British retake Kirkuk

On the evening of 25 October 1918 the British column of Brigadier-General A. C. Lewin entered Kirkuk for the second time that year. All day the Turkish garrison had held its positions in front of the town, and at dusk it began to withdraw north-west, towards the crossing of the Little Zab at Altun Kupri. According to the British official history (F. J. Moberly, The Campaign in Mesopotamia, vol. IV), Lewin’s troops, which had kept in close touch with the enemy all day, occupied the town and a line north of it after dark. The British chronology of the war records under this date: “Kirkuk reoccupied by British troops”, referring back to 24 May, when the British left the town they had taken at the beginning of May.

This time Kirkuk was not the main objective. Two days earlier General Alexander Cobbe’s I Corps had advanced up the Tigris against the Turkish Tigris Group covering Mosul. Lewin’s column, detached from III Corps, covered its right flank. It was to advance through Tauq and Kirkuk on Altun Kupri and prevent the units of the Turkish 2nd Division stationed around Kirkuk from moving down the Little Zab to help the troops on the Tigris. The Turks had already managed to shift part of this division to the Tigris. Lewin, commander of the 40th Infantry Brigade, had two battalions (the 4th South Wales Borderers and the 5th Wiltshires), the 12th Cavalry less one squadron, six field guns, sappers, a battery of light armoured cars, and aircraft of No. 30 Squadron RAF and a flight of No. 72 Squadron.

The column set out earlier than the troops on the Tigris. On 18 October, after a night march from Tuz Khurmatu, it took Tauq, from which the Turkish cavalry withdrew, leaving 27 prisoners. On 23 October Lewin entered Taza Khurmatu without a fight and pushed a Turkish detachment back towards Kirkuk. On 24 October he halted before the town, where the Turks showed considerable strength: according to the later statements of prisoners, about 150 sabres, 1,900 rifles and 8 guns. Lewin’s task was only to hold them in place, so he did not attack and did not expose himself to heavy losses. He confined himself to keeping close contact with the enemy. Moberly does not explain what prompted the Turks to withdraw on 25 October in particular. The same day on the Tigris British cavalry pushed the Turkish units back across the Little Zab and off the whole left bank of the river.

On 26 October the column set off after the Turks towards Altun Kupri. The cavalry and armoured cars caught up with the Turkish rearguard about 16 kilometres short of the town, but further on the way was barred by a river the cars could not cross, and the column halted for the night about 27 kilometres north of Kirkuk. Supplies were short, so in the following days Lewin could send forward only cavalry, armoured cars and guns. Under the command of Colonel Deane of the 12th Cavalry, the same regiment that had been the first to enter Kirkuk in May, they harassed the Turks defending the bridgehead at Altun Kupri. They fulfilled their task: the Turkish 1st Regiment and a battalion of the 18th Regiment, pinned down by Lewin, did not join the troops on the Tigris, which on 30 October capitulated at Sharqat. At the end of October they were already withdrawing from Altun Kupri towards Mosul. On the morning of 31 October, the day the armistice with Turkey came into force, Lewin occupied Altun Kupri without a fight. Unlike in May, this time the British stayed in Kirkuk for good.