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Notes Names shown in heavy type are those of Yateley Men including those from the

surrounding areas including Hawley and Darby Green.

Related pages from ‘The Tiger’, the Battalion Journal of the 2/4th Hants Battalion

then stationed in Quetta on the North West Frontier of the Indian sub-continent,

are re-produced from the original document.

At this period officers and men of the 2/4th Hants were being drafted into the 1/4th

Hants as and when necessary. Sick and wounded, where possible, were sent back

to India.

One of the Officers drafted to serve in Mesopotamia was Lt G.W. Elton (who had

been brought up in Crowthorne) the founder and first Editor of The Tiger.

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Yateley Men in Mesopotamia during 1915

Lower Mesopotamia at the time of the campaign to take Baghdad

Yateley men killed in Mesopotamia during 1915.

Lt Charles Macrae,

Killed on the 5th July at the Akaikah Channel during the advance on Nasiriyah (on the Euphrates). He

was the son of A.W. Macrae and Mrs Sylvia Macrae of Kerala, Vigo Lane, Yateley. A graduate of

Worcester College, Oxford.

Pte Arthur James Horne (2965)

Wounded at Majinina Creek during the advance on Nasiriyah (on the Euphrates). He died of wounds

on the 24th July 1915.

At the beginning of 1915 the 1st and 2/4th Hants were both in India – the 1/4th at Rawalpindi and the

2/4th at Quetta near the Afghan frontier where they were to remain for the next two years. However

during 1915 the Battalion effectively became the second line to the 1/4th, exchanging fresh troops

from Quetta to replace losses in Mesopotamia. Many wounded were sent back to Quetta where there

were full hospital facilities.

The 1/4th Hants sailed from Karachi on Saturday 13th March 1915 and landed in Mesopotamia

(modern Iraq) at Basra on the 17th March where a new front against the Turks had now been opened

after an initial landing to secure the oil fields. The subsequent decision to take Bagdad resulted in two

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main thrusts up the Euphrates and Tigris respectively. The former, commanded by General Gorringe

who had lead the advance on the oil fields, was designed to take the strategic town of Nasiriyeh. The

1/4th Hants were part of this. The latter, up the Tigris, was commanded by General Townshend with

the intention of capturing Bagdad. It included in its later stages the 1/4th or those from it who had

survived the Nasiriyeh campaign in a fit state.

Preliminaries

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5

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A Turkish block ship in the Shatt-el-Arab - The Wreck of the ‘Ekbatana’

The 1/4th Hants was then took part in the advance on Nasiriyeh. The 76th Punjabis were also involved

in this campaign amongst whose officers was another Yateley man, Gerard van Rossum Reyne of

Manor Corner. It was under the overall command of General Gorringe, the veteran of the April 1915

Ahwaz campaign to secure the oil fields.

The 1/4th and the Nasiriyeh Campaign

The first action in which the 1/4th were involved was on the Akaika Channel, a branch of the

Euphrates. This action was recorded by, Major W. Stilwell, a Yateley man and it resulted in the death

of another officer from Yateley, Lt. Charles Macrae.

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The action on the Akaika Channel in which Lt Macrae was killed

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This was followed by another action a little further up the river at Majinina Creek only six miles from

Nasiriyah, but by this time the Battalion had been severely reduced in numbers to only 150 of all

ranks due to sickness and heat stroke.

Another letter from Major Stilwell recorded this action which also again involved the 76th Punjabis

and resulted in more casualties in the 1/4th Hants.

I write you a line to tell you that we attacked the Turkish positions on the Euphrates

helow Nasiriya on the 24th, as you no doubt will have read in the papers. Our Battalion

was in the firing line with the Gurkhas on the right bank of the river, and eventually was

in the enemy trenches with them. We had to cross two canals just before getting to the

trenches, which were supposed to be unfordable, but which we found we could wade

through breast high, As soon as the Turks saw us through these they started to bolt,

although they were about fifteen to one of us. We were under a very heavy fire before we

crossed them, and had forty-four casualties out of about 120 men, which was our strength

when we commenced … Poor Jim Horne was wounded in the head, and died next

morning. Fred Bunch is wounded.

Round about this time a group of wounded and sick from the 1/4th in Mesopotamia were sent to India

under the command of Lt. G.W. Capes and he described their journey until they finally reached

Quetta.

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10

The 1/4th Hants were now involved in the fight for Nasiriyeh and this action was described by another

Officer of the Battalion. A further two Officers lost their lives and there was a large proportion of

wounded.

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13

Major Stilwell now took up the tale, describing how the Battalion were now called to join what

became known as ‘Townshend’s Regatta’ on the Tigris. The only means of travel was by boats and

this was a collection of anything that could be found from native craft to gunboats. Progress was

always slow due the variable depth of the water that resulted in constant groundings.

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15

The ‘Regatta’ moved slowly up the Tigris taking Amara on the 3rd of June and Kut al Amara on the

28th September where a supply base was established. Pressure from the High Command in India now

forced Townshend to move on to Aziziya where political vacillation between London and Delhi

caused a delay although at this time there were very few Turks between that town and Baghdad. The

delay enabled the Turks to reinforce their position at the historic site of Ctesiphon only twenty miles

from Bagdad and a German General, von der Goltz was about to arrive to take overall command.

After the failure to break through the Turkish lines at Ctesiphon (22-25th November) which was being

reinforced Townshend decided to withdraw to Kut where reinforcements including elements from the

2/4th Hants in Quetta had now reached. The Turks under von der Goltz were now in hot pursuit and

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after a further debilitating clash at Aziziya the British finally reached Kut on the 3rd December where

they were quickly encircled by the Turks. The troops trapped in Kut, including Companies from the

2/4th, now had to endure five months of confinement and near starvation before being forced to

surrender.

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In September 1915 The Tiger published a list of DCM winners in the recent actions. These included

Pte. H. G. Wooldridge who was from Darby Green. In addition it gave a list of killed and wounded in

the later actions on the Euphrates in the taking of Nasiriyeh.

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19

The Christmas Card for 1915 produced by the 2/4th in Quetta but hardly a time for celebration in view of the

campaign in Mesopotamia and the men now trapped in Kut.