Battle of Hanna

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First Battle of Hanna
Part of the
Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I

A 1924 British map showing the first attack on Hanna.
Date21 January 1916
Location
Hanna defile, present-day Iraq
32°38′45″N 46°03′09″E / 32.6458795°N 46.0526276°E / 32.6458795; 46.0526276
Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents

 British Empire

 Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders
Fenton Aylmer

Ottoman Empire Halil Pasha

German Empire Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz
Strength
10,000 men[citation needed] (remnants of 2 divisions) 30,000 men[citation needed]
Casualties and losses
2,741 casualties[1] 503 casualties[1]
Battle of Hanna is located in Iraq
Battle of Hanna
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Location within Iraq

The First Battle of Hanna (

Ottoman Army
and Anglo-Indian forces.

Prelude

After the Ottoman Empire's entry into the First World War, Britain dispatched

Tigris River
, the commander of the Poona Division decided to defend the town.

On 15 December 1915, Ottoman troops had surrounded the Anglo-Indian force of about 10,000 men at the town of Kut-al-Amara. The British commander

Sir John Nixon began assembling a force of 19,000 men to relieve the besieged forces. This relief force, designated as the Tigris Corps, initially consisted of 2 divisions: 3rd (Lahore) Division and 7th (Meerut) Division, as well other units available in the region.[2]

This relief force, commanded by

Fenton Aylmer, suffered two setbacks during its initial January 1916 offensive (see the Battle of Wadi). After these defeats, the relief force (now reduced to around 10,000 men) was ordered once again to attempt to break through the Ottoman lines and continued its movement up the Tigris until it encountered 30,000 men of the Ottoman Sixth Army, under the command of Khalil Pasha, at the Hanna defile, 30 miles downriver of Kut-al-Amara.[3]

Battle

After a short bombardment on 20 and 21 January 1916, the 7th Division charged the Ottoman lines. In an advance across 600 yards of flooded no-man's land, the British sustained 2,700 casualties. The well prepared Ottoman positions, notably the well-sited machine gun nests, forced them to abandon the assault and withdraw the relief force to the base of Ali Gharbi.

Aftermath

Medical care was practically nonexistent, and the night after the attack saw freezing temperatures. Many British wounded suffered unnecessarily, and morale plummeted. The besieged garrison in Kut-al-Amara could hear the distant sound of the fighting relief force, and when it remained distant morale there suffered as well.[4]

Despite two more relief attempts, the garrison at Kut-al-Amara was forced to surrender to the Ottoman forces on 29 April 1916 (see Siege of Kut).

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-415-77099-6
    , p. 93.
  2. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2
    . p. 1047
  3. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2
    . p. 538
  4. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2
    . p. 1048
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