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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [131v] (271/660)
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.
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HISTORY OF THE WAR: MESOPOTAMIA
The Turkish rifle and machine gun fire was well sustained
and the gallant British and Indian infantry managed at first
to gain but little ground.
According to the orders issued to the brigade at 1 p.m a
general assault was to be made as soon as the 92nd Punjabis
came up from the reserve on the left of the line. About 3 pm
the 92nd commenced their advance and pushing forward in
rushes reached the left of the line. But the hostile fire still
prevented an assault and General Kemball brought up his last
reserves, a company of the 51st Sikhs and the half 13th Sapper
Company. He was on the point of pushing them in to give
the firing line the necessary impetus, when at about 4 p.m. the
Leicestershire, and then the 51st, 53rd and 92nd, rose and, with
a fine assault over the last three hundred yards, carried the
Turkish front line of trenches.* A second line of trenches not
far behind w.as quickly occupied, practically without opposition,
and four hundred yards beyond this, two mountain guns
abandoned by the Turks were captured and brought in. Over
300 Turkish dead were found and three machine guns with
much ammunition and equipment, as well as some 600 prisoners,
were captured. But further advance was for the time being
found to be impossible owing to the stout resistance from hostile
trenches to the front and flank.f The whole of the right bank
of the river for some miles eastward and southward of Shaikh
Saad was honeycombed by irrigation cuts and these afforded
the Turks a series of excellent positions from which they could
confront and outflank the British attack. Unable to progress
farther for the time being, General Kemball’s infantry con
solidated the position gained and the guns were brought up
into close support. Here they remained for the night.
The gallantry of the British and Indian infantry on this
bank also had been very great and they had been well supported
by their artillery ; but their losses also had been heavy. During
the two days’ fighting, the Leicestershire had incurred over
oOO casualties, and each of the three Indian Frontier Force
battalions (51st, 53rd and 56th) had lost over 200 officers and
men.
At nightfall the cavalry on both banks withdrew and with
* Some of the 51st Sikhs were the first to reach the Turkish trenches. Three
company-sergeants-major of the Leicestershire Regiment were granted
posthumous commissions (they were killed a week later) for their conspicuous
gallantry in this assault.
t The Cavalry Brigade, who were not under General Kemball’s orders,
were out of touch engaged with Turkish cavalry and Arabs on their flank and
were unable to close in to co-operate.
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.' [131v] (271/660), 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_100045738549.0x000048> [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