ADVANCE TOWARD BAGDAD—BATTLE OF KUT-EL-AMARA

The advance toward Bagdad was begun in the middle of September, 1915, but owing to the constantly changing conditions in the bed of the Tigris, which hindered the progress of vessels, and the necessity for constant reconnaissances of the river region, it was not until the last of the month that the British force, consisting of only four brigades, reached the vicinity of Kut-el-Amara.

Nuredin Pasha's troops occupied a strong position near the Kut, with carefully constructed intrenchments protected by large areas of barbed-wire entanglements and supported by considerable heavy artillery. The British camp was about ten miles away from the Turkish position. They were weaker in men and in guns than the enemy. The heat was overpowering. The British lost some men on the way to this camp and others continued to drop out from heat exhaustion.

On September 23, 1915, two British brigades advanced to within sight of the Turkish tents, while their principal camp was pitched on the south bank of the Tigris. The British steamers took up a position between the two armies in readiness to shatter a surprise attack. It was discovered when the two brigades made a demonstration against the enemy on September 25, 1915, that the Turks had thoroughly mined all the southern bank of the river, which caused the British commander to alter his plans of attack.

On the night of September 27, 1915, the two brigades, leaving their tents standing to deceive the Turks, crossed the Tigris by a flying bridge. It is said that this dummy camp which a Turkish division was facing was the direct cause that enabled the British to win a victory. If the Turks had concentrated all their forces on the north bank of the river the British attack would undoubtedly have failed. It was the absence of the division facing the empty tents from the real battle field that caused them to lose the day.

In order to understand the magnitude of the British victory it is necessary to describe the seemingly impregnable character of the Turkish defenses. There were twelve miles of defenses across the river at right angles to its general direction at this point—six miles to the right and six miles to the left. The works on the right bank had been strengthened by the existence of an old water cut. The banks at this point were from ten to twenty feet high and afforded excellent facilities for viewing the deployment of troops advancing to attack. A strong redoubt on the extreme right opposed any flank movement that might be attempted in that direction. On the left bank the line of defenses was separated by a heavy marsh about two miles wide, so that from the left bank of the river there were, first, two miles of trenches, then two miles of marsh, and then two miles of defenses. It was evident that much labor had been expended in preparing these defenses, showing the skilled hand of German engineers. Each section of the successive lines of trenches was connected by an intricate network of communication trenches. Along these complete lines of water pipes had been laid.

It was known that the Turkish army holding this strong position had been largely reenforced by the arrival of fresh troops from Nasiriyeh, and the Turkish commander in chief, Nuredin Pasha, may well have believed that victory would crown his arms that day and that the British expeditionary force would be annihilated. There was no lack of confidence in the British camp either, though it was known that the Turks were vastly superior in numbers to their own army. For, despite some hard lessons learned from the enemy, the British soldier considers himself a superior fighter to the Turk, and is always eager for an opportunity to prove it.

If the Turks had made their position almost impregnable on land, they had neglected nothing to prevent the British from gaining any advantage on the Tigris. The river was blocked at different points by lines of sunken dhows, while across the water, and a little above it, was stretched a great wire cable. Special care had been taken to protect the Turkish guns from being destroyed. Each one of them was placed in such position that nothing less than a direct hit by a howitzer shell could damage it.

On September 26, 27, and 28, 1915, a column under General Fry, by ceaseless effort day and night, had managed to work its way up to within four hundred yards of the Turkish barbed-wire entanglements, round what was known from its shape as the Horseshoe Marsh. The troops went forward slowly under continual shell fire and hail of rifle bullets, digging themselves in as they advanced. The British guns in the open could not check the Turkish artillery, which increased in intensity as the British troops continued to advance. The nature of the ground was decidedly to the advantage of the attackers, for at intervals there were deep, firm-bottomed trenches that afforded excellent cover. If the Turks had been provided with good ammunition the British would have lost vastly more men than they did. It is said that the Turkish shrapnel was of such poor quality that the British troops passed unscathed through it, only being wounded when they were hit by cases and fuses. All told, the British suffered ninety casualties in this attack on the enemy round the Horseshoe Marsh. The main object of this operation was to hold the Turkish attention at a point where they hoped to be attacked while more important work was going forward elsewhere.

