World War 1 Live
Posts about Halil Pasha written by ianmoore3000
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World War 1 Live
In Aleppo today Enver Pasha, Turkey’s paramount leader, meets with senior military figures including Djemal Pasha, the Proconsul of Syria, and Kemal Pasha, whose star has been on the rise since the Turkish victory at Gallipoli. Enver has a big plan to reveal. He is forming a new army group to be called Yildirim (Lightning Force), combining formations commanded by Kemal and Halil Pasha with German units. The overall commander will be none other than Germany’s Falkenhayn, the former German commander in chief who recently presided over the conquest of Romania.

Yildirim’s mission is a simple one: the recapture of Baghdad. Enver hopes that by doing so Turkey’s prestige in the Middle East will be restored. His audience are more sceptical, fearing that it would be foolhardy for Turkey to launch an offensive in Mesopotamia when the British are threatening to advance into Palestine. And the Turkish officers do not relish the prospect of being commanded by Falkenhayn. The Turks are increasingly resentful of the perceived arrogance of their German allies and suspect that Falkenhayn will be cut from the same cloth as the various German officers they have had to deal with. But Enver is insistent and with Germany providing considerable financial and military resources to Yildirim they are able to call the tune.

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Enver and Djemal visiting Jerusalem last year (Wikipedia)

While the British have suffered another reverse at Gaza, in Mesopotamia they continue to make progress. Maude has continued offensive operations since capturing Baghdad, not content to rest on his laurels. His goal is to push back Halil, the Turkish commander, so that his still powerful army does not present a threat to Baghdad. Maude is also concerned about Halil being reinforced by Turkish troops retreating from Persia, from which they have been expelled by the Russians. He may also want to prevent the Russians from expanding into upper Mesopotamia ahead of him.

Maude’s offensive halts today. With Fallujah on the Euphrates and Samarra on the Tigris now in British hands, he is confident that British possession of Baghdad is now secure.

Last year Britain suffered a humiliating defeat at Kut-al-Amara, where the Turks trapped a British army there and forced it to surrender. But now in Mesopotamia the fortunes of war appear to be once more favouring the British. They have received considerable reinforcements while Turkish numbers have been depleted by the need to send men to other fronts, notably Persia, the Caucasus and Palestine.

Maude, the British commander, has resumed the offensive. Fighting earlier this month appeared to be a replay of the failed attempts to raise the siege of Kut last year, with British attacks on strongly defended Turkish positions being repelled with heavy losses. But today Maude tries something else. While mounting diversionary attacks on the Turks at Sannaiyat and near Kut itself, he has a flanking force move upstream, where they manage cross the Tigris.

Now the Turkish forces in Kut are in danger of being trapped. Rather than face the same fate as the British last year, Halil Pasha orders his men to retreat towards Baghdad. Kut is abandoned to the British.

image source (Wikipedia)

The siege of Kut-al-Amara is over. General Townshend has surrendered unconditionally to the Turks under Halil Pasha. The Turks take some 13,000 prisoners. These include nearly 2,800 British soldiers, of whom 277 are officers, and around 10,500 Indians, of whom 204 are officers.

This is a great triumph for Halil and one he does not have to share. The overall commander of Turkish forces in Mesopotamia had been General Goltz, a German general. However Goltz died just ten days ago, officially of typhus, but there are rumours that he was poisoned at the behest of Turkey’s leaders. His death means that all the glory for Kut’s fall goes to Halil.

As Turkish troops enter the town there are some instances of fraternisation between them and the town’s erstwhile defenders. But the Turks also begin to extract vengeance on local civilians they suspect of treachery during the siege, with the first public executions of collaborators taking place. Turkish officers are also angry that the British have destroyed their cannons before surrendering, as they had hoped to seize these as trophies.

Many of Townshend’s men are in a desperate state thanks to the short rations they have been on. They are despondent at having to surrender but this dismay is tempered with hope, as they think their sufferings are coming to an end. They are wrong.

