 Following the victory at Romani the Anzac Mounted Division pushed the German and Turkish Army back across the Sinai Peninsula . The German and Turkish forces had been put on the defensive and retreated from Bir el Abd on 12 August 1916 towards the Egyptian – Turkish frontier , the day after being attacked by the Anzac Mounted Division . A Turkish rearguard action was fought at Bir el Mazar before the German and Turkish force retired to El Arish in September . In the Maghara Hills in October 1916 a strongly defended position was attacked by an Allied force based on the Suez Canal . Both Bir el Mazar and Maghara Hills positions were subsequently abandoned . During November , an aerial bombing raid by 5 B.E.s and a Martinsyde , the largest air attack yet organised in the East was carried out on Beersheba . By the beginning of December the railway had reached Bir el Mazar and with the development of lines of communications , garrisons , support and services , it became possible to plan for an advance to El Arish . 
