Military History

Alexanders is listed as dying of wounds on 23 Mar 1916. The battalion was part of the 6th Poona India Division, and his Register of Effects and War Office Casualty lists show that he suffereed the wounds on or before 12 Jan 1916 during the Siege of Kut in Iraq which lasted from 7 Dec 1915 to 29 Apr 1916 when Kut was overun by the Ottomans. He was transported from Iraq to Colaba in Bombay, India where he died. The following description of events around the time Alexander was wounded is taken from, and courtesy of, the Lightbobs website.

"Turkish mounted troops had occupied the position at Sheikh Saad, and during the last days of December 1915 were reinforced by the enemy in great strength, who thither by passing to the north of Kut, in view of the British garrison, though out of range of the guns.

On the 4th January 1916, General Aylmer ordered an advance of his leading troops, under Major-General Younghusband, from Ali-al-Gharbi, on Sheikh Saad. Younghusband moved forward on both banks of the river, and on the 6th January got in touch with the enemy, whom he found entrenched astride the Tigris three and a half miles east of Sheikh Saad. That day he attempted to turn the Turkish right flank; but the enemy's cavalry, assisted by hostile Arabs, held him off.

Next morning General Aylmer brought up the remainder of his force, and forthwith ordered a general attack on the enemy's position, Major-General Young-husband commanding on the left bank and Major-General Kemball on the right bank. Very heavy fighting lasted all day, and resulted in Kemball cap­turing the trenches on the right bank, with 600 prisoners and two guns; but on the left bank Younghusband's force was unable to turn the Turks out of their trenches, so dug in opposite to them.

On the 8th little happened, as the troops required rest after their hard day's fighting; but on the 9th the Turks gave way, and, pressed by Aylmer, fell back about ten miles upstream, with a loss in the Sheikh Saad fight estimated at 4,500. Two days' heavy rain made the roads impassable, and prevented a rapid pursuit; but by the 13th Aylmer had pushed forward, and was again up with the enemy, who was discovered in position behind the Wadi (a stream flowing into the Tigris on the left bank) and across the river in trenches on the right bank. Aylmer attacked the Wadi position on the following day [14th], and after some resistance drove out the Turks, who retired to a position five miles to the west, with Aylmer on their heels. The weather during the next few days continued most unfavourable for active operations, but General Aylmer reorganized his force, with headquarters above the Wadi, and his advanced troops in touch with the enemy, now entrenched across the Umm-el-Hannah defile.

This was the situation of the relief force on the 19th January 1916, when Lieut.-General Sir P. H. N. Lake, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., took over command of the Indian Expeditionary Force "D" from Sir John Nixon, whose health had given way. On the 20th the enemy's position was subjected to a systematic bombardment, and during the night the infantry advanced to within 200 yards.

On the morning of the 21st the attack was delivered, but with little success; the right column was held by the Turks when within 100 yards of the trenches, and the left column, although it rushed the enemy's defences and held them for nearly two hours, was counter-attacked out of them, chiefly owing to the failure of the reinforcements to come up. At 1 p.m. a second effort was made to clear out the enemy, but heavy rain and its attendant mud hampered the advance across the open ground, which was swept by an intense enemy fire, and the assault collapsed. Holding on as best they could until dark, our troops then withdrew to their original position, some three-quarters of a mile from the enemy's line. Our losses had been severe, and any further immediate attack was out of the question; so a six-hour armistice was arranged, when the Turks and the British buried the dead and collected the wounded.

It was now found necessary to reorganize the relief force and await reinforcements from Basra. February, therefore, passed in comparative inaction, and, although everything was ready for a further advance at the beginning of March, bad weather intervened to prevent operations reopening".