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The siege of Kut Al Amara (7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916), also known as the first battle of Kut, was the besieging of an 8,000 strong British Army garrison in the town of
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
, south of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, by the
Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers th ...
. In 1915, its population was around 6,500. Following the surrender of the garrison on 29 April 1916, the survivors of the siege were marched to imprisonment at
Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...
, during which many died. Historian Christopher Catherwood has called the siege "the worst defeat of the Allies in World War I". Ten months later, the British Indian Army, consisting almost entirely of newly recruited troops from Western India, conquered Kut, Baghdad and other regions in between in the Fall of Baghdad.


Prelude

The
6th (Poona) Division The 6th (Poona) Division was a division of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1903, following the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army. World War I The 6th (Poona) Division served in the Mesopotamian campaign. Led by Major General Barre ...
of the
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
, under Major-General
Charles Townshend Charles Townshend (28 August 1725 – 4 September 1767) was a British politician who held various titles in the Parliament of Great Britain. His establishment of the controversial Townshend Acts is considered one of the key causes of the Amer ...
, had fallen back to the town of Kut after retreating from Ctesiphon. The British Empire forces arrived at Kut around 3 December 1915. They had suffered significant losses, numbering only 11,000 soldiers (plus cavalry). General Townshend chose to stay and hold the position at Kut instead of continuing the march downriver towards
Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
. Contained within a long river loop, Kut offered a good defensive position although supply lines from distant Basra were stretched.


The siege

The pursuing Ottoman forces under
Halil Pasha Halil Pasha (also known as Bostancı Halil Pasha) was an Ottoman statesman who served as the governor of Ottoman Egypt from 1631 to 1633. He was known for his "gentle, impartial, and prosperous administration"d'Avennes, Prisse (1983) ''Arab art a ...
arrived on 7 December 1915. Once it became clear the Ottomans had enough forces to lay siege to Kut, Townshend ordered his cavalry to escape south, which it did, led by Lieut. Colonel
Gerard Leachman Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman, CIE, DSO (27 July 1880, Petersfield, Hampshire – 12 August 1920, Iraq) was an English soldier and intelligence officer who travelled extensively in Arabia. Career Leachman was commissioned a secon ...
. The Ottoman forces numbered around 11,000 men and were increasing steadily with additional reinforcements arriving constantly. They were commanded by the respected but elderly German general and military historian Baron von der Goltz. Goltz knew the Ottoman army well, as he had spent 12 years working on modernizing it, from 1883 to 1895. After three attacks in December, Goltz directed the building of siege fortifications facing Kut. He prepared for an attack from Basra, using the
Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
, by building defensive positions further down the river designed to cut off a river-borne relief. After a month of siege, Townshend wanted to break out and withdraw southwards but his commander, General
Sir John Nixon General Sir John Eccles Nixon (16 August 1857 – 15 December 1921) was a senior commander of the British Indian Army. He gave the orders for the ultimately disastrous first British Expedition against Baghdad during the First World War. Ear ...
saw value in tying down the Ottoman forces in a siege. Nixon had ordered transports from London, but none had arrived. The War Office was in the process of reorganizing military command; previously the orders had come from the Viceroy and India Office. However, when Townshend—inaccurately—reported that only one month of food remained, a rescue force was hastily raised. It is not clear why Townshend reported he only had enough food for one month when he actually had food for more than four months (although at a reduced level), but Townshend would not attempt an infantry retreat unprotected through hostile tribal lands without river transport. Nixon had ordered this with reinforcements, commanded by his son, but by December they were still only in the Suez Canal. The confusing communications would prove a critical delay. Medical facilities in Kut were headed by Major General
Patrick Hehir Major-General Sir Patrick Hehir (17 May 1859 – 1 May 1937) was a British military surgeon. He served in the Indian Medical Service (IMS) and as the Principal Medical Officer to the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. During the 148 day Siege of ...
.


Relief expeditions

The first relief expedition comprised some 19,000 men under Lieutenant-General Aylmer and it headed up the river from Ali Gharbi in January 1916.


Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad

The first attempt to relieve Kut (the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad) came on 6 January by troops under the command of
Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
George Younghusband Major General Sir George John Younghusband, (9 July 1859 – 30 September 1944) was a cavalry officer and major-general in the British Indian Army. Younghusband was commissioned into the 17th Foot in 1878. He later transferred to the British I ...
.Uyar, Mesut (30 December 2020). p.246 Troops under Lieut. Gen. Aylmer's command joined the British forces with two brigades the next day following which Aylmer took over the command. Part of the cause of delay was the debate in Cabinet over whether one division would be an adequate force, or whether two divisions should be sent. Deliberations were painfully slow. The ageing General Maurice insisted on being informed at every turn as the evidence came into the Committee of Imperial Defence; which was further complicated by a restructuring involving the setup of a new sub-committee system and transfer of military responsibilities. At least three urgent memoranda were sent from General Nixon demanding transports to evacuate Townshend's division. By Christmas his health had broken down, and he requested a return to Bombay. Nixon's replacements with additional staff as a mandatory requirement moved forward from
Ali Al Gharbi ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
towards Sheikh Sa'ad along both banks of the Tigris. Younghusband's column made contact with the Ottomans on the morning of 6 January east of Sheikh Sa'ad. British efforts to defeat the Ottomans were unsuccessful. The following day, on 7 January, Aylmer arrived with the main body of his forces and ordered a general attack. Younghusband led the attack on the left bank and Major-General Kemball took the right. After heavy fighting all day, Kemball's troops had overrun Ottoman trenches on the right bank, taking prisoners and capturing two guns. However, the Ottoman left bank held firm and they carried out supporting manoeuvres from the north. After little change on 8 January, renewed British attacks on 9 January resulted in the Ottomans retiring from Sheikh Sa'ad. Over the following two days the Ottomans were followed by Aylmer's force but heavy rains made the roads virtually impassable.


