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Battle of Shaiba
	Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I
Date	12–14 April 1915
Location	Shaiba, Southern Iraq
Result	British Victory
Territorial; changes	British Defense of Basra
Belligerents
British Empire ; British India;	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Major General Charles Mellis	Lieutenant Colonel Süleyman Askerî
Strength
6,156	18,000
Casualties and losses
1,570	2,435

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The Battle of Shaiba, 12–14 April 1915 was between British forces and Ottoman forces that were trying to retake the city of Basra from the British.

Throughout most of 1915, the Anglo-Indian expedition, designated Indian Expeditionary Force D, had advanced up both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Originally dispatched to capture the Shatt al Arab and Basra, to protect the British oilfields in Iran, Force "D"'s mission in Mesopotamia expanded gradually as local commanders saw a chance for victories which would burnish the British Empire's prestige in the Muslim world.^[1] At the battles of Qurna, Nasiriyeh, and Es Sinn, Force "D" defeated elements of the Ottoman Sixth Army. After the Battle of Es Sinn, the Anglo-Indian force controlled the Tigris and Euphrates rivers through much of what is now southern Iraq. Sensing that Baghdad was within their grasp, the commander of Force "D", supported by the Commander in Chief, India, in Simla, argued for permission to launch a final offensive to capture it. The situation looked promising. The nearest Ottoman reserves, according to British intelligence, were 400 miles (640 km) distant in the Caucasus or 250 miles (400 km) away at Aleppo in Syria. All that blocked the way to Baghdad were two demoralized, defeated divisions.

By capturing Basra, the British had taken an important communications and industrial centre. The British had consolidated their hold on the city and brought in reinforcements. The Ottomans gathered their forces and launched a counteroffensive to retake the city and push the British out of Mesopotamia.

The Ottoman commander Suleiman Askeri had about 4,000 regular soldiers, including the Istanbul Fire Brigade Regiment and a large number of irregular Arabs and Kurds, numbering maybe 14,000, for a total of 18,000 personnel.^[2] He chose to attack the British positions around Shaiba, southwest of Basra. Travel between Basra and Shaiba was difficult because seasonal floods had turned the area into a lake, and movement went via boat. The British garrison at Shaiba consisted of about 7,000 men in a fortified camp including a trench and barbed wire. At 5 AM on the 12th, the Ottoman troops started with a bombardment. That evening starting at dusk they tried to crawl through gaps in the British barbed wire, but were repulsed.^[3] By morning of the 13th the Ottoman troops had withdrawn to their positions at Barjisiyeh Wood. Later the next day it was apparent that some Ottomans and Arab irregulars were trying to slip around Shaiba, and maybe get to Basra by bypassing the town. The British, under General Melliss, sent the 7th Hariana Lancers and later the 104th Wellesley's Rifles to attack the Arabs, but those attacks were failures.^[4] Mellis then attacked with the 2nd Dorsets and the 24th Punjabis, backed by artillery fire, and they routed the Arab irregulars, capturing 400 and dispersing the rest. The Arab irregular forces would not take part in the rest of the battle. Sulaimann Askari had his Ottoman regular troops fall back on Barjisiyeh Wood. On 14 April the British left Shaiba to look for the remaining Ottoman forces. They found them at Barjisiyeh Wood. Fighting started at about 10:30 AM and lasted until 5 PM. Mellis had to adjust his forces on the battlefield under fire to bring them to bear on the Ottoman positions. Ottoman fire was intense and by 4 PM the British attack had bogged down.^[5] Men were thirsty and running low on ammunition, and the Ottoman regular troops showed no indication they were going to give up. The Dorsets then launched a bayonet charge on the Ottoman lines that caused the rest of the Indian troops to follow, and the Ottomans were overwhelmed.^[6] They retreated from the battlefield. The British, worn out from the day's fighting with little transportation and with their cavalry tied down elsewhere, did not pursue. Sulaimann Askari would end up committing suicide over the loss, which he blamed on the Arab irregulars and their failure to support him.^[7] On the British side the battle was described as a "soldier's battle" meaning a hard fought infantry fight, where they, especially the British troops, decided the day.^[8]

British offensive into Southern Mesopotamia, 1915.

