9th April 1916, Mesopotamia

Fighting in World War 1 and the associated loss of life is most often associated with France and Belgium and now with the war cemeteries in Normandy. The 9th April 1916 is another day that reminds us that the war was also being fought in other parts of the world.

With the entry of Turkey into the war at the end of 1914 it was decided to send an Expeditionary Force from India to Mesopotamia. The Force was headquartered in Basra with the task of providing security in the Persian Gulf and to protect the Admiralty's oil supplies. What became known as the Mesopotamian campaign was fought in the Middle East between allied troops from Britain and India and what was then called the Ottoman Empire.
At first all went well, the Turkish regular army and Arab irregulars being defeated at every turn but the terrain was difficult with movement restricted to the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and then only when the water levels were propitious. Allied troops advanced as far as Baghdad but opposition forces by this time were too large and a retreat was forced to a defensive position at Kut where, in late November 1915, began the siege of Kut and the extended efforts of relief Allied Forces to relieve that siege. Fierce battles took place between January and April 1916 with thousands of men on both sides killed in pursuit of their opposing goals.

The 5th Wiltshire Regiment were part of the relief expeditionary Force involved in the first Battle of Kut which started on the 5th April 1916. 4 men from Corsham were among the 23 men killed from the Regiment on the 9th April 1916 as well as another 37 men missing and 161 wounded. The war diary for that day records that the Regiment was dug in just 650 yards from the enemy. Private Frederick Hemmings from Corsham, Private Stanley Mizen from Corsham, Private Harry West from Neston and Private William Sutton from Corsham were all killed on that day and are all commemorated on the Basra Memorial in what is now known as Iraq.

All of the relief efforts at Kut were ultimately unsuccessful and the Allied Forces surrendered on the 29th April 1916 after a siege lasting 147 days. Over 23,000 men were killed or wounded in the relief effort and 13,000 men were taken as prisoners of war.

Kevin Gaskin
(With thanks to John Jones from Neston for his contribution and particularly reference to the 5th Wiltshire Regiment).