Battle of Qurna
Battle of Qurna | |||||||||
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Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I | |||||||||
![]() This map shows the initial British attack and capture of Basra, 1914. | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
2,100 | 1,000 | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
281 | 1,000 | ||||||||
Approximate figures |
The Battle of Qurna, (3 to 9 December 1914) was between British forces and Ottoman forces that had retreated from Basra, which they lost at the Battle of Basra (1914) during the Mesopotamian campaign of World War I.
Background
By
After the defeat at Basra, the Ottomans decided to take up a defensive position at the small town of Qurna to the north. Since both the Tigris and Euphrates join at Qurna, it made for an ideal position to make a stand, since the British would have to cross the two rivers.[1] The Ottomans had about 1,000 men under the command of Colonel Subhi Bey, the Wali or Governor of Basra. The British had about 2,100 under Major General Charles Irwin Fry.
The battle
On 3 December, the Ottomans were dug in at Qurna. A British force of two Indian battalions; the
Aftermath
Despite being more of a skirmish than a battle, the Battle of Qurna is important because it gave the British a secure front line in Southern Mesopotamia. Basra was secure, and the oil refineries at Abadan in Persia were safe.[9] However, the Ottomans would try again at Shaiba and the British would later launch an offensive to take Baghdad.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Meso-WW1-2.jpg/200px-Meso-WW1-2.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ "The Capture of Qurna, 1914"The Capture of Qurna, 1914 Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 34.
- ^ "The Capture of Qurna, 1914">The Capture of Qurna, 1914 Archived August 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 35.
- ^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 35–36.
- ^ Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2010), 63.
- ^ Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard Univ Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2010), 63.
- ^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 36.
- ^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914–1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 36.
Further reading
- Barker, A. J. (1967). The Bastard War: The Mesopotamian Campaign of 1914–1918. New York: Dial Press. OCLC 2118235.
- Moberly, Frederick (2011). The Campaign in Mesopotamia 1914–1918: History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. 1. Uckfield (East Sussex (Grande-Bretagne)): The Naval & Military Press. ISBN 9781845749422.
- Townshend, Charles (2011). Desert Hell: The British Invasion of Mesopotamia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674059993.