Entrance to the Arab Labour Corps camp at Qaarnah, 1916 (c)

Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia, 1916 (c).

The Arab Labour Corps was mainly employed on defence works in the Sheikh Othman area of southern Arabia. The defensive lines were established to resist the Turkish threat to Aden. Arabs also served in the Egyptian Labour Corps in Egypt and Palestine. They helped build a railway and water pipeline across the Sinai desert which allowed General Sir Edmund Allenby's force to advance into the Holy Land.

From a collection of 265 photographs compiled by Major W Leith-Ross, Indian Army Staff.