Mesopotamia Campaign

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Mesopotamia Campaign
6 November 1914-14 November 1918
Chronological list of Wars and Campaigns
Location: Mesopotamia
Combatants:
United Kingdom Ottoman Empire
Result:

Armistice of Mudros
Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Medals:
The 1914-15 Star
The British War Medal 1914-18
Links:
Category: Mesopotamia Campaign
See our interactive map of
Mesopotamia Campaign
locations and routes on Google Maps

This event is part of the First World War

Mesopotamia 1917 Assistant Surgeon G E Ferguson, IMD

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 . Sample pages from a reprint edition Google Books.
  • 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
  • The Railway Gazette Special War Transportation Number, originally published in September 1920, as part of The Railway Gazette and Railway News. Described at the time as ‘the first connected account’ of the role of railways and inland water transport in supporting the British military campaign during the Great War of 1914-18. Contains a wealth of detail on operations on most Fronts inc. the organisation of wartime transportation; statistics and Fronts, including Railway Operations in Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine & East Africa. Available at the British Library as part of UIN: BLL01013904893 or in a 2013 reprint edition UIN: BLL01016871224. Also available in a reprint edition[3].

Volunteer Regiments

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.[4]

A description of some of the hospital ship voyages and the hospitals in India may be found in the chapter "Australian Nurses in India 1916-1919" page 124 With Horse and Morse in Mesopotamia, see Historical books online below.

Persia and Transcaucasia

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

Temporary holding section

Temporary holding section due to technical problems.

External links

"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.)
"British Policy in Mesopotamia (April 1916-March 1917)" by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen 11 November 2019. orientxxi.info. During this period, Indian Expeditionary Force D was transformed into the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (MEF), re-equipped, and reorganised.
  • Middle Eastern Geographies of World War I by Maj James G Riely, United States Army 2010. Archive.org Defense Technical Information Archive Collection. DTIC ADA523248 . Contrasts the operations which led to the fall of Kut, with the successes of the British-sponsored Arab Revolt of 1916-18.
  • Cavalry of the Clouds: Aspects of the Air War in the Eastern Theatre,1914-1918 by C H. Whitley 1997. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History in the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. A pdf download, which depending on your browser, you may need to locate in your downloads folder.
  • Forgotten Airwar: Airpower in the Mesopotamian Campaign by Peter J Lambert, 2003 Master of Military Art and Science Thesis, Command and General Staff College (CGSC) Fort Leavenworth, KS. Combined Arms Research Library [CARL] Digital Library. Archive.org version, Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) collection.
  • Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal 48 2010. html version, pdf rafmuseum.org.uk. raf.mod.uk version, now archived. Includes "Only A Sideshow? The RFC And RAF In Mesopotamia 1914-1918" by Guy Warner pages 9-19 and "The RAF Armoured Car Companies In Iraq (Mostly) 1921-1947" by Dr Christopher Morris pages 20-38.
  • "The AFC In Hotter Climes: The Air War Over The Mesopotamian Desert" by Air Commodore Mark Lax. Part of the conference By The Seat Of Their Pants The Proceedings of the Conference held 12 November 2012 at the RAAF Museum, Point Cook by Military History And Heritage Victoria.
  • "Developing Iraq: Britain, India and the Redemption of Empire and Technology in the First World War" by Priya Satia Past & Present (2007) Volume 197, Issue 1, pages 211-255
