

Mesopotamia Campaign

locations and routes See our interactive map ofMesopotamia Campaignlocations and routes on Google Maps

Mesopotamia 1917 Assistant Surgeon G E Ferguson, IMD

This event is part of the First World War

Synopsis

The Mesopotamia Campaign was fought from November 1914 to November 1918 between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.

However the country actually remained a theatre of warfare until a peace treaty was ratified in 1924. Large numbers of troops from India were sent to deal with a revolt in 1920[1]

Related articles

For further details of events during this period see the following articles



Biographies

Details of some of the protagonists in the campaign

Also see

British Library holdings

British Library Catalogue Link: Explore Archives and Manuscripts and British Library Main Catalogue

An account of the operations of the 18th (Indian) Division in Mesopotamia, December 1917 to December 1918, with the names of all the units which served with the division and a nominal roll of all the officers by Walter Edward Wilson-Johnston 1919. UIN: BLL01012503831

by Walter Edward Wilson-Johnston 1919. UIN: BLL01012503831 Iraq Administration Reports 1914–1932 in ten volumes (5, 500 pages): Contents: 1. 1914-1918 -- 2. 1918 -- 3-4. 1919 -- 5-6. 1920 -- 7. 1920-1924 -- 8. 1925-1927 -- 9. 1928-1930 -- 10. 1931-1932, with contents outline.[2] UIN: BLL01006696261

Regimental and Corps Histories

History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery : the Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914-18 by Sir Martin Farndale 1988. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01008145796

Volunteer Regiments

See Volunteer Artillery Battery . Detachments of the Battery were captured at Kut. The majority of the men were from Burma. E H Jones, (refer External links, and Historical books online, below), previously a member of the Indian Civil Service in Burma, was a gunner and subsequently an officer in this Battery.

See The Anglo Indian Force

FIBIS resources

"Trumpeter Inwood, an Anglo-Indian hero of the Kut Garrison" by Rosemary Reardon FIBIS Journal Number 32 (Autumn 2014) pages 18-29. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.

Wounded and sick soldiers

Wounded and other ill soldiers from Mesopotamia were sent to India for treatment and convalescence. Some of these sadly became part of the group of soldiers who died in India.[3]

Persia and Transcaucasia

Troops under the control of the Army in Mesopotamia took part in actions in Persia, and later Transcaucasia. See Norperforce.

"Learning The Hard Way: The Indian Army In Mesopotamia, 1914-1918" by Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, BCMH Summer Conference 2012 – Indian Armies (The British Commission for Military History bcmh.org.uk, now an archived webpage.)

Most of the diary entries are for 1921. It is difficult for some/all browsers to navigate this website, see hints below if you want to read additional entries.[4]

Maps

Historical books online

History Of The Great War: The Campaign In Mesopotamia 1914-1918 Volumes I-IV by F J Moberly. 1923-1927.

The titles are Volume I: To October 1915 : Outbreak of Hostilities, Campaign in Lower Mesopotamia, published 1923; Volume II: To April 1916: The Attempt on Baghdad, the Battle of Ctesiphon, the Siege and the Fall of Kut-al-Amara, published 1924; Volume III: To April 1917: The Capture and Consolidation of Baghdad, published 1926; Volume IV: The Campaign in Upper Mesopotamia to the Armistice, published 1927.

Hathi Trust Digital Library editions. Note: Missing all/most Maps. Maps are available in the Qatar Digital Library versions (best for expansion of maps) or Archive.org versions.

Critical Study of the Campaign in Mesopotamia up to April 1917: Part I – Report Compiled by officers of the Staff College Quetta 1925. IOR/L/MIL/17/15/72/1 Qatar Digital Library

Part II- Maps. IOR/L/MIL/17/15/72/2. Refer Maps above.

"Casualties in the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, November 1914 to December 1918" page 218 History of the Great War Based on Official Documents: Medical Services: Casualties and Medical Statistics of the Great War by Major T. J. Mitchell and Miss G. M. Smith. 1931 Hathi Trust Digital Library "The Control of Flies and Vermin in Mesopotamia" page 23 The Review of Applied Entomology Volume V 1917 Archive.org. "Heat-Stroke" Chapter IV page 51 In Mesopotamia by Martin Swayne (real name Maurice Nicoll) 3rd edition 1918 Archive.org. Heatstroke was also known as sunstroke, and occasionally as insolation or siriasis.

With the M. T. in Mesopotamia by Brevet Lt.-Col F W Leland RASC 1920 Hathi Trust Digital Library. (M.T.= Mechanical Transport, part of the Royal Army Service Corps)

From the Gulf to the Caspian : being the souvenir booklet of the 33rd. Motor Ambulance Convoy which served in Mesopotamia and North Persia, 1916 to 1919 written by various members of the unit who remain anonymous. [1920?] State Library of Victoria. This Unit consisted of Army Service Corps personnel, together with Royal Army Medical Corps personnel. The Royal Army Service Corps: A History of Transport and Supply in the British Army, Volume II by Colonel R H Beadon 1931. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Includes the First World War period, with a chapter on Mesopotamia.

