232014 Lt. Alvaro Druce Gomes British Army 3rd Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment from:Georgetown, Guyana Alvaro Druce Gomes was commissioned into the 3rd Royal Berkshire Regiment on 6th May 1915 and was subsequently seconded to the 39th Machine Gun Corps in Grantham on 14th March 1916. While training at Grantham, he learned that there was an urgent requirement for a detachment to travel to Baghdad as part of a force being assembled to go to the immediate relief of General Townsend at Kut-al-Amarah. He later related:
"The 13th Division had been moved to Mesopotamia to strengthen the force being assembled for the relief of the besieged garrison at Kut al Amara. The troops readied to fight their way up both banks of the river Tigris consisted of Royal Engineers, Gloucesters, Worcesters, Warwicks, South Staffords and the Machine Gun Unit, plus Artillery Units and Indian Cavalry and Infantry.
On the right bank of the river we advanced towards the enemy in open line formation, in slightly undulating country of sand, with the river on our right and flooded marshes about a mile away on our left. On the left bank we were entrenched with the original force, but no advance could be made as the enemy was far superior in numbers and guns. The relief force therefore decided to attack on the right bank so as to relieve the left bank and then a final attack would be made simultaneously by both forces.
Suddenly, as we were going over from one cover to another in sections, the enemy opened fire. They were entrenched about three to four hundred yards away. We were ordered to dig in and continued throughout the night in spite of flares. Our main body dug in too and we finally had a nest of trenches connected up. We next started digging out towards the enemy and it did not take us very long before we were within striking distance as it was easy digging in the sandy soil. Of course, we suffered fairly heavy casualties during this operation but we had gained valuable ground and realised that we could no longer advance in the open. We were eager to engage the enemy as General Townsend was invested since December 1915 and it was now about the end of March 1916.
In the meantime, our divisional heavy artillery was engaging the enemy’s German heavy guns and especially two long range guns which gave us a great deal of trouble. Our light artillery only came into play when we were about to attack. With the light artillery in position, and with our machine guns firing overhead, we provided good cover for our advancing troops.
The enemy attacked us as we were completing our advanced trenches and that night, after we had repulsed the enemy’s attack and with great loss to them, we were walking over the dead bodies of our comrades, about three deep in the front trench. We evacuated the dead and wounded as quickly as possible in case of another attack.
After a couple of days, we attacked but unfortunately our artillery had not destroyed the enemy’s machine guns. Our men were caught by their machine gun cross fire but we rallied, got into their trenches and captured most of the machine guns. Backed by the overhead fire from our own artillery and machine guns, our infantry inflicted very heavy loss on the enemy and gained a good deal of ground.
We advanced fairly rapidly on the right bank of the river Tigris and captured the enemy’s position not far from Kut-al-Amarah; several counter attacks by the enemy were repulsed. However, luck was against us as floods impeded any further advance and the garrison capitulated on 29th April 1916, after all their supplies had finished.
In February 1917, we eventually captured Kut-al-Amarah after very intense fighting, with the Turks who were assisted by German troops. After we forced the Turks from the right bank of the river to the left bank at Kut-al-Amarah, they blew up their bridges. While we were making a pontoon bridge across the river, they repeatedly sent their planes over to bomb it, in order to cover their retreat. Their infantry made a very orderly retreat in spite of the terrific shelling and machine gun fire we were pouring into their ranks from across the river.
After we crossed the river, the Turks left a strong force to fight a rear guard action. The Turks sent General Townsend to Turkey for safe custody. The Turks are exceptionally good fighters, especially at close quarters, and were supported by very accurate German artillery.â€Â
During these operations, we had to wear our spine pads and helmets at all the times otherwise one went down with sunstroke. The temperature in the shade reached 120 degrees, and there was no ice until after the capture of Baghdad."
|