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'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.' [166r] (336/540)
The record is made up of 1 volume (266 folios). It was created in 1927. 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
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BRITISH CAVALRY PROGRESS
275
The positions of the advanced detachments on both banks
at nightfall on the 24th October have already been given.
The remaining troops of the 18th Division Group were more or
less concentrated about Fat-ha ; and the 34th Infantry Brigade,
Sappers and Pioneers of the 17th Division Group were in the
gorge, where they been hard at work on the road all day
with the remainder of the group to the southward.
At 6.30 p.m. General Leslie reported that it would be im
possible for the heavy guns to pass through the gorge on the
bank ; and at 9 p.m. General Cobbe informed the 17th
Division that if the roughness of the roads made the mainten
ance forward of the columns specified in his order of 6.30 p.m.
impossible, General Leslie must push on with at least two
infantry brigades, the divisional machine gun company, the
mountain artillery and one brigade of field artillery.
In the meantime, the 11th Cavalry Brigade had carried
out its task with complete success. It had left the northern
end of the Ain Nukhaila pass at 2 a.m. on the 24th, taking
with it three days rations (one day in Ford vans). Learning
at 10.45 a.m. from a message sent by aeroplane that the enemy
had evacuated the hat-ha position. General Cassels concluded
that, in consequence of this, the enemy’s position along the
Little Zab would be considerably contracted. He, therefore,
decided to make for a ford lower down the river than he had
originally intended and directed his advanced guard ( 7 th
Hussars, two guns “ W” Battery, R.H.A., and a machine gun
section) on Zarariya. The advanced guard approached this
ford just before 3 p.m. and could see no signs of any enemy.
But a contact aeroplane which landed was at once met by heavy
machine gun and rifle fire from the right bank of the stream
at six hundred yards’ range, which damaged the machine badly
though it }eft the pilot and observer uninjured. The enemy
then opened fire with four guns and it was evident that he was
holding the further bank in some strength.*
The presence of this enemy detachment was a surprise for
General Cassels, but he realised that his advent was equally
a surprise for the Turks and he decided to force a crossing at
once. Before 4 p.m. a practicable though difficult ford, four
and a half feet deep, was found about a mile downstream and,
crossing here under the covering fire of the horse artillery guns’
the 7 th Hussars gained a footing on the precipitous opposite
* It was subsequently ascertained that the detachment consisted of a few
thT^' fOUr gUnS 311(1 tW ° battalions 18th Regiment (800 rifles) en route for
About this item
- Content
The volume is the fourth 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 V. The Campaign in Upper Mesopotamia, 1917-1918 - North-West Persia and the Caspian, 1918', and consists of the following ten chapters:
- May, June and July 1917
- August and September 1917: The Capture of Ramadi
- October to December 1917 - Occupation of the Jabal Hamrin, Action of Tikrit and Death of General Maude
- January to March 1918: Dunsterville's Mission and the Action of Khan Baghdadi
- April and May 1918: Operations in Kurdistan and Arrangements to Counter the Turco-German Threat beyond our Northern Flank
- British Plans to Stop the Enemy's Advance into Persia and to Obtain Control of the Caspian
- The Fall of Baku
- British Advance up the Tigris: Actions of Fat-Ha Gorge and on the Little Zab
- The Battle of Sharqat and the Armistice
- Conclusion
The volume also includes fourteen maps, entitled:
- The Middle East
- Mesopotamia
- Map 34 - Operations near Ramadi: July and September 1917
- Map 35 - Operations in the Jabal Hamrin: October and December 1917
- Map 36 - Actions at Daur and Tikrit: 2nd and 5th November 1917
- Map 37 - Operations on the Euphrates line: March 1918
- Map 38 - Action of Khan Baghdadi: 26th March 1918
- Map 39 - Operations in the Kifri-Kirkuk area: April and May 1918
- Map 40 - The Cavalry affair of the 27th April 1918, and the action of Tuz Khurmatli, 29th April 1918
- Map 41 - Operations of "Dunsterforce", 1918
- Map 42 - Operations at Baku, August-September 1918
- Map 43 - Operations on the Tigris: 18th-30th October 1918
- Map 44 - Action by 7th Cavalry Brigade near Hadraniya: 29th October 1918
- Map 45 - Battle of Sharqat, 29th October 1918
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (266 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume contains a preface (folios 5-6), a chronological summary of the campaign in Mesopotamia (folios 7-8), a list of contents (folios 8-11), a list of maps and illustrations (folios 11-12), appendices (folios 197-232), an index (folios 233-254), and twelve maps in a pocket attached to the inside back cover (folios 256-267).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 268; 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 file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
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- 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 IV.' [166r] (336/540), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/4, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049244985.0x000089> [accessed 10 July 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/4
- Title
- 'HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR BASED ON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME IV.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:2v, 4r:186v, 188r:255v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence