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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II.' [118r] (244/660)
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.
205
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GENERAL AYLMER’S DIFFICULTIES
now called upon to undertake. This latter feeling, hardly
concealed at first by some—though later considerably modified
by their experiences and losses—led to a distinctly antagonistic
attitude between what have been termed the “ French and
Mesopotamian schools,” which, as unfortunate as it was
unnecessary, might not have been noticeable had more experi
enced staff and other officers been present with all formations
and units. Although it is necessary to refer to this state of
affairs, too great prominence need not be attached to it, but
at first it certainly affected to some extent the cohesion of
General Aylmer’s command *
A further drawback was that many of the units had been
trained on different lines. At this period of the war all units
were largely composed of recruits and the further training
they received after joining their units in the field differed
in many respects in the different localities whence they had
recently come, i.e., United Kingdom, France, Egypt and
India.f
It is thus sufficiently clear that General Aylmer’s force
lacked, at this period, the standard of organisation and cohesion
which is desirable for a body of troops undertaking an offensive
in a difficult country against an entrenched and determined
enemy, operations which would depend primarily upon com
bination and unity of effort.
Land transport, except for first line equipment, was almost
totally lacking. This again was due mainly to the shortage
of river transport, for though animals and carts were at Basra
and could have been marched up by road, there was insufficient
shipping to provide upstream the forage they would require ;
and local camels were difficult to get and when obtained so
difficult to manage as to impair greatly their utility. In
consequence, river craft had to be depended upon for practically
all second line purposes ; and this so restricted the mobility
of General Aylmer’s force as to give him little liberty of action
away from the immediate neighbourhood of the river.
The river transport allotted to accompany General Aylmer’s
force in its advance consisted of nine steamers and tugs,
* Edmund Candler, official “ Eye-witness ” in Mesopotamia, refers to it
in his book, “ The Long Road to Baghdad ” ; and, as he says, there was
injustice in both extremes.
| In India special training for frontier mountain warfare is a necessity.
For the first eighteen months of the campaign in Mesopotamia there were
several instances showing that some officers and men from India found at
first some difficulty in adapting their frontier experiences to the modem
methods of warfare employed by the Turks.
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.' [118r] (244/660), 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_100045738549.0x00002d> [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