  • En-Dor Unveiled : The Story behind The Road to En-dor by Tony Craven Walker February 2014. html version, pdf, link to other downloads hesperuspress.com. Retrieved 26 October 2014. Contains correspondence from E H Jones, refer "Historical books online" below. He was a member of the Volunteer Artillery Battery (Rangoon Contingent). Very likely this was , or was connected with, the Rangoon Port Defence Volunteer Corps, which had an Artillery section.
  • Articles by Amitav Ghosh: "Shared Sorrows: Indians and Armenians in the prison camps of Ras al-‘Ain, 1916-18". It is based on an account written by an Indian member of the Bengal Ambulance Corps (BAC), who became a prisoner after the fall of Kut. and ended up in the prison camps of Ras al-'Ain, in northern Syria, in 1916. “The reason the story has survived is that one of the Indian prisoners happened to write about about his war experiences forty years later. His name was Sisir Sarbadhikari and his book Abhi Le Baghdad (or On To Baghdad) appeared in 1958” It is in 18 parts, in reverse order, consisting of two pages. Scroll to the bottom of this page for part 1. Scroll to the bottom of this page to continue. ( archive.org links 1 and 2) The earlier part of the memoir, from joining up in Calcutta to the fall of Kut is described in "On to Baghdad". Scroll to the bottom of the page for part 1, or "On to Baghdad", alternative format.
  • Accounts by Captain Kalyan Kumar Mukherji , a member of the Indian Medical Service, originally written in Bengali. After the fall of Kut he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp at Ras al-‘Ain, Syria where he died in 1917. He was posthumously awarded the Military Cross. His accounts, in Bengali, are available online, refer below. Some excerpts have been translated into English by Amitav Ghosh. Scroll down to the entry The ‘Home and the World’ in Iraq 1915-17: Part 1 to commence. For the final posts, scroll down to the bottom three posts. Written July- August 2012 amitavghosh.com (retrieved 10 May 2014).
  • “Yet another Indian First World War memoir found!” Article about the War Memoirs of Captain Limaye, Indian Medical Service, written in Marathi. He was with the 87th Punjabis 1918-1921. He saw action in Mesopotamia and was involved in operations against the Kurdistanis in 1919 and in quelling the Arab Rebellion in 1920. amitavghosh.com. This book may be viewed online, refer Historical books online below.
  • "Indian Soldiers and POWs in the Middle East during World War I" by Vedica Kant, Robert Upton, and Chris Gratien, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 86 (December 21, 2012) “ In this podcast, Vedica Kant talks about the experience of Indian POWs in the Ottoman Empire as well as that of Ottoman soldiers captured by the British army and brought to India and Burma, with additional commentary by Robert Upton regarding military recruitment in British India...” Webpage contains images.
  • The history hidden in Haydarpaşa Cemetery by Vedika Kant 01 August 2013. turkishreview.org, now an archived webpage. Holds the graves of some 400 soldiers from what are now the Commonwealth realms who died in Turkey, mostly as POWs, in World War I.
  • Inland Water Transport and Docks Reubique.com. The article mentions that this section of the Royal Engineers was founded in 1914 and was later responsible for alternate transportation during World War One in various theatres of war - including Mesopotamia where personnel from India and China were deployed.
  • Grandpa’s Journal, now archived. Harry James Goulter Pearman was with the Army Audit Staff in Mesopotamia. The following entries contain items relating to issues of fraud by members of the IWT (Inland Water Transport), including the court martial of an officer. 18 April 1921, 26 April 1921, 16 May 1921, 27 May 1921, 27 June 1921, 4 July 1921, 9 July 1921. All are now archived webpages.
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.[5]

