Reprint of a very rare book about a newly relevant campaign * A
fascinating story full of contemporary resonance * Written with authority by the
senior naval officer at the time
March 2007 sees the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad - not in 2003, but
1917. Few people realize that the latest American-led invasion was prefigured by
a poorly-resourced but ultimately successful British campaign during the First
World War. Where the Americans had overwhelming air superiority, the British
enjoyed a similar advantage - naval power. In fact, the army's advance up the
Tigris marshlands against heavy odds was only
possible thanks to the close artillery support of the Navy's gunboats and the
transport capacities of river steamers. Beginning as an ad hoc operation by the
Indian Army to secure Western oil supplies (only the first of many echoes of the
present), startling initial successes were followed by overweening ambition, the
disastrous surrender at Kut, a reassessment of strategy and the final triumphant
capture of Baghdad, which was quickly secured with little destruction and no
looting. In each phase, the Navy played a major role, eventually building
special shallow-draft vessels for the task, which were shipped out in kit form
and assembled at Basra. Familiar problems, like inter-tribal
rivalry, were faced from the outset, but with experienced colonial
administrators brought in from India, the British were well-equipped
to preserve civil order after military victory. Written with insight and
authority by the man who commanded the naval forces, it provides a fascinating
insider's view of an operation that did not always run smoothly but whose
results look all the more impressive when compared with the recent history of
Iraq. This is emphasised in a new
Foreword by Sir Jeremy Greenstock, until his resignation in 2004 the deputy to
Paul Bremer in the Coalition Provisional Authority.
