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Wars and ConflictsΒ  permalink

The Forgotten Army

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Trumph (U1322147) on Wednesday, 16th November 2005

  Like so many other viewers, I have been deeply moved by The Last Tommy. However, WW1 was not just about the western front. I have been researching my family history and discovered one individual died in WW1. I spent months searching for details of him. Like most people I thought of places like Flanders & the Somme. Eventually I found a record of him buried in the North Gate Cemetery Baghdad. What was he doing there? This started a real history lesson for me. I found that he was involved in the seige of Kut-el-Amara. After 6 months of hell besieged on a curve in the Tigris the British surrendered to the Turkish army. The men were then force marched up through Mesopotamia (now Iraq) to Turkey where they were put to work on building a railway. Many, including my relative, died in captivity. After the war their remains were reinterred by the Red Cross to the major war grave cemeteries. These men suffered similarly to the Japanese POWs in WW2 but unlike them are completely forgotten. Perhaps the shame of defeat was too much for the British and it was hushed up. This part of our war history would make an interesting programme. Also the political intrigue after WW1 would possibly cast some light on the current mess our leaders have found themselves in with the Middle East. Is there a programme maker out there man enough to take this on?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Board_bryony (U2507444) on Wednesday, 16th November 2005

  like you i have beeen moved by the last tommy and i was taken a journey with them and it made me really think i doubt the producer is brave enought to take on the middle east i dont know?? !!!

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Wednesday, 16th November 2005

  The Mesopotamian campaign is indeed largely forgotten in the UK. I don’t have my source books to hand, so this is all from memory, and I apologise if I have mis-remembered any of it. The British (including a lot of Indian troops) were based around Basra and launched a very fast attack up the Tigris and Euphrates. The General (Townsend?) basically over stretched his forces, was driven back at Ctesiphon and retreated to Kut.
  
  He could have retreated further but felt his army was exhausted and he was promised a relief force wopuld arrive soon. In fact, there was a siege of some months as relief efforts were driven back and Townsend eventually surrendered. I think the RFC even tried, unsuccessfully, to drop supplies by air - the first time this had ever happened. This shows how desperate things were as the Be2c was a slow, two seater biplane which could not carry more than a couple of hundred pounds of supplies.
  
  The Turks were rather notorious for their treatment of prisoners (their treatment of the Armenians was possibly only exceeded by the Nazis' treatment of Jews in WW2) and many of the British troops who surrendered died in captivity, being already very weak from hunger. Townsend has often been criticised as he took advantage of the better treatment offered to him personally, rather than adopt the British stiff upper lip route of suffering alongside his men.
  
  Ultimately, the British were successful in the campaign under General Allenby (I think), taking Baghdad and driving the Turks out of Mesopotamia., but there is no doubt that the surrender of Kut was a terrible defeat and one which the British military is happy to forget.
  
  
  In terms of the troops' thoughts on the campaign, one thing I do remember is what is reported as being said when they reached Ctesiphon. "Some call it Tesiphon and some call it Sestiphon, but we call it Pissedupon". Sums up the Tommies' view nicely.

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