IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3266

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 December 1916. This is accompanied by appendices containing copies and extracts of these papers, which include: letters, telegrams, notes, reports, tables, and memoranda.

An index to the contents of this volume can be found at folios 3-8 and a summary of the contents can be found at folios 9-10. The volume concerns:

• Appreciations [reports] and intelligence summaries from the Directorate of Military Operations
• Three diaries of information from 28 October 1916, 18 November 1916, 25 November 1916 covering: climate and floods; the base at Basrah [Basra]; inland water transport; civil post offices; ordnance; railways; Amarah [al ‘Amarah] revenues; medical reports; labour in the Ali-Gharbi [Ali Al-Gharbi] and Qurnah Qadha [al-Qurna] districts; prisoners of war; captions of photographs sent to the Chief of the General Staff, India
• Staff appointments
• Exchanges and treatment of prisoners of war
• Tribal relations in Mesopotamia
• Arrival of the Ahwaz [Ahvaz] column at Shustar [Shushtar]
• Progress on railway construction
• Military, medical, and food supplies
• The murder of notables at Hillah [al-Hillah] by the Turks [Ottomans] and an announcement that if the Turks advanced towards Nejaf [Najaf] a jehad [jihad] would be declared against them
• The threat of famine at Hamadan
• Requests that sheikhs [shaikhs] to seize Turkish supply caravans headed to Medina
• Provision of Chinese labourers
• Reports from the Royal Flying Corps of machines in service and pilots available
• Concerns about the military danger of the Bakhtiaris [Bakhtiyārī] to Force D
• Questions regarding the Turkish supply lines and depots
• Provision of horses, mules, and river craft
• A decision that nurses should be the only women allowed to proceed to Basrah
• Bombardment of Turkish position on the left bank of the Tigris
• Information about the distribution of Russian troops
• The British advance to the river Hai [Shaṭṭ al Gharraf].

The following tables appear:

• Distribution of Force D on folios 11-13
• Lines of communication on folios 14-17
• Composition of Force D on folios 18-25
• Units captured at Kut-al-Amarah [al-Kut] on folio 26
• List of General Officers and Brigade Commander with IEF D on folio 27
• Ration strength of Force D on 19 November on folios 36-37; on 26 November on folios 85-86
• Distribution of Medical Units in Force D on folios 130-132
• The state of supplies on 9 December 1916 on folios 133-134
• Distribution of the Turkish army on folios 137-146.