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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎85r] (174/454)

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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ATTACK ON QURNA
149
some four miles upstream on the left bank to cover that flank
from surprise ; the 7th and 120th moved into the plantations
opposite Qurna to stop any attempt by the enemy at crossing
the river ; and a sapper officer was sent back to the landing-
place at Shwaiyib to bring up the stores required for a flying
bridge. At 8.30 a.m. the ships had not been fired on, and
Captain Hayes-Sadler ordered the Lewis Pelly up towards
Qurna to ascertain if the Turks were still in occupation. She
was allowed to get within about four hundred yards of Qurna,
when a heavy gun and rifle fire was opened on her and she was
ordered back. About the same time the camp at Muzaira'a
was shelled from Qurna, and soon afterwards the force in camp
moved out to take up a position of readiness on the edge of
the plantations north-west of Muzaira’a. It had been decided
to construct a flying bridge a short distance north of the
plantations on the left bank. A gun of the 82nd Battery
came into action here against Qurna, in the position it had
been in the previous evening, and between 10 and 11 a.m. the
half (17th) Sapper Company arrived to construct the bridge.
By this time the fire of the ships’ guns had neutralised the
Turkish gun fire from Qurna, and a navigating officer from the
Espiegle, after sounding and buoying the outer side of the
lighter sunk in the channel, had reported that there was just
room for the Espiegle to pass it. She moved upstream,
accordingly, about 11 a.m., scraping through the mud, with
the Lewis Pelly sounding ahead, and anchored within about
two thousand yards range of Quma. All the ships then opened
fire on such parts of Qurna as they could discern through the
trees, the 7th and 120th Companies also keeping up a fire
from the plantations.
In the meantime the 104th reconnoitring upstream had
found the usual debris of a flight but no enemy, and they
induced two mahailas to stop and come into the left bank
about three miles north and out of sight of Qurna. The
officer commanding the 104th sent word to General Fry
that he had done so, and suggested that he should take his
battalion across the river here and move down the right bank
to assist the crossing of the 110th. General Fry approved
of this suggestion, and sent up four guns of the 76th Battery
and half the Norfolks to take the place of the 104th, and to
support their crossing.
About 11.30, at the site selected for the flying bridge,
Havildar Custodian; police sergeant; jail or prison guard. Ghulam Nabi, Lance-Naick Nur Dad and Sapper
Ghulam Haidar, all of the 17th Company, Sappers and

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.' [‎85r] (174/454), 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_100048172213.0x0000af> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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