WWI British Mesopotamia Campaign: Britain‘s Surrender at Al Kut

In May 2003, US Navy Seabees held a somber ceremony at a British military cemetery in Al Kut, Iraq where they turned over 420 graves to the British government. The graves contained the remains of World War I British and Indian soldiers who died while fighting the Ottoman Turks at Al Kut during the British Mesopotamian Campaign. The British War Graves Commission had maintained the cemetery for decades until 1991, when Great Britain joined the US in Operation DESERT STORM. In retaliation for that participation, Saddam Hussein‘s Baath regime desecrated the cemetery and turned it into a city dump. After US Marines liberated Al Kut during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in March 2003, US Navy Seabees cleaned and restored the cemetery and returned it to the British Army.1 The cemetery is a poignant reminder of a largely forgotten campaign from World War I. This paper will recount the story of this World War I campaign and summarize the key events that led to the costly British defeat at Al Kut.