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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME I.' [‎111v] (227/454)

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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200 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
wood when the British reinforced their reconnoitring patrols.
Before nightfall, General Fry received information that the
enemy intended to attack during the night with a force con
sisting of twelve thousand Turkish troops, with twelve field
guns and ten thousand Arab tribesmen. It was said that
the Arabs would attack the Shaiba entrenchment from the
north and south, while the Turks would direct their attack
against Shaiba Fort from the south-west. In consequence
of this information, the British force manned the Shaiba
trenches throughout the night.
The British entrenched camp at Shaiba—over three and a half
miles in circumference—was situated with its rear face on the
edge of the flood area and its western face on a slight elevation,
on about the centre of which stood the walled serai known as
Shaiba Fort. The defensive perimeter consisted of an irregular
line of trenches behind wire entanglements, and its northern
and southern faces were bent back to the flooded ground. The
main features in the position besides the fort were a brick
kiln sixty feet high, known as Kiln Post, and a salient just
south of the fort called South salient.
The ground to the north-west of the camp was slightly
undulating, open and treeless, except for a grove of small
palm-trees and three houses with walled gardens a few hundred
yards from the British trenches; while beyond these, at
about nine hundred yards distance from the perimeter, was
a small hillock known as North mound.
Westward and south-westward, the ground—treeless but
covered in places with stunted bushes—sloped very gently
in scarcely perceptible undulating folds upwards for some
tw'o miles. Here a ridge, which was roughly parallel to and
only about ten feet higher than the western face of the Shaiba
entrenchment, was marked at its southern extremity by the
Watch Tower of Zubair—a prominent landmark some four
miles distant from Shaiba Fort. The only other outstanding
feature was a hillock known as South mound, about half-way
between Shaiba and the Watch Tower. Westward from the
ridge, the ground sloped downward, still in slightly undulating
folds, to the Barjisiya wood. The wood lav in a slight depres
sion, and beyond it the ground rose gradually in a featureless
plain.
To the south and south-east, between Shaiba and Zubair,
there was a slight depression and the ground was broken by
a number of small hillocks and several small groves of tamarisk
trees. The ruins of Old Basra—the city of Sinbad the Sailor—

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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.' [‎111v] (227/454), 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_100048172214.0x00001c> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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