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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎40v] (80/248)

The record is made up of 1 volume (122 folios). It was created in 1906-1918. 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. .

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78
PART X.—MEDICAL BREAKDOWN.
* See Part X., para. 89.
D. The Misuse of Reticence.
part of the telegram as “ a tribute to the people who had really accomplished a mos
wonderful achievement.” It is very difficult to accept these explanations, for whatever may
have been the motive for so wording the despatch, the effect was to conceal from the
authorities outside Mesopotamia the real facts as to the medical breakdown in November,
gravely to mislead the Secretary of State, and through him Parliament and the public,
and to deceive all into a state of false security in view' of future operations. If the full
facts had been frankly reported immediately after the battle of Ctesiphon, it would have
been possible for the authorities to make strong efforts to remove or mitigate many of the
defects before the next fighting took place. But this w r as not done, with the result that
for the wounded the horrors in January, 1916, equalled or even exceeded the horrors of
Ctesiphon in November, 1915.
65. It is possible, of course, to assume that Sir John Nixon and Surgeon-General
Hathaw'ay’s relief of mind on their safe arrival with the wounded at Basra may have
eliminated from their perspective the defects in medical arrangements, and the sufferings
of the wounded, which occurred during the evacuation. Yet even on this assumption, these
defects and sufferings should have been reported to the authorities when there had been
time to obtain reports from medical officers and from the wounded themselves, and thus
generally to correct the first impressions of the evacuation. But nothing of the kind seems
to have been done. On December 18th, Surgeon-General Hathaway sent in to the
D.M.S. India a detailed report of the evacuation of the wounded from Ctesiphon.
Nobody reading that report would gather that anything untoward had happened, or
that the wounded had undergone any special or avoidable sufferings. On Christmas
Day, General Nixon again wired to India, “ Taking into account the large numbers
of wounded, the very limited means at my disposal, the great difficulties entailed,
I am of the opinion that the evacuation of the wounded after the battle of Ctesiphon
was extraordinarily well carried out. ’ As late as January 4th, wdien Surgeon-General
MacNeece had called his attention to the condition in which the wounded arrived at
Basra, and to the complaints as to the defects in the medical arrangements, Surgeon-
General Hathaway persisted in regarding the evacuation as a “ glorious achievement ”
which had received from Sir John Nixon the commendation it deserved.
66. The first, and so far as we know r , the only official report, which disclosed the
serious condition of the wounded after Ctesiphon, was sent in by an officer who was not
in any way responsible for the arrangements for their evacuation from the battlefield to
Basra. Major Carter, whose evidence we have already quoted, posted in Bombay on
December 14th, his report on the third voyage of the hospital ship “ Varela,” addressed
to the D.M.S. at Delhi. This report, which must have reached Delhi a few days later,
emphasized the grave condition of the wounded as they arrived at Basra, and ascribed
this condition to the absence of river hospital-steamers. The report* gave also indirectly
a vivid account of the sufferings of the wounded on their passage down the river. On
the day on which it w r as posted, Surgeon-General MacNeece himself visited the “ Varela,”
on its arrival at Bombay, inspected and questioned the wounded, and therefore knew in
some detail of the medical breakdown after Ctesiphon.
67. The next day (December 15th), Surgeon-General MacNeece wrote a letter to
Sir Percy Lake, Chief of the General Staff at Delhi. In this letter he described the suffer
ings of the wounded. “ The whole business,” he said “ is bad.” He asked that this
letter should be shown to Sir Beauchamp Duff. But Sir Beauchamp Duff denies that he
saw either this letter or Major Carter s Report; nor is there any evidence that he did.
Both documents were however accessible to him, and would doubtless have been furnished
to him if he had made enquiries in his own Headquarter Office about the condition of the
wounded ; and that there was reason for enquiry he knew, because Surgeon-General
MacNeece referred to the sufferings of the wounded after Ctesiphon at a conference at which
the Commander-in-Chief was present on December 23rd. Surgeon-General MacNeece’s
recollection is quite definite on this point, and Sir Percy Lake, though unable to swear to
the exact date of the conference, corroborates Surgeon-General MacNeece as to the fact
that the matter was referred to in conference about that time. Moreover, private notes
made at the time by Surgeon-General MacNeece, though they do not specifically mention
the wounded at Ctesiphon, show that the affairs of Force “ D ” were much discussed at the
conference on December 23rd.
68. Surgeon-General MacNeece also told us that the sufferings of the wounded after

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Content

A signed proof, folios 1-100, plus additional material, folios 101-124. The cover bears the signature of Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under-Secretary of State. The report has been annotated in blue pencil at various points.

Contents:

  • 'Part I. Preface.
  • 'Part II. Origin of Mesopotamia [Iraq] Expedition.'
  • 'Part III. Advance from Basra to Kurna.'
  • 'Part IV. The Advance to Amara [Al-'Amārah] and Kut [Al-Kūt].'
  • 'Part V. Correspondence and Telegrams as to Advance on Baghdad.'
  • 'Part VI. The Advance from Kut to Ctesiphon.'
  • 'Part VII. Operations for Relief of Kut.'
  • 'Part VIII. Armament, Equipment, Reinforcements, &c.'
  • 'Part IX. Transport.'
  • 'Part X. Medical Breakdown.'
  • 'Part XI. Causes Contributing to the Errors of Judgement and Shortcomings of Responsible Authorities.'
  • 'Part XII. Findings and Conclusions. Recommendations.'
  • 'Separate Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP.'
  • 'Appendix I. Vincent-Bingley Report.'
  • 'Appendix II. Memorandum by Sir Beauchamp Duff.'
  • 'Appendix III. Colonel Hehir's Account of the Siege of Kut-el-Amara.'

Additional material:

  • Folio 101. Manuscript note [by Arthur Hirtzel] on net military expenditure.
  • Folios 102-109. Copy of the East India (Army Administration), Further Papers regarding the Administration of the Army in India , 1906.
  • Folios 110-115. Manuscript notes, titled 'Suggested redraft & amplification of second half of parag 1' [unknown hand].
  • Folio 116. A clipping from the Daily Telegraph , Wednesday 4 July 1917, featuring an article titled 'Mesopotamia. Ex-Viceroy's Statement. The Medical Breakdown.'
  • Folios 117-124. An expanded typescript version of Hirtzel's manuscript notes (folio 101).
Extent and format
1 volume (122 folios)
Arrangement

A table of contents can be found at folio 4v.

An index can be found at folios 93-97.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 124; 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. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 110-115; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled. Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume comprises a stitched pamphlet, and other stitched and loose-leaf material.

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English in Latin script
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'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎40v] (80/248), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/257, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100036338403.0x000051> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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