Iraq - Kut (Kut-Al-Imara) - at this stage still part of the Ottoman Empire - with inset portrait of Sultan Mehmed Reshad V. This postcard commemorates the final surrender of the British to Turkish forces at the Siege of Kut on 29th April 1916. Initially, the British Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, led by General Townshend had occupied the town (September, 1915), but the Turks, under their commander, the German Field Marshal Baron von der Goltz, arrived and began a siege with Townsend trapped. Around 23,000 British and Indian soldiers died in the attempts to retake Kut, probably the worst loss of life for the British away from Europe during the First World War.