'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [‎225r] (454/1386)

41
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This Documpnt is the prnpcrtij of His Britannic Majesltfs Government.
SECRET.
1 Precis of Correspondence regarding the Mesopotamian
Expedition—Its Genesis and Development.
Prepared in the Military Department
of 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. .
(V.)
Part IV. ended Avitli the despatch from Kut of General Townshend’s
wounded on the 5th December 1915, from which date the investment of
Kut maybe said to have commenced. In Part A . it is proposed to carry
the record up to the Kith February, the date on which 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.
transferred to the War Office the military control of the Mesopotamia^
operations.
On the Gth December General Nixon reached Basra and oti the following
day, presumably in complete ignorance of the real facts, he telegraphed as
below to the Secretary of State : —
* Telegram from General Nixon, dated 7tli December 1015.
•'910 2S A. Your C 243 of 4th. Wounded satisfactorily disposed of. Many likely to
recover in country comfortably placed in hospitals at Amarah and Basrah. those for
mvaliding are being placed direct on two Hospital Sl ips The branch of the British Government of India with responsibility for managing political relations between British-ruled India and its surrounding states, and by extension the Gulf, during the period 1937-47. that were ready at Basrah on
arrival river boats. General condition of wounded very satisfactory. Medical arrangements
under circumstances of considerable difiioulty worked splendidly.
^ , This ‘crfrrl telegram naturally afforded great relief at the time.
/( Unhappily it has since been entirely refuted by the facts brought to light.
The telegram is recorded in this precis as it is the initial point, so to speak,
m a controversy which has attained a somewhat deplorable political
significance. ^
About this time the confidence hitherto displayed by the Indian
Authorities in all concerning Mesopotamia began to be shaken, as will be
seen from the following telegrams : —
Cl
XTele^ram from Viceroy to Secretary of State, dated Ctli December 1915.
f ‘ H. 9621. Your telegram of the 4th instant, ft is now a matter of vital urgency that
Nixon should receive a large accession of river craft without delay. Possibility of relieving
Kut-el-Amara in time will depend on this/’
How the deficiencies of river craft were now suddenly to be remedied
from the other side of the globe is not explained !
A Telegram from Viceroy to Secretary of State, dated Gth December 1915.
"11.9015. Please refer to Nixon's No. 129 259 1 of 4th December. It seems certain
1 that Townshend will be invested at Kut, and that lie must be relieved. We understand he
has rations for six weeks, which would enable him to hold out for approximately two months,
but we are asking Nixon for definite information about food, forage, and ammunition available
at Kiit. It is essential that Nixon should be reinforced with great rapidity, as the
distances in Mesopotamia are so great tlpit two months is a very short period in which to
relieve Kut.
" In your telegram of the 25th ultimo, No. 3150, it was stated all units of the Lahore
and Meerut Divisions should have arrived in Mesopotamia by the end of December.
# * * * *
“ Please inform us early if any delay in their departure is probable, as Nixon's plans are
now based on two divisions being complete in Basra by the 31st.
"•.Immediate despatch of the eight Indian battalions from Lgypt is also a matter of very
great urgency.
" Moreover, Nixon now asks definitely for the additional Division, making five in all, the
meed for which we foreshadowed in our telegram of the 30th ultimo without number, and
MS I8t r» 3—4/1910 A