In Turkey, the 108th anniversary of the Victory of the Ottoman Army in the battle of the city of Kut-El Amara (El-Kut) in the east of Iraq.
is celebrated.
The battle of Kut-El Amar, ended with a decisive victory of the Turkish army on the Iraqi front on April 29, 1916, is considered one of the main battles of the First World War. This victory, achieved by the surrender of the British troops under the command of Major General Charles Vera Ferrers Townsenda, is the second “greatest victory” during the First World War after Chanaccale.
Military documents, essays and correspondence of commanders about the battle of Kut-El Amar, contained in the archives of the General Staff of Turkey, shed light on many details of victory over the British army of 13,300 people.
The battle described by the British historian James Morris as “the most humiliating surrender in the military history of Great Britain,” began with the siege of the city of the British and their allies, which stood near the city of Kut-El Amar on the banks of the Tiger River in the east of Iraq and ended with the liberation of the city Ottoman army and capturing the remnants of the British troops.
British military historians believe that the image of the British Empire among Muslim subjects of the Middle East and South Asia, which fell after the defeat at Chanackale and increased after the rapid capture of Baghdad, dispelled after the defeat at Kut-El Amar (east of modern Iraq) in 1916) . In their opinion, the biggest mistake of the British was the underestimation of the relics of the Ottoman army.
The Mesopotamian campaign, begun by the British army on November 6, 1914 on the territory of the Ottoman state in the hope of protecting the oil deposits of Basra and the pipeline in Abadan, encountered an unexpected barrier, in the person of the siege of El-Kut, which began on December 7, 1915.
British troops, led by General Charles Vera Ferrers Townsend, began movement in the direction of Basra, then, expanding their targets, went to Baghdad. However, the Turkish troops under the command of Nuraddin-Pasha near Ktesiphon blocked the path to them and forced them to retreat. The British went south and became the defense of El-Kut. This siege of Nudddin Pasha led to the surrender of the British on April 29, 1916.
Attempts to send reinforcements to help the besieged under the command of Townsends were prevented thanks to the actions of Nudddin Pasha, and then the Khalil Pasha’s commander of the Turkish army.
Halil-Pasha held the British army for five months, after which, according to British sources, “277 British officers, 204 Indian soldiers, 2,592 British and 6,988 German soldiers, as well as 3,248 accompanying them, surrendered. Indian civilians. “
The defeat of El Kuta became the most humiliating for Britain after the defeat of General Kornwallis in 1781 during the war for US Independence.