Battles of Ramadi (1917) facts for kids

The two Battles of Ramadi were important fights during World War I in 1917. They happened between the British and Ottoman Empire armies. The battles took place near the town of Ramadi in central Iraq. Ramadi was a key spot because it was on a main road between Aleppo and Baghdad. The weather was very hot, which made fighting extra tough.

The first battle in July 1917 was a loss for the British. Many soldiers got sick from the extreme heat. The British learned from this defeat. Two months later, in September 1917, the British tried again. This time, they used new plans. They managed to trap the Ottoman soldiers against the Euphrates River. This led to a big British victory.

First Battle of Ramadi

Quick facts for kids First Battle of Ramadi
Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I
Map of the Euphrates from Ramadi to Baghdad in 1917
Date 8–13 July 1917 (5 days) Location Ramadi, west of Baghdad, present-day Iraq 33°25′N 43°18′E / 33.417°N 43.300°E / 33.417; 43.300 Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
British Empire  India  United Kingdom	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Charles Levenax Haldane	?
Strength
7th Infantry Brigade	1,000
Casualties and losses
566 (321 heatstroke)	c. 250 plus c. 100 desertions

Why the First Battle Happened

In March 1917, the Ottoman Turks left Fallujah. They moved back to positions near Madhij, about 29 km (18 miles) west. As they left, they broke the Sakhlawiya Dam on the Euphrates River. This caused a high risk of flooding.

The British wanted to fix the dam. To do this, they needed to control Dhibban, a village south of Ramadi. General Frederick Stanley Maude decided to attack the Turkish soldiers in Ramadi. He wanted to drive them out and capture their supplies.

Extreme Heat Makes Fighting Hard

Just a few days after General Maude gave his orders, the weather got extremely hot. By July 8, the temperature in Baghdad was over 50°C (123°F) in the shade. It was even hotter in tents. In direct sunlight, it reached 71°C (160°F). People said it was "the hottest season in the memory of man." The heat was so bad that even touching things could burn your hand.

General Maude thought about waiting, but his advisor said the weather probably wouldn't get cooler. So, they decided to go ahead. A group of soldiers, led by Lt Col Charles Levenax Haldane, gathered at Fallujah.

Getting the soldiers to Ramadi was a big problem. It was too hot to march. So, they used motor vehicles for the first time in this area. 127 Ford vans and lorries carried 600 men at a time. They traveled at night and used tents for shade during the day. They also carried ice to help soldiers who got heatstroke.

What Happened During the Battle

The British took Dhibban easily on July 7-8. The rest of the force arrived on July 10. They then moved towards Ramadi. They faced Turkish rifle fire but kept advancing.

On July 11, the British got close to Ramadi. The Turks started firing with cannons, machine guns, and rifles. Two British planes had to land because their engines overheated. The British soldiers could not move forward. Turkish cannons were very accurate and kept breaking British radio communications.

A dust storm started at 8:00 AM and lasted most of the day. This made it even harder for the British to communicate. They couldn't fire back effectively. The British soldiers were stuck in the open, facing enemy fire and extreme heat. They dug in and waited, getting water from the Euphrates.

The British commander decided to pull back under the cover of darkness. As they left, about 1,500 pro-Turkish Arabs attacked them. The British fought them off. The Arabs kept sniping at the British as they returned to Dhibban. The British reached Dhibban by 9:30 PM on July 13.

Results of the First Battle

The first battle was a costly failure for the British. The severe weather and strong Turkish defense caused many problems. The British had 566 casualties. More than half of these, 321 soldiers, were hurt by the heat. Some died from heatstroke or thirst. Others went mad from the heat. Less than half of the casualties were from enemy fire.

Second Battle of Ramadi

Why the Second Battle Happened

Second Battle of Ramadi
Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I
Map of the battles of Ramadi
Date 28–29 September 1917 (1 day) Location Ramadi, Iraq Result British victory
Belligerents
British Empire  India  United Kingdom	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Harry Brooking	Ahmed Bey
Strength
1 infantry division, 1 cavalry brigade	3,500
Casualties and losses
1,000 (mostly light)	3,500 (mostly POW)

The British tried again to take Ramadi in September 1917. By this time, the Turks had a new group of soldiers called the Yilderim ("Thunderbolt") Army Group. This group included German soldiers. They planned to attack Baghdad. This threat made the British want to take Ramadi even more.

Controlling Ramadi would also stop the Turks from getting food from the area. It would also cut off a desert road. In mid-September 1917, General Maude ordered General Harry Brooking to lead the attack.

The Turks had made their defenses stronger since July. They had 3,500 infantry, 500 artillery, and 100 cavalry soldiers. They also had 10 cannons. They expected the British to attack the same way they did in July. They thought they could retreat using the road to the west.

How the British Won the Second Battle

General Brooking planned a new attack. He decided to attack from the south. He also used the 6th Indian Cavalry Brigade to block the Turks' escape route from the west. This would trap the Turks against the Euphrates River, as there was no bridge at Ramadi.

Brooking tricked the Turks into thinking the British would attack along the river again. He built a fake bridge and set up camps along the river. He even made his attack orders vague to hide his real plan.

On the night of September 27, the British infantry began their advance. They took the Mushaid Ridge easily. Instead of following the river, two British brigades turned left. They moved towards the Euphrates Valley Canal. They secured a dam across the canal by 3:00 PM on September 28. The British kept moving in the intense heat. They had a good water supply system using 350 Ford vans. These vans delivered over 63,000 liters (14,000 gallons) of water on September 28 alone.

Meanwhile, the 6th Cavalry Brigade rode across the desert. They reached the road west of Ramadi by 4:00 PM. They dug in to block any Turkish retreat.

British forces advanced up two ridges south of Ramadi. They faced Turkish machine gun and cannon fire. Both ridges were taken by early afternoon on September 28. The Turks' last escape route was the Aziziya Bridge. As the battle continued into the night, Turkish soldiers tried to fight their way out. But heavy British fire pushed them back.

The 39th Garhwal Rifles attacked the bridge. They charged Turkish cannons and took the bridge by 7:30 AM on September 29. They suffered many casualties, with only 100 men making it through.

The Turks Surrender

The Garhwali attack convinced the Turkish defenders that they had lost. By 9:15 AM, many Turks started surrendering at the bridge. By 9:30 AM, as the British moved towards Ramadi's walls, "white flags went up all along the enemy's line." By 11:00 AM, the Turkish commander, Ahmed Bey, and the rest of his soldiers had surrendered.

The surrender happened just in time. A powerful sandstorm started shortly after. If it had come earlier, the Turkish soldiers might have escaped.

Results of the Second Battle

In this battle, 120 Turkish soldiers were killed and 190 were wounded. The British captured 3,456 prisoners, including 145 officers. Only a few Turkish soldiers escaped by swimming the Euphrates.

British casualties were 995, but many of these were only slightly wounded. The Turks' cannon shells often burst too high to cause serious harm. The British captured many supplies. This included 13 cannons, 12 machine guns, and lots of ammunition. After Ramadi was captured, local Arab tribes started supporting the British.

General Maude called the battle "a clean and business-like military operation." The town fell so quickly that a German pilot tried to land there the next day. He quickly realized the British now held it and flew away. The British felt Ramadi was secure enough to continue their advance to Hīt, the next Turkish town on the Euphrates.