James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane (1862–1950)

While clearly one of the only references of this type to document the immediate post-war insurrection in Mesopotamia, the book was a tough one to slog through. An almost daily blow-by-blow account complete with orders of battle of participating units, Haldane leaves no stone unturned in covering the action under his command. Not very impressed by the local inhabitants, which comes out loud and clear in his writings, it does on the other hand show how far Britain had come since the end of the war, with its immediate post-war drawdown. The lack of forces on the ground left Haldane with few choices on how to prosecute his activities. The book also documents the importance of "air policing" the vast terrain, as a substitute for the limited ground forces available for security functions.
While not the grandest prose to emerge on the Mesopotamian Campaign and its aftermath, it is certainly one of the more important first-hand accounts of this often neglected era after the war. 5 stars for historical documentation, 3 stars for readability...overall 3 1/2 stars.… (plus d'informations)