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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎13r] (30/454)

The record is made up of 1 volume (223 folios). It was created in 1923. 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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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY 5
of country suddenly under water. Owing to the low-lying
nature of the country there are large areas of marsh and shallow
lakes, which may extend to twenty miles in width and fifty miles
or more in length. Curiously enough, these areas are frequently
not contiguous to the rivers, but may be anything from half a
mile to four miles away, the land between being dry except
during prolonged bad weather. These dry belts between river
and marsh are flat and without cover; and they are inter
sected by numerous creeks and irrigation channels which are
generally sufficiently deep and broad to require bridging. In
the low water season, when most of the marshes dry up to a
greater or less extent, wide cracks occur constantly in the
ground.
The actual positions of these lakes are affected greatly by the
direction and force of the wind ; and they have been known
to extend on one side or contract on the other for as much as
one or two miles, when a strong wind from the north has
succeeded a strong wind from the south. These changes,
moreover, do not take place gradually; in one case the
edge of a lake approached a camp at a rate of between
twelve and fifteen yards a minute, necessitating a rapid change
of site.
The average annual rainfall of the Mesopotamian plain* is
only about six and a half inches, of which about five-sixths
falls between October and April. A slow steady fall is almost
unknown and the rain occurs generally in sudden storms,
frequently of great violence and accompanied by hail and
strong winds. Although they do not last long, these storms
occasion considerable damage. It should be noted that the
so called “ flood season ” has little to do with the rains and
owes its being almost entirely to the melting of the winter
snows in the Caucasus and the highlands of Asia Minor. Snow
falls occasionally in the Mesopotamian plain, and as many as
four days of snow were recorded in January 1912 at Babylon.
The effect of water on the soil, which in Lower Mesopotamia
is everywhere a sandy loam, is to convert it into a thick,
tenacious mud which impedes all military movement until it
has dried. When dried, the surface is capable of supporting
temporarily all but the heaviest military traffic.
From the foregoing, it will be realised how adversely floods
caused by a broken dam or a sudden rise of the river level,
rain, or a shifting lake, may affect military operations. Troops
may find themselves unable to stir from a camp, dry and
* The rainfall is moderately plentiful in or near the mountains.

About this item

Content

The volume is the first 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 divided into two parts. The first part, entitled, 'Part I. Before the Outbreak of Hostilities', consists of the following five chapters:

  • General Description of the Country
  • The Turks in Mesopotamia
  • British Pre-War Policy
  • The Army in India and Pre-War Military Policy
  • Inception of the Operations

The second part, entitled, 'Part II. The Campaign in Lower Mesopotamia', consists of the following seven chapters:

  • The Landing in Mesopotamia of Force "D" and the Operations Leading to the Occupation of Basra
  • The Occupation of Basra and the Capture of Qurna
  • Commencement of the Turkish Counter-Offensive
  • Development and Defeat of the Turkish Counter-Offensive
  • Operations in Arabistan and the Capture of Amara
  • Operations on the Euphrates and the Occupation of Nasiriya
  • The battle of Kut and Occupation of Aziziya

The volume also includes nine maps, entitled:

  • The Middle East
  • Lower Mesopotamia
  • Map 1 - To illustrate operations described in Chapter VI
  • Map 2 - To illustrate fighting near Qurna
  • Map 3 - To illustrate fighting round Shaiba
  • Map 4 - To illustrate operations in Persian Arabistan
  • Map 5 - To illustrate operations in the Akaika Channel 27th June to 5th July 1915
  • Map 6 - To illustrate operations near Nasiriya 6th to 24th July 1915
  • Map 7 - To illustrate the Battle of Kut 28th September 1915
Extent and format
1 volume (223 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a page of errata (folio 5), a list of contents (folios 6-8), a list of maps and illustrations (folio 9), appendices (folios 185v-192), an index (folios 192v-214v), and eight maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 217-224).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 225; 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
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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎13r] (30/454), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048172213.0x00001f> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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