'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎63r] (130/454)

ORDERS TO LAND
105
Viceroy : " Please instruct brigade at Bahrein to proceed at
once to Shatt al Arab and to concert measures with naval
authorities for immediate attack on Fao. Force will then clear
Turks out of the Shatt and its vicinity as far as Shamshamiya
if possible * After which it will await arrival of reinforcements
from India.f Admiralty advise that reinforcements may be
sent without escort from Bombay unless Naval Commander-
in-Chief has any reasons to contrary. Konigsberg located on
African coast south of Equator. Take steps to inform Arab
chiefs in Gulf and on Aden side.” These orders, received in
India on 1st November, were sent on to General Delamain on
the same day.
On the 1st, Captain Hayes-Sadler, R.N., the Senior Naval
Officer, sent orders to the Odin to remain where she was to
protect the buoys in the river, and to the Dalhousie to meet
him with pilots, tugs, etc., on the morning of the 3rd, off
Bushire, where he would be arriving in the Ocean escorting
the convoy from Bahrein. The same day the Espiegle had
sent the tugs Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. -i-Naphte and Sumana down the river from
Mohammerah to try and reach the Odin off the bar to assist
in sweeping operations. They were both fired on, however,
from Fao and only the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. -i-N aphte got through, but the
Sumana, thanks to the lack of initiative on the part of the
Turks, managed to return to Mohammerah.
On the 2nd, General Delamain and Captain Hayes-Sadler
had a conference on board the Varela ; and the launch Mashona,
which had been armed by the Ocean, was sent to take Major
Radcliffe of the Dorsetshire Regiment to Kuwait, to obtain
information as to where troops could best be disembarked
near Fao and to rejoin the force off the Shatt al Arab. Next
morning, the Dalhousie met the convoy off Bushire, bringing
five pilots. That day, at a further conference, the Senior
Naval Officer informed General Delamain that the Ocean drew
too much water to be able to get within effective range of *
* On the 31st the Esptigle had reported that the Turks had sunk two
ships in the channel at this place.
t It had been arranged, by telegram on the 30th between India and the
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. , that General Delamain’s force was not to advance on Basra
till reinforced by another brigade of the 6th Division which was to sail from
Bombay about 7th November, and he was told not to move till he got
further orders, but to make all preparations, and that the Naval Commander-
in-Chief was being consulted as regards co-operation with the navy. This
telegram was received by General Delamain at sea on the 2nd, after the
convoy had left Bahrein in accordance with the Admiralty instructions ; but
the same afternoon he received definite orders from India to carry out the
Secretary of State’s instructions, followed by further orders from India that
his force was not to go beyond Shamshamiya, nor was it to go to Mohammerah.