CHAPTER VIIKUT
The Siege of Kut.
On the 3rd the force moved into Kut-al-Amarah. Some sick and lightly wounded men rejoined, bringing the strength up to about 333. The 30th Brigade was detailed as reserve brigade and was allotted camping space in gardens on the edge of the town.
Work was at once commenced on the defences and pushed on with the greatest vigour possible. The Battalion was employed night and day digging the second line and communication trenches to the front line.
On December 5th the enemy began to close round Kut and opened with artillery fire and a few snipers. The Cavalry Brigade and greater portion of land transport crossed the river on their way to Ali Gharbi on the 6th, on which day the last steamer also left, and Kut was isolated. Work was continued on the defences to the limit of the men’s endurance. The enemy strength increased daily and he gradually closed in on the front line. Intense artillery bombardment was kept up for about two hours morning and evening when the mirage disappeared and enabled observation of fire to be made. On the 9th the enemy attacked the bridgehead on the right bank and captured it. Under cover of fire from the left bank it was temporarily reoccupied, but again captured by the Turks. After dark the bridge was cut adrift, the right bank having been occupied in force by the enemy.
The Turkish artillery fire had become so severe by the 10th that orders were issued to discontinue working in the open in daylight.
The usual routine for the reserve brigade was to move out at dusk, work till 1 a.m., when the units went into close reserve and support to the front line till dawn. They then returned to bivouac dug-outs on the outskirts of the town. After food, work was again commenced on communications, improving roads, second line trenches, etc. Return to bivouac for the evening meal preparatory to moving out again at dusk. Piquets along the river bank, to prevent entry or egress of enemy agents, were also found in turn by night and day by the reserve brigade.
On the afternoon of the 12th the Turks made a determined attack on the north-west sector and succeeded in establishing themselves within a hundred yards of the front-line trenches, although they failed to enter them. The same night the 76th moved up in relief to the front line. This relief of the 16th Brigade by the 30th Brigade, and vice versa, took place weekly after this date.
The front line taken over was only of an average of two and a half feet deep, with no sanitary arrangements, many dead being just thrown on the parapet or parados, and no direct communication trenches. The enemy was extremely active, pushing up his saps and opening new parallels. At night he was particularly active, making many attempts on the wire. These were all driven off by rifle and machine-gun fire and by bombs, while his working parties were harassed by fire whenever possible. Our men were kept employed to the utmost limit of their strength improving the trenches, etc. During this first tour of duty in the front line the Battalion lost severely, 2nd-Lieutenant Muirhead being mortally wounded, Jemadar Ram Sarup killed, Subadar Sundar Singh wounded, and about fifty men killed and wounded.
Throughout the siege casualties were of daily occurrence, there being no place within the defences which was not under rifle fire. The majority of theenemy artillery fire was directed at our artillery positions near the brick kilns, and on the town itself. The front line received very little artillery fire, and it was generally less strenuous in the front line than in reserve, the latter entailing constant working parties day and night, as well as having to be in close support on completion of the night’s work. The men only had the clothes in which they stood up and two blankets, and consequently soon became lousy, as there was practically no opportunity of washing, all water having to be drawn from the river, which was some distance away and subject to heavy sniping. On December 24th the enemy made a determined attack on the fort, which he entered, and was only ejected after severe hand-to-hand fighting at 3 a.m. on the 25th. That evening the 76th, which was due for relief, received orders to move into the fort during the night, where it took over the north and west faces and repaired and improved the defences. It was again relieved on the 28th and had twenty-fours’ much-needed rest.
January, 1916.
Rain commenced falling on January 6th and added much to the difficulty of keeping the trenches and communications in good order, and to the discomfort of the men. News of the relieving force was now received daily and gave all ranks a feeling of optimism as to the early raising of the siege. On January 21st the river overflowed into the enemy trenches, which in turn overflowed into ours, and no amount of work could stop it. A retirement was therefore ordered to the Middle Line, which had been prepared for occupation in such an eventuality, but was already two or three feet deep in mud and water. Ammunition, stores and kits were moved with great difficulty owing to the depth of mud and water in the front line and communication trenches, which was almost up to the men’s necks. One havildar was drowned trying to rescue ammunition. The cold was also extreme and the men, having no means of drying their clothes,suffered heavily from exposure, 3 British officers and 50 men having to report sick. The enemy to our front had been forced by the water to retire 1,500 yards and valuable firewood was retrieved from his trenches by parties from the Battalion, after inflicting many casualties on him as he retired across the open.
On the 29th horsemeat was first issued and all rations were much reduced.