A second column under General Delamain, which had crossed the Tigris from the south side, marched all night of September 27, 1915, and reached their new attacking position on a neck of dry land between two marshes where the Turks were intrenched at five o'clock in the morning of September 28, 1915. Advancing cautiously for a mile between the two marshes, Delamain's column came in sight of the enemy's intrenchments. Before the fight opened General Townshend directed General Houghton to lead a detachment of Delamain's force around the marsh to the north and make a flank attack on the Turkish intrenchments. That Nuredin Pasha should have left his northern flank exposed to a turning movement appeared to some of the British officers at the time as a piece of incredible stupidity; but it developed afterward that the Turkish commander knew perfectly well what he was about. The open road around the marsh was a skillfully prepared trap. A carefully concealed Turkish brigade that had escaped the observations of the British airmen lay behind the ridges near the most northern marsh. But the Turkish surprise did not come off as they expected, for General Houghton's column moved forward so swiftly through the dark around the marsh that, at 8.20 a. m., he was ready to send a wireless message to his superior officer announcing that he had reached the left rear of the Turkish lines. Everything now being ready for a general attack, General Townshend proceeded to give battle. Since sunrise on September 27, 1915, the fleet on the river, consisting of armed steamers, tugboats, launches, etc., had been firing on the main Turkish position. Attempts made by H. M. S. Comet, leading a flotilla to get in near to the shore at the bend of the river and bombard the Turks at close range, were a failure. For the enemy quickly noted this movement and dropped shells so fast on the British vessels that they were compelled to retire. Some boats had been struck by Turkish shells, but the damages were not serious. Later some armed launches were able to creep near to the Turkish field batteries, and about noon their guns were silenced and the gunners killed or dispersed. The British shore batteries did some effective work, but the Turks succeeded in getting in one shot that killed two gunners and wounded a number of others. It was the only shot, and the last, that caused any British loss of life.

During most of the long hot day General Fry's brigade occupied a position in front of the Horseshoe Marsh, subjected to a constant shower of shells from quick-firing guns. It was evident that the enemy artillery was manned by Germans, for the firing showed speed and accuracy. It was an advantage to the British that the enemy had no airmen to scout and spot for them, and consequently there were few casualties as the result of the almost continuous deluge of shells poured forth by the Turkish guns. Early in the morning the Turks discovered that the British camp was a dummy, and a division crossing the Tigris by means of a flying bridge dashed into the fight. A counterattack was made against General Delamain by the greater part of this fresh division.

The British column which was operating between what were known as the Suwada Marsh and Circular Marsh started its assault between eight and nine o'clock in the morning. The British had concentrated all their available artillery between the marshes, and under the protection of the guns and the supporting fire of Maxims and musketry a double company of the 117th Mahrattas made a headlong charge on the Turkish trenches. The daring Indians suffered great losses, not more than half the number who had set out reaching the Turkish trenches, into which they dashed intrepidly and bayoneted their way along them, causing heavy losses to the enemy. A double company of Second Dorsets was now sent against the Turkish trenches, and after meeting with desperate resistance they succeeded in entering the enemy's deeply dug line. The rest of the battalion followed a little later, joining their comrades in the captured position.

General Houghton's leading troops now came into action around the rear of the Circular Marsh. The Turks' northern flank had been stormed, but they still held desperately to their southern flank, from which they poured a devastating stream of shells against the British troops that caused many casualties.

