Military History

Hubert is listed as dying on 31 August 1916. We have not found a war diary and it is highly likely that if one ever existed it would have been destroyed. We have tried to put together a brief synopsis of the events leading to Hubert's death. Taken prisoner on 26 May 1916

The Imperial War Museum states that the 76th Battery, Royal Field Artillery were inside of Kut-al-Amara when the Garrison there surrendered to the Turks after a near six month siege known as the Siege of Kut which lasted from 7 December 1915 to 29 April 1916, the surrender was a disaster for the British troops stationed there and some have described it as the worst defeat for the Britsh Army in WW1, in addition to the siege itself there had been several costly attempts to break the siege, all of which failed.

The men taken prisoner were placed on a brutal 1200 mile forced march to Turkey where any of those lucky enough to have survived the march were kept in Camps known for their squalor and brutality with little food and water. Hubert died in the Baghtche Prisoner of War Camp, Turkey. Read more about the march here.

The fallen garrison had been Commanded by General Townshend who was taken prisoner and taken to the island of Heybeliada on the Sea of Marmara, to sit out the war in relative luxury. The author Norman Dixon, in his book On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, described Townshend as being "amused" by the plight of the men he had deserted, as if he had pulled off some clever trick. Dixon says Townshend was unable to understand why his friends and comrades were ultimately censorious over his behaviour.

After this humiliating loss, General Lake and General Gorringe were removed from command. The new commander was General Maude, who trained and organized his army and then launched a successful campaign and recaptured all of the lost ground and drove the Turkish army out of Mesopotamia.