February.
On February 16th a bund twenty feet thick was commenced all along the trenches in order to keep out the floods that were expected in March, and work on this continued nightly until it was finished.
Enemy aeroplanes also put in frequent appearances, but in only one case did their bombs cause any damage. Several schemes for sorties were prepared and the Battalion actually paraded for some, but they did not eventually take place. Great difficulty was met with in getting the men to eat horsemeat and they did not do so until very near the end of the siege; they did, however, find many kinds of edible weeds and grass to cook and supplement the scanty ration. The casualties in Kut up to the end of February totalled 3,000.
March.
On March 8th and 9th the Battalion, with others, was held in readiness to cross the river, and co-operate with the relief force, and great was the disappointment when its failure was made known. On the 10th rations were reduced to 10 ounces of barley and 4 ounces for parching, and all surplus animals were killed. On the 15th the enemy was again flooded out of his trenches. For some time past the whole British garrison had been employed daily in making bricks and collecting materials, and nightly in completing the flood bund. The flood arrived on the 16th and continued rising until on the 27th Kut was an island. On the 28th rations were reduced to 8 ounces, and the same day anew problem appeared in the percolation of water through the ground into the trenches from the flood outside. This gave serious anxiety and much hard work to counteract, nearly to the end of the siege. The men now began to become very weak and emaciated, but retained their spirits, in which all were much helped by the constant and distinctly heard bombardments of the enemy trenches by the relieving force, whose flashes and bursts could be easily seen at night.
Casualties of the 76th from the commencement of the siege to the end of March:—Officers: British—Died of wounds, 1; wounded, 2. Indian—Killed, 1; wounded, 4. Rank and File—Killed, 32; died of wounds, 17; wounded, 90; missing, 2; died of disease, 16. Followers—Killed, 2; died of wounds, 1; wounded, 3; total, 171.
April.
On April 9th rations were reduced to 7 ounces, on the 10th to 5 ounces, and on the 11th to 4 ounces, when the men at last overcame their prejudices and commenced eating horsemeat. Our aeroplanes were now dropping supplies daily, but were unable to carry sufficient to feed the garrison. On the 24th the gallant attempt of theJulnurwas made to run up river with supplies, and great was the disappointment to see her ashore at Magasis the next morning. Surrender now appeared inevitable, the reserve ration had been eaten and men were actually dying of starvation. Sentries could no longer stand at their posts, but sat down, and for about three weeks the Battalions in the trenches had not been relieved as the men were too weak to move their equipment, bedding and stores. It was indeed a pitiful sight to see the men weak and emaciated, but one was proud that the men of the Battalion kept up their morale and did their utmost to carry out any order given.
Owing to weakness everyone lay flat on his backwhenever possible in order to conserve his strength, and the line-sick were practically unable to move.
On April 28th and 29th the last emergency ration was consumed, and on the 29th the garrison surrendered after a defence of 150 days. Thus ended the siege of Kut, which had lasted for five months, a period of hardship and discomfort seldom equalled in the history of the British Army. The spirit, power of endurance and courage of the men of the Battalion in the face of never-ending digging and repairing of trenches, long hours of night duty, exposure to wet and bitter cold and starvation, is a wonderful proof of their soldierly qualities and a fine example to those who will follow them in the Battalion. The fact that the siege had ended in capitulation was no fault of theirs and, by holding on to Kut, they had prevented the Turkish Army from overrunning Lower Mesopotamia. The Battalion proceeded by steamer to the Turkish Camp at Shumran, where it bivouacked on the bank of the river. The men were in the last stage of exhaustion and more than fifty per cent. were suffering from an acute form of diarrhœa. Very little food was obtained in this camp, and almost entirely consisted of hard Turkish emergency biscuits. Many men of the garrison died of starvation or enteritis. Twenty-three men of the Battalion were passed as unfit to march by the Turkish doctors. The rest marched off for Baghdad on the 6th with the remainder of the Indian garrison; the story of their hardships and suffering has been related elsewhere. The following went into captivity and remained prisoners, with the exception of a few who escaped, for two and a half years:—
And about 240 Indian officers, non-commissioned officers and men.
Although the Battalion had only been actively engaged since April 12th, 1915, and had had several short periods of rest, the casualties from enemy action and sickness (mostly fever), during the seven months to November 5th, 1915, had necessitated the provision and absorption of drafts totalling 1,600 men or nearly twice the original strength of the Battalion.
For services during the siege two Distinguished Service Orders and nine Indian Distinguished Service Medals were subsequently awarded to officers and men of the Regiment.