Maps

Records of the Survey of India, Volume 20. The War Record 1914-1920 1925. If the download button does not display, locate in Books/Survey Of India, or Direct link PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. Google Books version (now full view). Archive.org version. Work of Royal Engineers and other staff of the Survey of India mapping in various theatres of war, in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, Macedonia, Arabia, Persia, Palestine, East Africa and Afghanistan.
Maps for Mesopotamia, not generally available online, are to be found in The National Archives[UK] series WO 302

Historical books online

Official histories, despatches, reports etc
  • Official Despatches from The London Gazette and details of some Official Documents digitised by the British Library, and other digitised material, are linked from Mesopotamia In The First World War warletters.net. For despatches from The London Gazette from 1919, see further below.
  • 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.
HathiTrust 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.
Volume I

Contents

Bibliography

Index

Volume II

Contents

Bibliography

Index

Volume III

Contents

Bibliography

Index

Volume IV

Contents

Bibliography

Index

Chronological Summary of the Campaign in Mesopotamia 1914-1918

Titles of Indian Cavalry, Infantry and Pioneer Units who served in Mesopotamia 1914-1918

Volume II is also available on Archive.org Volume II, Contents, Index. Map: Middle East and Maps 8-9, 11, 13-17, 19-20. List of Maps
Archive.org versions, mirrors from the Digital Library of India: Vol I, List of Maps, Maps at back of book displayed out of order; Vol III, List of Maps, Maps at back of book displayed in reverse order; Vol IV, List of Maps, Maps at back of book displayed out of order.
Qatar Digital Library versions, best for expansion of maps. From British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/15/66/1-4 . Vol I; Vol II; Vol III; Vol IV. To access the maps, open the volume links, then expand the heading "About this record", and scroll down for links to the maps.
Also available in Naval & Military Press reprint editions which in turn are available online on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3 as one digital book The Campaign in Mesopotamia (located in Military Books-located by the Search/Iraq).
  • War Diaries, Army Headquarters India for I. E F "D", held at the British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3223 through to IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3328A have been digitised on the Qatar Digital Library.
British Library catalogue record IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3223 Click on Browse this collection to access details of other records, and click through to Qatar Digital Library for the digitised items.
The final item in this series is British Library catalogue record IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3328A General Routine Orders (incomplete) by the Commander of Indian Expeditionary Force D between 28 December 1915 and 10 July 1918.
  • History of the Great War based on official documents. Order of Battle of Divisions Parts 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B and 4 all by Major A.F. Becke RFA (Retired) (London: HMSO, 1935-1945)
    • Part 1 - The Regular British Divisions pub. 1935. Archive.org
    • Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42-56) pub. 1936. Archive.org
    • Part 2B. The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th-69th) with the Home-Service Divisions (71st-73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions pub. 1937. Archive.org,
    • Part 3A New Army Divisions (9-26) pub. 1938. Archive.org
    Part 3B New Army divisions (30-41) and 63rd (R.N.) Division pub. HMSO 1945 Archive.org.
    • Part 4. The Army Council, G.H.Q.s, Armies and Corps 1914-1918 pub. 1945. Archive.org
Includes some details about Mesopotamia, (perhaps limited?) but note these books appear to be in respect of the British Army only, (not Indian Army).
There were subsequent publications Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A, Divisions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and those in East Africa, compiled by F.W. Perry c 1992. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01006378898 and Order of Battle of Divisions. Part 5B, Indian Army Divisions compiled by F. W. Perry c 1993 available at the B.L. UIN: BLL01008151437 . The latter is also catalogued with the additional title History of the Great War : based on official documents.
Note, this report also contains the Vincent Bingley report into the medical situation as Appendix I. In addition, separately Appendices To The Report Of The Commission For Medical Arrangements In Mesopotamia Vol-II (July 1916). Archive.org. Volume 1 of these Appendices does not appear to be available online, (National Archives reference CAB19/27).
Report of the Committee on the Lessons of the Great War 13 Oct 1932 includes "Appendix V Mesopotamia" (Details[7].) Also known as the Kirke Report it is available in a reprint edition,[8] which in turn is available online on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3, located in Military Books-located by the Search/Britain.
Field Notes Mesopotamia by General Staff India February 1917 Qatar Digital Library. BL reference IOR/L/MIL/17/15/50.
