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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [101v] (209/660)
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
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174 HISTORY OF THE WAR: MESOPOTAMIA
improvements were being carried out to the defences of Kut
town, where General Townshend was apprehensive that he
might finally have to make a house to house defence.
On the night of the 14th/15th the garrison of Woolpress
village made a small successful sortie, in which they drove
the enemy out of a trench he had occupied within two hundred
and fifty yards of the village.
On the 14th December General Townshend estimated that
the Turkish force investing him amounted to roughly 12,000
men, with 33 guns. This estimate was confirmed by an aero
plane report sent him by General Aylmer. Of this total of
12,000, General Townshend placed some 8,500 on the left
bank of the river (including 3,000 in the Turkish front line
trenches), 1,500 scattered round Kut in small detachments on
the right bank ; and 2,000 horsemen on the left bank. These
latter, however, were seen on the 15th afternoon moving down
the right bank towards Es Sinn.
On the 18th December information was obtained from
prisoners that the Turkish force was still only composed of
the four divisions which had fought at Ctesiphon, but that
two more divisions, the 26th and the 52nd, were expected
daily. General Townshend, who had known that the 52nd
Division was expected to have completed its concentration at
Baghdad, was considerably perturbed at this news and he
telegraphed to General Nixon saying that he trusted that
the Russians were being asked to menace Baghdad seriously
and thus take the strain off Kut.
On the 20th December the effective combatant strength
of the Kut garrison amounted to 9,185.
Kiesling gives in his book the text of a report on the
situation sent by Goltz to Constantinople on this date (20th).
In this he reported that the situation was worse than he had
expected. Although the 51st and 52nd Divisions had arrived,
he saw little chance of success against a determined co
ordinated advance by the British and Russians. The Turkish
infantry present were the best of the three arms, but the
artillery were inferior and were armed with old guns and old
ammunition, and the engineers were indifferent. Goltz con-
51 k r -r ^ >ers ^ an P r °ject could only be undertaken as
su si diary to the operations in Mesopotamia. Kiesling says
that Goltz had come to the conclusion that it would be im
possible to carry Kut by assault, and that the Turkish force
was not strong enough to invest Kut and at the same time
etach a force downstream to oppose the British relieving force.
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.' [101v] (209/660), 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_100045738549.0x00000a> [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