Siege of Kut

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Siege of Kut
Part of the Mesopotamian_Campaign
Situation at Kut on September 28, 1915
Date 7 December 1915 – 29 April 1916 Location Kut-al-Amara, Mesopotamia; present-day Iraq Result Decisive Ottoman victory
Combatants
Britain, British India	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
General Townshend	Baron von der Goltz †, Khalil Pasha
Strength
30,000	50,000
Casualties
23,000 dead or wounded 8,000 captured	10,000 dead or wounded

Mesopotamian Campaign
Fao Landing – Basra – Qurna – Es Sinn – Ctesiphon – Umm-at-Tubal –1st Kut –Shiekh Sa'ad – Wadi – Hanna – Dujaila – 2nd Kut – Baghdad – Samarrah Offensive – Jebel Hamlin – Istabulat – Ramadi – Sharqat

The Siege of Kut-al-Amara (December 7, 1915 – April 29, 1916) was part of the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I. The British Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force (MEF) suffered a very serious defeat against the Ottoman forces.

Kut-al-Amara is a town on the Tigris, where it meets the ancient Shatt al-Hai canal. It is 350 km upstream from Basra and around 170 km from Baghdad. In 1915 its population was around 6,500.

The 6th (Poona) Division of the British Indian Army, under Major-General Charles Townshend, had fallen back to the town of Kut after retreating from Ctesiphon. The British forces arrived at Kut around December 3, 1915. The British had suffered significant losses and were down to around 11,000 soldiers (plus cavalry). General Townshend chose to stay and hold the position at Kut instead of continuing the march downriver towards Basra. Kut offered a good defensive position, it was contained within a long loop of the river. The problem was how to get supplies. Kut was a long way from Basra. In retrospect, Townshend's decision to stay at Kut was a disastrous one.

The pursuing Ottoman forces arrived on December 7, 1915. Once it became clear the Turks had enough forces to lay siege to Kut, Townshend ordered his cavalry to escape south, which it did. The Ottoman forces numbered around 11,000 men and were commanded by the respected but old German General and military historian Baron von der Goltz. Goltz knew the Turkish army well as he had spent 12 years working on modernizing the Ottoman army from 1883 to 1895. After three attacks in December, Goltz directed the building of siege fortifications facing Kut. He also, like Caesar at Alisia, prepared for British rescue forces coming up the river from Basra by building defensive positions further down the Tigris river.

After a month of siege, Townshend wanted to break-out and withdraw southwards but his Commander, Sir John Nixon saw value in tying down the Ottoman forces in a siege. However, when Townshend — inaccurately — reported only one month of food remained, a rescue force was hastily raised. It is not clear why Townshend reported he only had enough food for one month when he actually had food for more than four months (although at a reduced level).

The first relief expedition comprised some 19,000 men under General Aylmer and it headed up the river from Ali Gharbi in January 1916. It was badly mauled in three clashes in January (Sheikh Sa'ad, Wadi and Hanna). At this point Khalil Pasha (the Ottoman commander of the whole region) came to the battle, bringing with him a further 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements.

Following the defeat of Aylmer's expedition, General Nixon was replaced as supreme commander by Percival Lake. More forces were sent to bolster Aylmer's troops. He tried again, attacking the Dujaila redoubt on March 8. This attack failed at a cost of 4,000 men. General Aylmer was dismissed and replaced with George Gorringe on March 12.

The relief attempt by Gorringe is usually termed the First Battle of Kut. The British gathered around 30,000 soldiers, roughly equal to the Ottoman forces. The battle began on April 5 and the British soon captured Fallahiyeh but with heavy losses, Bait Asia was taken on April 17. The final effort was against Sannaiyat on April 22. The British were unable to take Sannaiyat and suffered some 1,200 casualties in the process.

The relief efforts had all failed at a cost of around 23,000 Allied killed or wounded. Ottoman casualties are believed to be around 10,000. The Turks also lost the aid of Baron von der Goltz. He died on April 19 supposedly of typhoid but the rumor at the time was that he was poisoned by some of his Turkish officers. It is a fact that there was no German commander in Mesopotamia for the rest of the war.

The British attempted to buy their troops out. T.E. Lawrence was sent to negotiate a secret deal with the Turks. In exchange for 2 million British pounds, the British promised Townshend's troops would not fight the Turks again. Enver Pasha ordered that this offer be rejected (David Fromkin "A Peace to End all Peace" pg. 201).

Also, the British asked for help from the Russians. General Baratov, with his largely Cossack force of 20,000 was in Persia at the time. Following the request he advanced towards Baghdad in April 1916 but turned back when news reached him of the surrender (Cyril Falls "The Great War" pg 249).

General Townshend arranged a ceasefire on the 26th and, after failed negotiations, he simply surrendered on April 29, 1916 after a siege of 147 days. Around 8,000 Allied soldiers survived to be made prisoners, about one half dying during captivity. Many died on forced march from Kut to the place of internment. The Turks put the British soldiers into hard labor gangs and worked them to death.

James Morris, a British historian, described the loss of Kut as "the most abject capitulation in Britain’s military history." After this humilitating loss, General Lake and General Gorringe were removed from command. The new commander was General Maude, who trained and organized his army and then launched a successful campaign which captured Baghdad on March 11, 1917. See the Fall of Baghdad for more details.

[edit] Sources and further reading

• The siege of Kut-al-Amara, to 29 April 1915 — from the website The Long, Long Trail, downloaded January 2006.
• Braddon, Russell The Siege Viking Adult, 1970 ISBN 0670643866
• Strachan, Hew (2003). The First World War, pp 125. Viking (published by the Penguin Group).
• Keegan, John (1998). The First World War. Random House Press.