  • Turkish Official Histories Birinci Dünya Harbi Serisi / World War I Series from Ministry of National Defence, Republic of Turkey. Includes maps. Includes Item 20 Birinci Dünya Harbinde Türk Harbi, Irak-İran Cephesi (1914-1918) III Cilt and Item 6 Birinci Dünya Harbi’nde Türk Harbi İran - Irak Cephesi 1914 - 1918, C 3, Ks. 2. Using Google Translate Item 20 Turkish War in the First World War, Iraqi-Iran Front (1914-1918) III Volume and Item 6 Turkish War in the First World War Iran - Iraq Front 1914 - 1918, C 3, Ks. 2nd. There is also item 15 Birinci Dünya Harbi, Türk Hava Harekatı C.9 Air Operations, and item 16 Birinci Dünya Harbinde Türk Harbi, Deniz Harekâtı C.8 Naval Operations. Histories are in the Turkish language.
General histories etc
  • 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, now an archived webpage. Scroll down. The letter was written to his family,[10] see more details.
For more about Lawrence, see T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).
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.
"Iraq and Mosul" by Lieut.-General Sir George MacMunn page 403 The Journal of the Royal Artillery Volume 53, No.3 1926 October. Archive.org
"Lines of Communication in Mesopotamia" by Lieut.- General Sir George MacMunn, page 42 The Army Quarterly Volume 15, 1927 October- 1928 January Archive.org.
Part II- Maps. IOR/L/MIL/17/15/72/2. Refer Maps above.
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.
Medical
"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 HathiTrust Digital Library
  • "The Control of Flies and Vermin in Mesopotamia" page 23 The Review of Applied Entomology Volume V 1917 Archive.org.
  • In Mesopotamia by Martin Swayne (real name Maurice Nicoll), illustrated by the author. 1917 Archive.org. The author was a doctor in the British Army working in a mobile hospital.
    • "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.
  • A Message from Mesopotamia by the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley 1917 Archive.org . The author was a Red Cross Commissioner investigating [medical] conditions.
  • See next section for an account of the 33rd Motor Ambulance Convoy.
  • Kalyan Pradeep: Captain Kalyan Kumar Mukhopadhadhaya, I.M.S.-er Jiboni, by Mokkhoda ['Mokshada'] Debi (1928) [Kalyan Pradeep: The Life of Captain Kalyan Kumar Mukherji, I.M.S.] in Bengali. The catalogue entry is Kalyan-Pradip by Mokshada Debi. There are two book files, Archive.org version 1, mirror from Digital Library of India; Archive.org version 2, mirror from Digital Library of India.
Also see External links above for some translated excerpts from this book.
  • Sainyaan'tiila Aat'havand-ii by Limaye Go Gan' published 1939. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Sainyatil Athavani, or War Memoirs of Captain Gopal Gangadhar Limaye. Marathi language with an English Introduction. The author was in the Indian Medical Service IMS, 1918-1921. As part of the 87th Punjabis, he saw action in Mesopotamia and was involved in operations against the Kurdistanis in 1919 and in quelling the Arab Rebellion in 1920.
Also see External links above for an article about this book.
Corps histories and accounts
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.
The Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia compiled by Lieut.-Col. L. J. Hall, RE. 1921 Archive.org
"Inland Waterways and Docks, Royal Engineers in War Time, with special reference to the mystery port of Richborough (Lecture & Discussion)" by Captain A E Battle, RE Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers 1923-1924, pages 104-116. Includes Inland Water Transport in Mesopotamia, and brief mention of other theatres of war. Melbourne University Digital Collection.
  • With Horse and Morse in Mesopotamia: The Story of Anzacs in Asia edited by Keast Burke 1927. Includes Pack Wireless Signal Troops from Australia and New Zealand. NZsappers.org.nz has two digital files/series, the first contains some digital pages which are of very poor quality. The second series of files from nzsappers.org.nz Pages 1-70, pages 71-132; pages 133-206 .
  • War in the Garden of Eden by Kermit Roosevelt, Captain, Motor Machine Gun Corps 1919 Archive.org. The author was an American, the son of (pre WW1) US President Theodore Roosevelt, who was appointed an honorary Captain in the British Army in August 1917. Page 66 indicates the author was in the 14th Battery, Light-armoured motor-cars (14th L. A. M. B.). The fighting cars were Rolls-Royce.
  • The Post Office of India in the Great War edited by H.A. Sams 1922 Archive.org "Mesopotamia" commences page 111.
Regimental histories and accounts
For other Indian Army regimental histories on fold3 (Ancestry owned pay website), see 9th Bhopal Infantry; 20th (Cambridge's Own) Infantry, Brownlow's Punjabis; 24th Punjabis; 26th Punjabis; 45th Rattray’s Sikhs; 67th Punjabis; 5th Gurkha Rifles; 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers;
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 Archive@McMaster University Library. Vol. One, Archive.org version.
The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad by Edward J Thompson MC 1919 Archive.org. The author was an Army chaplain, (Methodist), with the 2nd Leicesters, and a scholar & writer.[13]. Also see Fiction below.
The Bagging of Baghdad by Ernest Betts (late the Worcestershire Regiment) a book in the On Active Service Series. 1920 Archive.org
Siege of Kut and Prisoner of War accounts

