Imagine, if you will, making a massive catastrophic
mistake at your job. Oh, wow. OK. I'm talking
about a real disaster here. You lost the client.
You deleted the database, whatever your industry's
ultimate nightmare is. Right. But instead of
just admitting the failure to your boss, you
panic. You spin it. You tell your boss that,
actually, it was a huge success. Oh, no. You
tell them you almost pulled it off perfectly,
and the client is basically begging to sign.
Well, instead of just being satisfied, your boss
is absolutely thrilled. Which is the worst case
scenario. Exactly. In fact, they are so thrilled,
they immediately expect an even bigger, much
more complicated success from you next week.
You are now, essentially, completely trapped
in your own lie. It is the ultimate corporate
nightmare scenario, right? Where the coverup
basically sentences you to an impossible task.
Exactly the kind of dread that keeps people up
at night. But this isn't just some hypothetical
office anxiety. This is precisely what happened
to a British general named Archibald Murray in
the spring of 1917. And it directly led to a
massive historical disaster. It really did. Welcome
to this custom tailored deep dive. Our mission
today is to explore the Second Battle of Gaza.
We are pulling from a really comprehensive historical
overview that details the tactics, the devastating
casualties, and uh... this incredibly fascinating
intersection where ancient terrain collided head
on with experimental World War I technology.
And we are really going to tear into the underlying
mechanics of this disaster, because this isn't
just a dry military history lesson for you to
memorize. No, not at all. This is a master class
in the very real dangers of toxic leadership,
information silos, and the completely misguided
belief in technological silver bullets. It is
incredibly relevant to you, whether you're leading
a team, managing a project, or just just trying
to understand how massive organizations fail
so spectacularly. It's a perfect case study of
what happens when an originally planned offensive
meets a flexible, well -prepared defense. OK,
let's unpack this. Because to truly grasp the
scale of this battle, we have to understand the
stage it is set on. We are talking about Gaza.
This isn't just a random spot on a World War
I map. This is a city that has been fought over
for 4 ,000 years. We're talking about a place
where the Egyptians, the Assyrians, Alexander
the Great, Saladin, and Napoleon all waged war.
It's incredible. It is one of the most ancient,
blood -soaked pieces of geography in the world.
And yet, right around the time of this battle,
it was this bustling, almost contradictory town.
bizarrely exported huge amounts of barley specifically
grown to make English beer. And they imported
yarn from Manchester. Right. It is a totally
surreal juxtaposition. On one hand, you have
this ancient agricultural hub. And at the exact
same time, it is deeply connected to the very
empire that is about to attack it. So you have
a town supplying British pubs becoming the focal
point of mechanized British warfare. It's completely
wild to think about. But to get to the second
battle of Gaza, we have to briefly rewind to
the bungled First Battle of Gaza. That happened
just three weeks earlier in March 1917. The British
forces, this massive desert column, they practically
had the battle won. But because of a catastrophic
communication breakdown, the commanders simply
didn't realize they were winning. So they ordered
a withdrawal. They literally snatched defeat
from the jaws of victory. And it absolutely gutted
the morale of the British troops. Every single
soldier knew it was a failure due to staff bungling
at the top. And this is where that toxic leadership
element rears its head. General Archibald Murray
has to report this failure to the War Office
back in London. But he's worried about his reputation.
Right, because public morale is already so low.
Exactly. So Murray spins it. He reports the first
battle in overly optimistic terms, framing it
as a near victory. He creates a completely false
narrative to save his own skin. And because he
spun it that way, the War Cabinet in London essentially
says, great job. Now push on and capture Jerusalem.
He builds his own trap. He hasn't even broken
through God's— yet. What's fascinating here is
how the opposing side reacted while Murray was
busy managing his public relations. Oh this part
is brilliant. The Ottoman and German forces used
those three weeks brilliantly. They transformed
Gaza into a 10 to 12 mile entrenched defensive
line. But they didn't just dig a single long
ditch. They implemented what is known as defense
by areas. Break that down for us. What does defense
by areas actually look like? Think of it like
a modern home security system. Instead of just
building one big wall around your house, you
set up motion sensors and cameras covering every
possible angle. The Ottoman forces built mutually
supporting strongholds. Redoubts, they called
them. Yes. doubts. If the British attacked one
stronghold, they were suddenly taking fire from
two other strongholds perfectly positioned to
shoot them from the sides. It meant any frontal
assault was going to be an absolute nightmare.
And knowing they're walking into that nightmare,
the sheer scale of what the British were doing
to prepare is just mind -blowing. They extended
a massive railway through the desert just to
get supplies for it. The logistics are staggering.
They literally built massive reservoirs holding
76 ,000 gallons of water in the Wadi Ghazi. Just
surviving the environment was an industrial effort.
Right. They're laying train tracks and stringing
telegraph wire under a scorching Middle Eastern
sun. But it wasn't just men sweating in the sand.
There is this incredible account from an officer
named Joseph W. McPherson. He was mapping trenches
on his belly, getting sniped at, and he describes
rolling over and watching British and German
planes engaged in a vicious dogfight in this
serene blue sky. Wow. He's watching this silent
aerial ballet. while simultaneously dodging hot
shrapnel from friendly anti -aircraft fire falling
on his own camp. That visceral reality of the
front line is so important. You have Dr. Doogied
at the L. Irish Hospital recording how terrifyingly
bright the moonlight was. Because bright moonlight
meant air raids. Exactly. The troops were frantically
digging the funk holes by the bright moonlight.
