Fighting for Qurna begins

On 4 December 1914 troops of Indian Expeditionary Force “D” attacked the Turkish positions at Qurna, at the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates. It was there that the Turks had withdrawn after the loss of Basra, and Lieutenant-General Arthur Barrett decided to drive them out. The first day of fighting brought the British the capture of the suburbs on the other side of the river, but not of the town itself.

Frazer’s expedition

Barrett believed that no more than a thousand Turks with four guns were defending Qurna. He therefore sent upriver a small force under Lieutenant-Colonel Frazer, commander of the 110th Mahratta Light Infantry. It consisted of that regiment, the 104th Wellesley’s Rifles, a company of the 2nd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, half a company of sappers and two field guns. Frazer was to land on the left bank of the river a few kilometres below the town, clear it of Turks and then decide for himself whether to attack Qurna or wait for reinforcements.

The force left Basra on 3 December in four river steamers towing barges with supplies. At five in the morning of 4 December it joined the warships that had gone ahead and went ashore at the mouth of the Shuwaib creek on the Shatt al-Arab. It was covered by the sloops HMS Espiegle and HMS Odin, the armed vessel Lawrence and three small armed launches. When the Turkish guns opened fire, they were also answered by two steamers, Mejidieh and Blosse Lynch, on which field guns had been mounted. By about 8.30 a.m. the whole force was ashore and moving north.

The capture of Muzaira

Progress was slow. The British had no cavalry, and the scouts on foot could see little in the heat-shimmering air over the flat plain. It turned out that the Turks had manned trenches along the date groves by the river and the village of Muzaira (Mazera in some accounts), lying on the left bank of the Tigris opposite Qurna. According to Turkish sources it was defended by about 900 soldiers. The Mahrattas attacked the village, supported by the Norfolk company and the sappers. The fire of the ships proved effective, since the gunners on their decks could see their targets much better than the gun crews on the bank. At about 11 a.m. the Turks were driven out of Muzaira and the trenches south of it. The British took more than 60 prisoners and two guns.

Most of the defenders withdrew through the groves and crossed to the other bank of the Tigris, into Qurna. The Tigris here was about 180 metres wide, and all the local boats lay at the far bank, under the muzzles of Turkish rifles. At about 1 p.m. Frazer threw the 104th into the fight, and the senior naval officer sent three launches upriver, as the water was now too shallow for the sloops. The Turks let them come within less than a kilometre of the town and showered them with fire. The launch Miner, hit in the engine room at the waterline, struggled back to the sloop Espiegle and ran aground.

Retreat to camp

For about an hour the Indians of the 104th exchanged fire with the Turks on the other bank. Some of the Turkish positions emptied, but it was clear that without stronger artillery support the crossing would not succeed. The ships’ guns could not provide it, and the field guns could not be dragged through the dense plantations. Frazer also had no pack animals to bring up supplies. He therefore decided to withdraw to the landing place and wait for reinforcements. The retreat under heavy fire was covered by the ships and the 104th. After 5 p.m. the force was back in camp.

That day the British took 78 prisoners, including three officers, and captured two guns. They themselves lost 20 killed, all from Indian units, and 54 wounded, and the navy four wounded. Barrett, kept informed of the fighting by wireless, judged that Frazer had done everything that could be expected of him with such small forces, since there were more Turks than anticipated. He instructed Brigadier-General Charles Fry, commander of the 18th Brigade, to prepare reinforcements in Basra: the rest of the Norfolk battalion, the 7th Rajputs and half of the 120th Infantry. The next day he added four field guns to them.