Lifeline in Helmand by Roger Annett

Author:Roger Annett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / General
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2011-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Air Resupply

THE WORLD’S FIRST AIR-DROP

In December 1915, troops of the British Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force found themselves under siege. Commanded by General Sir Charles Townshend, they had marched in September a hundred miles north from Basra, and after three days of fighting had driven Ottoman forces out of the fortress town of Kut-al-Amara.

Kut, known to Telic forces as Wasit, lies on the left bank of the Tigris, in a bend in the river so sharp that entry and exit to the fortifications in 1915 was only possible across one narrow spit of land. General Townshend waited at Kut for nine months before marching up-river to re-engage the Turks in battle. He and his forces came off second best and retreated to the fortress. The Turks laid siege on 7 December. It was to last until April the following year, and become a most humiliating disaster for the British. An estimated total of 23,000 British and Indian soldiers died, and just 8,000 were alive when Townshend was finally forced to accept unconditional surrender. That any were alive at all was something of a miracle, given the privations that the troops suffered – totally inadequate medical facilities, and an almost complete lack of provisions. The little relief that they enjoyed came from the air.

On 4 January 1916, 30 Squadron (then of the Royal Flying Corps) began an attempt to supply the besieged force. Flying from Basra in BE2c biplanes (max speed 62 knots, gross AUW 972 kg), they flew 140 sorties in six days. The Lewis machine-guns and ammunition had been removed, and food and supplies stowed in their place, and as the pilots flew low over the Kut fortress, braving the Turkish rifles, the observers in the rear cockpits heaved the bundles over the side. Their fall was only partially cushioned by elementary parachutes, fashioned by the seamstresses of Basra out of Army blankets. The ingenuity of the attempt and the courage of the aircrews were in the end to no avail, but the missions did bring some comfort to the besieged. According to the Historical Log of 30 Squadron (now of the Royal Air Force) at Lyneham, it was ‘believed to be the first recorded air-drop operation in British military aviation history’.

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