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The recapture of Mesopotamia - Kut Al Amara

24th February 2017

On 24 February 1917, British troops recaptured Kut-al-Amara as part of a new British offensive in Mesopotamia.

The 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 Britain and the Indian Empire, and the Central Powers, mostly of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite the setback at Kut-al-Amara, which you can read about here, the British position in Mesopotamia was far from hopeless. Indeed, with reinforced troop divisions and a new leader ,General F S Maude, British and Indian forces again advanced rapidly up the Tigris in early 1917.

Kut-al-Amara was recaptured on 24 February, and where the previous British advance had been checked in November 1915, was taken soon afterwards. On 11 March, British troops finally entered Baghdad. The path was cleared for an advance into northern Mesopotamia, towards the heart of the Ottoman empire in Anatolia. When the war with Turkey ended on 30 October 1918, British forces in Mesopotamia had reached as far north as the oil-rich district of Mosul, which was captured on 3 November.

During the four years of fighting in the region, more than 31,000 officers and men from the British and Indian armies had died in combat or from disease.

You can read more about the Mesopotamia Campaign in The National Archives OR listen to the first hand experiences of the soldiers who fought there, in a series of Podcasts recorded by the Imperial War Museum by following this link. The Podcasts are part of the Imperial War Museum's Voices of the First World War series.

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