IOR/L/MIL/17/5/3268

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 January 1917. This is accompanied by appendices containing copies and extracts of these papers, which include: telegrams, tables, and memoranda containing instructions and reports.

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

• Reinforcements and supplies for Force D, including: river craft, weapons, rations, and animals
• Appointments of staff
• Lists of sick and wounded soldiers
• Prisoners of war
• Updates from the Tigris line, especially at Kut [Al-Kut, also rendered in text as Kut-al-Amarah] and near the Hai [Nahr al Gharraf, river]
• Updates from the Euphrates line, especially at Hillah
• Updates from the Caucasus region
• Turkish [Ottoman] forces: movements; re-organisations of troops; reports of supply problems; intelligence from deserters; estimations of strength and composition; distributions for week ending 2 January (ff 58-67) and for week ending 9 January (ff 128-137)
• Intelligence provided by General Headquarters, Egyptian Expeditionary Force
• Discussions regarding the placement of certain departments under control of the Director, Inland Water Transport
• Situation in Persia [Iran]: Sir Percy Sykes’s activity at Shiraz; status of operations at Bushire [Bushehr]; movements of German and Turkish forces at Kermanshah and Hamadan; planned Russian attack on Daulatabad [Dowlatabad]; necessity of securing control in southern Persia
• Activities of Ismail Bey [Ismā‘īl Beg], son of Ibrahim Pasha [Ibrāhīm Pāshā]
• Discussions about how to handle rupture between Ibn Rashid and his brother-in-law, Saud Ibn Saleh Al Subhan [Sa‘ūd bin Ṣāliḥ al-Sabhān, also referred to in text simply as Al Subhan]
• Status of railways construction
• Impact of weather conditions
• Proposals regarding Bin Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Āl Sa’ūd], Al Subhan, and the Shammar [tribal federation]
• Discussions about whether Force D’s operations should be offensive or defensive in nature.

The volume also contains:

• Distribution and composition of Force D, including details of: lines of communication; general organisation; units captured at Kut-al-Amarah [Al-Kut]; and names of General Officers and Brigade Commanders (ff 11-29)
• Appreciations [reports] from the Directorate of Military Operations summarising the situation in Mesopotamia on 7 January (ff 115-116) and on 14 January (ff 176-177)
• Three diaries of information from 16 December 1916 (ff 38-52), 23 December 1916 (ff 76-85), and 30 December 1916 (ff 153-160), covering: climate and floods; military accounts; aviation; a bomb raid against Shumran [Ash Shumrani] Aerodrome; medical affairs and statistics; port administration and river conservancy; prisoners of war; photographs; inland water transport; ‘Arab Labour’; nursing staff in Mesopotamia; lines of communication; the Anglo-Persian Oil Company; and stone in Mesopotamia
• Article on ‘British Hospitals in Basrah [Basra]’, author unknown (ff 90-95).

Whilst the volume contains copies of earlier material dating from October 1916 onwards, the bulk of the material dates from January 1917.