General Houghton's troops had had little rest since the previous day, but they were cheered by the prospect of success, and with the Oxfords leading they entered the fight, and after four hours of continuous struggle surrounded and destroyed or captured the enemy force. The Turkish troops, concealed in deep ditches protected from the scorching rays of the sun by grass matting, fought on with dogged determination and were with difficulty dislodged. The British troops exposed to the pitiless heat, and exhausted from lack of sleep and from having had no water since the previous day, suffered terribly and could not possibly have held out much longer if the Turkish resistance had not collapsed.

General Delamain, commanding the victorious columns, had made a night march from the dummy camp on the Tigris, and his soldiers and horses also suffered from thirst, having been forced into action before it was possible to renew the water supply.

In the afternoon of the same day, September 28, 1915, General Houghton's exhausted troops were furiously attacked by the Turkish division that had crossed the Tigris at nine o'clock in the morning, while a force of Turkish cavalry at the same time attempted an outflanking charge.

The British troops beat off the Turkish horsemen and infantry and endeavored to reach the river, which was over a mile to the rear of the Turkish intrenched forces at Horseshoe Marsh. Exhausted with weariness, consumed by a feverish thirst, the gallant troops were swept by showers of shrapnel from heavy Turkish batteries stationed near the Kut just when they were nearing the longed-for river that promised relief for their sufferings. It was impossible for them to continue in that unprotected position, and reluctantly the troops turned back from the inviting waterway and struggled back to the Suwada Marsh, where General Delamain's force was concentrated. The filthy marsh water was undrinkable, but it could be used to cool the superheated jackets of the guns and thus keep them in a condition for action. After nearly fourteen hours of continuous fighting and marching the troops at last had an opportunity to take a short and much-needed rest.

At 5 p. m. a wireless message was received from General Townshend ordering a combined attack on the Turkish lines around Horseshoe Marsh. General Delamain's column was ordered to move forward to the rear of the enemy's position, while General Fry's column, which had been moving toward the Turkish center, was directed to hold back until Delamain had reached the appointed place.

Behind Nuredin Pasha's main position the two brigades under General Delamain and General Houghton, skirting the Suwada Marsh, struggled once more to gain the river. Suddenly, out of the dust clouds that obscured the view for any distance, appeared a Turkish column about a mile to the west marching almost parallel with the British force, but a little behind it. It is related by one who was present that this sudden appearance of the enemy so close at hand, and marching in the open, had such a stimulating and heartening effect on the exhausted and thirst-stricken British troops that they forgot for a time all about the river toward which they were eagerly pressing, and, dashing forward, charged the Turks with the bayonet and routed them before they had time to recover from their surprise or could fire more than a few wild shots. The British captured all the enemy guns and pursued the enemy fleeing toward the river, shooting them down as they scattered, and only ceasing their destructive work when darkness fell and the few living Turks had escaped over their bridge of boats on the river.

The combat here had not lasted more than an hour, and the British brigades, now that the excitement was over, were too exhausted to proceed any farther and bivouacked on the ground near the scene of their victory.

It was hopeless now to attempt to continue the encircling movement, which was started at five o'clock, owing to the darkness and the condition of the men. Some time during the night Nuredin Pasha, having evacuated his fortified position, moved his troops across the Tigris to the southern bank and, by forced marches, reached Shat-el-Hai. From there he proceeded to Azizie, where, for the defense of Bagdad, extensive fortifications had been constructed. It was evident from the rapidity of his movements that the Turkish commander was afraid of being overtaken by the British forces, for in two days he had marched his men sixty-five miles toward Bagdad.

The Turkish forces made good their retreat, and so General Townshend, who had accomplished some remarkable successes at the beginning of the battle, was deprived of a decisive victory. He had evidently planned the battle on the impulse of the moment and when it was impossible to secure an adequate water supply. His men fought with courage and determination, but tormented by thirst and worn out from loss of sleep it was physically impossible for them to accomplish more than they did. It was a bitter blow to General Townshend that the Turks had been able to retreat in good order. The importance of such a victory could not be overestimated. It meant the conquering of entire Mesopotamia as far as Bagdad, and the moral effect of such a success on the Arabs and tribesmen would have greatly raised British prestige in that region.

