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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [98r] (202/660)
The record is made up of 1 volume (323 folios). It was created in 1924. 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 DEFENSIVE ARRANGEMENTS 167
liable to be cut off, appeared to be a weak point. On the
other hand, it commanded two long stretches of the river,
enfiladed part of the range of sandhills, provided flank defence
for the first line of trenches and afforded a good observation
station for artillery.* Strenuous efforts were made to improve
its defences and to render it better able to withstand artillery
fire ; but from the very beginning the Turks selected it as a
special point for attack and their increasing artillery fire
interfered considerably with the work on it. For instance,
on the 5th, Turkish gunfire killed there nearly all the horses
of the Maxim Battery and damaged badly the buildings in it.
Outside the fort, trenches and a redoubt had to be dug along
a portion of the first line, with the usual support, reserve and
communicating trenches ; and further trenches were required
for piquets along the river bank, for the brigade reserve, for
cooking places, brigade headquarters, etc.
The garrison of the fort formed a subordinate command under
Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, 103rd Mahrattas, and consisted of
two 15-pounder guns of the Volunteer Battery, the Maxim
Battery, fifty bombers of the Oxfords, the Sirmur Company
of Sappers and Miners, 103rd Mahrattas and 119th Infantry.
The trenches (in this sector) outside the fort were occupied
alternately by the Oxfords and the 22nd Punjabis, the battalion
not in the trenches forming brigade reserve close to brigade
headquarters.
In the north-west sector lay the greater part of the first line
of defence, including three of its redoubts, and here also there
was much additional work to be done in preparation of the
usual subsidiary trench system. The soil was clayey and in
places very hard ; and by the 7th December, though the
blockhouses had been demolished, and redoubts constructe ,
they were not yet connected up by trenches. The work here,
as elsewhere in the area, was much interrupted by the constant
enemy rifle fire, which continued day and night and caused
many casualties. • . ,
In the southern sector, commencement of the second line ot
defence, the defences of Woolpress village, trenches for piquets
along the river bank and protection for parties getting
were the main points requiring immediate attention. u
town was also in this sector and much subsidiary trench wor
had to be done there. Communication with Woolpress village
* At first a stack of bags of atta (coarsely ground flour used by lntUans)
in the centre of the fort was utihsed as an artillery command and observation
post.
About this item
- Content
The volume is the second 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 III. The First Campaign for Baghdad', and consists of the following fourteen chapters:
- The Decision to Advance to Baghdad
- Commencement of the Advance Towards Baghdad
- The Battle of Ctesiphon - the First Day's Operations
- Battle of Ctesiphon (Continued) and the British Retirement to Kut
- The Decision to Hold Kut and British Policy Consequent on the Failure to Reach Baghdad
- The Siege of Kut: First Phase (December 1915)
- Commencement of the Relief Operations
- The Action of Shaikh Saad
- The Action of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. and the First Attack on Hanna
- Operations up to the End of February, 1916
- The Second Attempt to Relieve Kut; the Attack on the Dujaila Redoubt
- The Third Attempt to Relieve Kut; the Successful Advance to and First and Second Attacks on Sannaiyat
- The Last Attempt at Relief; Bait Isa and Sannaiyat
- The Siege of Kut; the Last Stages
The volume also includes nine maps, entitled:
- The Middle East
- Lower Mesopotamia
- Map 8 - The Tigris from Kut al Amara to Baghdad
- Map 9 - The Battle of Ctesiphon
- Map 10 - The affair of Umm at Tubul
- Map 11 - The defence of Kut al Amara
- Map 12 - The fort at Kut; with special reference to the Turkish attack on 24th December 1915
- Map 13 - River Tigris between Ali Gharbi and Shumran
- Map 14 - The action at Shaikh Saad
- Map 15 - The action of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
- Map 16 - The first attack on Hanna; 21st January 1916
- Map 17 - The attack on the Dujaila Redoubt, 8th March 1916
- Map 18 - To illustrate Tigris Corps Operation Order No. 26, dated 6th March 1916
- Map 19 - To illustrate operations between 10th March and end of April 1916
- Map 20 - The action of Bait Isa on 17th and 18th April 1916, and the attack on Sannaiyat 22nd April 1916
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (323 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a list of contents (folios 6-10), a list of maps and illustrations (folio 11), appendices (folios 254-290), an index (folios 291-312), and eleven maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 314-324).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 325; 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 volume 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 II.' [98r] (202/660), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100045738549.0x000003> [accessed 30 April 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/2
- Title
- 'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:3r, 3r, 4r:70v, 72r:79r, 160v, 80r:102v, 104r:160r, 161r, 313v, 161v:281v, 283r:313v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence