Battle of Wadi ( 1916 ) The Battle of Wadi , occurring on 13 January 1916 , was an unsuccessful attempt by British forces fighting in present - day Iraq during World War I to relieve beleaguered forces under Sir Charles Townshend then under siege by the Ottoman Sixth Army at Kut - al - Amara . Pushed by regional British Commander - in - Chief Sir John Nixon , General Fenton Aylmer launched an attack against Ottoman defensive positions on the banks of the Wadi River . The Wadi was a steep valley of a stream that ran from the north into the River Tigris , some upstream towards Kut - al - Amara from Sheikh Sa ' ad . The attack is generally considered as a failure , as although Fenton managed to capture the Wadi , it cost him 1 , 600 men . The British failure led to Townshend ' s surrender , along with 10 , 000 of his men , in the largest single surrender of British troops up to that time . However , the British recaptured Kut in February 1917 , on their way to the capture of Baghdad the following year . Background . On 5 December 1915 , Ottoman forces under the command of Halil Kut and the German commander Baron von der Goltz , surrounded an Anglo - Indian force of 25 , 000 men and began the Siege of Kut - Al Amara , a city south of Baghdad . Replying to pleas for help from Major Charles Townshend , Mesopotamian Theatre commander Sir John Nixon dispatched the British Tigris Corps of 19 , 000 men under Lieutenant General Sir Fenton Aylmer to relieve the besieged garrison . The first attempt to relieve Kut ( the Battle of Sheikh Sa ' ad ) came on 6 January 1916 . Aylmer ' s advance force , under Major - General George Younghusband , moved forward from Ali Al - Gharbi towards Sheikh Sa ' ad along both banks of the Tigris . Younghusband ' s column made contact with the Ottomans on the morning of 6 January , east of Sheikh Sa ' ad . British efforts to defeat the Ottomans were unsuccessful . British casualties were heavy amounting to 4 , 202 , including 133 officers . Following this , the Ottoman forces voluntarily abandoned their position on 9 January for an unknown reason , and retired upstream to the Wadi . Preparations for the battle . Aylmer ’ s troops were exhausted and demoralized as they continued to make their way up the Tigris toward Kut . Their progress was hampered by the region ’ s typical shortage of available roads and supply routes . Aylmer planned to outflank the Wadi position , capture the Hanna Defile and surround the Ottoman force . The 28th Brigade of the 7th ( Meerut ) Division under Brigadier General George Kemball would attack the Wadi trenches frontally , while the rest of the Tigris Corps moved around the flank . However , the British troops were hampered by having no accurate maps of the area , so much of the planning was left to chance . Meanwhile , the Ottoman army , under new regional commander Halil Pasha , set up new and firmer defensive positions — with some 20 , 000 troops — along the banks of the smaller Wadi River , through which the British would have to pass to reach Kut . Battle of Wadi . The attack , which began in the early afternoon of 13 January — postponed from the morning because of a persistent mist and a slow advance by artillery across the river — quickly lost the intended element of surprise , as the outnumbered British forces on both sides of enemy lines struggled to assert themselves against a robust Ottoman defense . Kemball made a frontal advance , while Younghusband , with the bulk of the British force , attempted a wide turning movement . The delay seriously affected the chances of success , as small - arms and artillery fire from the alerted Ottoman forces began to halt the British infantry movements . Lacking proper maps , the leading British column became lost . Seizing the opportunity , the Ottoman units began to wheel around from a north - south orientation to an east - west , to face the British flanking manoeuvre . The resulting frontal attack by the 28th Brigade was repulsed with heavy casualties . By dusk , it became clear that the attempt had failed . British troops , attempting to manoeuvre around the Ottoman flanks , failed to reach the river , and the mouth of the Hanna Defile was still strongly held by the entrenched Ottoman troops . Aylmer called off the attack by the end of the day and ferried most of his remaining troops to the right bank of the Tigris . By this time , Aylmer ' s troops had gained control of the Wadi , but it was a small advance that was unworthy of the 1 , 600 men killed or wounded ( including 40 British officers ) in the attack and did little to bring relief closer to Townshend ’ s beleaguered forces at Kut . The provision of adequate medical capacity and supplies had not improved significantly since the appalling debacle at Sheikh Sa ' ad , so again many casualties suffered without treatment or evacuation for several days . Aftermath . The British continued to attempt to break through the Ottoman lines over the coming months in order to rescue their brethren in Kut , all of which were unsuccessful . In April 1916 , after nearly five months under siege , Townshend finally submitted , along with 10 , 000 of his men , in the largest single surrender of British troops up to that time . Through mistreatment and neglect leading to starvation , nearly 5 , 000 British prisoners died before the end of the war . The Siege of Kut was an important Ottoman victory , greatly raising the morale of Ottoman soldiers and prestige for the Ottoman Army in the Middle East . The British government on the other hand was forced to pour more resources into Mesopotamia . The British managed to win back Kut in February 1917 , on their way to the capture of Baghdad the following year . The humiliation the British faced due to the loss of Kut had been partially rectified . The Ottoman government was forced to end its military operations in Persia and try to build up a new army to prevent the British from moving on to capture of Mosul . Sepoy Chatta Singh of the 9th Bhopal Infantry was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the battle . Further reading . Barker , A . J . , " The First Iraq War , 1914 - 1918 : Britain ' s Mesopotamian Campaign " ( New York : Enigma Books , 2009 ) , ISBN 978 - 1 - 929631 - 86 - 5