Battle of Es Sinn

On 22 August Townshend was ordered to advance further up the Tigris to capture Kut al-Amara. He reached Sannaiyat in mid-September and then brought up his guns, including 1/5th Hampshire Bty. The concentration was complete by 25 September, and he launched his attack with two columns, either side of the river. A section of 1/5th Hampshire Bty accompanied the smaller Column B on the north side. On the night of 27/28 September Townshend switched the bulk of 6th (Poona) Division from the south to the north side, to make the main attack against the northern redoubt at 08.45. The attacking infantry were given covering fire by 1/5th Hampshire and other batteries as they advanced over open ground to take the redoubt. The howitzers were then pushed up to fire in support of the attack on the southern redoubt. By mid-afternoon the exhausted infantry were closing in on the final objective when a Turkish counter-attack came in. All guns engaged this new threat, and it was driven back. By dawn on 29 September the Turkish troops were streaming back towards Baghdad. They halted to prepare new defences at Ctesiphon, 40 miles (64 km) from Kut and only 16 miles (26 km) in front of Baghdad, while Townshend followed up as far as Aziziya.^[22]

Battle of Ctesiphon

After a logistical build-up, Townshend was authorised to resume his march on Baghdad on 14 November, his force including 1/5th Hampshire Bty, which consisted of 3 officers, 108 British other ranks and 41 Indian other ranks.^[23][24] By 19 November he was at Lajj, but the Turkish position at Ctesiphon blocked his route. He attacked on the morning of 22 November with four columns, 1/5th Hampshire Bty accompanying Column A, which was to make the decisive attack on the redoubt known as 'Vital Point' or VP after the other columns had made preparatory and flanking attacks. Column A launched its assault at 09.00; 1/5th Hampshires' howitzers and a battery of field guns had been bombarding VP for some time, and now brought down such fire on the objective that the Turks could not withstand it, and the infantry advanced right up to the bursting shells to take the objective by 10.00. At 13.00 Turkish guns attacked the column with concentrated fire, causing heavy casualties, but by 13.30 they had lost their entire front line and Column A was pressing on to the second line. A Turkish counter-attack was seen coming in, but the guns swung onto this new target and stopped it at a range of 1,000 yards (910 m). Townshend called off his attacks at 17.00. when night fell.^{[12][20][25][26]}

Next morning it became clear how costly the victory had been in terms of infantry casualties, and Townshend had to adopt a defensive posture: 1/5th Hampshire Bty was posted around 'Water Redoubt'. Townshend's force threw back Turkish attacks all day and by the morning of 24 November both sides were too exhausted to continue the fight (1/5th Hampshire Bty had lost 1 man killed, 1 officer, 2 British and 1 Indian other ranks wounded). Townshend had no offensive capacity left, and (unlike the Turks) no reinforcements in prospect. Water and ammunition were also short. He fell back to Lajj and then Aziziya, and by 29 November he was at Umm-at-Tubal, where he formed a camp with his rear to the river. On 1 December he put in a sharp attack on the gathering Turks, with rapid artillery fire that completely disorganised them while he resumed his retreat. On 3 December his exhausted force struggled into Kut al-Amara.^[20][27][28]

Siege of Kut

The first Turkish shells fell on the town on 6 December, beginning a long siege. 1/5th Hampshire Bty was stationed with the bulk of the artillery at the Brick Kiln, near the fort where the artillery observation posts (OPs) were positioned. Heavy artillery bombardment of the town and probing infantry attacks began on 8 December and continued until 13 December. The main Turkish attack was made on 24 December following a pre-dawn bombardment that switched onto the Fort at 07.00, putting some guns out of action and cutting the telephone from the OPs. The bombardment suddenly stopped at 11.00 and a massive Turkish infantry attack was made against the breaches blown in the walls of the fort. After bitter fighting, with every gun in the British garrison firing, the assault was driven out. A second attempt by moonlight at 20.00 was also halted, the heavy guns and howitzers firing Lyddite shells into the Turkish trenches whose position was precisely known. After a third attack at 02.30 on 25 December, the Turks made no further attempt to take Kut by storm. From now on the town was blockaded and shelled while Turkish attention was concentrated on preventing the British relieving force getting through from Basra.^[20][29][30]

By April 1916 the situation in Kut was desperate. Casualties from the continual shellfire were mounting and food was running out, despite attempts to air-drop supplies to the garrison. The artillery horses had been killed for food before the end of March, though many of the Indian troops refused to eat them. The last attempt to break through failed on 22 April and Townshend was authorised to negotiate a surrender. The Turks demanded unconditional surrender so 1/5th Hampshire Bty blew up their guns and remaining ammunition on 28 April before marching into captivity the following day under their battery commander, Maj H.G. Thomson.^{[12][20][31][32]}

The 1/5th Hampshire Bty and a company of the 1/4th Hampshire Regiment had been the only TF units in the besieged garrison. There are no exact figures, but is believed that about one-third of the prisoners died in captivity before the end of the war.^[20][33]