IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3250

The volume contains a chronological list of brief summaries of papers relating to the activities of the Indian Expeditionary Force D (also known as the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force) between 1 and 15 April 1916. This is accompanied by appendices containing copies and extracts of these papers, which include: telegrams, letters, and memoranda containing instructions and reports.

A summary of the contents of this volume can be found at folios 3-6. The volume mostly relates to:

• Reinforcements and supplies for Force D, including: food, materials, ammunition, river craft (especially hospital boats), hospitals, weapons, nurses, chemicals, animals, and tobacco
• Staff: appointments, illnesses, salaries, and promotions
• Arrangements for moving the sick and wounded out of Mesopotamia
• Prisoners of war
• Updates from the Tigris line, especially around Falahiyah [Fulayfilah] and Sannaiyat [As Sina‘yat], and particularly regarding the impact of weather and flooding
• Updates from the Euphrates line
• Proposals to advance on Baghdad and to send a force to Bandar Abbas [Bandar-e ʻAbbas]
• Operations in the Caucasus region
• Status of German and Turkish [Ottoman] troops, particularly in Persia [Iran] and Syria
• Telegraph lines and communications
• General Charles Townshend’s comments on the earlier battle at Kut [Al-Kut]
• Discussions about deploying ‘Arab’ agents into Mesopotamia for political purposes (f 28)
• Information given to the press in England and India
• Activities of Ibn Rashid of Shammar [Saʿūd bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Rashīd, Emir of Ha‘il]
• Intelligence concerning the Wali of Pusht-i-Kuh
• Details relating to Force D’s base at Basrah [Basra].

The volume also includes:

• Appreciations from the Directorate of Military Operations summarising the situation in Mesopotamia on 3 April (ff 24-25) and 10 April (ff 95-96)
• Distributions of Force D on 26 March (ff 59-63)
• Turkish distribution in Mesopotamia and the Turko-Persian frontier (f 108)
• Report by Lieutenant-Colonel Sydney Price James on the establishment of a Central Sanitary Section at Amarah, with comments by the Director, Medical Services, IEF “D” (ff 151-158)
• Memoranda and correspondence on delays to the River Conservancy Works in Mesopotamia (ff 159-170).

The vast majority of material in the volume dates from April 1916, with the exception of a small amount of material which dates from February and March 1916.