page_title: Battle of Amara
section_title: The battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Amara / The battle
caption_attribution_description: English: HMS Espiegle (1900)
context_page_description: The Battle of Amara, also known as the Second Battle of Qurna, was a military engagement between the forces of the British and Ottoman Empires during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I. The battle took place in the flooded marshes and islands along the Tigris river between the towns of Qurna and Amara and resulted in the British capture of Amara and rout of Ottoman forces in the area.
context_section_description: At 1:00 AM on May 31, the 22nd Punjabis began their advance through the marshes on the eastern side of the river, arriving at a position 1500 meters south of the Ottoman emplacements at 4:30. At 5:30 the British gunboats and artillery began a bombardment of the front line, which the Ottomans responded to 20 minutes later with inaccurate fire against Townshend's headquarters aboard the sloop HMS Espiegle. The 17th Brigade group, composed of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry, and the 119th Infantry regiments, began to advance along the western side of the river at around 6:00. At the same time, the 22nd Punjabis on the east bank assaulted the Ottoman line, capturing the fortified positions there and using them to support the western advance with machine gun and rifle fire. All of the fortified islands along the Ottoman front had been captured with minimal resistance by 11:30 AM, prompting Townshend to call a halt to the first phase of the attack.
  The British ships began a bombardment of Abu Aran at 5:30 AM the next day, which was met with no response from the Ottoman artillery. Aerial reconnaissance soon reported that the Ottoman troops stationed in all three of the villages were retreating en masse and Townshend's gunboats quickly advanced in pursuit, reaching the villages by around 3:00 PM. Led by the armed launch Shaitan, the British flotilla caught up with the fleeing Ottoman ships at 6:00 PM and opened fire, stranding the gunboat Marmaris and several small boats and barges loaded with troops and supplies near Ezra's Tomb. The river was too shallow at this point for large vessels to continue any further without difficulty, so Townshend transferred command to the armed tug Comet and continued upriver with three armed launches. The sloop HMS Odin remained behind to take possession of the Marmaris.
  After a day's travel the British launches, with Shaitan now leading by a significant margin, were within sight of Amara. Shaitan entered Amara on the morning of June 3, sinking a steamer carrying Ottoman troops and passing through the town without drawing any fire. Half a mile north of the town around 300 Ottoman troops emerged from the forested banks of the river and surrendered to Shaitan's nine-man crew, who collected their arms and escorted them back to Amara. The crew held the town until the rest of the launches arrived and Townshend's 41-man force accepted the surrender of Amara's civil governor and military commandant. Around 800 more Ottoman troops were taken prisoner and Townshend remained in Amara until the next day, when a steamer carrying the 2nd Brigade of the Royal Norfolk Regiment arrived to secure his position.
caption: HMS Espiegle, which served as Townshend's headquarters during the first half of the battle.
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