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The shell of the 'Throne of Chosroes' on the site of ancient Ctesiphon, Mesopotamia. Turkish forces stopped an Indo-British army advancing towards Baghdad in November, 1915 with both sides suffering heavy losses. The British retreated to Kut-el-Amara. © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company
Map showing the territorial gains (darker shades) of Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, primarily at the expense of Turkey, agreed in the Treaty of Bucharest following the Second Balkan War. Despite its gains, Bulgaria also lost territory to both Romania and Turkey.
To the Dardanelles! The Entente Allies successfully capture their objective and plant their flags in this boy's 1915 war game, as they did not in life, neither in the naval campaign, nor in the invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula.
Charles Nungesser, third of France's greatest aces with 43 victories, flying a Nieuport in pursuit of a German plane.
"Not evacuation, but a renewed advance was the unchanging British plan of campaign in Mesopotamia. There, on November 21, General Townshend attacked the Turkish defences of Ctesiphon, as a prelude to what was intended to be a rapid march on Baghdad, a mere twenty-two miles away. But the earlier good fortune of Basra, Burna, Amara and Kut was over. Of the 8,500 British and Indian troops who went into battle at Ctesiphon, more than half were killed or wounded. Despite almost twice that number of casualties, the Turkish defenders, far from panicking and fleeing as they had in earlier battles, not only stood their ground, but counter-attacked. The British, four hundred miles from the sea, could expect no reinforcements of any sort; the Turks could, and did call on the resources of Baghdad, only a few hours' march away.Having come so far, the British were forced to retreat. . . ." ((1), more)
"The moment has come when a combination of circumstances is forcing us to retreat through Montenegro and Albania. . . . The state of the army is generally unfavourable. . .Capitulation would be the worst possible solution, as it would mean loss of the state. The only salvation from this grave situation lies in retreating to the Adriatic coast. There our army will be reorganised, supplied with food, weapons, ammunition, clothing and everything else necessary that is being sent by our Allies, and we shall once again be a factor for our enemies to reckon with. The state lives; it still exists, albeit on foreign land, wherever the ruler, the government and the army are to be found, whatever its strength may be. . . . In these difficult days our salvation [lies] in the endurance, patience and utter perseverance of us all, with faith in the ultimate success of our Allies." ((2), more)
". . . from the early evening of 26 November, the Suvla Sector War Diary of the 86th Brigade, 29th Division, illustrates the terrible experience which was to befall those at Suvla and to some extent those at Anzac.'1900. Very severe thunderstorm with very strong gale and torrents of rain.'2000. All telephone communication was cut off and all dugouts flooded out.'2100. Reported to Bde H.Q.s that all trenches were flooded, water had come in as though it had been a tidal wave, that many men must have been drowned, and few had been able to save their rifles and equipment. The men were standing up to their knees in water, behind the parados of the trenches.'" ((3), more)
". . . no one—and certainly not the meteorologists who had been saying that November was the best month of the year—could have anticipated the horror and severity of the blizzard that swept down on the Dardanelles on November 27 [1915]. Nothing like it had been known there for forty years.For the first twenty-four hours rain poured down and violent thunderstorms raged over the peninsula. Then, as the wind veered round to the north and rose to hurricane force there followed two days of snow and icy sleet. After this there were two nights of frost." ((4), more)
". . . using his last ammunition drum at a range of 30 feet, finally drove [a German Albatros two-seater] down in a dive.What Nungesser saw next took much of the luster out of his second victory. 'The observer, still alive, clung desperately to the mounting ring to which his machine gun was attached,' he reported. 'Suddenly the mounting ripped loose from the fuselage and was flung into space, taking with it the helpless crewman. He clawed frantically at the air, his body working convulsively like a man on a trapeze. I had a quick glimpse of his face before he tumbled away through the clouds. . . it was a mask of horror.'" ((5), more)
(1) Protecting an oil pipe line that ran from Ahwaz and oil fields in Persia to Basra, a commercial and communications center on the Persian Gulf, the British moved up the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers towards Baghdad. In earlier battles, the Turkish defenders had retreated, the British expected continued success as they moved on Ctesiphon. General Nixon commanded British-Indian forces in Mesopotamia; Townsend the army working its way to Baghdad.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 211, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(2) Excerpt from the Serbian retreat order of November 25, 1915. Defeated by the combined forces of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, and with an Allied army unable to break through the Bulgarian line holding it in Greece, the Serbs only path of retreat was through the mountains of Montenegro and Albania to the Adriatic Sea for evacuation by the Allied fleets.
Serbia's Great War 1914-1918 by Andrej Mitrovic, page 149, copyright © Andrej Mitrovic, 2007, publisher: Purdue University Press, publication date: 2007
(3) The storm that moved into the Dardanelles on November 26, 1915 would prove deadly, first with flood waters, then with blizzard conditions and freezing cold. Of the three Allied positions on the Gallipoli Peninsula, that at Suvla Bay was the most recent and least well entrenched due to the the rocky soil that made it too difficult to dig in. In many places the men, rather than being dug in, sheltered behind stone barriers.
Men of Gallipoli: The Dardanelles and Gallipoli Experience August 1914 to January 1916 by Peter Liddle, pp. 256, 257, copyright © Peter Liddle, 1976, publisher: David and Charles, publication date: 1976
(4) The storm that struck the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Peninsula began with torrential rain on November 26. By the 27th it had become a blizzard that lasted through the 28th.
Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead, pp. 318, 319, copyright © 1956 by Alan Moorehead, publisher: Perennial Classics 2002 (HarperCollins Publications 1956), publication date: 2002 (1956)
(5) From a description of Charles Nungesser's second victory, that of November 28, 1915. Nungesser was France's third greatest ace of World War I with 43 victories. René Fonck had 75, and Georges Guynemer 53. Both Nungesser and Fonck survived the war; Guynemer did not.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, page 40, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
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