In November 1914 a large Turkish force moved down through Palestine, crossed the Sinai Desert and attacked the defended strong points along the Canal. By February they had been forced to retreat. The Allied troops moved forward into Sinai to put up a stronger defence but were unable to make much headway against the Turkish forces. In July 1917 General Allenby arrived in Palestine and adopted more aggressive tactics, capturing, Jerusalem by Christmas. Consequently in January 1918, the Turkish army in Palestine-some 36,000 strong-held two sectors extending from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea and separated by the River Jordan. In 1918 the Indian cavalry regiments were transferred to Egypt from France. They were brigaded with British yeomanry regiments and joined the Desert Mounted Corps, consisting of the 4^th and 5^th Cavalry Divisions, together with the Australian Mounted Division. The Jodhpur Lancers landed in Egypt on 28 March 1918. They joined the Mysore and the Hyderabad Lancers-replacing the Patiala Lancers, who had gone to Mesopotamia-in the 15^th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade of the 5^th Divisions, The Brigade included an artillery battery from the British Honourable Artillery Company. By May 1918 two brigades from the 4^th and 5^th Divisions, now re-armed with lances, were amid the unpleasant summer conditions of the Jordan valley, where they were involved in a number of successful patrol action. Later they were joined by three other brigades. There was then some reorganization of the cavalry before the final offensive, which was planned for September and whose aim was to totally destroy the Turkish forces in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Following an infantry attack, the cavalry were to advance along the Palestine coast, break through the Turkish defences and then turn north-eastwards over the Carmel Range and down into the plain of Megiddo. An elaborate deception plan effectively confused the Turks as to the direction the main thrust. The Cavalry moved forward on the night of 18 September. The surprise was total and the Hodson’s Horse, acting as the advance guard, was through the main enemy defences by 6.00 a.m. the next morning. By the evening of 20 September, the 4^th Cavalry Division was astride the main communication line between the Turkish 7^th and 6^th Armies and Damascus. Phase One of the operation had been completed in 36 hours and the Division had advanced 110 kilometers. Acre was captured on 23 September and Haifa on the same day by the Jodhpur Lancers. On 26 September the Desert Mounted Corps began their advance upon Damascus, which was captured on 1 October. In just over a month, the Corps, including thirteen Indian regiments out of a total of twenty-four, had destroyed three Turkish armies and taken 46,000 prisoners.