battle, notable, First World War

Battle of Rafa

Battle of Rafa was a battle fought on 9 January 1917 at Sinai Peninsula, in what is now Palestine. It was part of World War I, which ran from 1914 to 1918. The recorded result: British victory.

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Part of the firing line at the Battle of Rafa. Copyright expired, image is in the public domain (per below), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Record

Date	9 January 1917
Place	Sinai Peninsula, Palestine 31.265N, 34.235E
Part of	World War I (1914 to 1918)
Kind	Battle, First World War
Result	British victory
Belligerents	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; British India; Rhodesia; Australia; Dominion of New Zealand	Ottoman Empire
Commanders	Philip Chetwode	Unknown
Strength	Desert Column; ANZAC Mounted Division; Imperial Camel Corps Brigade; 7th Light Car Patrol	Ottoman garrison of 2,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses	71 killed,; 415 wounded	200 killed,; 168 wounded,; 1,434 prisoners

The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

Battle of Raphia 217 BC, 3.1 km
Battle of Rafah 1949, 4.7 km
Battle of Nirim 1948, 10 km
Battle of Hill 86 1948, 18 km
Battle of Yaunis Khan 1516, 24 km

In the same war

Before: Battle of Drocourt-Quéant Line 1917
After: Action of 10 March 1917 10 March 1917
All 138 engagements of World War I

Elsewhere in 1917

Battle of Rafa is one of 1,912 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 21 in present-day Palestine.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q3467730, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Rafa, revision 1370587062, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.