The Battle of Shaiba, 12–14 April 1915 was between British

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 forces and Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 forces that were trying to retake the city of Basra from the British.

Background

By capturing Basra, the British had taken an important communications and industrial centre. The British had consolidated their hold on the city and brought in reinforcements. The Ottomans gathered their forces and launched a counteroffensive to retake the city and push the British out of Mesopotamia.

The battle

The Ottoman commander Suleiman Askeri had about 4,000 regular soldiers, including the Istanbul Fire Brigade Regiment and a large number of irregular Arabs and Kurds, numbering maybe 14,000, for a total of 18,000 personnel. He chose to attack the British positions around Shaiba, southwest of Basra. Travel between Basra and Shaiba was difficult because seasonal floods had turned the area into a lake, and movement went via boat. The British garrison at Shaiba consisted of about 7,000 men in a fortified camp including a trench and barbed wire. At 5 AM on the 12th, the Ottoman troops started with a bombardment. That evening starting at dusk they tried to crawl through gaps in the British barbed wire, but were repulsed. By morning of the 13th the Ottoman troops had withdrawn to their positions at Barjisiyeh Wood. Later the next day it was apparent that some Ottomans and Arab irregulars were trying to slip around Shaiba, and maybe get to Basra by bypassing the town. The British, under General Melliss

Charles John Melliss

Major General Sir Charles John Melliss VC, CB, CMG was a British military officer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Melliss was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth...

, sent the 7th Hariana Lancers

7th Hariana Lancers

- Origin :The regiment began as Bengal irregular cavalry raised in Meerut and Cawnpore by Captain Liptrott.Like all regiments of the Indian Army, the 7th Cavalry underwent many name changes in the various reorganisations...

 and later the 104th Wellesley's Rifles

104th Wellesley's Rifles

The 104th Wellesley's Rifles were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1775, when they were raised as the 5th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys....

 to attack the Arabs, but those attacks were failures. Mellis then attacked with the 2nd Dorsets

Dorset Regiment

The Dorset Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1958, the county regiment of Dorset. Until 1951 it was formally called The Dorsetshire Regiment, although usually known as "The Dorsets".-History:...

 and the 24th Punjabis

24th Punjabis

The 24th Punjabis were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1857, as the 11th Regiment of Punjab Infantry. It was designated as the 22nd Punjabis in 1903 and became 3rd Battalion 14th Punjab Regiment in 1922...

, backed by artillery fire, and they routed the Arab irregulars, capturing 400 and dispersing the rest. The Arab irregular forces would not take part in the rest of the battle. Sulaimann Askari had his Ottoman regular troops fall back on Barjisiyeh Wood. On April 14, the British left Shaiba to look for the remaining Ottoman forces. They found them at Barjisiyeh Wood. Fighting started at about 10:30 AM and lasted until 5 PM. Mellis had to adjust his forces on the battlefield under fire to bring them to bear on the Ottoman positions. Ottoman fire was intense and by 4 PM the British attack had bogged down. Men were thirsty and running low on ammunition, and the Ottoman regular troops showed no indication they were going to give up. The Dorsets then launched a bayonet charge on the Ottoman lines that caused the rest of the Indian troops to follow, and the Ottomans were overwhelmed. They retreated from the battlefield. The British, worn out from the day's fighting with little transportation and with their cavalry tied down elsewhere, did not pursue. Sulaimann Askari would end up committing suicide over the loss, which he blamed on the Arab irregulars and their failure to support him. On the British side the battle was described as a "soldier's battle" meaning a hard fought infantry fight, where they, especially the British troops, decided the day.

Aftermath

The battle was important as it was the last time the Ottomans would threaten Basra. After the battle it would be the British who generally held the initiative in Mesopotamia. It also changed Arab attitudes. They began to distance themselves from the Ottomans, and later revolts broke out in Najaf and Karbala up river.

Major George Wheeler

George Godfrey Massy Wheeler

George Godfrey Massy Wheeler VC was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:...

 of the 7th Hariana Lancers was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

for his actions during the battle.