THE SIEGE OF KUT AL AMARA 

1915 - 16

Following the complete failure of the British - Indian attack upon the Turkish city of Ctesiphon in November 1915, British Major General Sir Charles Townshend led what remained of his 6th Infantry Division on a long and wearisome withdrawal one hundred miles south of Bagdad to the town of Kut Al Amara, arriving in early December.

The regional commander in chief Sir John Nixon along with the war office in London requested the 6th infantry fall back further south. However Townshend was well aware that his thirteen thousand men were utterly exhausted and incapable of out pacing pursuing Turkish forces, he therefore chose to stay and defend Kut.

On December 7th, twenty thousand Turks arrived and completely surrounded the town. In command was Ottoman Lieutenant General Nureddin along with his German counterpart and military advisor Field Marshall Baron Von Der Goltz. There orders were straightforward and clear, to force unconditional surrender or destroy the British garrison.

During the month of December, the Turks launched three attacks to capture Kut but the Indian defenders held firm and threw each assault back inflicting heavy casualties. Nureddin and Goltz then changed tactics and agreed upon a siege and set about blockading the town.

The war department in London then insisted that the garrison attempt a breakout, however Townshend calculated that there was enough ammunition and supplies to maintain the division for two months. He therefore chose to remain at Kut and tie up as many Turkish formations as possible until relieved.

On January 1st 1916, a British relief force nineteen thousand strong led by Lieutenant General Aylmer, left Basra to rescue there trapped comrades. However there advance was repeatedly checked by local Turkish militia's on January 8th,13th and 21st at the holding actions at Sarquote, Wadi and Hanna respectively.

Twelve thousand men of the Ottoman 6th Army under Governor Khalil Pasha now arrived at Kut bringing the Turkish forces to a strength of thirty two thousand. The British responded by sending Aylmer a further twenty five thousand soldiers to reinforce his stalled drive to relieve Kut.

General Aylmer then launched an assault against the Ottomans along the Dujaila Redoubt of March 8th. The British attacks were improperly coordinated and the operation failed miserably suffering five thousand casualties. Aylmer was now dismissed and replaced by General Gorring on March 12th. For the next month Gorring formulated a relief operation which he launched on April 5th. The British soon captured Fallahiyed and pushed on to occupy the town of Beit Asia on the 17th.

Just one final Ottoman stronghold stood in the way of rescue for General Townshend and the 6th infantry division, the heavily fortified town of Sannaiyat. Gorringe launched his assault on April 22nd but immediately met strong resistance. By the 25th, the attack had clearly failed with British losses amounting to twenty five hundred men.

The British relief effort was now completely exhausted and had utterly failed. The Kut garrison had also run out of food supplies and were infected with diseases of epidemic proportions. With no further hope, General Townshend contacted Ottoman Governor Pasha, requested and received a six day armistice to discuss surrender terms.

General Townshend surrendered his command on April 29th, it was the greatest humiliation to have befallen the British army in its history. For the victorious Turks it proved a significant morale booster and had undoubtedly weakened British influence in the Middle East.

Along with the surviving eight thousand Indian troops of the 6th division, the British suffered an additional twenty three thousand casualties during the relief efforts, the Ottoman Turks in total lost ten thousand men.