Surrender of Kazimain


This painting by Australian artist G W Lambert was commissioned by the 14th Hussars. The officers chose this moment out of the whole Mesopotamian campaign to commemorate their part in WW1. It was published as the frontispiece of the Cavalry Journal of April 1927. The article says that the painting was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1921. It shows the patrols of A Squadron commanded by Major Woodhouse DSO in the foreground, as the regimental HQ ride through to meet the elders of Kazimain and 200 Turks who surrendered themselves. The twin gilt domes, famous throughout Islam, can just be seen above the walls. Lambert was not in Mesopotamia but he made studies of the men in the painting when the regiment was at Tidworth after the war.


Detail of Kazimain Painting


This detail of the right side of the painting shows the HQ group of the 14th Hussars approaching Kazimain on 11 Mar 1917. At the head of the group is Lieut-Col R W Hewitt DSO, Lieut E Bullock-Brown, Captain A E H Fetherstonhaugh, the brigade Indian interpreter, RSM J Goddard MC, and Sergeant-Trumpeter J Sandy. The last two are wearing puttees while the officers are in brown leather boots. Behind this group, not seen in this detail, is Sergeant Signaller Wade who holds a white flag of truce. He unfortunately died of pneumonia in Baghdad in 1919. The artist G W Lambert was official war artist for the Australian forces in Palestine.


Regimental Details


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by Stephen Luscombe