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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.' [137r] (278/540)
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.
BRITISH APPRECIATION
221
generally only passable by pack transport; and on each of the
lines of advance there were passes or difficult country to be
traversed.
Our available force was disposed as follows. One squadron
of cavalry, six guns,* three armoured cars, 300 infantry and
800 irregulars in the Mianeh area; two squadrons of cavalry,
a section R.E. field company and 70 irregulars in the Bijar
area ; and a squadron of cavalry with two mountain guns in
the Sehneh area. Behind these detachments, on the main
road to the Caspian, were 275 rifles and a field battery (less
a section) in the vicinity of Resht and between there and
Kazvin; an infantry company, one and two-thirds field
batteries, one armoured car and a squadron Dunsterforce
armoured cars in the Kazvin area ; and one and a quarter
infantry battalions at Hamadan.|
We could use mechanical transport on the roads from Kazvin
to Mianeh and from Hamadan to Sehneh, Bijar, Zenjan and
Kazvin, and pack transport elsewhere. It was felt that to
fight the Turks we could place little reliance on the irregulars
or friendly tribes and that our widely dispersed force was not
strong enough anywhere to stop a determined Turkish advance
along any of the three lines open to them.
After consideration of the various courses open to the Turks,
the conclusion come to was that they would most probably
advance from Tabriz via Mianeh on Kazvin ; and that to meet
this contingency we should have : first, to evacuate the road
between Enzeli and Kazvin; secondly, to move some artillery
from the Kazvin to the Hamadan area; thirdly, to reinforce
Mianeh with three armoured cars; and lastly, to evacuate
Kazvin.
On the 31st August General Dunsterville telegraphed to
Kazvin from Baku, where a Turkish attack was in progress,
asking that the Gloucestershire and 2nd Field Battery (then
near Kazvin) should be sent at once to Enzeli. But General
* Two 18-pounders, two field howitzers and two mountain guns.
| The above is the force as given in the appreciation, but the records show
some discrepancies. At Enzeli and between there and Kazvin were head
quarters and three platoons l/4th Hampshire and about 255 rifles l/2nd
Gurkhas, as well as half the Dunsterforce Armoured Car Machine Gun Company,
and the field battery (less a section) was under orders to leave for Krasnovodsk.
The 39th Machine Gun Company was at Kazvin ; and at Hamadan, or in its
vicinity, were seven and a quarter companies of infantry (l/4th Hampshire,
7th Gloucestershire, 9th Worcestershire and l/2nd Gurkhas), a section 21st
Mountain Battery and the 72nd Company, R.E. (less one section).
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.' [137r] (278/540), 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_100049244985.0x00004f> [accessed 31 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- 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