Fall of Kut – 29 April 1916

For 147 days between December 1915 and April 1916, Turkish forces besieged the town of Kut on the River Tigris.  The weather was ‘bitterly cold’, Turkish guns were a constant menace, and the efforts of Anglo-Indian forces under General Aylmer to break the siege were failing.

To mark the centenary of the British surrender on 29 April 1916, we recorded a series of vivid eye witness accounts of the Siege for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Excerpt from the diary of the Reverend Harold Spooner, garrison chaplain
4 February 1916
Excerpt from the diary of Major Charles Barber
24 April 1916
Report of the General Officer Commanding, Indian Expeditionary Force ‘D’ of the events of 24 April 1916 (London Gazette, 2 February 1917)

Credits

Read by Gunnar Cauthery
Recorded at Motivation Sound Studios
Produced by Catriona Oliphant

With grateful thanks to Dr Ali Al-Manaser, Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford, for advising on pronunciation

 

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