On this day, after a siege of 147 days at Kut Al Amara, a town south of Baghdad – Turkish territory before it became part of Iraq – the British surrendered to the Ottoman troops. Thirteen thousand soldiers were taken prisoner, and some 2500 wounded or sick men were evacuated by the enemy. The remainder were placed in camps where almost half died of their wounds, disease, and epidemics due to the absence of medical care and food.