End of the fighting for Qurna

On 8 December 1914 the fighting for Qurna was decided. British and Indian troops crossed the Tigris above the town and placed themselves across the Turkish garrison’s line of retreat. It was the last day of the fighting that had begun on 4 December. That same night the Turks sent envoys to the British.

The day before, Brigadier-General Charles Fry, who had arrived with reinforcements, had retaken from the Turks the village of Muzaira on the left bank of the Tigris and reached the river opposite Qurna. During the night news came that some 1,500 Turks had left northwards by steamer, while about 800 men with four guns remained in the town. Fry decided to force the river.

The crossing

In the morning the 104th Wellesley’s Rifles set off to reconnoitre up the Tigris along the left bank, while the 7th Rajputs and the 120th Infantry occupied the palm groves opposite the town to stop any Turkish crossing. The launch Lewis Pelly, sent to scout, was met by heavy fire from Qurna, so the Turks were still there. At about 11 a.m. the sloop HMS Espiegle squeezed past a barge sunk in the channel, scraping the mud, and anchored less than two kilometres from the town. The ships shelled everything that could be seen among the trees.

Meanwhile the 104th, having met no enemy, stopped two local boats about five kilometres above Qurna, out of sight of the defenders. Its commanding officer proposed ferrying the battalion across here and striking downstream along the right bank. Fry agreed. At the same time, a little closer to the town, just beyond the plantations, the sappers were preparing a cable ferry. At about 11.30 a.m. three men of the 17th Company of Sappers and Miners, Havildar Ghulam Nabi, Lance-Naik Nur Dad and Sapper Ghulam Haidar, swam the Tigris with a line. The river there was about 120 metres wide with a strong current. The Turks did not notice them. Lieutenant Campbell crossed after them with two men. A steel cable was hauled across and, with the help of friendly Arabs, a large boat was attached to it.

At about 1.20 p.m. the first 70 men of the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry with Lieutenant-Colonel Frazer reached the right bank, followed by further parties. Before 2 p.m. the whole of the 104th was already on the other side, a little higher up. The Turks in Qurna evidently did not understand what was happening and fired on the crossing only weakly.

The garrison cut off

Both battalions moved south towards the town and came up against a Turkish line of towers and trenches running across the tongue of land from the river. Frazer judged that it was too late to get entangled in fighting in the dense plantations and narrow streets of Qurna after dark, for the sun set before 5 p.m. At 3.30 p.m. he ordered a withdrawal to bivouac for the night by the crossing. He did not know that Lieutenant-Colonel Britten with a company of Mahrattas had already turned the Turkish flank and occupied several towers. This company too returned to the bivouac. Fry left the Norfolks on the bank by the ferry and withdrew the rest of his force to the camp at Muzaira. The day cost the British 23 wounded.

Although the attack had been broken off, the Turks’ position was hopeless. The enemy was already on the right bank, and the line of retreat to the north had been cut. After the war the Turkish staff officer Muhammad Amin wrote that the thousand men in Qurna could still have broken out that evening through the roughly 1,400 Indians who had crossed the river, but the local commander noticed the crossing too late, because nobody was watching the Tigris above the town.

Envoys in the night

In the evening the firing died down. At 11.40 p.m. the crews of the British ships saw a small steamer coming down the river with its lights on and its siren wailing. On board were three Turkish officers, including the chief of staff of the vali of Basra, Subhi Bey, who was in command at Qurna. They had come to discuss terms of surrender. According to some accounts, they wanted to give up the town in return for the garrison being allowed to withdraw freely.

They were received by the senior naval officer, Captain Arthur Hayes-Sadler. Some accounts attribute the conduct of the talks to the commander of Espiegle, Lieutenant-Commander Wilfrid Nunn. It proved impossible to get in touch with Fry on land, so at 3.30 a.m. the sailors provisionally agreed an unconditional surrender with the Turks. After some hesitation the officers agreed and returned to Qurna with instructions to come aboard Espiegle at 8.30 a.m. to meet the general.