Detail from a map of southern Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia from the Baedeker 1912 travel guide 'Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus'. The detail is of Mesopotamia from Baghdad to Basra and the Persian Gulf and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
"At 0615 elements of the 12th Brigade began advancing towards the Aziziya Ridge once more; despite some initial setbacks, by 0700 they were pressing on to the western end of the Shaikh Farajah Ridge beyond, form which they believed they could control the only bridge over the Aziziya Canal. In fact, this was not the case, and it was necessary to fight their way along the canal and take this bridge, which was secured at some cost. By 0930 the Turks had begun to surrender in significant numbers, and by 1100 the capitulation had become complete. In all, 3,456 prisoners were taken, together with ten guns, three 1-pounder pom-poms and twelve machine guns."
General Stanley Maude, commander of the British forces in Mesopotamia, responded to reports that the Turks then gathering in Aleppo would move down the Euphrates River to recapture Baghdad on the Tigris River. To prevent that, the British set out to take Ramadie, 120 km west of Baghdad and on the Euphrates. Begun on September 28, 1917, the successful operation was completed the following day. The Turks in Aleppo would instead move south against British forces in Palestine.
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford, page 97, copyright © Roger Ford 2010, publisher: Pegasus Books, publication date: 2010
1917-09-29, 1917, September, Ramadie, Ramadi, Mesopotamia
