British land at Fao

On 6 November 1914, the day after Great Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire, British and Indian troops landed at Fao (Al-Faw) at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab on the Persian Gulf. It was the first land operation of the Mesopotamian campaign.

From Bahrain to Fao

The landing was carried out by the 16th Indian Brigade of Brigadier-General Walter Delamain, the advance guard of Indian Expeditionary Force “D”. Since 23 October its soldiers had been waiting in transports off Bahrain for it to become clear whether Turkey would enter the war. After the Ottoman fleet’s attack on Russian ports and the Admiralty’s order to open hostilities against the Turks, the convoy sailed north to the roadstead off the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab.

Fao was a small settlement on a flat, marshy promontory. It was, however, of strategic importance. There stood an old Turkish fort with a battery of guns commanding the entrance to the river, as well as a telegraph station where the Ottoman line from the interior of Mesopotamia joined the British cable to Persia and India.

Bombardment and landing

After the approaches had been cleared of mines, the sloop HMS Odin shelled the Turkish positions and quickly silenced the four-gun battery by the ruins of the fort. According to some accounts the fort’s commander was killed in the bombardment. About 600 men went ashore: a detachment of Royal Marines from the battleship HMS Ocean and three infantry companies from the 2nd Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, the 117th Mahrattas and the 20th Punjabis, with two mountain guns. They landed a few kilometres above the fort, took the telegraph station and moved south.

The Turks put up no serious resistance. The fort’s garrison withdrew under fire from the ships, and the British took it almost without loss, capturing several guns. The telegraph cable cut by the Turks was quickly repaired. A company of the 117th Mahrattas remained at Fao as a garrison, and the rest of the landing force returned to the ships.

The landing itself revealed the problems that were to plague the British in Mesopotamia throughout the war. There was a shortage of lighters, tugs and boats with which to move soldiers, horses and equipment efficiently from the transports to the shallow, muddy shore.

Towards Abadan and Basra

On the same day the sloop HMS Espiegle, which had been guarding the river for several weeks, shelled and scattered Turkish troops entrenched opposite the island of Abadan. This was the site of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s refinery, the protection of which was the main aim of the whole expedition. Oil from Abadan was of enormous importance to Great Britain, because the Royal Navy was converting its newest ships from coal to oil.

Over the following days Delamain’s brigade sailed up the Shatt al-Arab and landed at Saniyah, on the Turkish bank, a few kilometres north of Abadan. Unloading in a strong wind and without suitable boats went on until 10 November. On the morning of 11 November several hundred Turks attacked the camp but were repulsed by the Mahrattas and Punjabis. Delamain did not pursue. He was waiting for the arrival of the main body of the force with General Arthur Barrett, with whom the British were to march on Basra.