‘On to Baghdad’: The Road to Captivity
ChrestomatherGeneral Charles Townshend, the commander of the British-Indian force at Kut al-Amara, surrendered to the Ottoman commander, Khalil Pasha, on the 29th of April 1916. The force…
‘On to Baghdad’: Surrender at Kut al-Amara
After the first week of November 1915, some 10,000 British and Indian troops were pinned down in the town of Kut al-Amara in Iraq, by an Ottoman…
‘On to Baghdad’: The Siege of Kut al-Amara
After its defeat at the battle of Ctesiphon, in November 1915, the British-Indian 6th Division, retreated southwards, towards Kut al-Amara. During the retreat the usual order of battle…
On to Baghdad: The Battle of Ctesiphon
Sisir Sarbadhikari and his fellow volunteers of the Bengal Ambulance Corps arrived in Iraq on July 9, 1915. In the following months General Townshend’s British-Indian force pushed steadily…
On to Baghdad: From Calcutta to Aziziya
Sisir Sarbadhikari § moved into the Bengal Ambulance Corps barracks, at Alipore, on April 1st 1915. The volunteers' training was completed in three months at the end of which…
On to Baghdad: Joining Up
Sisir Sarbadhikari's On to Baghdad has much in common with Kalyan-Pradeep. Sarbadhikari’s war experiences in Mesopotamia and his time in captivity overlapped closely with Capt Kalyan Mukherji’s. They were in…
On to Baghdad: 1
Sisir Sarbadhikari’s Abhi Le Baghdad (On to Baghdad) is in my view, one of the most remarkable war memoirs of the 20th century. In no small…