IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3267

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 16 and 31 December 1916. This is accompanied by appendices containing copies and extracts of these papers, which include: telegrams, memoranda, tables, and letters containing instructions and reports.

The volume mostly relates to:

• Reinforcements and supplies for Force D, including: rations, river craft, animals, and land transport
• Staff: appointments, pay grades, and illnesses
• Prisoners of war, particularly allegations of ill-treatment towards British prisoners of war
• Updates from the Tigris line, especially at Kut-el-Amarah [Al-Kut, also rendered in text as Kut-el-Amara], Sannaiyat [As Sina‘yat], and Baghailah [An Nu‘maniyah]
• Updates from the Euphrates line, especially at Nasiriyah [also rendered in text as Nasiriyeh]
• Updates from the Russo-Turkish [Russo-Ottoman] front, especially at Hamadan
• Turkish forces: movements; status; locations of particular Divisions; and distributions for week ending 26 December (ff 79-88)
• Discussions about the future operations of Force D
• Details of present operations, especially to secure the Hai [Nahr al Gharraf (river), also rendered in text as Shatt-al-Hai]
• Situation in Persia [Iran]: proposals to dispatch the Bushire [Bushehr] force to support the troops under Sir Percy Sykes; proposals to create a Bakhtiari [Bakhtiyārī] force to maintain order on the road between Ahwaz [Ahvaz] and Ispahan [Isfahan]; and dispatch of a military detachment to the oilfields
• Proposals to form a Cavalry Division in Mesopotamia
• Proposals to disband the Chinese Corps
• Intelligence concerning deserters, including information provided by captured deserters.

The volume also includes:

• Appreciations [reports] from the Directorate of Military Operations summarising the situation in Mesopotamia on: 17 December (ff 22-24); 24 December (ff 71-73); and 31 December (ff 124-126)
• Force D’s ‘Diary of Information’ for week ending 9 December (ff 60-68), organised into sections entitled: ‘Climate and Floods’; ‘Amarah [Al ‘Amarah] Revenues (Part IV)’; ‘Military Accounts (Part III)’; ‘Inland Water Transport’; ‘Note on Camels and Donkeys in the Shamiyah Desert between Nasiriyah and Zubair [Az Zubayr]’; ‘The arrival of Force “D” in Mesopotamia (not printed)’; ‘Prisoners of War’; and ‘Photographs’
• Distribution of troops on 3 December (ff 94-98)
• ‘Report on the siege of Kut-el-Amara. 5th December 1915 to 29th April 1916.’ by Lieutenant Harold Sydney Douglas McNeal, RFA [Royal Field Artillery] (ff 127-140). This report includes an appendix containing several communiqués to the troops by Major-General Charles Townshend, Commanding, 6th Division, which are all dated between 13 November 1915-10 April 1916. The appendix also includes a communiqué to the troops from Major E G Dunn, dated 11 March 1916
• Report entitled ‘Turkish Treatment of British Prisoners of War’, describing the aftermath of the siege of Kut-el-Amara (ff 140-146). The report includes a short section on events and conditions at Baghdad.

A summary and index to the contents of this volume can be found at the start of IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3266.

Whilst the volume contains copies of earlier material dating from 13 November 1915 onwards, the bulk of the material dates from December 1916.