Indian troops entering Baghdad, 1917 (b/w photo)

Arabs watching Indian troops entering Baghdad, 1917. Photograph, World War One, Mesopotamia, 1917. Indian Army forces had landed in Mesopotamia in November 1914 to safeguard oil supplies and British interests in the area. They played a major role in the subsequent long and bloody campaign. On the morning of 11 March 1917, they entered Baghdad. Their earlier defeat of the Turks at Shumran and the recapture of Kut-al-Amara had opened the way to the city. From an album of 103 official photographs compiled by Colonel A H McCleverty, 2nd Queen Victoria’s Own Rajput Light Infantry.