Battle of Sharqat

Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I

Date	October 23–30, 1918
Location	North of Baghdad, present-day Iraq
Result	Decisive British and Indian victory.

Belligerents

British Empire

India

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Sir William Raine Marshall,
Sir Alexander Cobbe

İsmail Hakkı Bey

Strength

2 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry brigades

"Tigris Group" (Dicle Grubu) of Ottoman Sixth Army; five infantry regiments and one rifle regiment

Casualties and losses

1,800

11,322–13,000 POW with many more wounded and killed.

British Empire

The Battle of Sharqat (October 23–30, 1918) was between the British and the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian Campaign in World War I, which became the final conflict that ended as a result of the signing of the Armistice of Mudros.

Anticipating an Ottoman armistice following the defeat of the Ottomans in Palestine and the recent surrender of Bulgaria, British Premier David Lloyd George ordered Sir William Marshall, Commander-in-Chief on the Mesopotamian front, to remove any residual Ottoman presence from that theater by twin advances up the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and capture the oil fields near Mosul on the Tigris. There was a lack of available transport, after a large amount had been supplied to Dunsterforce for its advance across Persia, so Marshall persuaded the government to limit the advance to the Tigris Front only.

An Anglo-Indian force consisting of the 17th and 18th Indian Divisions and the 7th and 11th Indian Cavalry Brigades, led by Sir Alexander Cobbe, left Baghdad on October 23, 1918. In just 39 hours they covered 120 kilometres (75 mi) to the Little Zab River, where the "Dicle Group" of the Ottoman Sixth Army, led by İsmail Hakkı Bey, who was the commander of the Ottoman 14th Division, was awaiting them. The Sixth Army had been weakened due to lack of replacements. His forces consisted of the XVIII Corps, which comprised the 14th and 46th Divisions, and the XIII Corps, which comprised the 2nd and 6th Divisions.

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