13th (Western) Division

The 13th (Western) Division was formed as part of the First New Army at Salisbury Plain in August 1914. During the formation of the division, Major-General Robert Kekewich was appointed as its first commander. On 5 November 1914, while on sick leave he committed suicide.[1] Although initially meant for service in France, with the rest of the Kitchener New Armies, it was ordered to the Mediterranean as reinforcements for the Anglo-French expedition at Gallipoli.[2]

Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Maude, KCB, CMG, DSO. Photograph of Sir Stanley Maude after his elevation to commander of Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. Maude commanded the 13th (Western) Division during Gallipoli Campaign and the unsuccessful attempt torelieve Kut in the Mesopotamian Campaign

The 13th (Western) Division landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in July 1915 in preparation for the Battle of Sari Bair (The August Offensive) beginning on 6 August.[3] Although all of its component infantry battalions arrived, the divisional artillery did not arrive for some months.[4] Initially in reserve to the main break-out from Anzac by units of the New Zealand and Australian Division, the 38th and 39th Brigades were sent in as reinforcements as the attack stalled.[5]

The 7th Gloucesters and the 8th Royal Welch Fusiliers were sent to support the Wellington battalion of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade when it made the decisive assault on Chunuk Bair on the morning of 8 August.[6] Battalions of the division formed the core of the force (known as Baldwin's Brigade after the commander, Brigadier-General Anthony Baldwin) to capture Hill Q on 9 August but were not in position in time and so spent the day encamped on a small plateau beneath Chunuk Bair known as The Farm. When the Ottomans counter-attacked on the morning of 10 August the 13th (Western) Division troops on Chunuk Bair and at The Farm, suffered many casualties.[7]

By September 1915, the 13th (Western) Division had suffered nearly 5,500 killed, wounded or missing out of its original strength of 10,500 men. Of the thirteen battalion commanders, ten had become casualties. On 23 August, Major-General Sir Stanley Maude took over the shattered 13th (Western) Division, Shaw being invalided home.[8][9] At the beginning of October the division was moved from Anzac to Suvla Bay. Even though the division was once again in reserve, it suffered casualties from the Ottoman artillery.[10] The commanders at Gallipoli already realised that the Dardanelles Campaign was a lost cause. To Maude fell the task of making sure that the 13th (Western) Division slipped away in the night during the evacuation of the Suvla Bay positions. Maude, the methodical commander, recorded:

I do not think we left behind us £200 worth of stuff worth having. I got away all my guns and ammunition and we even destroyed the sandbags which we had to leave in the parapets by ripping them with bayonets or clasp knives to make them useless. The withdrawal was apparently a complete surprise for the Turks, for nothing happened on either night beyond the usual sniping and firing. In a way I could not help feeling a little sorry that they did not find us out, for my division had two strongly prepared lines, each with an excellent field of fire to fall back upon, and if they had only come on we should have given them a real good dressing.[11]

View of Gallipoli from the battleship HMS Cornwallis. The smoke is coming from stores being burned during the evacuation.

After being evacuated from Suvla, the 13th (Western) Division was ordered in December to reinforce the British forces at Cape Helles.[12] No sooner than the division had arrived through W Beach, than the decision was made to evacuate this last foothold. As the division was preparing to fall back to the beaches, it was attacked by Ottoman units in the late afternoon and evening of 7 January 1916.[13] The main thrust of the attack, the first action under the division's new commander, fell on the 39th Brigade, and in particular the 7th North Staffords defending Fusilier Bluff, who drove off the attackers.[14]

The British evacuation from Helles occurred on the night of 8/9 January 1916. The 13th (Western) Division, fresh from its defensive victory began to fall back to Gully Beach at 5:00 p.m. By 1:15 a.m. the last detachments holding the division's trenches were on the beach waiting to be loaded onto the transports. At 2:30 a.m., Maude was informed that there were not enough transports coming to Gully Beach to carry off the division. Maude and his headquarters staff, as well as the pickets that had been covering the beach site, had to make the 2 mi (3.2 km) run in the dark to W Beach in order to be transported out of the Helles.[15] General William Birdwood wrote that he considered the 13th (Western) Division was the best division in the Dardanelles Army. Following its withdrawal, the 13th (Western) Division was sent to Egypt, where it was reunited with its artillery units, many of which had been stationed in Egypt while the rest of the division had been fighting in Gallipoli.[16][17]

British troops on the march in Mesopotamia. In February 1916, the 13th (Western) Division was sent to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) to reinforce the Tigris Corps. The picture was possibly taken in 1917 because of the prevalence of steel helmets.

