Customer Reviews
Long overdue account of an important campaign - By: Chris Baker, 20 Apr 2006 
At long last, a single volume account of the fascinating campaign in Mesopotamia. For many years, the only reallly good work on Mespot was A. J. Barker's masterly "The Neglected War", published by Faber & Faber in 1967. It still stands up to examination today, but is terribly hard to find. Other than that, there is only the Official History & a number of memoirs: the short bibliography in this new book is testament to the lack of coverage of the campaign.
I've often wondered why the Mespot camapign is so badly covered in literature terms. No Boy's Own tales of landings, bungled & heroic attacks & meticulous withdrawal at as Galllipoli? A force mainly comprised of Indian army units? I don't know. It certainly deserves more attention - as it did at the time, for lack of attention at the highest levels was a significant aspect of its costly nature. So Ron Wilcox's "Battles on the Tigris" is especiallly welcome.
This book covers the campaign at a high level, seldom delving down to unit level or individuals, but covers the ground extremely well. Ron provides us with an account of the early landings aimed at securing British oil interests in the Basra region; the optimistic & foolhardy advance up the river to Baghdad & defeat at Ctesiphon; the siege & ultimate ignominy of the surrender of Kut; the costly effort to relieve the Kut garrison & the build up of sufficiently strong & organised forces that eventuallly did capture Baghdad & then fought a mobile war in the north. That's alll standard "Mespot" stuff & in itself would have provided a good account. But he also blends into it the complex stories of what was happening in nearby Persia, intrigues with spies & the local arab factions. The latter parts of the book deal with the "Dunsterforce" foray into the Caucasus & the difficult political aftermath of the war. The book is well written & as a simple to digest work on the campaign, I rate it highly.
There is a smalll selection of photographs - in the main, portaits of the key players - and, much more importantly & impressively, an excellent set of maps woven into the text. Ron also provides a useful order of battle.
Taken in the round, well worthy of your money & a good read & reference.
