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ravichaudhary
March 26th, 2003, 02:31 AM
Some 75 years ago, in a time or place, most of us would never know about, in what then Mesopotamia and is now Iraq, over 20,000 indian soldiers died and were left behind, victim to British imperialist designs.

Then in 1915, the British attacked Iraq, to protect their Oil interests. An expeditionary force, with mainly Indian troops was sent under the command of a British General - Townsend. The target- Baghdad.

Poorly supplied, without hospital facilities, he was sent off.

After some initial successes, they were defeated as Ctesiphon, and withdrew to a small town on the need of the river Euphrates - Kut Al Amara. There they made a stand and eventually were starved out, and surrendered.

The force suffered over 25,000 causalities, of which over 90 % were Indians.

Below are some links, with pictures.

Ravi Chaudhary


http://www.1914-1918.net/meso_bat8.htm

The retreat from Ctesiphon, and the siege of Kut: 25 November 1915 - 29 April 1916


The decision to stand at Kut was a grave mistake: the initiative, until then always with the British in this campaign, passed to the Turks. The forces available to relieve the garrison were too few, and too long in coming. The fact that the Tigris Corps, coming to the relief of the garrison, fought a splendid if ultimately unsuccessful campaign was to no avail. The loss of Kut and the Poona Division stunned the British Empire and her Allies, and provided another huge morale boost for Turkey and Germany, especially coming so soon after Britain's ignominious withdrawal from Gallipoli. The need to relieve Kut drew more forces into Mesopotamia - what impact would this force have had if it had been deployed into the Western Front at this time, when British strength and reserves were still small?


Landscape for battle


Kut-al-Amara lies on the River Tigris at its confluence with the Shatt-al-Hai (a canal of ancient history), 120 miles upstream from the British positions at Amara. The town lies in a loop of the river, with a small settlement on the opposite bank, and in 1915 was a densely-populated, filthy place. The civilian population was around 7,000; many were evicted as the army fell into the town. It had large local supplies of grain due its peacetime role as a marketplace. Kut is 500 miles upstream from Basra.


At the time of this action, daytime temperatures had cooled and were no longer a problem; night was freezing.


What happened?

Following the unexpected defeat in front of Ctesiphon, the exhausted and depleted British force was urged back to the defences of Kut-al-Amara, which after an epic retreat was reached on 3rd December 1915. From Whitehall - in full knowledge that it was going to be impossible to reinforce the Army in Mesopotamia, given all of the other mounting demands - came advice to retire even further downstream. Unfortunately it came too late, for the 6th (Poona) Division was by this time besieged - and learning that 8 more Turkish Divisions, recently moved from Gallipoli, were massing near Baghdad.


Townshend was promised a rapid relief. He calculated that there were supplies in Kut for a month: he was told it might take two months for the relief force to arrive. He suggested an attempt to break out and retire - Sir John Nixon ordered him to remain and hold as many Turkish troops around Kut as possible. 10,000 fighting men were bottled up in the town; the boats got away just in time.


Townshend kept the garrison on a full daily ration. Several large-scale attacks by the Turks were beaten off, with high losses on both sides, in December 1915.


Meanwhile the attempt to assemble a force and advance to relieve the garrison failed, in a series of bitterly-contested attacks in January and March 1916. The British lost a further 23,000 men in the attempt, and the Turks around 10,000. At one point, orders were prepared for an effort to break out of the siege. But by April 1916, the supplies had dwindled and the rate of sickness in the town had escalated to epidemic proportions. An attempt by the paddle steamer Julnar to reach the town by river failed after a valiant attempt. Small quantities of supplies were dropped from the air.


On 26th April 1916, after receiving approval from higher command and Governments, Townshend asked the Turks for a 6-day armistice and permission for 10 days food to be sent into the town. Khalil Pasha, Turkish commander, agreed, and requested talks with Townshend the next day. During the talks, Khalil demanded unconditional surrender; Townhend offered a million pounds sterling, all teh guns in the town, and a promise that the men would not again engage in fighting the Turkish army. Khalil was of a mind to accept; Enver Pasha was not. He wanted a spectacular victory, inflicting as much damage to British prestige as possible. Meanwhile the garrison in Kut used the armistice time to destroy anything useful left in the town. On the 29th, Townshend surrendered. It was the greatest military disaster ever to have befallen teh British Army.