Includes accounts by Medical Officers and Royal Flying Corps members.

The Royal Engineers Journal Vol. XXXVIII No 3, September 1924 Scroll to "The decision to Defend Kut-El-Amarah" by Major EWC Sandes RE, page 423. nzsappers.org.nz
Tales of Turkey by Major E W C Sandes 1924. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
Volunteer and other accounts
Naval
  • History of the Great War based on official documents: Naval Operations.Volumes I-III by Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, Volumes IV-V by Henry Newbolt. Published 1920-1931. Archive.org Volume III Includes Mesopotamia. Volume IV, includes Mesopotamia. Naval-History.net has transcribed editions which additionally contain maps from a separate case for Volume III.
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, (located in Military Books-located by the Search/Britain) contain the revised editions.
  • World War I Naval Staff Monographs. Select Volume 4: Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf to download a pdf. Published London July 1921. Royal Australian Navy website (Select Media Room/Publications/World War I Naval Staff Monographs). This publication is also available to read online at the Qatar Digital Library. IOR/L/MIL/17/15/73. Click on 'About this record' to see List of Maps.
  • The Navy in Mesopotamia, 1914 to 1917 by Conrad Cato [Cyril Cox RNR] 1917 Archive.org. Cox served aboard the sloop Odin, which was able to navigate the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
  • "The Navy in the East" page 148 The Naval Front by Gordon S Maxwell, Lieut. RNVB illustrated by Donald Maxwell, Lieut. RNVB 1920 Archive.org
  • World War 1 at Sea - Contemporary Accounts: The Navy Records Society and The Naval Review Scroll down to Part 2, Naval Review letter M “Mesopotamia & Persian Gulf”, then access the articles mentioned in the Naval Review Archives. naval-history.net. Includes
    • "The Tigris Above Baghdad" by Lieut-Comr. A S Elwell-Sutton RN. Scroll to item 15 page 153 The Naval Review February 1923 Vol. XI No. I, produced by The Naval Society. Now an archived webpage. Details of the Caddisfly, one of the 'Fly' class gunboats.
  • "The First Commission of HMS Firefly" by Staff Surgeon FG Hitch RN JRNMS Volume 4, 1918 Archive.org. One of the 'Fly' class gunboats. Also details of other craft on the river Tigris.
  • Tigris Gunboats : a narrative of the Royal Navy's co-operation with the military forces in Mesopotamia from the beginning of the war to the capture of Baghdad (1914-17) by Vice-Admiral Wilfrid Nunn 1932 is available in a reprint edition[16] which in turn is available as an online book on the Ancestry owned pay website fold3 as Tigris Gunboats (located in Military Books-located by the Search/Britain).
In the Air
From 1919
  • Official Despatches
For earlier Despatches, refer the website Mesopotamia In The First World War, warletters.net, above in this section.
Despatch by Lieut-General Sir W R Marshall on the operations of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force from 1st October 1918 to 31st December 1918, dated 1st February 1919. Mesopotamia and NW Persia (page 4743) The London Gazette 8 April 1919 Supplement: 31287 Page: 4739
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.
For a story The Kana Burha by Sir George MacMunn, set in Mesopotamia, see Fiction, below.
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.
Also see Regimental histories and accounts above for the Manchester Regiment during the 1920 Revolt.
British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/15/62 Report on the operations carried out in the southern desert in connection with the Iraq-Najd borders, November 1927-May 1928 with link to online version on Qatar Digital Library. A printed report on air and motorcar operations.
British Library IOR/L/MIL/17/15/63 Report on the operations carried out in the southern desert in connection with the Iraq-Najd borders, June 1928-May 1929 with link to online version on Qatar Digital Library. A printed report on air and motorcar operations.
  • 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.
A Paladin Of Arabia: The Biography of Brevet Lieut.-Colonel G E Leachman… of the Royal Sussex Regiment by Major N N E Bray 1936 Archive.org. Gerard Leachman Wikipedia. He was murdered 12 August 1920. A later biography is Leachman : 'OC Desert' : the life of Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Leachman D.S.O. by H.V.F. Winstone, 1982. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011983983 .
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.
Fiction

References

  1. Mesopotamia 1920-21 from Harry’s Sideshows by Harry Fecitt kaiserscross.com
  2. Iraq Administration Reports 1914–1932, archived link.
  3. Railway Gazette – Special Great War Transportation Number Naval & Military Press.
  4. Khyber Pass 1/5th Royal West Surrey, Murree, Aug 1916 Great War Forum 28 August 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  5. The dates of the entries are in the top LH corner of the Home webpage now archived, from 21 December 1920 to 1 February 1922. Before being archived, the entries from the journal were in the format http://www.mespot.co.uk/journal/ab.cd.ef.shtml , where, for a particular entry, ab is the year, cd is the month, ef is the first mentioned day in the month (all two digits). A typical example is http://www.mespot.co.uk/journal/21.04.18.shtml , and most entries are similarly from 1921. Construct your own URL, using the relevant date, then use "Browse History" in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to obtain the archived URL. Alternatively using the Internet Archive (archive.org) link mespot.co.uk scroll down to entries containing the word journal, and then click on the link. However, these links are not all in date order.
  6. PassTHE knowledge by Akhi Soufyan
  7. Greenwoodman. Official Inquiry into Conduct of WW1 Great War Forum 19 June 2006. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  8. Report of the Committee on the Lessons of the Great War Naval & Military Press reprint edition.
  9. Page 35 in an article "The Mesopotamian Front! As observed by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Davis US Cavalry 1918", edited by Leo J Daugherty III Armor, Volume 112, Issue 2 March –April 2003 Google Books.
  10. 29 April 2016: On this day in history T E Lawrence Society on Facebook. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  11. An Account of the Operations of the 18th (Indian) Division in Mesopotamia December 1917 to December 1918 by Lieut. Col WE Wilson-Johnston. Naval & Military Press reprint edition.
  12. The “D” Force (Mesopotamia) in the Great War by J Fitzgerald Lee. Naval & Military Press reprint edition.
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