After a brief refit in Egypt where the division's battalions were being brought back up to strength, the division was dispatched to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), as reinforcements for Anglo-Indian forces attempting to relieve the siege of Kut.[18] It took until the end of March for the entire division to make the journey from Egypt to Basra and then from Basra up to the Tigris to join the rest of the Tigris Corps.[19] The 13th (Western) Division discovered that the supply situation in Mesopotamia was very difficult, the port facilities at Basra were inadequate and lacking good roads or a railway, river transport was necessary to move supplies into the hinterland. There were insufficient numbers of boats to keep the Anglo-Indian force, which the 13th (Western) Division was joining, adequately supplied.[20][21]

The 13th (Western) Division brought with it modern, heavy artillery, including howitzers and as the strongest unit available, became the spearhead of the attempt by the Tigris Corps to relieve the Kut garrison, beginning on 6 April 1916. The division fought at Hanna, Fallahiya, and Sanniyat. After taking the first two places, the 13th (Western) Division was stopped by the Ottoman forces under the command of Khalil Pasha at the Battle of the Sanniyat on 9 April 1916. During the fighting on 5–9 April 1916, four 13th (Western) Division men were awarded the Victoria Cross. The first was Captain Angus Buchanan for his actions on 5 April 1916. On 9 April 1916, Chaplain William Addison, Private James Fynn and Lieutenant Edgar Myles were awarded the Victoria Cross for saving wounded soldiers.[22] In three days of battle, the division was reduced to 5,328 effectives.[23]

Exhausted by its three days of fighting, the 13th (Western) Division became the reserve for the Tigris Corps during the next phase of the operation. On 16 April 1916, it supported the 3rd (Lahore) Division on the right bank of the Tigris, as it captured the Bait Isa line, part of the Es Sinn defences supporting the Sanniyat position on the opposite bank.[24] Taking the Bait Isa line exposed the flank of the Sanniyat position to enfilading artillery and machine-gun fire. On the night of 16/17 April 1916, the Khalil Pasha committed his reserves to a counter-attack to retake Bait Isa. The counter-attack struck as the 13th (Western) Division was preparing to storm the next defensive position. Although the 13th (Western) Division and 3rd (Lahore) Division hung on to their gains, the Ottoman counter-attack had taken the steam out of the Anglo-Indian offensive.[25]

With the 13th (Western) Division so depleted, it was reduced to providing machine-gun and artillery fire for the 7th (Meerut) Division when it made the final push to break the Ottoman lines at the Sanniyat.[22] On 22 April 1916, the divisional artillery and machine-guns were used to support the abortive attack by the 7th (Meerut) Division.[26][27] On 29 April 1916, following the Tigris Corps' failure to break the Ottoman siege and the sinking of the steamer Julnar as it attempted to steam upriver past the Ottoman defenders, the Kut garrison surrendered.[28] At the end of August 13 (Western) Division was withdrawn to Amara to ease the supply situation.[29]

Between May and December 1916, the 13th (Western) Division refitted and re-equipped in preparation for the drive northward to capture Baghdad. In July, Major-General Maude was elevated to command the expanded and renamed Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. In his place, Brigadier General Cayley, formerly the commander of the 39th Brigade, was elevated to command of the division.[30] On 12 December 1916, the division advanced from Sheik Sa'ad on Kut.[31] At the Second Battle of Kut, the division helped drive the Ottoman forces from the town. After a brief pause, the division drove north, crossing the Diyala River, and participated in the capture of Baghdad on 11 March 1917.[32] Following the capture of Baghdad, the 13th (Western) Division fought a number of battles to consolidate British control over the Baghdad vilayet. This included fighting at Dellis Abbas (27–28 March 1917), Duqma (29 March 1917), Nahr Kalis (9–15 April 1917), the passage of the Adhaim (18 April 1917) and the action of the Shatt al 'Adhaim (30 April 1917). Despite the relative inaction of the British to advance further, the division also fought at the Second and Third Action of Jabal Hamrin (16–20 October 1917 and 3–6 December 1917).[33]

Soldiers of the 39th Brigade at Enzeli after being evacuated from Baku.

Along with the rest of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, the 13th (Western) Division remained in the Baghdad vilayet for the rest of 1917 and the early part of 1918. The division fought its last engagement as a whole at the action of Tuz Khurmatli on 29 April 1918.[34] In July 1918, the 39th Brigade was detached from the division and be assigned to Dunsterforce (General Lionel Dunsterville).[35] The 40th Brigade was detached from the division, along with the divisional artillery, to support the drive to Mosul and north.[36]