A Kut Prisoner

At dawn, the Arch of Ctesiphon stood gaunt above the plain—and the Turkish troops seemed to be retreating. They were not. The young subaltern and his men were walking into a battle they had expected to win.

In November 1915, a newly gazetted Indian Army subaltern travels up the Tigris with a regiment he has only just joined, bound for the British advance on Baghdad. At Ctesiphon, the ancient arch overlooks a battlefield of open ground and nearly invisible Turkish trenches. The men hope for a triumphant march and a cheerful Christmas in Baghdad; instead, they meet wire, rifle fire and a stubborn defence that leaves their battalion shattered. As the fighting continues and the force struggles for water, the way forward grows perilous. What will become of the survivors when the Turks return?

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