Kut (also known as
Kut-Al-Imara and
Kut El Amara) is a city in eastern
Iraq, on the left bank of the
Tigris River, about 100 miles south east of
Baghdad, at 32.50°N, 45.82°E. In
2003 the estimated population is about 400,000 people. It is the capital of the province long known as
Al Kut, but since the
1960s renamed
Wasit[?].
The old town of Kut is within a sharp "U" bend of the river, almost making it an island but for a narrow connection to the shore. For centuries Kut was a regional center of the carpet[?] trade. The area around Kut is a fertile grain growing region. The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility, looted following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, is located near Kut.
Kut was the scene of fierce battle during
World War I. The
British Mesopotanian Expeditionary Force, led by General Sir
Charles V. F. Townshend[?], marched north from
Basra in September of
1915. They reached Kut on
September 26 where after three days of fighting they drove the
Ottoman forces from the town. Townshend pursued the retreating Ottomans up river until defeated at
Ctesiphon on
November 21, and then withdrew back to Kut. On
December 7,
1915 the
Turks and their
Arab allies counter attacked and put the British under siege. A force under Colonel
Gerald Leachman[?] succeded in breaking out, but Townshend and the bulk of the force remained beseiged. After gathering reinforcements including regiments from
India Leachman tried to relieve Townshend, but each time was driven back by fierce battle. Some 23,000 British and Indian soldiers died in the attempts to retake Kut, probably the worst loss of life for the British away from the European theater. Townshend with some 9,000 surviving soldiers finally surrendered Kut on
April 29,
1916. The captured soldiers were impressed into
slave labour until the surrender of the Ottoman Empire. The British went back on the offensive in December with a larger and better supplied force under General Sir
Frederick Stanley Maude and reconquered Kut on
February 23,
1917.
See also: Siege of Kut