The Battle of Rafa

The Battle of Rafa

From Australian Military History by Warwick O'Neill

September 16, 2025 · 25 min · Episode 82

About this episode

This episode discusses the strategic significance of the Battle of Rafa during the advance into Palestine in World War I.

With the capture of Magdhaba and with El Arish more or less secured, the Desert Column was poised to leave the Sinai behind and entre Palestine. There was only one potential threat to that advance, the old Egyptian police post of Rafa. This strong defensive position gave the Turks better access to water than the British and Commonwealth forces could muster and so at the start of the day, the Turks held all the aces, unless of course they didn't know the attack was coming. https://www.australianmilitaryhistorypodcast.com patreon.com/u46029761 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Warwick O'Neill

Topics covered

  • Battle of Rafa
  • World War I
  • Military strategy
  • Desert warfare
  • Historical analysis

Keywords

  • Battle of Rafa
  • World War I
  • Sinai
  • Turks
  • British forces
  • military history
  • desert warfare

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Rafa, Magdhaba, El Arish, Sinai, Palestine, Turks, British, Commonwealth

More episodes of Australian Military History

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Australian Military History podcast page.