The Insurrection in Mesopotamia, 1920
Aylmer L. Haldane
William Blackwood & Sons
The reductions which inevitably follow in the wake of every great war brought to an end my connection with the VIth Corps, which I had commanded in France and Germany for over three years; and, on the 4th November 1919, I regretfully bade adieu to the British Army of the Rhine and took my departure for London.
The prospects of early re-employment for any one of the rank of lieutenant-general seemed remote, as, after the Armistice, all appointments which were vacant or held by temporary commanders had been filled by men chosen from generals whose corps or armies at the front had been abolished; and a term of half-pay was the vista which extended in front of me. However, an inquiry made at the War Office on the subject of future prospects of employment elicited the opinion for ...
Contents
Preface / V
I. From Cologne to Basrah / 1
II. First Impressions / 8
III. After The Armistice / 19
IV. Storm Clouds / 35
V. The First Explosion / 39
VI. Baghdad To Teheran / 45
VII. Military Encumbrances / 57
VIII. Statistics and other Matters / 64
IX. The Outbreak at And Relief of Rumaithah / 73
X. The Disaster to the Manchester Column / 91
XI. Alarums and Excursions / 104
XII. The Operations at Hillah / 124
XIII. The Retreat from Diwaniyah / 128
XIV. The Recovery of the Hindiyah Barrage / 140
XV. The Operations North-East of Baghdad / 152
XVI. The Relief of Kufah / 176
XVII. Events In The River Area / 193
XVIII. The Relief of Samawah / 214
XIX. The Operations North of Baghdad / 231
XX. The Operations in North Persia / 250
XXI. The Disarming Of The Tribes / 256
XXII. The Reopening Qf The Euphrates Valley Route / 277
XXIII. A March Across The Shatt-Al-Hai . . 285 Xxiv. Conclusion / 298
Appendices
I. Order of Battle / 315
II. Adventures of Officers / 320
III. Responsibility of Officers / 324
IV. Strength of Troops in Mesopotamia And Persia / 325
V. Letter from the Captain of the “Greenfly” / 326
VI. Tribes Which Participated in the Insurrection / 328
VII. Memorandum Regarding Disarmament / 329
VIII. British, Indian, And Arab Casualties / 331
IX. Notes on Arab Warfare, With Two Diagrams / 332
X. Demands for Reinforcements / 343
XI. Statement Of Combatant Reinforcements Received From India / 344
Index / 345
Maps and Plans
Tel Afar / 41
The Advance To Rumaithah / 85
Camp of Manchester Column / 99
Action Near Jarbuiyah / 136
Hindiyah Barrage / 144
Canal Head Defences Near Table Mountain / 167
Operations Round Hillah / 183
Kufah Garrison / 188
Samawah / 207
Action At Iman Abdullah / 281
General Map of Mesopotamia And Part of Persia at end
PREFACE
With the exception of a few additions here and there, most of which are in the final chapter, this account of the ‘Insurrection in Mesopotamia’ was written at Baghdad between June and September 1921. I take this opportunity of expressing my cordial thanks to Group-Captain A. E. Borton and Flying Officer A. P. Ledger, Royal Air Force; to my Aide-de-Camp, Lieutenant S. Grehan, and others, for the photographs which illustrate the pages that follow.
A. Haldane.
London, 31st May 1922.
Chapter I.
From Cologne to Basrah
The reductions which inevitably follow in the wake of every great war brought to an end my connection with the VIth Corps, which I had commanded in France and Germany for over three years; and, on the 4th November 1919, I regretfully bade adieu to the British Army of the Rhine and took my departure for London.
The prospects of early re-employment for any one of the rank of lieutenant-general seemed remote, as, after the Armistice, all appointments which were vacant or held by temporary commanders had been filled by men chosen from generals whose corps or armies at the front had been abolished; and a term of half-pay was the vista which extended in front of me. However, an inquiry made at the War Office on the subject of future prospects of employment elicited the opinion for it was nothing elsethat something might “turn up,” and a subsequent interview which I had with Mr Churchill, who was then Secretary of State for War, did not tend altogether to dispel that hope.
The term of half-pay proved to be briefer than anticipated, and on the 21st December one of the members of the Army Council mentioned to me that he believed that I was about to be offered the command in Mesopotamia. Ten days later I sent my acceptance of that appointment to the Military Secretary, from whom in the meantime I had received the customary communication.
Throughout the war my attention, like that of many of us on the Western Front, had been concentrated on the problem which faced us there, to the exclusion of much that was taking place in, what were called colloquially, “side-shows.” The occurrences in Mesopotamia, including General Townshend’s successful application of the principles of war and the capture of Baghdad by General Maude, were, of course, known to me; but the details of their campaigns, which had absorbed so many troops to the disadvantage of the decisive theatre in which we were engaged, as well the geography and character of the country in which they had been waged, were in no way familiar to me. Indeed I must confess to feeling little interest in either, for the impression that our commitments, there and in other countries far distant from the heart of the great struggle, were unsound and could lead to no decisive result, was predominant in my mind, and only grew stronger with the course of time.
Besides congratulations on my new appointment, I was the recipient of more than an equal number of condolences; and although no official hint was breathed that Mesopotamia might prove to be something other than the proverbial bed of roses, I had many private warnings which induced me to believe that those flowers would not be unaccompanied by their usual crop of thorns. I was resolved, however, that, large and exposed to external attack and internal disturbances as was the area of which I was soon to be the civil and military head, I would leave no stone unturned to hand it over undiminished on the termination of my appointment. Little did I then realise how six months later we should be fighting with our backs to the wall, with insurrection rife throughout the greater, and that the most thickly-populated, part of the country, and face to face with the very problem which had …
Aylmer L. Haldane
The Insurrection in Mesopotamia, 1920
William Blackwood & Sons
William Blackwood and Sons
The Insurrection in Mesopotamia, 1920
By Lieutenant-General
Sir Aylmer L. Haldane
G.C.M.G., K.C.B., D.S.O.
Author of ‘How We Escaped From Pretoria,’
‘A Brigade of the Old Army’
“’Tis trite, they are a lawless broody
William Blackwood and Sons
Edinburgh and London
1922
All Rights Reserved
