Battle of Basra (1914)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Basra (1914)
partof=World War I, Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, Mesopotamian Campaign


caption=
date= December 10, 1914
place= Basra, Southern Iraq
territory=British Capture of al-Basra
result=British Victory
combatant1=flagicon|United Kingdom British Empire

*flagicon|India|British British India
combatant2=flag|Ottoman Empire
combatant3=
commander1=
commander2=
commander3=
strength1=
strength2=A few hundred
strength3=
casualties1=
casualties2=
casualties3=
notes=:"For other battles of Basra, see Battle of Basra."The Battle of Basra was a battle of World War I which took place in the city of Basra (modern-day Iraq) between British and Ottoman troops on December 10, 1914. The battle resulted in the British capture of Basra

Background

After the capture of Fao by the British, the Ottoman army began to converge on Basra. the British feared that the Ottomans were preparing to attack Fao, so they decided to defeat the Ottoman army and capture Basra. [ Birch, Henry T. "The Battle of Basra." World War, 1914-1918. (1919): 272. University of California. Extracts from a Regimental Officer's Diary. CA. 26 Mar. 2008 .] .

The Battle

On December 7, 1914, British troops began the march from Fao to Basra [ Corp., American. "Battle of Basra 1914." Encyclopedia Americana. University of Michigan, MI: American corp., 1965.] . The Ottomans sent cavalry to stop the British advance, and there were many battles between the British infantry and the Turkish cavalry between December 7 and 9. Despite this, the British arrived outside Basra on December 10. The Ottomans retreated from Basra, leaving only a few hundred troops to guard the city. The British attacked Basra and within an hour the remaining Turkish troops were defeated and the British occupied [ Popplewell , Richard. "British intelligence in Mesopotamia 1914-16." Intelligence and National Security 5 .2 (5 1990): 172. 26 Mar. 2008 ] .

Aftermath

Even though the British captured Basra, they did not accomplish their goal of destroying the main Turkish army, which had now retreated to Kut. The failure of the British to win a decisive battle would result in many more campaigns in Mesopotamia.

References