Kut Al Amara

In the game

Kut Al Amara sends Ottoman attackers against British defences in the town of Kut, from a mud fort and riverside palms into streets, rooftops, a bazaar and the docks on the Tigris. The town in the game is a reconstruction of Kut as it was during the siege of 1915 and 1916, not the modern city.

The real place

Kut sits in a tight horseshoe bend of the Tigris. British and Indian troops retreating from Ctesiphon were besieged here from December 1915 until April 1916, when about 13,000 of them surrendered after relief attempts failed. The town has grown into a modern city since, and little of the 1916 town survives; the Kut War Cemetery holds graves from the siege.

Visiting

Kut is about 170 km south-east of Baghdad by road. Check your government's current travel advice for Iraq before planning a visit. The Kut Barrage across the Tigris, built in the 1930s, is a good place to see the river that shaped the siege.