A History of the Army Ordnance Services, Volume III: The Great War by Major General Arthur Forbes 2nd edition 1932, first published 1929. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Includes a chapter on Mesopotamia.

by Major General Arthur Forbes 2nd edition 1932, first published 1929. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Includes a chapter on Mesopotamia. History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Volume VII: Campaigns in Mesopotamia and East Africa, and the inter-war period, 1918-38 edited by H.L. Pritchard, published 1952. nzsappers.org.nz

Townshend of Chitral and Kut: Based on the diaries and private papers of Sir Charles Vere Townshend by Erroll Sherson 1928. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.

Loyalties: Mesopotamia; a personal and historical record, Volume II 1917-1920 by Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson 1931. HathiTrust Digital Library. Possibly not accessible in USA etc. Also available as a download from Kurdipedia.org 1936 edition. Also published under the title Mesopotamia, 1917-1920; a Clash of Loyalties.

Page 99 T. E. Lawrence: In Arabia and After by Liddell Hart 1934 Archive.org. T E Lawrence accompanied Aubrey Herbert, to negotiate regarding the besieged Kut garrison. Extracts from Lawrence’s description of these proceedings, in a letter dated 18 May [1916] from the website A Century Back: Writing the Great War, Day by Day. April 29, 2016. Scroll down. The letter was written to his family,[12] see more details.

Besieged in Kut, and after by Major Charles Harrison Barber I M S [Indian Medical Service] 1918 Archive.org

by Major Charles Harrison Barber I M S [Indian Medical Service] 1918 Archive.org In Kut and Captivity : with the Sixth Indian Division by Major E W G Sandes 1919 Archive.org

Tales of Turkey by Major E W C Sandes 1924. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.

A History of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) in the Great War 1914-1918 [in three Volumes] Edited by Major General A G Wauchope 1926. Volume One including 2nd Battalion in Mesopotamia page 203. Digital [email protected] University Library.

A revised second edition was published for Volume 3 1940, whose dustjacket cover states "Important revisions" including in respect of the Dardanelles and Mesopotamia.[15]. A facsimile reprint of the 2nd edition of Volume 3 was reprinted by Imperial War Museum/Battery Press in 1995 (available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011725482) and it is possible that the reprints available from Naval & Military Press, which are in turn available on the Ancestry owned pay website fold.3 contain the revised editions.

Arabian Adventures : Ten years of joyful service by John Glubb (Sir John Bagot Glubb) 1978. The period from 1920, when he was posted as a member of the Royal Engineers. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library. John Bagot Glubb Wikipedia.

Despatch from Major General Sir George F MacMunn, officiating Commander-In Chief, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, describing events since 1st January 1919, including North Persia, and Southern and Cental Kurdistan, for various operations between March and September 1919. The London Gazette 5 March 1920 Supplement: 31813 Page: 2877. The actual pages are dated 8 March 1920. Four Despatches from the Commander-In Chief, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force: Despatch No 1, dated 17th January 1920 from MacMunn, covering the period November 1919 to 17th January 1920. Despatches from Lieutenant-General Haldane, covering the periods: 18th January 1920 to 30th June 1920 in Mesopotamia and NW Persia. [Despatch No 2 dated 23rd August 1920. Page 5323]; 1st July 1820 to 19th October 1920 [Despatch No 3 dated 8th November 1920, page 5329] Despatch No 4, dated 8th February 1921 (page 5347) The London Gazette 1 July 1921 Issue: 32379 Page:5321.

The Letters of Gertrude Bell published 1927. Archive.org, Digital Library of India Collection.Volume I, Volume II. Mainly letters sent to her family. Volume II is in respect of her time in Baghdad 1917-1926. Gertrude Bell Archives Newcastle University, UK. Includes transcribed letters and diaries.

Two Years in Kurdistan : Experiences of a Political Officer, 1918-1920 by W R Hay, Captain, attached 24th Punjabis, Political Dept, Government of India. 1921 Archive.org

by W R Hay, Captain, attached 24th Punjabis, Political Dept, Government of India. 1921 Archive.org Alarms and Excursions in Arabia by Bertram Thomas 1931 Archive.org. Includes "Adventure 1: A Punative Expedition against Marsh Arabs" [1918] and "Adventure II: As a District Officer in the Mesopotamian Insurrection of 1920".

by Bertram Thomas 1931 Archive.org. Includes "Adventure 1: A Punative Expedition against Marsh Arabs" [1918] and "Adventure II: As a District Officer in the Mesopotamian Insurrection of 1920". Shifting Sands by Major N N E Bray (Norman Napier Evelyn) 1934 Archive.org. He was originally with the 18th Bengal Lancers.[18] Initially during WW1 Bray was working under Sir Mark Sykes, and for the Arab Bureau. C October 1917 he returned to France and his regiment. Subsequently he became the Hakim (Governor) of Kerbela, as a part of the British Administration of A. T Wilson in Mesopotamia.