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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.' [27r] (58/540)
The record is made up of 1 volume (266 folios). It was created in 1927. 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.
MESOPOTAMIA COMMISSION
29
As it was known that most of the shortcomings complained
of were in the course of being remedied, the utility and expediency
of such an enquiry at that stage seemed doubtful, among
those holding this view being Lord George Hamilton, the
Chairman of the Commission, who, in a letter published in
“ The Times ” on the 16th July, 1917, explained that he had
only undertaken that duty to avert, as he was informed, a
political crisis. The other members of the Commission, which
was only intended to enquire into a question of administrative
efficiency and was in no sense a judicial tribunal, included
the Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords, four
Members of Parliament, an Admiral and a General. The
General had served in India as a young officer many years
previously, but none of the others had any practical experience
in that country of military or civil administration. Although it
took evidence on oath and called before it such verbal or
documentary evidence as it required, the Commission in its
proceedings did not generally observe the usual rules of
evidence ; nor, apparently owing to the need for haste, did it
give individuals, whose conduct it impugned, opportunity to
hear the whole case against them.
Feeling that its primary duty was to adjudicate upon the
conduct of the higher authorities responsible for the campaign,
and that it was neither intended nor well-fitted to undertake
the functions of a number of courts-martial or military courts
of enquiry, the Commission decided that it was undesirable to
enquire into minor complaints against subordinate officers. It
ascertained that the chief persons connected with the campaign
were either in England or could be brought there, that a great
number of officers who had returned wounded or sick from
Mesopotamia were also at home and that the large amount of
evidence collected in Bombay and Mesopotamia by the
Vincent-Bingley Commission* was at its disposal. Consequently
the Commissioners decided that they would not be justified in
incurring the great delay and expense involved by proceeding
to India and Mesopotamia. This decision was unfortunate, for
it seems clear that in no other way could all the relevant facts
have been ascertained or the difficulties and disadvantages,
under which the operations were carried out, have been
weighed in their true relation to the failures. As it was, between
August 1916 and April 1917, the Commission examined
altogether a hundred witnesses ; but neither the Quartermaster-
General in India nor any of the officers of his branch, which was
directly responsible for all transport arrangements, were called
* Appointed by the Government of India in March 1916, to enquire into
the medical arrangements in Mesopotamia.
About this item
- Content
The volume is the fourth 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 V. The Campaign in Upper Mesopotamia, 1917-1918 - North-West Persia and the Caspian, 1918', and consists of the following ten chapters:
- May, June and July 1917
- August and September 1917: The Capture of Ramadi
- October to December 1917 - Occupation of the Jabal Hamrin, Action of Tikrit and Death of General Maude
- January to March 1918: Dunsterville's Mission and the Action of Khan Baghdadi
- April and May 1918: Operations in Kurdistan and Arrangements to Counter the Turco-German Threat beyond our Northern Flank
- British Plans to Stop the Enemy's Advance into Persia and to Obtain Control of the Caspian
- The Fall of Baku
- British Advance up the Tigris: Actions of Fat-Ha Gorge and on the Little Zab
- The Battle of Sharqat and the Armistice
- Conclusion
The volume also includes fourteen maps, entitled:
- The Middle East
- Mesopotamia
- Map 34 - Operations near Ramadi: July and September 1917
- Map 35 - Operations in the Jabal Hamrin: October and December 1917
- Map 36 - Actions at Daur and Tikrit: 2nd and 5th November 1917
- Map 37 - Operations on the Euphrates line: March 1918
- Map 38 - Action of Khan Baghdadi: 26th March 1918
- Map 39 - Operations in the Kifri-Kirkuk area: April and May 1918
- Map 40 - The Cavalry affair of the 27th April 1918, and the action of Tuz Khurmatli, 29th April 1918
- Map 41 - Operations of "Dunsterforce", 1918
- Map 42 - Operations at Baku, August-September 1918
- Map 43 - Operations on the Tigris: 18th-30th October 1918
- Map 44 - Action by 7th Cavalry Brigade near Hadraniya: 29th October 1918
- Map 45 - Battle of Sharqat, 29th October 1918
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (266 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a preface (folios 5-6), a chronological summary of the campaign in Mesopotamia (folios 7-8), a list of contents (folios 8-11), a list of maps and illustrations (folios 11-12), appendices (folios 197-232), an index (folios 233-254), and twelve maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 256-267).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 268; 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 file 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 IV.' [27r] (58/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/4, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049244984.0x00003b> [accessed 18 January 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/4
- Title
- 'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:2v, 4r:186v, 188r:255v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence