British 13th (Western) Division
Encyclopedia
The 13th Division was one of the Kitchener's Army
divisions
raised from volunteers by Lord Kitchener. It fought at Gallipoli
and in Mesopotamia
(including the capture of Baghdad
) and Persia
during the First World War
.
at Salisbury Plain in August 1914. During the formation of the division, Major-General Robert Kekewich
was appointed as its first commander. However, on 5 November 1914, he committed. suicide. Although initially meant for service in France, with the rest of the Kitchener New Armies, it was detailed to be sent to the Mediterranean as reinforcements for the Anglo-French expedition at Gallipoli.
on the Gallipoli peninsula in July 1915 in preparation for the August Offensive
that was launched on 6 August. Although all of its component infantry battalions arrived, the Division's artillery would not arrive for some months. Initially in reserve to the main breakout from Anzac by units of the New Zealand and Australian Division
, the 38th and 39th Brigades were sent in as reinforcements as the attack stalled.
The 7th Gloucesters and the 8th Royal Welch Fusiliers were sent to support the Wellington battalion of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade when it made the decisive assault on Chunuk Bair on the morning of 8 August.
Battalions of the division formed the core of the force (known as "Baldwin's Brigade" after the commander, Brigadier General
Anthony Baldwin) to capture Hill Q on 9 August but were not in position in time and so spent the day encamped on a small plateau beneath Chunuk Bair known as "The Farm". When the Turks counter-attacked on the morning of 10 August the division's troops on Chunuk Bair and at The Farm, about 3000 men, were decimated.
By September 1915, the 13th Division as a whole had suffered nearly 6,000 killed, wounded, or missing out of its original strength of 10,500. Of the thirteen battalion commanders, ten had become casualties. During September, Major-General Sir Stanley Maude had been assigned to take over the shattered 13th Division.
At the beginning of October the Division was moved from Anzac to Suvla Bay. Even though the Division was once again in reserve, it was still taking daily casualties from the Turkish Artillery. However, by this time the high command already realized that the Dardanelles Campaign was a lost cause. To Maude fell the task of making sure that the 13th Division slipped away in the night during the evacuation of the Suvla Bay positions. Maude, ever the methodical commander, would record,
After being evacuated from Suvla, the 13th Division was ordered to reinforce the British forces at Cape Helles. However, no sooner than the division had arrived through W Beach, than the decision to evacuate this last foothold. As the Division was preparing to fall back to the beaches, it was attacked by Turkish units in the late afternoon and evening of 7 January 1916. The main thrust of the attack, the first action under the Division's new commander, fell on the 39th Brigade, and in particular the 7th North Staffords defending Fusilier Bluff, who drove off the attackers.
The British evacuation from the Helles would occur on the night of 8–9 January 1916. Maude's division, fresh from its defensive victory began to fall back to Gully Beach at 5 p.m. By 1:15 a.m., the last detachments holding the division's trenches were on the beach waiting to be loaded onto the transports. However, at 2:30 a.m., Maude was informed that there would not be enough transports coming to Gully Beach to carry off the 13th Division. Maude and his headquarters staff, as well as the pickets that had been covering the beach site, had to make the two mile run in the dark to W Beach in order to be transported out of the Helles.
In evaluating the units under his command, General Birdwood
wrote that he considered the 13th Division was the best division in the Dardanelles Army. Following its withdrawal, the 13th Division was sent to Egypt to refit and reequip while higher command would decide where it was needed. Upon arrival in Egypt, the 13th Division was finally reunited with its artillery units, many of which had been stationed in Egypt while the rest of the division had been fighting in Gallipoli. By the time the Division was concentrated in Egypt, a need had already been identified for it. In February 1916, the division would be sent to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) to reinforce the Tigris Corps.
. It would take until the end of March for the entire division to make the journey from Egypt to Basra and then from Basra up to the Tigris to join the rest of the Tigris Corps.
Once in theater, the 13th Division would discover that the logistical situation in Mesopotamia was a mess. The port facilities at Basra were inadequate. Lacking good roads or a railway, virtually everything traveled by river. However, there were insufficient numbers of boats to keep the Anglo-Indian force which the 13th Division was joining adequately supplied. However, what the 13th Division did bring with it was the modern, heavy artillery, including howitzers.
The 13th Division, as the strongest unit available, became the spearhead the Tigris Corps' attempt to relieve the Kut garrison beginning on 6 April 1916. The division would fight at Hanna
, Fallahiya, and Sanniyat. After taking the first two, the 13th Division would be stopped by the Turkish forces under the overall command of Khalil Pasha at the Battle of the Sanniyat on 9 April 1916. During the fighting 5–9 April 1916, the 13th Division would see four of its soldiers be awarded the Victoria Cross. The first was Captain Angus Buchanan for his actions on 5 April 1916. On 9 April 1916, Lieutenant Edgar Myles
, Private James Fynn and Chaplain William Addison would all be awarded the Victoria Cross for saving wounded soldiers. In three days of battle, the division would be reduced to 5328 effectives.
Exhausted by its three days of fighting, the 13th Division became the reserve for the Tigris Corps during the next phase of the operation. On 16 April 1916, it supported the 7 (Lahore) Division on the right bank of the Tigris, as it captured the Bait Isa line, part of the Es Sinn defenses supporting the Sanniyat position on the opposite bank. Taking the Bait Isa line would expose the flank of the Sanniyat position to enfilading artillery and machine-gun fire. However, on the night of 16–17 April 1916, the Khalil Pasha committed his reserves to a counter-attack to retake Bait Isa. The counter-attack struck as the 13th Division was preparing to storm the Turk's next defensive position. Although the 13th Division and 7th (Lahore) Division hung on to their gains, the Turkish counter-attack had taken the steam out of the Anglo-Indian offensive.
With the 13th Division's ranks depleted, it was reduced to providing machine-gun and artillery fire for the 3rd (Meerut) Division when it made the final push to break the Turkish lines at the Sanniyat. On 22 April 1916, the division's artillery and machine-guns were used to support the 3rd (Meerut) Division's doomed attack.
On 29 April 1916, following the Tigris Corps' failure to break the Turkish siege and the sinking of the steamer Julnar as it attempted to steam upriver past the Turkish defenders, the Kut garrison surrendered. The 13th Division would spend the rest of the spring, summer, and early fall recovering from the fighting, and preparing for further operations to capture Baghdad.
, would be elevated to command of the division.
On 12 December 1916, the division would advance from Sheik Sa'ad on Kut. At the Second Battle of Kut
, the division would help drive the Turkish forces from the town. After a brief pause, the division would drive north, crossing the Diyala River, and finally participating in the capture of Baghdad on 11 March 1917.
Following the capture of Baghdad, the 13th Division fought a number of battles to consolidate British control over the Baghdad vilayet. This included fighting at Dellis Abbas (27–28 March 1917), Duqma (29 March 1917), Nahr Kalis (9–15 April 1917), the passage of the Adhaim (18 Apr 1917) and the Action of the Shatt al ‘Adhaim (30 April 1917). Despite the relative inaction of the British to advance further, the division also fought at the Second and Third Action of Jabal Hamrin (16–20 October 1917 and 3–6 December 1917).
's Dunsterforce
. The 40th Brigade was detached from the division, along with all of the division's artillery, to support the drive to Mosul and north.
s (as of April 1916):
38th Brigade :(G.O.C.: Brig.Gen. J.W. O'Dowda):
39th Brigade: (G.O.C. Brig.Gen. J. de S. Cayley):
40th Brigade : (G.O.C: Brig.Gen.A.C. Lewin)
Divisional Troops :
Divisional Artillery :
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
divisions
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
raised from volunteers by Lord Kitchener. It fought at Gallipoli
Battle of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...
and in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(including the capture of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
) and Persia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
1914 - 1915
The 13th Division was formed as part of the First New ArmyKitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
at Salisbury Plain in August 1914. During the formation of the division, Major-General Robert Kekewich
Robert Kekewich
Major General Robert George Kekewich CB was a Victorian era British Army officer.Kekewich was the second son of Trehawke Kekewich, of Peamore House, near Exeter, Devon, and the grandson of Samuel Trehawke Kekewich...
was appointed as its first commander. However, on 5 November 1914, he committed. suicide. Although initially meant for service in France, with the rest of the Kitchener New Armies, it was detailed to be sent to the Mediterranean as reinforcements for the Anglo-French expedition at Gallipoli.
1915: Gallipoli
The 13th Division had landed at AnzacAnzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
on the Gallipoli peninsula in July 1915 in preparation for the August Offensive
Battle of Sari Bair
The Battle of Sari Bair , also known as the August Offensive, was the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during First World War.The Battle of Gallipoli had raged on two fronts, Anzac and Helles, for three months since...
that was launched on 6 August. Although all of its component infantry battalions arrived, the Division's artillery would not arrive for some months. Initially in reserve to the main breakout from Anzac by units of the New Zealand and Australian Division
New Zealand and Australian Division
The New Zealand and Australian Division was formed at the start of the Battle of Gallipoli as a composite division under the command of New Zealand general Alexander Godley. At the start of World War I New Zealand had mustered insufficient infantry battalions to form their own division while...
, the 38th and 39th Brigades were sent in as reinforcements as the attack stalled.
The 7th Gloucesters and the 8th Royal Welch Fusiliers were sent to support the Wellington battalion of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade when it made the decisive assault on Chunuk Bair on the morning of 8 August.
Battalions of the division formed the core of the force (known as "Baldwin's Brigade" after the commander, Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Anthony Baldwin) to capture Hill Q on 9 August but were not in position in time and so spent the day encamped on a small plateau beneath Chunuk Bair known as "The Farm". When the Turks counter-attacked on the morning of 10 August the division's troops on Chunuk Bair and at The Farm, about 3000 men, were decimated.
By September 1915, the 13th Division as a whole had suffered nearly 6,000 killed, wounded, or missing out of its original strength of 10,500. Of the thirteen battalion commanders, ten had become casualties. During September, Major-General Sir Stanley Maude had been assigned to take over the shattered 13th Division.
At the beginning of October the Division was moved from Anzac to Suvla Bay. Even though the Division was once again in reserve, it was still taking daily casualties from the Turkish Artillery. However, by this time the high command already realized that the Dardanelles Campaign was a lost cause. To Maude fell the task of making sure that the 13th Division slipped away in the night during the evacuation of the Suvla Bay positions. Maude, ever the methodical commander, would record,
I do not think we left behind us £200 worth of stuff worth having. I got away all my guns and ammunition and we even destroyed the sandbags which we had to leave in the parapets by ripping them with bayonets or clasp knives to make them useless. The withdrawal was apparently a complete surprise for the Turks, for nothing happened on either night beyond the usual sniping and firing. In a way I could not help feeling a little sorry that they did not find us out, for my division had two strongly prepared lines, each with an excellent field of fire to fall back upon, and if they had only come on we should have given them a real good dressing.
After being evacuated from Suvla, the 13th Division was ordered to reinforce the British forces at Cape Helles. However, no sooner than the division had arrived through W Beach, than the decision to evacuate this last foothold. As the Division was preparing to fall back to the beaches, it was attacked by Turkish units in the late afternoon and evening of 7 January 1916. The main thrust of the attack, the first action under the Division's new commander, fell on the 39th Brigade, and in particular the 7th North Staffords defending Fusilier Bluff, who drove off the attackers.
The British evacuation from the Helles would occur on the night of 8–9 January 1916. Maude's division, fresh from its defensive victory began to fall back to Gully Beach at 5 p.m. By 1:15 a.m., the last detachments holding the division's trenches were on the beach waiting to be loaded onto the transports. However, at 2:30 a.m., Maude was informed that there would not be enough transports coming to Gully Beach to carry off the 13th Division. Maude and his headquarters staff, as well as the pickets that had been covering the beach site, had to make the two mile run in the dark to W Beach in order to be transported out of the Helles.
In evaluating the units under his command, General Birdwood
William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...
wrote that he considered the 13th Division was the best division in the Dardanelles Army. Following its withdrawal, the 13th Division was sent to Egypt to refit and reequip while higher command would decide where it was needed. Upon arrival in Egypt, the 13th Division was finally reunited with its artillery units, many of which had been stationed in Egypt while the rest of the division had been fighting in Gallipoli. By the time the Division was concentrated in Egypt, a need had already been identified for it. In February 1916, the division would be sent to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) to reinforce the Tigris Corps.
1916 - 1918 Mesopotamia
Relief of the Kut Garrison (March to April 1916)
After a brief refit in Egypt where the Division's battalions were being brought back up to strength, the Division was dispatched to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), as reinforcements for Anglo-Indian forces attempting to relief the siege of KutSiege of Kut
The siege of Kut Al Amara , was the besieging of 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. Its known also as 1st Battle of Kut. In 1915, its population was around 6,500...
. It would take until the end of March for the entire division to make the journey from Egypt to Basra and then from Basra up to the Tigris to join the rest of the Tigris Corps.
Once in theater, the 13th Division would discover that the logistical situation in Mesopotamia was a mess. The port facilities at Basra were inadequate. Lacking good roads or a railway, virtually everything traveled by river. However, there were insufficient numbers of boats to keep the Anglo-Indian force which the 13th Division was joining adequately supplied. However, what the 13th Division did bring with it was the modern, heavy artillery, including howitzers.
The 13th Division, as the strongest unit available, became the spearhead the Tigris Corps' attempt to relieve the Kut garrison beginning on 6 April 1916. The division would fight at Hanna
Battle of Hanna
The First Battle of Hanna was a World War I battle fought on the Mesopotamian front on 21 January 1916 between Ottoman Army and Anglo-Indian forces.-Prelude:...
, Fallahiya, and Sanniyat. After taking the first two, the 13th Division would be stopped by the Turkish forces under the overall command of Khalil Pasha at the Battle of the Sanniyat on 9 April 1916. During the fighting 5–9 April 1916, the 13th Division would see four of its soldiers be awarded the Victoria Cross. The first was Captain Angus Buchanan for his actions on 5 April 1916. On 9 April 1916, Lieutenant Edgar Myles
Edgar Kinghorn Myles
Edgar Kinghorn Myles VC DSO was a British recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
, Private James Fynn and Chaplain William Addison would all be awarded the Victoria Cross for saving wounded soldiers. In three days of battle, the division would be reduced to 5328 effectives.
Exhausted by its three days of fighting, the 13th Division became the reserve for the Tigris Corps during the next phase of the operation. On 16 April 1916, it supported the 7 (Lahore) Division on the right bank of the Tigris, as it captured the Bait Isa line, part of the Es Sinn defenses supporting the Sanniyat position on the opposite bank. Taking the Bait Isa line would expose the flank of the Sanniyat position to enfilading artillery and machine-gun fire. However, on the night of 16–17 April 1916, the Khalil Pasha committed his reserves to a counter-attack to retake Bait Isa. The counter-attack struck as the 13th Division was preparing to storm the Turk's next defensive position. Although the 13th Division and 7th (Lahore) Division hung on to their gains, the Turkish counter-attack had taken the steam out of the Anglo-Indian offensive.
With the 13th Division's ranks depleted, it was reduced to providing machine-gun and artillery fire for the 3rd (Meerut) Division when it made the final push to break the Turkish lines at the Sanniyat. On 22 April 1916, the division's artillery and machine-guns were used to support the 3rd (Meerut) Division's doomed attack.
On 29 April 1916, following the Tigris Corps' failure to break the Turkish siege and the sinking of the steamer Julnar as it attempted to steam upriver past the Turkish defenders, the Kut garrison surrendered. The 13th Division would spend the rest of the spring, summer, and early fall recovering from the fighting, and preparing for further operations to capture Baghdad.