An attempt was made to give chase to the fleeing Turks on the river during the night, when Lieutenant Commander Cookson, the senior naval officer, with his ship, the destroyer Comet, and several other smaller vessels set out after them. The Turks fired on the boats from the shore, and the Comet, which had steamed in close to the bank, was assailed with hand grenades by the enemy. A strong, thick wire had been stretched across the river, attached to sunken dhows, and it became necessary to remove these obstructions before an advance could be made. A vivid description of the heroic death of Lieutenant Commander Edgar Christopher Cookson, D. S. O., R. N., who won the Victoria Cross for his bravery at this time, is given in a letter home by one of his crew of the destroyer Comet: "Just as it was getting dark our seaplane dropped on the water alongside of us and told Lieutenant Commander Cookson that the Turks were on the run, but that a little farther up the river they had placed obstructions across, so that we could not pass without clearing it away. This turned out to be the liveliest time that I have had since we began fighting. It was very dark when we started off, the Comet leading, and the Shaitan and Sumana following. When we got around the head of land the Turks opened fire with rifles, but we steamed up steadily to the obstruction. The Turks were then close enough to us to throw hand bombs, but luckily none reached the deck of our ship.

"During all this time we weren't asleep. We fired at them with guns and rifles, and the Shaitan and Sumana were also blazing away. Our troops ashore said it was a lively sight to see all our guns working.

"We found that the obstruction was a big wire across the river, with boats made fast to it. An attempt to sink the center dhow of the obstruction by gunfire having failed, Lieutenant Commander Cookson ordered the Comet to be placed alongside and himself jumped on to the dhow with an ax and tried to cut the wire hawsers connecting it with two other craft forming the obstruction. He was shot in seven places and when we dragged him over his last words were: 'I am done; it is a failure. Return at full speed!' He never spoke afterward. We had six wounded, but none seriously."

The adventure which had cost the British the loss of a brave officer was not a failure, as this writer concludes: "We must have frightened the Turks, because on going up the river again about daybreak (after we had buried our commander) we found the Turks had cleared out and retired farther up the river. So we steamed up after them and when we reached Kut-el-Amara we found the army there." The friendly but keen rivalry that existed between the two services is amusingly shown in the sea-man's final comment, "This is the first place that the army has got ahead of the navy."

A little later the gunboats were ordered to pursue the fleeing Turks. The Shaitan and the Sumana grounded on uncharted mud banks and were unable to proceed, but the Comet continued on its way and forced the Turks to leave several dhows behind them laden with military stores, provisions, and ammunition.

Kut-el-Amara, the Arab town which General Townshend was to make famous in history, was occupied by the British troops on September 11, 1915. It is situated on a bend of the Tigris and is 120 miles from Bagdad by road, and 220 miles by water. The retreating Turkish army made a stand a little to the west of Azizi, which is forty miles to Bagdad by road and about four times that distance by water. The object of the Turks in taking up a position at this place, it was discovered later, was to enable their engineers to prepare near Bagdad the most elaborate and scientifically arranged system of fortifications that had so far been constructed in Mesopotamia.

When the British Expeditionary Force began to threaten the "City of the Caliphs," it was evident that the Turks had found it possible to extend the Bagdad railway line, by means of which Nuredin Pasha received fresh troops to reenforce his army, brought hurriedly down out of Syria. For when the British force reached Azizi on October 13, 1915, it was known that the Turkish commander had recently received some thousands of fresh troops. Their presence in that part of Mesopotamia, at that time, could only be explained on the ground that with the aid of German engineers the Turks had been enabled to complete railway communications, an important fact that seems to have been unsuspected by the British military authorities, and which might lead to serious consequences for the already outnumbered British force. Until the beginning of November General Townshend's division remained here, part of the Turkish force being intrenched about four miles up the river. While it was expected that at any hour the Turks would attack, they did not attempt the offensive with any strong force, but skirmishes between the opposing troops were of frequent and almost daily occurrence. The British infantry were busy many days digging intrenchments, and every preparation was made by the British general to make his position impregnable. With shore batteries and a number of armed steamers and armored boats on the river, it was hoped that the Turks would make a grand attack. Why they did not when they had four times the number of men as the British was inexplainable. Some such move was necessary if they hoped to restore the confidence of their Arab allies, which was said to be wavering. The recent British victory had, perhaps, made the Turkish commander doubtful of his troops, for no serious offensive against the British position was attempted.

