!['HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [‎113v] (235/660)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100025551852.0x000001/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_66_2_0235.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [‎113v] (235/660)")
'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [113v] (235/660)
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.
196 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
But in answer to a request by General Aylmer for a rough
estimate of requirements in men, animals and equipment to
restore the efficiency of the 6th Division, General Townshend
stated that, in view of its heavy losses, it would be unwise to
rely on this division for an advance beyond Kut. In his
opinion it should be placed on the line of communications to
rest and reorganise. On the 19th December General Townshend
said that there were not more than a thousand Turks all told
on the right bank of the Tigris ; and on the same day General
Aylmer estimated that the enemy force covering Kut to the
east at Shaikh Saad consisted of five hundred Arab cavalry
one thousand tribesmen and possibly three guns.*
On the 20th General Aylmer telegraphed to General Town
shend saying that it seemed to him at that time improbable
that the Turks would attempt to bar the advance of the
relief force at Es Sinn, but it was possible ; and if they
did so they would presumably have to hold both banks of
the river. In this case the enemy’s force opposed to him
would be weakened and this might enable General Townshend
to send a considerable portion of his force across the river,
thus affording Generals Aylmer and Townshend an opportunity
of striking a decisive blow at the portion of the Turkish force
on the right bank. General Townshend was instructed to
consider fully the method of doing this and to telegraph his
opinion, with a report of the rapidity with which he could
cross, as well as the best place for crossing.
General Townshend had already told General Aylmer that
there were none of the original bridging train pontoons or
danaks left and that though he had some fifty mahailas he
could not, for lack of material for superstructure, make them
into a bridge. He could arrange to ferry troops over, and, if
General Aylmer occupied the right bank of the river opposite
him, there would be no difficulty. As it was, the enemy had
installed guns west, south and east of his position and there
was no covered place in which he could make a bridge or
rafts. On the 22nd, in answering General Aylmer’s telegram
of the 20th, General Townshend, who had recently received a
report sent to General Nixon from Tehran to the effect that
von der Goltz meant to invade Persia with large Turkish
* Two days later two of the new gunboats, Butterfly and Dragonfly, recon
noitred upstream from Ali Gharbi to ascertain the truth about reports of a
considerable Arab concentration near Shaikh Saad. They found two lines of
trenches on the right bank of the river about four miles below Shaikh Saad
and exchanged fire with them.
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [113v] (235/660), 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_100045738549.0x000024> [accessed 30 April 2024]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045738549.0x000024
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045738549.0x000024">'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [‎113v] (235/660)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100045738549.0x000024"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100025551852.0x000001/IOR_L_MIL_17_15_66_2_0235.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100025551852.0x000001/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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