OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR. THE CAMPAIGN IN MESOPOTAMIA 1914-1918. VOLUME II

The advance on Baghdad in October. Battle of Ctesiphon and Britsh withdrawal to Kut al Amara. Siege of Kut by the Turks and British surrender in April 1916.

This volume covers the period October 1915 to April 1916 and begins immediately after the capture of Kut al Amara at the end of September by Townshend’s British/Indian force, the main element of which was the 6th Indian Division. It describes the discusssions that followed regarding the advisability of exploiting the capture of Kut by advancing on Baghdad. There were for and against and among the doubters was Kitchener, but eventually the Cabinet decided to authorise the advance. There follows the account of operations in which the Turks halted the advance at Ctesiphon causing Townshend to retreat to Kut where his force was besieged over the period of the next four months. The narrative describes the unsuccessful efforts of relief columns to get through (three attempts in all) and in the end Townshend was directed to open negotiations with the Turks, leading to the starving garrison’s surrender on 29th April 1916. Nearly all the official records of the force in Kut dealing with the operations at Ctesiphon, the subsequent retreat and the siege were destroyed so the author has had to rely to a great extent on private accounts which have also included the treatment of the garrison by theTurks. Numerous appendices give extracts from official documents, correspondence and details on order of battle and casualty figures. As the author says in his introduction:”This volume is mainly a recital of a series of British misfortunes”.

Details


Product Code:	7668
Author:	Brig Gen F.J.Moberly
Format:	1997 IWM/Battery Press reprint (original pub 1924). HB. xiv + 581pp with 15 maps and 10 photos.
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Our Price:	£35.00