Hi all

Could anyone recommend a really good book that is widely available that covers the Mesopotamian campaign please?

Regards

Jonathan

Jonathan,

There are quite a few out there. Have a look at the Naval and Military Press website. There are those generic to the campaign and also unit histories. There is a book available on the net called 'Hell in the Holy Land'. It contains diary extracts from those who were there, which makes it a personal account.

Hope this provides some useful info.

Cheers Andy.

Battles on the Tigris: The Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War by Ron Wilcox, who posts on this site under the name Ron, was published by Pen & Sword in 2006 and is the most recent book on the Mesopotamian campaign. The other famous work on it, A. J. Barker's The Neglected War. Mesopotamia 1914-1918, is long out of print. The National Army Book of the Turkish Front 1914-18 by Lord Carver covers Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and Palestine in a single volume.

PS: There are also some memoirs and older histories available for free download from this link.

A new paperback edition of A. J. Barker's The Neglected War has been published under the title The First Iraq War. A short introduction from Jpseph Morrison Skelly, an American academic and Army reserve officer, drawing parallels with more recent events has been added. As far as I can tell from a browse in a bookshop, it is otherwise the original.

Gibbo

Thanks very much for the heads up re the reprint of Barker's book - I've been trying to find a reasonably priced second-hand copy for ages with no luck, good job I didn't pay the eye-watering sums that have been quoted!

Out of interest, I have an old paperback copy of Russell Braddon's The Siege, which I have had for years and never read.

Is it worth reading?

have you seen this thread?

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...howtopic=139169

Ken

I've always found Candler "The Long Road to Baghdad" - 2 volumes - a fascinating text to dip into, though I 've not read it from one end to another.

Martin Swayne's "In Mesopotamia" dropped onto my "to read" pile only today.

Believe it or not Barker's book was printed in the US during the 1960s under the title "The ******* War". I think this title may be too un-PC for today so the new title. Please note about "The Siege" the author goes overboard to demonize Townsend.