The battle was important as it was the last time the Ottomans would threaten Basra. After the battle it would be the British who generally held the initiative in Mesopotamia. It also changed Arab attitudes. They began to distance themselves from the Ottomans, and later revolts broke out in Najaf and Karbala up river.^[9]

Major George Wheeler of the 7th Hariana Lancers was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.

Background

The 28 June 1914, assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. The conflict quickly attracted the involvement of all major European countries, pitting the Central Powers against the Entente coalition, and starting World War I. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in the October of the same year. Although still an "Oriental Empire" the Ottomans had entered a period of decline starting from the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz, which effectively blocked its expansion into Central Europe. The Germany Empire and Austria-Hungary had pledged to protect its capital Constantinople from the ambitions of its traditional adversary the Russian Empire, while also targeting British held India and Suez Canal. The British took the Ottoman threat seriously. A blockade of the Suez Canal would mean the breakdown of the supply line between Britain and its Asian colonies. The lack of oil would in its turn cripple the empire's war effort across the globe. India's Muslim population of 70 million along with its restive northern neighbor the Emirate of Afghanistan were also seen as susceptible to an Ottoman inspired jihad.^[10]

Footnotes

^ Roger Adelson, London and The Invention of The Middle East: Money, Power, and War 1902–1922, (New London: Yale University Press, 1995), p. 121.
^ Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 84.
^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 50.
^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 51.
^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 53.
^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 53.
^ Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 90.
^ A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 54-55.
^ Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 90-91.
^ Carr 1991, pp. 1–7.
^ Williams 2004, pp. 28–29.
^ Carr 1991, pp. 4–28.
^ Berridge & Sattar 2017, pp. 631–642.
^ Mesopotamia Commission 1917, pp. 4–28.
^ General Staff of India 1915, pp. 4–28.

References

Berridge, Willow; Al-Aboody, Sattar (2017). "The Battle of Sha'iba, 1915: Ottomanism, British Imperialism and Shia Religious Activism during the Mesopotamian Campaign". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 45 (4). Routledge: 630–651. doi:10.1080/03086534.2017.1353258. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
Carr, Donald (1991). "The Mesopotamian Campaign:The British Experience in Iraq in World War I" (PDF). Naval War College Thesis. Naval War College: 1–36. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
General Staff of India, Report of (1915). "Report on the Operations in the Vicinity of Shaiba 12th-14th April 1915. Simla: General Staff India, 1915". Retrieved 8 May 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Mesopotamia Commission, Report of the (1917). "'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.'". Retrieved 8 May 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Williams, Matthew (2004). "The British Experience In Iraq From 1914–1926: What Wisdom Can the United States Draw from Its Experience?". US Army Command and General Staff College Thesis. US Army Command and General Staff College: 1–113. Retrieved 8 May 2017.

Category:Battles of the Mesopotamian campaign Category:Battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom Category:Battles of World War I involving British India Category:Battles of World War I involving the Ottoman Empire Category:April 1915 events Category:Conflicts in 1915

[1] Roger Adelson, London and The Invention of The Middle East: Money, Power, and War 1902–1922, (New London: Yale University Press, 1995), p. 121.

[2] Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 84.

[3] A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 50.

[4] A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 51.

[5] A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 53.

[6] A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 53.

[7] Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 90.

[8] A.J. Barker, The First Iraq War, 1914-1918, Britain's Mesopotamian Campaign,(Enigma, New York, 2009; originally published in 1967 as The Bastard War(US)/The Neglected War(UK)), 54-55.

[9] Charles Townsend, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2010), 90-91.

[FOOTNOTECarr19911–7-10] Carr 1991, pp. 1–7.

[FOOTNOTEWilliams200428–29-11] Williams 2004, pp. 28–29.

[FOOTNOTECarr19914–28-12] Carr 1991, pp. 4–28.

[FOOTNOTEBerridgeSattar2017631–642-13] Berridge & Sattar 2017, pp. 631–642.

[FOOTNOTEMesopotamia_Commission19174–28-14] Mesopotamia Commission 1917, pp. 4–28.

[FOOTNOTEGeneral_Staff_of_India19154–28-15] General Staff of India 1915, pp. 4–28.

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