IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3256

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 July 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 26-28. The volume mostly relates to:

• Reinforcements and supplies for Force D, including: rations, weapons, ammunition, motor vehicles, river craft, chemicals, and animals
• Staff: recruitment, illnesses, leave, appointments, movements, and compensation
• Prisoners of war
• Updates from the Tigris line, especially at Sannaiyat [As Sina‘yat, also rendered as Sannayat]
• Updates from the Euphrates line, especially at Naisiriyah
• Updates from the Karun Line
• Discussions about the military and political situation in Persia [Iran] and opinions of Persian Government
• Threats to lines of communication
• Formation of new [military] companies and batteries
• Construction of railways
• Russian activities in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and Persia, especially at Kermanshah
• Communications with General Baratoff [Nikolai Nikolaevich Baratov]
• Defence of Tehran
• Turkish [Ottoman] forces: movements, attacks, command, dispositions, casualties, and use of gas bombs
• Dissemination of information (including propaganda) to press outlets and to the Cairo Bureau
• Discussions about the ‘Arab Revolt’ [against the Ottoman Empire]
• Discussions about the suggested reconciliation between Bin Rashid [Saʿūd bin ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Āl Rashīd, Emir of Ha‘il?] and Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Āl Sa’ūd]
• Activities of Sheriff [Al-Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī, Sharīf of Mecca].

The volume also contains:

• Distribution and composition of Force D, including details of: communication lines and ‘unattached’ units; units captured at Kut-al-Amarah [Al-Kut, also rendered as Kut]; and lists of General Officers and Brigade Commanders (ff 3-25)
• Appreciations [reports] from the Directorate of Military Operations summarising the situation in Mesopotamia in early July (ff 67-68) and on 10 July (ff 157-159)
• Organisational chart of the ‘Works Services’ [services relating to irrigation, engineering, water supply etc.] (f 79).

The vast majority of material in the volume dates from July 1916, with the exception of a small amount of material which dates from May and June 1916.