Kut is a story of blunders, sacrifice, imprisonment and escape. The Allied campaign in Mesopotamia began in 1914 as a relatively simple operation to secure the oilfield sin the Shatt-al-Arab delta and Basra area. Initially it was a great success, but as the army pressed towards Baghdad its poor logistic support, training, equipment and command left it isolated and besieged by the Turks. By 1916 the force had not been relieved, and on 29 April 1916, the British Army suffered one of the worst defeats in its military history. Major-General Sir Charles Townshend surrendered his force to the Turks in the Mesopotamian (now Iraq) town of Kut-al-Amara. -- From the book jacket.

List of maps : Map of the Turkish Empire ; Lower Mesopotamia ; Early part of Nasiriya operations ; Nasiriya operations ; Battle of Kut ; Battle of Ctesiphon ; Kut : general ; Kut : dispositions ; Kut Town : detail ; The fort at Kut ; Rough plan of the defences ; The Turkish positions on the Tigris ; Battle of Shaikh Saad ; Tigris between Shaikh Saad and Shumran ; Battle of the Wadi ; First attack on Hanna ; Battle of Um-el-Hannah ; Major Nelson’s map of Kut ; Captain Mousley’s map of Kut ; Actions for the relief of Kut ; Attack on Dujeila redoubt : detail ; Operations between 10 March and the end of April 1916 ; Attempts to relive Kut ; Battle of Beit Aieesa ; Battle of Sannaiyat ; Map of Asia Minor and Upper Mesopotamia, showing prisong camps ; The Baghdad area ; Sketch map of Kastamuni ; Yozgad to Cyprus ; The Middle East

Part one. To the fall of Kut. The scene is set -- Kut -- December 1915 : Hope and successful defence -- January 1916 : false hopes -- February 1916 : uncertainty -- March 1916 : the second relief attempt -- April 1916 : prelude to surrender -- Capitulation -- Part two. Imprisoned. Into captivity -- Survival -- Escape -- Freedom -- An assessment -- Appendices. Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb -- The force besieged in Kut -- The relief force -- The Turkish Army in and around Kut at the time of surrender -- Key personalities -- Major-General Townshend -- Chronology -- Battle honours -- Comparable ranks -- Major-General Sir Charles Melliss’s letter to the Secretary of State for War : sent from Broussa on 15 August 1917.