Capture of Baghdad (December 1916 to March 1917)
Between May and December 1916, the 13th Division would refit and re-equip in preparation for the drive northward to capture Baghdad. In July, Major-General Maude would be elevated to command the expanded and re-named Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. In his place, Brigadier General Cayley, formerly the commander of the 39th Brigade39th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The British 39th Infantry Brigade was a military formation of the British Army that was first established during World War I and reformed in the 1950s.-World Wars:...
, would be elevated to command of the division.
On 12 December 1916, the division would advance from Sheik Sa'ad on Kut. At the Second Battle of Kut
Second Battle of Kut
The Second Battle of Kut was fought on February 23, 1917, between British and Ottoman forces at Kut, Mesopotamia .The battle was part of the British advance to Baghdad begun in December 1916 by a 50,000-man British force organized in two army corps.The British, led by Frederick Stanley Maude,...
, the division would help drive the Turkish forces from the town. After a brief pause, the division would drive north, crossing the Diyala River, and finally participating in the capture of Baghdad on 11 March 1917.
Following the capture of Baghdad, the 13th Division fought a number of battles to consolidate British control over the Baghdad vilayet. This included fighting at Dellis Abbas (27–28 March 1917), Duqma (29 March 1917), Nahr Kalis (9–15 April 1917), the passage of the Adhaim (18 Apr 1917) and the Action of the Shatt al ‘Adhaim (30 April 1917). Despite the relative inaction of the British to advance further, the division also fought at the Second and Third Action of Jabal Hamrin (16–20 October 1917 and 3–6 December 1917).
Advance to Mosul (February 1918 to October 1918)
Along with the rest of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, the 13th Division would remain in the Baghdad vilayet for the rest of 1917 and the early part of 1918. The division would fight its last engagement as a whole at the Action of Tuz Khurmatli in 29 April 1918. In July 1918, the 39th Brigade would be detached from the division and be assigned to General Lionel DunstervilleLionel Dunsterville
General Lionel Charles Dunsterville CB, CSI was a British general, who led the so-called Dunsterforce across present-day Iraq and Iran towards Caucasus and oil-rich Baku.-Biography:...
's Dunsterforce
Dunsterforce
Established in 1917, Dunsterforce was an Allied military mission of under 1,000 Australian, New Zealand, British, and Canadian troops , accompanied by armoured cars, deployed from Hamadan some 350 km across Qajar Persia. It was named after its commander General Lionel Dunsterville...
. The 40th Brigade was detached from the division, along with all of the division's artillery, to support the drive to Mosul and north.
Occupation and Demobilization
With the conclusion of the war, the 13th Division remained in the Mosul area on occupation duties until evacuated at the end of 1918. In 1919, two of the division's battalions, 6th East Lancashire and 6th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, were transferred to the Army of Occupation. The rest of the division proceeded to Amara where it was demobilized on 17 March 1919.Order of battle
The division consisted of the following brigadeBrigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s (as of April 1916):
38th Brigade :(G.O.C.: Brig.Gen. J.W. O'Dowda):
- 6th Battalion, the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
- 6th Battalion, the East Lancashire RegimentEast Lancashire RegimentThe East Lancashire Regiment was, from 1881 to 1958, an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of two 30th and 59th Regiments of Foot with the militia and rifle volunteer units of eastern Lancashire...
- 6th Battalion, the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment)
- 6th Battalion, the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
39th Brigade: (G.O.C. Brig.Gen. J. de S. Cayley):
- 9th Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- 7th Battalion, the Gloucestershire Regiment
- 9th Battalion, the Worcestershire RegimentWorcestershire RegimentThe Worcestershire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 29th Regiment of Foot and the 36th Regiment of Foot....
- 7th Battalion, the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment)
40th Brigade : (G.O.C: Brig.Gen.A.C. Lewin)
- 8th Battalion, the Cheshire RegimentCheshire RegimentThe Cheshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division.The regiment was created in 1881 as part of the Childers reforms by the linking of the 22nd Regiment of Foot and the militia and rifle volunteers of Cheshire...
- 8th Battalion, the Royal Welch FusiliersRoyal Welch FusiliersThe Royal Welch Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and the imminent war with France...