Funk holes are just hasty, shallow graves you
dig to hide in. There was this incredibly tense
atmosphere where absolutely nowhere was safe.
Here's where it gets really interesting, though.
General Murray knows he lied. So he brings in
the experimental technology. For the first time
in the Palestine campaign, the British deploy
four thousand rounds of poison gas shells. A
total gamble. And more bizarrely, they bring
in eight Mark 1 heavy tanks. This is the only
theater outside France where tanks were used.
The British commanders were entirely convinced
these tanks would frighten the Ottoman defenders
out of their lives. They were banking on psychological
shock. And these tanks sound completely absurd.
Let's look at one named War Baby. It's this massive
metal rhombus. And inside, you've got gunners
who are literally sitting on bicycle seats while
they fire. It sounds like a steampunk nightmare.
Can you imagine the noise and heat? Suffocating.
But the tanks actually worked okay in the sand,
mechanically speaking, as long as the treads
weren't greased. Oh, right. The grease turned
the sand into grinding paste. Yes. But the real
failure was tactical. There were too few of them,
deployed too far apart. Instead of providing
cover, these slow tanks just became massive targets
for the well -concealed Ottoman artillery. They
just became bullseyes. Which brings us to the
actual frontal assault. from April 17th to the
19th. General Charles Dobell wanted to do a flanking
maneuver, but because of a lack of water, he
had to opt for a massive frontal assault in two
stages. The sunk cost fallacy at work. They were
too invested with the railways and the water
to change course. So stage one kicks off on April
17th. The 52nd and 54th divisions push forward
to capture the Sheikh Abbas and Mansour ridges.
It goes relatively well, but right away, one
tank is immediately taken out by three shells.
exposing the vulnerability of their wonder weapon.
Exactly. Then we get to April 19th, Stage 2,
the main attack. And the scale of the bombardment
is staggering. 170 British guns open fire. Off
the coast, a French ship called the Requin is
firing naval guns at the Ottoman positions while
simultaneously dodging a torpedo from a German
submarine. It is absolute chaos, but if we connect
this to the bigger picture, you have to look
at the math. Okay. Yes, 170 guns sounds massive.
But they were attacking across a front that was
15 ,000 yards wide. That is simply spread way
too thin to break the Ottoman area defenses.
And the gas shells. They fired 4 ,000 rounds
into the woodlands. It had almost no effect.
The wind dispersed it too quickly. The defenses
were largely intact. The details from the infantry
struggles on the ground are heartbreaking. The
53rd Welsh Division, still traumatized from the
first battle, struggles to take Samson Ridge.
By the time they do, so many officers are down
that a second lieutenant takes command. The command
structure just dissolves. And the 54th Division's
10th London Regiment gets completely isolated.
There's this heroic moment where a signalman
realizes he has to cut the enemy's telegraph
lines. Under heavy fire, he climbs a telegraph
pole, cuts the wire, climbs down, runs to another
pole, and cuts that one too. That is unbelievable
bravery. He tries for a third pole and is killed
by an artillery shell. Just a tragedy. While
the infantry is decimated, the mounted divisions,
the ANZAC and Imperial troops are fighting dismounted
on the right flank. Right, leaving guys behind
to hold the horses. A scout reports facing over
250 Ottoman big guns. They get pinned down by
relentless machine gun fire from a place they
called Sausage Ridge. The New Zealanders and
light horsemen are facing horrific, inflating
fire and constant counterattacks. So what does
this all mean? We get to the end of the day.
Darkness falls, and the offensive is officially
called off. The toll is devastating. Over 6 ,400
official British casualties, with unofficial
estimates ranging from 14 ,000 to 17 ,000. And
three of those tanks were captured by the Ottomans.
Exactly. Meanwhile, the Ottoman defenders suffer
roughly 2 ,000 casualties. It was a decisive
victory for the defenders, and the consequences
are massive. It massively boosts the morale of
the Ottoman 4th Army, and General Murray and
General Dobell are finally relieved of their
commands and sent back to England. The toxic
culture catches up to them. It does. And the
lesson for you, the listener, is profound. This
is a textbook example of confirmation bias and
the sump cost fallacy. They relied on wonder
weapons and ignored the reality of superior def
- defensive positioning. Murray's inability to
communicate failure upward created a strategic
trap that cost thousands of lives. It is deeply
sobering. To summarize our deep dock today, the
Second Battle of Gaza was a tragic collision
of ancient geography, experimental modern warfare,
and catastrophic leadership communication. This
raises an important question, though. Consider
the butterfly effect of General Murray's initial
lie. Oh, I like where this is going. If he had
honestly reported the first battle as a disorganized
failure, the war cabinet might never have ordered
this disastrous frontal assault. Right. They
wouldn't have pushed for Jerusalem yet. Exactly.
How much of the subsequent history of the Middle
East and the borders drawn in the aftermath of
World War One was fundamentally altered simply
because one middle manager in a military uniform
was too afraid to tell his bosses the truth.