Battle of Ctesiphon begins

On 22 November 1915 the British and Indian troops of General Charles Townshend attacked the Ottoman position at Ctesiphon, among the ruins of the ancient capital of the Parthians and Sasanians on the Tigris, about 35 kilometres from Baghdad. It was the last obstacle on the way to the city, on which Townshend’s division had been marching since 11 November. By early afternoon the British and Indians had taken the whole first line of Turkish trenches on the left bank of the river. Then, however, a Turkish counter-attack drove them back from in front of the second line, and in the evening it turned out that only remnants were left of the three infantry brigades.

Before the battle

Townshend had just under 14,000 men and 30 field guns. He did not know that facing him were not 11,000–13,000 Turks, as General John Nixon’s staff believed, but about 18,000 infantry with 52 guns. A few days earlier the fresh 51st Division, made up of Anatolian Turks, had reached Colonel Nureddin Bey. On 21 November Major Reilly, commander of Townshend’s air contingent, flew a reconnaissance of Baghdad and saw a large new camp over the Turkish rear. He turned back to take a closer look, and Turkish fire then damaged his engine. He landed in the desert and was taken prisoner. The map with the new camp marked on it fell into the hands of the Turks, not the British. On 21 and 22 November Townshend lost two more aircraft, including one shot down on the morning of the battle by the machine guns of the 51st Division.

The plan was a repeat of the manoeuvre at Kut. One column was to pin the Turkish centre at the Water Redoubt, two others were to outflank the Turkish left wing from the north, and the main column under General Walter Delamain was to attack two strong redoubts at the northern end of the line, which Townshend called the “Vital Point” (V.P.). On the evening of 21 November the columns set off on a night march from the camp at Lajj. The night was bright with moonlight and very cold.

The assault on V.P.

In the morning mist lay over the river, and the Turkish front facing General Hoghton’s column seemed empty. Townshend did not want to wait any longer and at 8.30 a.m. sent the columns of Generals Hamilton and Mellis on the outflanking move. Shortly before nine Delamain reported that the Turks were withdrawing and was given permission to attack. Gurkhas, Punjabis and Marathas crossed about four and a half kilometres of open plain under artillery fire, the last kilometre in rushes, without firing, covered by their own guns and machine guns. Shortly after ten, having broken through the barbed wire, they took V.P. The Turkish 45th Division, which held this sector, broke and fled.

The outflanking move, on the other hand, stalled. Hamilton’s brigade, the 76th Punjabis and the cavalry ran into the Turkish reserves and the 51st Division. At about ten they halted and dug in, and the cavalry had to fall back. Townshend rode up to V.P. and ordered Hoghton to move his brigade towards the captured redoubts. The march across the front, one to one and a half kilometres from the Turkish trenches, cost the 17th Brigade very many men, but together with Delamain’s units it then took further redoubts, including the Water Redoubt. Another unit captured eight Turkish guns. By 1.30 p.m. the Turks had abandoned the whole first line on the left bank. Part of the 38th Division fled in disorder to the village of Ctesiphon.

The Turkish counter-attack

At noon Nixon arrived at V.P. and was told by Townshend that everything was going well. Soon, however, Nureddin threw into the fight his last reserve from the 51st Division, supported by the fire of heavy guns on the right bank. The exhausted British units, which had lost most of their officers, were pushed back towards V.P. and abandoned the captured guns. Delamain with a few dozen signallers and orderlies, and then Hoghton with about 250 men from six battalions, still tried to push forward, but did not reach the second line. All day the gunboats were unable to get past a bend in the river, under fire from Turkish heavy guns.

Shortly after five in the afternoon, at sunset, Townshend broke off the fighting and ordered the troops to assemble at V.P. The units were so intermingled and depleted that they were being sorted out until late at night. According to the British official history, 4,511 men were lost that day, close to a third of the whole force. The wounded were brought to the captured redoubts in springless carts. Four field ambulances, prepared for about 400 wounded, had to deal with more than 3,500. There was a shortage of water and food, and the night was bitterly cold. The Turks, exhausted and even more depleted, withdrew to their second line. In the evening Nixon reported to India and London the capture of the position, eight guns and about 600 prisoners. Townshend, however, no longer had the strength for a second day of battle.