Edward O. Mousley

The Secrets of a Kuttite is another book one must add to the reading list when looking at the disaster at Kut, and the treatment of prisoners in Turkey during WWI.
Mousley served as a subaltern in the RFA during the Mesopotamian Campaign, and was subordinate to Townshend's 6th Division when it retreated to Kut for what was soon to be the surrender of the entire division after holding out for almost 6 months under siege.
Mousley has a good recollection for events, having kept a daily diary during the siege (and later.) Mousley is able to inject humor where one would be looking for stories of despair. This alone separates Mousley's record apart from many of the others.
Mousley also had the unfortunate distinction to accompany a column of officers not afforded adequate transportation back to Anatolia. Here he documents the suffering encountered along the way, particularly of the neglected NCOs and rank and file. This is one of the least reported on events in this theater of war during WWI, that amounted to a wholesale mass killing of British and Indian soldiers under deplorable conditions.
After being interred, Mousley's never-ending plots to escape are entertaining. However, circumstances dictated that he would be unable to do so, and remained in Turkey and Constantinople until the end of the war, where he was able through his connections to obtain valuable intelligence on the machinations of the Committee for Union and Progress.
Of note, Mousley discusses his encounter with E.H. Jones, the author of the Road to En-Dor. Here he discusses his perspective on how that individuals attempt to escape by claiming insanity, was viewed.
A great read, and an excellent source on daily activity while under siege at Kut.… (más)