MESOPOTAMIA AND ARABIA

The flames of war were sweeping across Mesopotamia and Arabia. In the last days of January, 1915, Lord Hardinge, Viceroy and Governor General of India, made a tour of the conquered territory around the Persian Gulf, and at Basra was received by the native community with an address of welcome, which expressed the hope of permanent British occupation.

Owing to the overflow of the Tigris and Euphrates in February and March, when the surrounding country is flooded, there was little fighting in those regions. But on March 3 the enemy appeared near Ahwaz, on the Karun River, where the British had a small garrison to protect the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's pipe line.

A contingent sent out from the town to discover the strength of the Turkish force, located them at Ghadir. The enemy was found to be about 12,000 strong, having been joined by a body of tribesmen from Arabia and Persia. As the British troops only numbered 1,000 men, there was imminent danger of them being cut off, and a hurried retreat was ordered. The Turks seemed determined that their enemy should not escape them, and used every effort to prevent a successful retreat. There was much hand-to-hand fighting before the British could struggle back to Ahwaz. As the Turks did not continue to attack it was to be supposed that they had lost heavily. The Anglo-Indian force had lost about 200. The colonel of the Seventh Rajputs was wounded, and four of their white officers were killed.

On this day, March 3, 1915, a body of British cavalry reconnoitering toward Nakaila, about twenty-five miles northwest of Basra, was attacked while on their way back to camp by some 1,500 mounted Turks. The British pretending to retire, maneuvered to lure them on to a position where they had concealed infantry with machine guns and artillery. The Turks, quite unsuspecting a ruse came on, were met by a withering fire from the guns that sent them shattered and broken flying back to Nakaila. In this little fight the British had four officers killed and several severely wounded.

Reenforcements had been sent from India in anticipation of the end of the flood season, and Ahwaz and Kurna were greatly strengthened. Lieutenant General Sir J. E. Nixon, K. C. B., accompanied the new troops, and on his arrival took command of the entire force of between 30,000 and 40,000 men.

The Turks, who had also been largely reenforced with soldiers probably from Bagdad, on April 11 attacked the three British positions at Kurna-Ahwaz and Shaiba, the last a fort protecting Basra. Kurna was bombarded for two days, with small result. A bridge across the Tigris was partly destroyed, but they inflicted no casualties. Guns from the shore and those in H.M.S. Odin did effective work in scattering such of the enemy as appeared in boats. At Ahwaz large bodies of hostile cavalry could be seen against the sky line surrounding the British positions, but they did not attack.

The main object of the Turks was evidently to capture Basra, their attempts on Kurna and Ahwaz being merely feints to keep the British occupied while they struck a real blow at Shaiba. On April 12, 1915, an action began that lasted three days—one of the most notable fights in the history of this campaign. The attacking force was estimated at between 18,000 and 22,000 men. Perhaps 11,000 were regular infantry and cavalry from Bagdad, and 12,000 irregular levies of Kurds and Arabs. The Turkish infantry after some irregular artillery fire, commanded by German officers, advanced in the early morning of the 12th toward the south-southwest, and west of the British lines. For three hours they were pressing forward, and then when the artillery fire fell off began to dig themselves in. An attack from the south was made in the afternoon, but was beaten off by the British before making much progress. The Turks were busy during the night of the 12th keeping up a spirited fire from rifles and machine guns, and by morning were found to have occupied some houses on a rising ground to the north of the British position. An Anglo-Indian force easily dislodged them from this place, and a counterattack made by the Turks from the west was repulsed with a loss to them of several hundred prisoners. The British also captured eighteen officers and two guns.

The British had repulsed all attacks, but the most difficult part of their task now lay before them, for the Turks were strongly intrenched near Basra some four miles from the British lines. On April 14, 1915, the Anglo-Indian force moved from camp toward Zobeir to the south, and driving off the Turks from their advanced position found themselves in front of their main lines. Some 15,000 Turkish soldiers and six big guns occupied well-concealed trenches in a tamarisk wood. The Anglo-Indian troops began their advance toward the enemy at 11.30 in the morning, and continued for five hours across a bare plain under a fierce sun and a pitiless heat. Not an enemy could be sighted, but a continuous fire, too accurate to be pleasant to the advancing host, came from the concealed trenches. At about 4.30 p. m. the 117th Mahrattas and Dorsets had led the way into the trenches, and, the whole line uniting in a great charge, the Turks were driven out at the point of the bayonet and dispersed. The Anglo-Indian troops however had purchased their victory dearly. There were some 700 casualties. Lieutenant Colonel H. L. Rosher of the Dorsets, Lieutenant Colonel T. A. Britten of the 110th Mahrattas, and Major J. C. M. Wheeler of the Seventh Lancers were among the seventeen British officers killed.

