"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد II." [ظ‎‎٢‎٤‎٩] (٦٦٠/٥٠٧)

458 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
In " Mens, Anzac and Kut ” Captain Herbert recounts th P
negotiations carried out by Colonel Beach, Captain Lawrence
and himself. Halil said that the Arabs in Kut were Turkish
subjects, not British, and although he said that he did not
mean to do anything to them he would give no assurance
regarding them. Arrangements were made in regard to
exchanging sick and wounded from Kut with Turkish prisoners
of war ; and Halil asked that General Lake should send shins
which Halil promised to return, to transport General Townshend
and his men to Baghdad. This, however, Colonel Beach
could not agree to without General Lake’s orders, as the
reheving force had, as it was, insufficient steamers to keep
themselves supplied. Halil was angry that General Townshend
had destroyed his guns, and he said he could have prevented
it by bombarding Kut but he did not want to.
On the 1st May Halil sent a letter to General Lake agreeing
to the exchange of the sick and wounded in Kut for an equiva
lent number of Turkish prisoners of war, unwounded and in
good health, of certain units, which he specified* He could
not transport the garrison of Kut to Baghdad by river as he
had not the coal, and he suggested that General Lake should
supply the 2,000 tons he would require. He also said that
General Lake could send rations for the garrison.
General Lake replied saying that he would send vessels to
bring down the sick and wounded, whom he would exchange
as desired. He was unable to supply the coal or send vessels
to transport the prisoners to Baghdad,f and he reminded
Halil of the assurances given to General Townshend that in
case of surrender the Turks would feed, transport to Baghdad
and pay the Kut garrison, which assurance both Generals
Lake and Townshend had accepted as having been given in
good faith.
This practically ended the negotiations.
The surrender of Kut was a sad termination to the project
which had originally contemplated the capture of Baghdad.
From first to last the operations had involved the British
Empire in over 40,000 casualties, including those gone into
captivity ; and it was a bitter blow to British pride, even
* Halil would not accept any Arab soldiers.
f In this connection it is to be noted that Halil had said that in any case
he could not agree to an armistice between his force and that under General
Gorringe. In these circumstances General Lake felt that he would not be
justified in jeopardising the situation of his own force, which was already
suffering, owing to shortage of river transport, from lack of supplies and
stores.