When I learnt learn that troops are advancing on the town of Kut Al Amara in Iraq, and that the CWGC are shipping in new grave stones to replace those in Basra which are some 85 years old, and have been defaced and damaged, I was reminded that the British, the Hampshire Regiment and my family had an earlier connection with Iraq. When the British realised in 1914, that Turkey would fight alongside Germany and Austro-Hungary, troops, British and Indian, including regiments of the Hampshires, and one of my relatives, were withdrawn from India to take over the oil fields in Iraq. They landed at Al Faw and capturewd Basra in 1914. By the fall of 1915, with the towns of southern Iraq under occupation, Gen Townshend advanced to capture Baghdad, but was stopped by the Turks at Selmanpak, on the outskirts of the city. The British/Indians withdrew to Kut , where they were besieged by Al Pasha for 140 days, until they surrendered unconditionally. This is regarded as one of the most humiliating defeats of the British. The Turks carried out numerous acts of barbarism against the prisoners, many thousands died. The British/Indians regrouped under Gen Maude in Dec 1916 and continued their advance, freeing Kut - it was here in Jan 1917 that my relative died of wounds, one of thousands killed ! in the lifting of the siege - and eventually capturing Baghdad in Mar 1917. The British made promises of independence to the Iraqis, but the 1919 Peace Conference made Iraq a Mandate of Britain. It should have been no surprise therefore, that by 1920 many tribes Mosul, Kurds, Summis, Shias were in revolt against the British. Their leaders were dismissed as "a handful of ungrateful politicians". Order was restored by the RAF amongst whose numbers was my father, in command of the local levies. Although my father was not wounded, he did catch malaria, from which he suffered attacks until he died in 1964. It always seemed odd to me that one could catch malaria in Iraq but of course there are two major rivers and marshes there.. I have one relative with the British Forces in Iraq now. David