The routed Turks had fled toward Nakaila, and were vigorously pursued by the victors. They tried to escape by land and water. A dozen boat loads of fugitives were overhauled or sunk. The Turks lost about 2,500, of whom 700 were prisoners in British hands. Great quantities of stores, ammunition and guns were also captured. The region around Basra was now cleared of Turkish soldiers for a distance of fifty miles.

On April 17 the Anglo-Indian cavalry occupied Nakaila. The rout of the Turks was complete, and it was said that in their retreat they were attacked by their former allies the Arabs, who turned on them as soon as the tide of battle went against them.

During the greater part of the month of May the British were occupied in clearing the territory of the Turks that remained. At Kurna and Ahwaz and their neighborhood the enemy had gathered in sufficient numbers to give some trouble. A British contingent was dispatched to drive them out of the Ahwaz locality, but the Kharked River was in flood, and severe sand storms hindered progress, so that before the Turkish camp could be reached the enemy had vacated Persian soil and fallen back to Amara.

General Gorringe, who commanded the British troops, now set about punishing those tribes which had been assisting the enemy. Some surrendered and gave up a number of rifles and arms. Others were disposed to show resistance, but the British easily defeated them, cleared out their strongholds, and destroyed some of their property.

On May 31, 1915, the Turks had become threatening in the vicinity of Kurna, and a British expedition consisting of soldiers and sailors set out at 1.30 a. m. to attack them. By wading and in boats the British surprised the enemy's position, two miles from the town, and soon silenced his guns by superior artillery work. The heights were won by midday, and the Turks took to flight, leaving three guns and about 250 prisoners behind them. They retreated to Amara as the force from Ahwaz had done. Their flight was so precipitate, that tents were left standing, as they took to mahalas and steamers on the river to escape. The British naval flotilla carrying General Townshend and Sir Percy Cox, Chief British Resident of the Gulf, was in pursuit of the fleeing Turks. Their gunboat Marmaris was sunk, and the transport Masul captured. Two lighters containing field guns, mines, and military stores were also taken, and about 300 prisoners.

Amara, the important business town on the Tigris about sixty miles from Kurna to which the Turks had fled, surrendered to the British June 3, 1915, its garrison of 1,000 becoming prisoners of war. In the town and vicinity 80 officers and some 2,000 men were also captured, and large quantities of ammunition, 13 guns, 12 steel barges, and 4 river steamers.

The whole of the country between Amara and the sea was now in British hands, and the Turkish forces in Mesopotamia had been partly destroyed and so demoralized that it was unlikely that they would soon take the offensive again.

In the last weeks of July, 1915, they again became troublesome. On July 24 the British, under General Gorringe, advanced to attack Nasiriyeh. The town was shelled by gunboats, and after a prolonged struggle the enemy retired, and the British occupied the place on the following day. They had captured during the fight 1,000 prisoners and 13 guns, while the dead Turks numbered about 500. The British casualties were between 300 and 400. During this engagement the fiercest foe the British had to contend against was the excessive heat, which registered as high as 113, and caused great suffering and some deaths.

Along the Euphrates, between Sukh-es-Sheyukh and Nasiriyeh, operations now began that lasted for twenty days. The country around here is peculiarly difficult for military movements, presenting a network of marshes and canals. The Turks occupied intrenched positions at the entrance of Kut-el-Hai Channel on the main line of communication between the Tigris and Bagdad. A British force was dispatched from Kurna to attack these positions. The expedition was supported by extemporized gunboats, and took the waterway of the Euphrates and Hamar Lake. Their progress was fiercely opposed by the Turks, who hovered about their flanks. The river had overflowed it banks, and inundated the neighboring country so that marching was difficult. It was necessary to drag boats over the land in some places along the advance. But the British troops were successful when reaching their objective. One regiment outflanked the enemy's gun position on the right bank, and during the engagement the Turks lost 7 officers and 83 regular troops and Arabs. The British casualties were 109. There were 25 killed.[Back to Contents]