The British now shift their focus north…
March 1857 CE
The force collected for this sortie consists of fifteen hundred British and twenty-four hundred Indian soldiers.
The engineers grouped with this force include 2nd Company, Bombay Sappers & Miners (with one hundred and nine troops under Captain Haig) and B Company, Madras Sappers & Miners (with one hundred and twenty-four troops under Brevet-Major Boileau).
The transfer of forces is delayed by the separate deaths by suicide of two high-ranking British officers, which occasions a shuffling of commands and forces Outram to leave Brigadier John Jacob in command in Bushire.
On March 19 the expedition enters the Shatt al Arab.
On the 24th they are in sight of the strong defenses of Mohammerah.
The engineer officers are part of the close reconnaissance of the Persian guns in a small canoe.
They first plan to erect a battery on an island in the Shatt al Arab, but the island proves to be too swampy.
They now towe the mortars on a raft and moor it behind the island, whence fire support is provided.
Two days later, warships sail up the Shatt al Arab and silence the Persian battery.
The troops land and advance through the date groves.
These are punctuated with irrigation channels which the sappers rapidly bridge with palm trees.
The Madras Sappers are also aboard the S.S. Hugh Lindsay assisting the 64th Regiment to fire the ship's carronades.
Besides its defenses, Muhammarah is further protected by the political requirement that the British not violate Ottoman territory, as the city lies right on the border.
In the event, however, the Persians abandon the city to a British force under Brigadier Henry Havelock, which captures it on March 27.
Locations
Groups
Topics
Regions
The Near and Middle East
View →Subregions
