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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [52r] (110/660)
The record is made up of 1 volume (323 folios). It was created in 1924. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
79
THE ATTACK ON “ V.P.”
Battery being in action at from 1,000 to 1,200 yards’ ranee.
The officer commanding this battery saw about 10.30 a.m. a
mass of Turks to his left front retiring towards their second
line, and subjected them to a rapid fire at from 1,800 to 3 100
yards’ range, until they vanished out of sight.
It was a little before 9 a.m. that General Delamain received
General lownshend’s message authorising the advance of the
attack against " V.P.” The necessary preparations had
already been made, so that no delay occurred. General Dela-
main’s guns (six field guns, 82nd battery, and the four l/ 5 th
Hants howitzers) had been bombarding " V.P.” for some time
with, according to the Turkish account, considerable effect,
and Colonel Climo, commanding the 30th Brigade, which was to
lead the advance, had assembled his battalion commanders and
had impressed upon them the necessity of pushing through the
attack without delay and of relying upon the artillery and
machine gun covering fire as far as possible up to the moment
of assault.
The distance to be covered by the attacking infantry was
about 5,000 yards, and the 30th Brigade commenced its
advance in artillery formation (lines of platoons in fours)
on a frontage of 600 yards. The 2/7th Gurkhas on the left of
the front line directed the movement, with their left advancing
on the northern corner of “ V.P.,” while the half battalion
24th Punjabis moved on the right. The 66 th Punjabis and
117th Mahrattas followed in support, and in rear of the 30th
Brigade came the Dorsets and 104th Rifles as local reserve
under General Delamain’s personal command.
The advance was carried out continuously and rapidly. After
proceeding for about three thousand yards the 30th“ Brigade
came under hostile artillery fire, but this did not check their
rate of progress, and at about a thousand yards from their
objective their lines, coming under Turkish rifle and machine
gun fire, extended in succession. The advance was then
carried on in rushes of a hundred yards, the men halting
only to take breath. In addition to the covering fire of the
field guns and howitzers, their advance was supported by the
brigaded machine guns posted wide on the right flank and by
the fire of a half battalion which took up a position on the
left flank. Assisted by this covering and supporting fire,
which the Turkish account shows to have been very effective,
and without firing themselves, the 30th Brigade continued
* Probably fugitives from " V.P.*' and vicinity, see below.
About this item
- Content
The volume is the second volume of an official government publication compiled at the request of the Government of India, and under the direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence, by Brigadier-General Frederick James Moberly. The volume was printed and published at His Majesty's Stationery Office, London.
The contents provide a narrative of the operations of 1914-1918 in Mesopotamia, based mainly on official documents.
The volume is in one part, entitled, 'Part III. The First Campaign for Baghdad', and consists of the following fourteen chapters:
- The Decision to Advance to Baghdad
- Commencement of the Advance Towards Baghdad
- The Battle of Ctesiphon - the First Day's Operations
- Battle of Ctesiphon (Continued) and the British Retirement to Kut
- The Decision to Hold Kut and British Policy Consequent on the Failure to Reach Baghdad
- The Siege of Kut: First Phase (December 1915)
- Commencement of the Relief Operations
- The Action of Shaikh Saad
- The Action of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. and the First Attack on Hanna
- Operations up to the End of February, 1916
- The Second Attempt to Relieve Kut; the Attack on the Dujaila Redoubt
- The Third Attempt to Relieve Kut; the Successful Advance to and First and Second Attacks on Sannaiyat
- The Last Attempt at Relief; Bait Isa and Sannaiyat
- The Siege of Kut; the Last Stages
The volume also includes nine maps, entitled:
- The Middle East
- Lower Mesopotamia
- Map 8 - The Tigris from Kut al Amara to Baghdad
- Map 9 - The Battle of Ctesiphon
- Map 10 - The affair of Umm at Tubul
- Map 11 - The defence of Kut al Amara
- Map 12 - The fort at Kut; with special reference to the Turkish attack on 24th December 1915
- Map 13 - River Tigris between Ali Gharbi and Shumran
- Map 14 - The action at Shaikh Saad
- Map 15 - The action of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
- Map 16 - The first attack on Hanna; 21st January 1916
- Map 17 - The attack on the Dujaila Redoubt, 8th March 1916
- Map 18 - To illustrate Tigris Corps Operation Order No. 26, dated 6th March 1916
- Map 19 - To illustrate operations between 10th March and end of April 1916
- Map 20 - The action of Bait Isa on 17th and 18th April 1916, and the attack on Sannaiyat 22nd April 1916
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (323 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a list of contents (folios 6-10), a list of maps and illustrations (folio 11), appendices (folios 254-290), an index (folios 291-312), and eleven maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 314-324).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 325; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [52r] (110/660), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100045738548.0x00006f> [accessed 5 February 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/2
- Title
- 'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:3r, 3r, 4r:70v, 72r:79r, 160v, 80r:102v, 104r:160r, 161r, 313v, 161v:281v, 283r:313v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence