Diaries of Major Sir Alexander James Anderson captured at Kut'ül Amare

The Kut'ül Amare Victory, the second great success of the Ottoman Empire after the Çanakkale Victory in the 1st World War, had been forgotten over time. However, in recent years, the Kut'ül Amare Victory has been remembered again and much work has begun to be done on it. As a result of the Siege of Kut by Halil Pasha (Kut), Enver Pasha's uncle, 5 generals including himself and approximately 13,000 British troops under the command of General Charles Townshend were taken prisoner. Therefore, studies on the Kut'ül Amare Victory shed light on the events that developed on the Iraqi Front and also make great contributions to the issue of prisoners taken by the Turkish side in the 1st World War. In studies on the subject, in addition to archive documents, memoirs and diaries written by officers, especially General Townshend, are also used. Although memoirs are not as reliable sources as archive documents, they are important in terms of confirming information and understanding the atmosphere of the period, as well as guiding us on what to research and where to look. The memoirs that are the subject of this study consist of diary entries by Sir Alexander Anderson, Commander of the Indian Army Volunteer Artillery Battery during the Siege of Kut, during the period when the battery was involved in the defence of Kut, describing the Turkish infantry attacks, the artillery fire and air raids on the city, the ceasefire arranged by the Turks to bury the dead, the failure of British relief efforts that raised the hopes of the besieged soldiers, the food shortages and attempts to supply the garrison by air and river, and the bad weather conditions that put the defenders in a difficult position. In addition, it provides a complete account of the forces defending Kut. The diary also contains 22 letters written by Anderson, mostly to his sisters, during his time as a prisoner in Türkiye between July 1915 and November 1918, and a notebook kept in the Kastamonu prison camp between August 1916 and August 1917, containing brief notes on conditions in the camps, various sums of money and lists of supplies.