BRITISH DISASTER IN KUT-EL-AMARA THE SURRENDER OF A BRITISH ARMY APRIL 29TH GASTON BODART GENERAL TOWNSHEND EDMUND CANDLER MAJOR CHARLES BARBER The surrender of the British army at Kut-el-Amara was impressive to the world not because of the number of the captives-they were but a tiny body as compared with the masses captured by either side on the Russian front-but because this was a British army, and the' victors were Asiatics. For two centuries mere handfuls of Britons had been extending their rule over the swarming millions of the Orient. This surrender broke the tradition of their power upon land, as the defeat at the Dardanelles had revealed the limit of their naval strength. Any Briton will tell you now that the Bagdad expedition was unwisely undertaken. The British held the Persian Gulf region securely, but had no sufficient force with which to penetrate over three hundred miles up the almost impassable marsh country of the Euphrates river-valley. Leaders in Britain itself disputed with leaders in India as to which should spare troops for such an advance, and the authorities in India only yielded under protest. Even then the commander in the region, General Nixon, declared his forces too small for an advance beyond Kut, to which some troops under General Townshend won their way in September, 1915, struggling against the natural difficulties of the land rather than against severe Turkish opposition. It was this lack of Turkish resistance that lured General Nixon to attempt to capture Bagdad. General Townshend was given command of a larger column for this purpose, and fought his way against an ever-increasing resistance from Kut onward as far as Ctesiphon, a group of ancient ruins some twenty miles below Bagdad. Here Townshend fought a stiff and indecisive battle in November, and realized that the mass of Turks had grown too strong to be pushed further back. To the Britons, to stop so far from their base of supplies in a hostile land, was equivalent to defeat. Townshend knew he had no course left except to withdraw. He conducted his retreat in a masterly way; but it became more difficult with every step. When his outworn troops reached Kut on December 3rd, Townshend was glad indeed to let them rest behind the secure defenses which its position afforded. In Kut the Britons had ample stores and at first regarded themselves merely as defenders of the outer line of the British front. The Turks, however, in ever-increasing numbers gathered round them until they were shut off from the world. By January of 1916 Britain became fully roused to their danger, and sought to rescue them. General Nixon was superseded by Sir Percy Lake. He dispatched a strong force to break through to Townshend's rescue; but the Turkish commander, Nur-ed-Din, fought the relievers so vigorously that in battle after battle the Britons did little more than hold their own. One column under General Aylmer was driven back; another under General Gorringe won its way up the Euphrates to within twenty miles of Kut. Here, on April 22nd, it was hurled back from a desperate attack upon the Turkish entrenchments which barred its way at Sanna-i-yat. The repulse sealed Townshend's fate; he surrendered April 29th. Townshend's own statement is given here, as well as the picture drawn by one of his officers, Major Barber. The Teuton view is supplied by the official Austrian investigator, Dr. Bodart. The story of the relieving columns is told by Edmund Candler, the official British observer, who marched with them. BY GASTON BODART In order to fasten the bolt against the "German impulse toward the East," England converted the fiction of 1912, regarding the independence of the Sultanate of Koweit into an actual title of possession and, in the beginning of November, 1914, from this base brought the Persian Gulf under British dominion. An Anglo-Indian expeditionary corps, under General Nixon, consisting originally of 6 Indian infantry brigades and one of cavalry, marched up the Shatt-el-Arab, seized Basra, the former port of Bagdad and the starting point for the Arab incursions into India. In this exploit the corps was supported by the British warships. In addition to military and political motives, economic interests also came into consideration as regards this expedition, inasmuch as the concession regarding the renewed irrigation of Irak and the exploitation of the rich petroleum and naphtha wells, which lay on nearby Persian territory along the Karun River, were in the hands of English companies. From Basra a group of the expeditionary corps marched to the Karun region in order to occupy it, although this was neutral Persian ground. After fights with the Turkish vanguard, which, however, could not prevent the capture of Korna at the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris (December 9th), the British were held up by Turkish counter attacks on January 20th, 21st ond 30th, 1915. Not until the middle of April were they able to break down the resistance (at Shaiba and Sobeir) by reason of the vigorous participation of their gunboats. Thereupon one column marched up the Euphrates and another up the Tigris, always accompanied by gunboats and steamers. The Turkish military command had meanwhile, in the face of great difficulties, concentrated its Sixth Army under Nur-ed-Din (later under Khalif Pasha) and met the advance on both rivers. The Tigris column under Townshend advanced with relatively good speed, forced back the Turks before Amara, and, on September 29th, 1915, occupied the important point Kut-el-Amara. The Euphrates columns of the English under Gorringe met with defeat at two places, but subsequently