe British chronology records under 20 September 1916 the move of Essad Pasha's government to Salonika. The French had shipped him there in late August.
- 24 September 1916 · Western FrontFrench air raid on the Krupp worksOn 24 September 1916 two French airmen in modified Sopwiths flew from near Verdun to Essen and bombed the Krupp works. They returned without loss.
- 25 September 1916 · Western FrontStart of the Battle of MorvalOn 25 September 1916 the British Fourth Army attacked on the Somme at noon and took Morval and Lesbœufs in three hours. At Gueudecourt the attack failed.
- 19 September 1916 · War at seaBlockade of the coast of Greek MacedoniaIn September 1916 the Allies declared a blockade of the Greek coast from the Struma to the Mesta, held by the Bulgarians. It also covered Kavala and its gulf.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 10 June 1916 · Middle EastOutbreak of the revolt in MeccaAt dawn on 10 June 1916 Sharif Hussein's men attacked the Turkish garrison of Mecca. The city soon fell to them, but the fort and barracks held out until July.
- 27 July 1916 · Middle EastArabs take YanbuOn 27 July 1916 the Turkish garrison of Yanbu, the old Red Sea port of Medina, surrendered to the Sharif's insurgents. Medina lost its nearest port.
- 27 June 1916 · Middle EastProclamation of the Sharif of MeccaOn 27 June 1916 the Sharif of Mecca issued an appeal to the world's Muslims. He accused the Young Turks of godlessness and proclaimed the Hejaz independent.
- 9 June 1916 · Middle EastArabs take JeddahOn 9 June 1916 Arabs of the Harb tribe attacked Jeddah and British warships shelled the port. The Turkish garrison surrendered only on 16 June.