- 4th Battalion, the South Wales Borderers
- 5th Battalion, the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment)
Divisional Troops :
- 8th Battalion, the Welch RegimentWelch RegimentThe Welch Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1969.-History:It was formed as the Welsh Regiment during the Childers Reforms of 1881, by the amalgamation of the 41st Regiment of Foot and the 69th Regiment of Foot...
- 88th Company Royal Engineers
- 72nd Company Royal Engineers
Divisional Artillery :
- 66th Brigade, RFA
- D/69th Battery (Howitzers), RFA
- Heavy Brigade, R.G.A. (77th Heavy Battery and 1 section 1/104th Heavy Battery)
- 26th (Jacobs) Mountain Battery (joined 23 October 1917, left 10 August 1918)
Commanders of the 13th Division
| August 1914–November 1914 | Maj.Gen. Robert Kekewich Robert Kekewich Major General Robert George Kekewich CB was a Victorian era British Army officer.Kekewich was the second son of Trehawke Kekewich, of Peamore House, near Exeter, Devon, and the grandson of Samuel Trehawke Kekewich... |
| June 1915 - September 1915, | Lt.Gen. Rt.Hon. Sir F.C. Shaw |
| September 1915 - July 1916 | Maj.Gen Sir Frederick Stanley Maude Frederick Stanley Maude Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude KCB, CMG, DSO was a British commander, most famous for his efforts in Mesopotamia during World War I and for conquering Baghdad in 1917.-Family:... |
| July 1916 - March 1919(?), | Brig.Gen. J. de S. Cayley |
Campaigns
- Battle of GallipoliBattle of GallipoliThe Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...
- Battle of Sari BairBattle of Sari BairThe Battle of Sari Bair , also known as the August Offensive, was the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during First World War.The Battle of Gallipoli had raged on two fronts, Anzac and Helles, for three months since...
6-10 Aug 1915.- Battle of Chunuk BairBattle of Chunuk BairThe Battle of Chunuk Bair was a World War I battle fought between the Ottoman defenders and troops of New Zealand and Britain. Allied units that made the summit of Chunuk Bair early a.m...
- Russell’s Top. 7 Aug 1915.
- Battle of Chunuk Bair
- Hill 60. 21 Aug and 27-28 Aug 1915.
- Evacuation of Suvla. 19-20 Dec 1915
- Last Turkish attack at Helles. 7 Jan 1916.
- Evacuation of Helles. 7-8 Jan 1916.
- Battle of Sari Bair
- Mesopotamian campaignMesopotamian CampaignThe Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, mostly troops from the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.- Background :...
- Siege of KutSiege of KutThe siege of Kut Al Amara , was the besieging of 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. Its known also as 1st Battle of Kut. In 1915, its population was around 6,500...
- Capture of Hanna and Fallahiya. 5 Apr 1916.
- Second attack on Sannaiyat. 9 Apr 1916.
- Action of Bait ‘Isa. 17-18 Apr 1916.
- Third attack on Sannaiyat. 22 Apr 1916.
- Fall of BaghdadFall of Baghdad (1917)The British Indian Army fought the Ottoman Empire in the First World War. On 11 March 1917, after a series of defeats, it captured Baghdad after a two-year campaign.-Arrival of General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude:...
- Capture of the Hai Salient. 25 Jan-5 Feb 1917.
- Capture of the Dahra Bend. 9-16 Feb 1917.
- Passage of the Diyala. 7-10 Mar 1917.
- Occupation of Baghdad. 11 Mar 1917.
- Siege of Kut
- Dellis Abbas. 27-28 Mar 1917.
- Duqma. 29 Mar 1917.
- Nahr Kalis. 9-15 Apr 1917.
- Passage of the ‘Adhaim. 18 Apr 1917.
- Action of the Shatt al ‘Adhaim. 30 Apr 1917.
- Second action of Jabal Hamrin. 16-20 Oct 1917.
- Third action of Jabal Hamrin. 3-6 Dec 1917.
- Tuz Khurmatli. 29 Apr 1918.