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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.' [134v] (273/540)
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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216 HISTORY OF THE WAR: MESOPOTAMIA
were declining to go to the front. Food was scarce, nothing
having been imported for two months,* and there was only
a week’s supply in hand. But Colonel Crawford had joined
the Food Control Board and it was hoped that matters would
shortly improve.
Transport was a difficulty, as motor vehicles could not go
everywhere and animals could not be fed in any numbers •
and this hindrance to movement in the intense moist heat
made supervision of the long front very difficult.
General Dunsterville, accompanied by Commodore Norris
left Enzeli on the 16th August in the President Kruger
and reached Baku next day. In his bookf he describes
the town as lying in a crater-like cup, the ground on the
west and north rising gradually for about two miles till it
reached the line of cliffs, whence it fell precipitously for
over 500 feet to the bottom of the desert valley through which
ran the railway from Tiflis. Outside the town the whole country
was open and barren, consisting mainly of sandy desert and
salt lakes partly dried up. The chief oil fields were at Binagadi,
Balakhani and Bibi Eibat, with the main oil refineries at Black
Town, and there were two miles of wharves at Baku.
At daybreak on the 18th August General Dunsterville made
a personal inspection of the line of defence. On the left, a mile
west of Bibi Eibat, where the high ground ran down in a series
of rocky spurs to the sea, the position was a good one with a
fau field of fire and a naturally guarded flank. The 7 th North
^ u sec ti° n > had dug well-sited trenches ;
and this had inspired the Armenian battalion on their right
to make an effort also in the same direction. The line then
ran due north, first along seven miles of cliffs and then gradually
down through low ground to Dirty Volcano, where it turned
east to Binagadi. General Dunsterville considered that the
line should have continued due north from Dirty Volcano
o ie sea an extension that would have required comparatively
ew men or its defence, as the Masazir Salt Lake provided a
natura! obstacle for half the distance. This part of the line
had been left open by the withdrawal of Bicharakoff’s detach-
ment ; but, till the arnval of the British, the Baku authorities
hari a en no steps to fill the gap. Consequently the Turks
&° we round this flank, and all the villages, mainly Tartar,
e nor an ^ eas t °t the town were full of small enemy
parties and Tartar levies.
t ?TLT/ aK i t0 be due to the nationalisation policy
T The Adventures of Dunsterforce.” Y
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.
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- 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.' [134v] (273/540), 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_100049244985.0x00004a> [accessed 31 March 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