About the middle of October, 1915, General Townshend received some reenforcements who had fought their way along the river, constantly harassed by Bedouins and hostile tribesmen, reaching the British position in a thoroughly exhausted condition. Even with the arrival of the reenforcements General Townshend's force numbered little more than a complete division, and a small reserve. During the stay at Azizi it was rumored that a large contingent of troops was on its way from India to strengthen the force at this place.

As time passed and nothing more was heard of these promised reenforcements the small British army settled down with grim determination to make the best of their situation, but there was a general feeling among them that the Government had not acted fairly by them in not sending help. It was evident that the Indian and British Governments were imperfectly informed as to the strength of the enemy's forces and of the means whereby they could fill up the ranks when depleted by battle. This is the only explanation or excuse that could be made. At no time did General Townshend's force number more than four brigades, which, under the circumstances, was wholly inadequate to accomplish the conquest of Bagdad.

General Townshend being thrown on his own resources proceeded to act with extreme caution, for the whole fate of the British Expeditionary Force hung in the balance. It was not a time to take venturesome risks, for he could not spare a man. The Turks, fortunately, showed no disposition to attack in force, but they resorted to methods of guerrilla warfare.

The Turks had only left one brigade to hold their advanced position, the remainder joining the forces established in the new fortifications near Bagdad.

The rear guard remaining near Azizi did not allow the British to forget their presence. They were well equipped with guns and at frequent intervals sent shells into the British camp without, however, doing much damage. Along the river they were strong enough to hold back the British gunboats. For a time General Townshend pursued the policy of watchful waiting, but one dark night toward the close of October, 1915, the opportunity arrived for an operation which promised success. Two brigades were sent out to make a long detour, with the object of getting behind the Turkish position. This, it was expected, would take most of the night. At sunrise it was proposed that another brigade should make a frontal attack on the enemy. The Turks, however, were not to be caught napping. Their outposts, far flung into the desert, soon gave warning of the attempted British enveloping movement, and they were in full retreat with most of their stores and guns before the British force could reach their main position. The Turkish retreat in the face of superior numbers was the logical thing to do under the circumstances, and from the manner in which the movement was conducted it was evident that it had been prepared for in advance. The brigades of British and Indian troops that had been sent forward to make a frontal attack on the Turkish position now embarked on the miscellaneous flotilla of boats on the river to pursue the retreating foe. The attempt was not successful, for, owing to the condition of the river which abounded in mud banks not down on the chart, the British boats were constantly sticking fast in the mud or grounding on shoals. Such slow progress was made that the pursuit, if such it could be called, was abandoned.

British seaplanes and aeroplanes meanwhile had been scouting around Bagdad and keeping a watchful eye on the Turkish lines of communication that extended up the river toward the Caucasus heights, and across the desert in the direction of Syria. The difficult task set before the small British force was to break its way through to Bagdad, where it was hoped it would be joined by the advanced columns of the Russian army in the Caucasus. Early in November, 1915, General Townshend knew that a Russian advanced column was rapidly forcing its way down the border of Persia by Lake Urumiah. In a more southerly direction a second column was on the march to the city of Hamadan, 250 miles from Bagdad. It was hoped that the small British force would smash the Turks at Bagdad and the Germano-Persian Gendarmes Corps be vanquished at Hamadan, after which it would be no difficult task for the troops of Sir John Nixon to link up with the army of the Grand Duke Nicholas. These far too sanguine hopes were not destined to be fulfilled.[Back to Contents]