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Townshend and Halil Pasha (Wikipedia)

British Capitulation at Kut-al-Amara (National Army Museum; a painting by an unknown Turkish artist)

Indian prisoners (Die Welt)

In a last attempt to secure the freedom of the besieged British garrison of Kut-al-Amara, three British intelligence officers today meet with Turkish commander Halil Pasha. Colonel Edward Beach, Captains Aubrey Herbert and T. E. Lawrence have travelled up the Tigris from Basra. Now, blindfolded, they are taken through the Turkish lines to meet Halil.

The British officers make another attempt to bribe Halil to let the Kut garrison go free, but the Turkish commander is still not interested. They also appeal for him to show clemency to any of the townsfolk of Kut who have provided assistance to the British, but Halil curtly tells the three officers that the fate of the town’s civilians is an internal matter for the Turkish authorities. He gives no assurances that there will be no reprisals.

Halil has a request of his own. He reminds Beach and his colleagues that after their long siege the British and Indian troops in Kut are now very debilitated. They will have to be transported away from Kut but the Turks lack the ships to do this, so the prisoners will have to march, something many of them will be incapable of doing. Halil asks the British to supply boats that he can use to bring the prisoners up the Tigris to Baghdad, after which the boats would be returned to the British.

The British decline to supply the ships. Halil draws the conclusion that they are not too concerned with the fate of their prisoners. And if the British do not care about their fate, why should he?

And then abruptly Halil informs the British that the meeting is at an end. He has no more time to speak to them because he has important matters to attend to.

And indeed he does. What the British officers do not know is that Kut has already surrendered this morning. Halil has the occupation of the town and the disposal of the prisoners to oversee.

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Halil Pasha (Wikipedia)

In Mesopotamia the siege of Kut-al-Amara is drawing to a close. The British garrison has been on short rations for weeks and is now almost completely out of food. Attempts to raise the siege have failed and now imminent starvation obliges General Townshend to discuss surrender terms with the Turks.

Today Townshend meets Halil Bey, the Turkish commander of the besieging forces. The British consider the Turks to be a shifty and dishonourable people, so Townshend has been advised to appeal to Halill’s avarice and vanity in attempt to secure his army’s freedom. He asks Halil to allow his men to retreat from the town without being taken prisoner, promising that they will not take up arms against Turkey again. In return Townshend offers Halil 40 cannons to parade as trophies and one million pounds in cash.

Halil is disappointingly non-committal in response to Townshend’s offer. The British commander returns to Kut with the grim feeling that the Turks will not be satisfied with anything other than the unconditional surrender of his entire army.

map (National Army Museum, London)

An Anglo-British force in the Mesopotamian town of Kut-al-Amara is under siege by the Turks. British attempts to raise the siege have failed. Now Halil Bey, the Turkish commander, sends a messenger to the British under flag of truce. His message to General Townshend, the British commander, is a simple one. The situation of the British in Kut is hopeless, Halil Bey says, so Townshend should end the pointless suffering of his men by surrendering now.

Townshend rejects Halil Bey’s call to surrender. But his situation is indeed increasingly desperate. He sends a wireless message to his superiors, saying that the garrison’s food supplies will be exhausted by mid-April. He requests permission to begin surrender negotiations at that point if the relief force has not made it to him.

In Mesopotamia a British army is under siege in Kut-al-Amara. The besieging Turks are commanded by Colonel Nurredin, victor of the Battle of Ctesiphon… or they were until today. The overall commander of the Turkish forces in Mesopotamia is Germany’s General Goltz. Goltz and Nurredin are not close. The German was shocked by Nurredin’s unapproved attempt to storm Kut on Christmas Eve. Now Goltz manages to have Nurredin transferred from Mesopotamia and sent off to the Caucasus.

The new Turkish commander at Kut is General Halil, uncle of Enver Pasha, the Turkish war minister. Halil was also the Turkish commander at the Siege of Van and the veteran of various unsavoury actions against Armenian civilians.

Halil is not going to have any time to quietly settle into his new role. His first task is to prevent the British relief force of General Aylmer from raising the siege of Kut. After forcing the Turks to abandon positions at Sheikh Saad and al-Wadi, the British are now preparing to attack the Turks defending the Hanna defile, their last position before Kut itself.