The Battle of Magdhaba took place on 23 December 1916 during the Defence of Egypt section of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the First World War. The attack by the Anzac Mounted Division took place against an entrenched Ottoman Army garrison to the south and east of Bir Lahfan in the Sinai desert, some 18–25 miles (29–40 km) inland from the Mediterranean coast. This Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory against the Ottoman Empire garrison also secured the town of El Arish after the Ottoman garrison withdrew.
Camel corps at Magdhaba by Harold Septimus Power, 1925
Laying the railway across the Sinai
German station at Abou Augeileh
General view of El Arish town
The Egyptian Camel Transport Corps were a group of Egyptian camel drivers who supported the British Army in Egypt during the First World War's Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The work done by the 170,000 men of the Corps helped British war operations in the Sinai desert and in Palestine and Syria by transporting supplies to the troops in extreme geographic and weather conditions.
Units of the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps crossing the Jordan River by the pontoon bridge at Ghoraniyeh in March 1918
Egyptian Camel Corps personnel. Drivers wearing skyblue Jellabiyas
Stores being unloaded and carried to a dump being constructed behind the tent at El Arish. A caravan of loaded camels is in the foreground
Brigade Headquarters Office Ready for the Road