Kut 1916: The Forgotten British Disaster in Iraq. This item is unavailable.Kut 1916: The Forgotten British Disaster in Iraq

The siege of Kut is a story of blunders, sacrifice, imprisonment and escape. The allied campaign in Mesopotamia began in 1914 as a relatively simple operation to secure the oilfields in the Shatt-al-Arab delta and Basra area. Initially it was a great success, but as the army pressed towards Baghdad its poor logistic support, training, equipment and command left it isolated and besieged by the Turks. By 1916 the army had not been relieved, and on 29 April 1916, the British Army suffered one of the worst defeats in its military history. Major-General Sir Charles Townshend surrendered his allied force to the Turks in the Mesopotamian (now Iraq) town of Kut-al-Amara. Over 13,000 troops, British and Indian, went into captivity; many would not survive their incarceration.

In Kut 1916, Colonel Crowley recounts this dramatic tale and its terrible aftermath.

PATRICK CROWLEY is a historian and battlefield tour guide. He retired after thirty-four years’ service in the Queen’s Regiment and Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and was awarded the American Meritorious Service Medal for his service in Iraq. His other publications include A Guide to the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, Kut 1916 and Loyal to Empire (The History Press, 2016).