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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.' [34v] (73/540)
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
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44 HISTORY OF THE WAR: MESOPOTAMIA
[continued on next page.]
to send the Ford vans so as to reach Basra in January and
February 1918.
On the 21st September General Maude sent a long telegram
to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff describing his
constant efforts to encourage the Russians to take the offensive
and their then evident intention of adopting instead a
passive defensive. This action on their part would limit
considerably his offensive action, said General Maude, though
he would arrange to lose no opportunity of striking as it offered.
But it was for consideration whether for this purpose the force
at his disposal would be adequate, owing to the probability of
the ultimate offensive by the enemy in superior numbers which
he would have to meet on his three fronts, possibly simul
taneously. He would endeavour to keep reserves in hand ready
to move at short notice to any threatened point, but this
might not ultimately be possible when the enemy closed, as
his own lateral communications, though improving rapidly,
were still unsuited for the speedy movement of troops from one
front to another. The time had come, he said, when we should
cease to depend on the Russians* and, in order to replace the
deficiency caused by their defection, he would ask that such
of the additional troops, being prepared in India for despatch to
Mesopotamia if necessary, as might be available, complete with
artillery and other arms, should be placed at his disposal.
He was still reluctant to ask for them and had deferred doing so
as long as he could.
In replying on the 24th September, the Chief of the Imperial
General Staff said that he had for some time recognised that
General Maude might require reinforcement. At the same
time Sir William Robertson reminded General Maude that as
his role was a defensive one it was undesirable to lock up in
Mesopotamia more troops than were necessary to make him
absolutely secure against all conceivable eventualities, especially
as his ration strength was already about 340,000, of whom
some 200,000 were fighting troops.f
* It is clear from private correspondence between General Maude and
General Kirkpatrick, Chief of the General Stafi in India, that up to this time
General Maude had consistently hoped and planned for Russian co-operation
and had refused to accept General Kirkpatrick's view, gathered from what he
had learnt on a visit to Baghdad in April 1917 and from subsequent information,
that it was inadvisable to base our plans on such a contingency.
f On the 29th September General Maude informed the Chief of the Imperial
General Staff that his own estimate of fighting troops in Mesopotamia was
lower than this : and he gave the following figures, which included A.S.C.
and R.A.M.C. personnel but not their Indian counterparts classified as
followers.
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.' [34v] (73/540), 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_100049244984.0x00004a> [accessed 2 April 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