Battle of Wadi

The Ottomans retreated for about from Sheikh Sa'ad to a tributary of the Tigris on the left bank known by the Arabic toponym simply as the Wadi (meaning "the river valley"). The Ottomans made their camp beyond the Wadi and on the other side of the Tigris opposite the Wadi. On 13 January, Aylmer attacked the Ottoman Wadi position on the left bank with all of his forces. After putting up a stiff resistance the Ottomans retreated to the west and they were followed by Aylmer's troops.


Battle of Hanna

The Ottomans then made their camp upstream of the Wadi at the
Hanna defile The Hanna Defile (Umm El-Hanna defile) is a narrow strip of dry land between the River Tigris and the Suwaikiya Marshes. Notes Geography of Iraq {{iraq-stub ...
, a narrow strip of dry land between the Tigris and the Suwaikiya Marshes. British losses at the
Battle of Hanna The First Battle of Hanna ( Turkish: ''Felahiye Muharebesi'') was a World War I battle fought on the Mesopotamian front on 21 January 1916 between Ottoman Army and Anglo-Indian forces. Prelude After the Ottoman Empire's entry into the First World ...
amounted to 2,700 killed and wounded, which was disastrous for the garrison in Kut.


Later efforts

At this point, Khalil Pasha (the Ottoman commander of the whole region) came to the battle, bringing with him a further 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements. Following the defeat of Aylmer's expedition, General Nixon was replaced as supreme commander by
Percy Lake Lieutenant-General Sir Percy Henry Noel Lake, (29 June 1855 – 17 November 1940) served as a senior commander in the British and Indian Armies, and in the Canadian Militia. He served during World War I. Career Lake was the son of Lt.-Colon ...
on 19 January. More forces were sent to bolster Aylmer's troops. He tried again, attacking the Dujaila redoubt on 8 March. This attack failed, at a cost of 4,000 men. General Aylmer was dismissed and replaced with General George Gorringe on 12 March. In April, starvation within the British garrison at Kut forced Indian troops to abandon the vegetarian diet of their religion and eat horse meat. The relief attempt by Gorringe is usually termed the first battle of Kut. The British Empire's forces numbered about 30,000 soldiers, roughly equal to the Ottomans. The battle began on 5 April and the British soon captured Fallahiya but with heavy losses, Bait Isa was taken on 17 April. The final effort was against Sannaiyat on 22 April. The Allies were unable to take Sannaiyat and suffered some 1,200 casualties in the process. In April 1916 No. 30 Squadron of the
Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...
carried out the first air supply operation in history. Food and ammunition were dropped to the defenders of Kut, but "as often as not their parcels go into the Tigris or into the Turkish trenches!"Spooner, Reverend H. ''Private Papers; Imperial War Museum Documents 7308. Entry for 16 April 1916'' (quoted by
Rogan Rogan is an Irish surname, deriving from the Irish ''Ó Ruadhagáin'', which can be loosely translated to mean "red-haired." History The clan is descended from one of the septs of Oriel which originated in Counties Armagh and Monaghan and parts ...
2016 p. 263)
and the food rations provided between the 11 and 29 April were only enough for three days. All the relief efforts had failed, at a cost of around 30,000 Allied killed or wounded. Ottoman casualties are believed to have been around 10,000. The Ottomans also lost the aid of Baron von der Goltz. He died in April 1916, supposedly of
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
about a week before the British surrendered on 29 April. After Goltz's death, no German commander took his place in Mesopotamia for the rest of the war.


