[IRAQ / WW1 / OIL] Selmân-i Pâk Meydan Muharebesi Ktesifon ve zeyli: 9-19 Tesrîn-i Sânî 1331, 21 Tesrîn-i Sânî - 1 Kânûn-i Evvel 1915

BINBASI [SÜLEYMANIYELI?] MEHMED EMIN, Matbaa-yi Askeriye, Istanbul, [AH 1337] = 1921.

Original illustrated wrappers. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 16 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). [iv], 147 p., 7 folded chromolithograph military plans in the end pocket (lacking two according to Leiden’s copy).

First edition of this rare detailed and comprehensive examination and firsthand account of the Battle of Ctesiphon in Iraq during WW1, written by Major Mehmet Emin Bey based on his eyewitness impressions during his service at the Sixth Ottoman Army Command on the Iraqi Front. The book is also important about to describe stopping the advance of British forces towards Baghdad and taking up a defense in Kut al-Amara by Turks.

The events that took place between the parties from 27 November to 1 December 1915, during the withdrawal of the forces after this battle, are included in the appendix of the work as a separate section under the name "Battle of Delabiha [Ummu't-Tubl]".

With its military plans, the book is exceedingly rare in both institutional holdings and market rarity.

The Battle of Ctesiphon (Turkish: Selmân-i Pâk Muharebesi) was fought in November 1915 by the British Empire, against the Ottoman Empire, during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I. Indian Expeditionary Force D, mostly made up of Indian units and under the command of Gen. Sir John Nixon, had met with success in Mesopotamia since it had landed at the Al-Faw Peninsula upon the Ottoman Empire's declaration of war on 5 November 1914. One of the primary reasons for initiating the campaign in Mesopotamia was to defend the oil refinery at Abadan at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab. Adopting a forward defense policy, the British army under General Townshend fought off a series of small Ottoman forces. Then after a year of a string of defeats, the Ottoman forces were able to halt the British advance in two days of hard fighting at Ctesiphon.

Özege 17747., As of December 2023, two copies are in the OCLC (Leiden University and LoC).