But worse was to come. Townshend himself went into a comfortable if isolated captivity. The sick, unfit, undernourished men of the garrison were force-marched, many beaten savagely, many killed by acts of wanton cruelty. More than 3,000 of those who surrendered at Kut were murdered by the Turks in this way, while in captivity. Those who survived were little more than skeleton when they were 2 years later released or exchanged.


The British Army lost 227 British and 204 Indian officers, with 12,828 other ranks - of which 2,592 were British - when the garrison surrendered. The Turks murdered more than 1,700 of the British other ranks, and possibly as many as 3,000 of the Indian troops, while in captivity. Losses during the fighting during the siege were approximately 2,000, and the relieving force lost 23,000 in the attempt.


The British Order of Battle

6th (Poona) Division was the formation that fought this battle, and largely died in captivity.

Further reading: Try Major E.W.C.Sandes 'In Kut and Captivity', E.H.Jones 'The road to En-Dor', P.W.Long 'The Other Ranks of Kut' and H.C.W. Bishop 'A Kut Prisoner'



The attempt to relieve Kut begins, at Sheik Sa'ad

Some of the Indian troops


http://www.1914-1918.net/Meerut_div.htm

1/9th Ghurkas (left before Mesopotamia)
6th Jat Light Infantry (left in Mesopotamia)
28th Punjabis (joined in Mesopotamia)
92nd Punjabis (joined in Mesopotamia)
125th Napier's Rifles (joined in Mesopotamia from Lahore Division)
28th (or Gharwal) Indian Infantry Brigade
2nd Bn, the Leicesters
1/3rd (City of London) Bn, the London Regiment (joined and left February 1915)
2/3rd Queen Alexandra's Own Ghurka Rifles (left before Mesopotamia)
1/39th Gharwal Rifles (left before Mesopotamia)
2/39th Gharwal Rifles (left before Mesopotamia)
51st Sikhs (joined in Mesopotamia)
53rd Sikhs (joined in Mesopotamia)
56th Punjabi Rifles (joined in Mesopotamia)
21st (or Bareilly) Indian Infantry Brigade
2nd Bn, the Black Watch
1/4th Bn, the Black Watch (joined February 1915, left November 1915)
6th Jat Light Infantry (joined in Mesopotamia)


Order of Battle
16th (Poona) Brigade
2nd Bn, the Dorsets
20th D.C.O. Infantry (Brownlow's Punjabis)
104th Wellesley's Rifles
117th Mahrattas
17th (Ahmednagar) Brigade
1st Bn, the Ox & Bucks LI
22nd Punjabis
103rd Mahratta Light Infantry
119th Infantry (The Mooltan Regiment)
18th (Belgaum) Brigade
2nd Bn, the Norfolks
7th Duke of Connaught's Own Rajputs
110th Mahratta Light Infantry
120th Rajputana Infantry
Artillery
10th Brigade RFA
No 6 Ammunition Column RFA
No 1 Mountain Artillery Brigade
Engineers
17th Coy, 3rd Sappers and Miners
22nd Coy, 3rd Sappers and Miners
48th Pioneers
Signals
34th Divisional Signal Coy
Wireless Signal Squadron
Medical
Nos 16 and 17 Field Ambulances (British units)
125th, 126th and 127th Field Ambulances (Indian)
Transport
Divisional Supply Column
Nos 7,10,12,13,30 Mule Corps
Jaipur Cart Transport Train
52nd, Kolat, Las Bela,Khaipur Camel Corps
Hospitals
No 19 Combined Clearing Hospital
No 57 Indian Stationary Hospital
No 3 (British) and No 9 (Indian) General Hospital


http://www.1914-1918.net/meso_bat9.htm

For some pictures see

http://www.windtribe.com/mesop/mesopidx.html

Some of the attacking units suffered proportionally very high losses: the 1st Seaforth Highlanders lost 20 officers and 380 men; the Jats lost 335 of 485. The 2nd Leicesters lost 16 officers and 298 men.

sweet
April 4th, 2003, 09:51 AM
good information, Ravi ji...................really good job.............keep it up.

devdahiya
January 19th, 2006, 09:19 PM
Thanx for the update Ravi bhai. Keep it up dear.

sampuran
January 20th, 2006, 02:27 AM
Thanx a lot for this research. Keep up!