Surrender of the British army

British leaders attempted to buy their troops out.
Aubrey Herbert Colonel The Honourable Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert (3 April 1880 – 26 September 1923), of Pixton Park in Somerset and of Teversal, in Nottinghamshire, was a British soldier, diplomat, traveller, and intelligence officer associated ...
and
T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
were part of a team of officers sent to negotiate a secret deal with the Ottomans. The British offered £2 million (equivalent to £ million in ) and promised they would not fight the Ottomans again, in exchange for Townshend's troops.
Enver Pasha İsmail Enver, better known as Enver Pasha ( ota, اسماعیل انور پاشا; tr, İsmail Enver Paşa; 22 November 1881 – 4 August 1922) was an Ottoman military officer, revolutionary, and convicted war criminal who formed one-third ...
at first pretended to negotiate in good faith, then publicized and rejected the offer as a final humiliation to the British. The British also asked for help from the Russians.
General Baratov Nikolai Nikolaevich Baratov (russian: Николай Николаевич Баратов) (February 1, 1865 – March 22, 1932) was an Imperial Russian Army general during World War I and the Russian Civil War. Early career Baratov was born ...
, with his largely Cossack force of 20,000, was in Persia at the time. Following the request he advanced towards Baghdad in April 1916, but he turned back when news reached him of the surrender. General Townshend arranged a ceasefire on the 26th and, after failed negotiations, he simply surrendered on 29 April 1916 after a siege of 147 days. Around 13,000 Allied soldiers survived to be made prisoners. Historian
İlber Ortaylı İlber Ortaylı (born 21 May 1947) is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the director ...
states that "Halil Pasha acted like a gentleman to the surrendering British officers" and offered "to take the
POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
s up towards the north in river boats in case fuel could be provided from British bases nearby." The offer was rejected by the British. However, historian
Marc Ferro Marc Ferro (24 December 1924 – 21 April 2021) was a French historian. Life and career Ferro worked on early twentieth-century European history, specialising in the history of Russia and the USSR, as well as the history of cinema. His Ukrai ...
suggested a different image. According to Ferro, the surrendered British and Indian forces were forced to march around the city of Baghdad while being maltreated by the Ottoman troops supervising their march. After the surrender, the Ottomans agreed to an exchange of sick and wounded soldiers for an equal number of POWs of the Ottoman Empire that were held by the British. Around 1,500 incapacitated prisoners were exchanged. The Anglo-Indian sick and wounded were taken to hospitals by ships and barges of the Tigris River. Townshend himself was taken to the island of
Heybeliada Heybeliada, or Heybeli Ada, is the second largest of the Prince' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbull, Turkey. It is officially a neighbourhood of the Adalar district of Istanbul. Its name, meaning 'with a saddlebag' in Turkish, in ...
on the
Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the B ...
, to sit out the war in relative luxury. The author Norman Dixon, in his book ''
On the Psychology of Military Incompetence ''On The Psychology of Military Incompetence'' is a work by Norman F. Dixon, first published in 1976, which applies insights from psychology to military history. After case studies of military and naval disasters from the preceding 120 years, mo ...
'', described Townshend as being "amused" by the plight of the men he had deserted, as if he had pulled off some clever trick. Dixon says Townshend was unable to understand why his friends and comrades were ultimately censorious over his behaviour. In British Army
battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military ...
s, the siege of Kut is named as "Defence of Kut Al Amara".


Aftermath

Jan Morris (Catharine) Jan MorrisJan Morris, Paul Clements, University of Wales Press, 2008, p. 7 (born James Humphry Morris; 2 October 192620 November 2020) was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She was known particularly for the '' Pax Brit ...
, a British historian, described the loss of Kut as "the most abject capitulation in Britain's military history." After this humiliating loss, General Lake and General Gorringe were removed from command. The new commander was General Maude, who trained and organized his army and then launched a successful campaign. Ten months after the Siege of Kut, the British Indian Army conquered the whole region from Kut to Baghdad as part of the Fall of Baghdad on 11 March 1917. With Baghdad captured, the British administration undertook vital reconstruction of the war-torn country and Kut was slowly rebuilt. Some of the Indian prisoners of war from Kut later came to join the Ottoman Indian Volunteer Corps under the influence of
Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...
s of the Silk Letter Movement and with the encouragement of the German High Command. These soldiers, along with those recruited from the prisoners from the European battlefields, fought alongside Ottoman forces on a number of fronts. The Indians were led by Amba Prasad Sufi, who during the war was joined by Kedar Nath Sondhi, Rishikesh Letha, and Amin Chaudhry. These Indian troops were involved in the capture of the frontier city of Karman and the detention of the British consul there, and they also successfully harassed Sir
Percy Sykes Brigadier-General Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes, (28 February 1867 – 11 June 1945) was a British soldier, diplomat, and scholar with a considerable literary output. He wrote historical, geographical, and biographical works, as well as describing ...
' Persian campaign against the Baluchi and Persian tribal chiefs who were aided by the Germans.


See also

*
Second Battle of Kut The Second Battle of Kut was fought on 23 February 1917, between British and Ottoman forces at Kut, Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). The battle was part of the British advance to Baghdad begun in December 1916 by a 50,000-man British force (mai ...
, which took place on 23 February 1917.


References


Sources

* - Total pages: 679 * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


The siege of Kut-al-Amara, to 29 April 1915
– from the website The Long, Long Trail, downloaded January 2006.
A Kut Prisoner by H. C. W. Bishop
– e-book and HTML version with maps and graphics from Project Gutenberg. {{DEFAULTSORT:Siege Of Kut
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
1915 in Ottoman Iraq 1916 in Ottoman Iraq
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut 1
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...
Kut December 1915 events January 1916 events February 1916 events March 1916 events April 1916 events