captured Nasariyeh on July 24th. Made overconfident by his easily won successes, Townshend, underrating his enemy and without awating reinforcements, advanced impetuously against Bagdad, encountered, on November 22nd, near the ruins of Ctesiphon, 4 well-intrenched Turkish divisions and suffered a severe defeat. Hard pressed by the pursuing Turks, who were now commanded by Field-Marshal Von der Goltz, who had hurried here from the Dardanelles, Townshend was compelled to retreat to his point of support, Kut-el-Amara, where he was surrounded by the superior forces of the Turkish army. General Percy Lake, who had superseded General Nixon in the chief command of the expeditionary corps, from his base at El Garbi did all in his power to relieve Townshend. In a surprisingly short time five divisions, including the Thirteenth under General Maude, which had shortly before arrived from the Dardanelles, were put in readiness, and, as the Tigris corps, were placed under the command of General Aylmer. The latter, at the beginning of January, 1916, encountered the Turkish besiegers of Kut-el-Amara at Sheick-Saad and succeeded, after continuous fighting, in forcing them back to a point near El Gussa, one day's march from the positions occupied by Townshend's division. Aylmer suc W., VOL. IV.-9. ceeded, after penetrating the first Turkish line of defense, in reaching Fellahieh, while the column of Younghusband, which was advancing along the southern bank, advanced about an equal distance and threatened the second Turkish line at Sanaaiyat. But the English forces, weakened by heavy losses, unfavorable weather and camp diseases, were not equal to the task of breaking this second line. Although within ten miles of their goal, they were forced to relinquish all the positions captured and to fall back to their point of departure, Amara, leaving the brave defenders of Kut-el-Amara to their inevitable fate. Forced by hunger, Townshend, on April 26th, 1916, surrendered with 13,000 men at Kut-el-Amara. This was the worst blow which English prestige suffered in the war. BY EDMUND CANDLER Official British Observer With the Relieving Force The last communications from Townshend reached us [the relieving force] by wireless on the morning of April 29th. "Have destroyed my guns and am destroying most of my munitions, and have sent out officers to Khalil to say am ready to surrender. Khalil is at Madug. I am unable to hold on any more. I must have some food here. I have told Khalil to-day, and have sent launch with deputation to bring food from Julnar." The next message told us that a Turkish regiment was approaching the fort to take over guards in Kut. "I have hoisted white flag over town and fort. Troops commence going into camp near Shumran 2 P. M. I shall shortly destroy wireless." At 1 P. M. a prearranged signal by wireless indicated that Townshend's last message had gone through. Wireless, guns, revolvers, rifles, aëroplane, ammunition, compasses, glasses-everything that might be useful to the enemy, was destroyed and we were near enough to see the blaze. There was no Hunnish fury or obscenity in the last scene. We left the Turks our gramophone and records and anything that might contribute to the civil uses of life. Nine thousand fighting men, 3,000 British and 6,000 Indians, exclusive of followers, surrendered at Kut; and it is useless to try and gloss over the disgrace which is attached, not to our soldiers, but to the politicians responsible for the disaster. There has been no surrender on the same scale in the history of the British army. The nearest parallel to it is that of Cornwallis with 7,073 officers and men in the American War of Independence. But in Mesopotamia the relieving force lost more than twice the number of the garrison in their attempt to save them,1 apart from the loss of prestige in the one theater of the war where we could least afford a fluctuating standard. The Arabs believed Townshend invincible. Until the retirement from Ctesiphon the 6th Division had never attacked a position which they had not taken. The mere abstract record of their achievement was worth the substance of a new division in establishing our security on the Tigris. The British flag had never been associated with reverse. But this one setback showed the Arab that we were fallible like other people. Upon the fall of Kut the Medjidieh and Turkish paper money fetched its old value in the bazaar. But the respect for Townshend was not greatly diminished, and it was admitted that nothing short of starvation could have defeated him. Townshend impressed his personality deeply on the Turk. He was permitted to retain his sword; his progress to the Bosphorus was almost triumphal; and when he arrived at his island he became the lion of the place. Khalil Bey, the Turkish Commander, spoke of him with the most profound admiration when he received our parlementaires on the evening of the surrender "We will give him as good a time as the Russians gave Osman Pasha," he said; and he was evidently anxious that he should receive every comfort and attention after the privations he had endured so gallantly. He regretted that his supplies were so scanty, and welcomed our proposal to send stores to the garrison. Two barges with a day and a half's iron rations left our camp the next morning. These were followed by a hospital ship and a paddle-steamer with lighters attached loaded with food and canteen stores. The hospital ship Sikhim returned with the first batch of sick and wounded, whom we exchanged for Turkish prisoners. 'The total casualties in the advance from Ali Gharbi (Jan. 6th— April 22nd) amounted to 21,973. W., VOL. IV.-9. |