attacked again, were compelled to retreat southward around Lake Urmiah. In pursuit of the Van Armenians and Assyrian mountaineers, the Ottoman 3rd Army clashed with Urmieh Assyrians, which made them refugees as well, in this retreat southward toward Mesopotamia. During July 1918 the British Army occupied the greater portion of Mesopotamia during the Mesopotamian Campaign, as well as a large part of Persian Azerbaijan during the Persian Campaign. Preparations were made for the establishment of a large camp for Armenian and Assyrian refugees near Bakubah, Iraq. During the first week of September 1918, retreating Armenians from Van came to the Bakubah refugee camp in parties of 1,000 or 2,000, by road and by train. Many of them were suffering from dysentery, typhus and relapsing fever, and there was a small epidemic of smallpox among the children. There were many who died along the road because of weakness and starvation. This went on through September and the first half of October, until about 40,000 had been received in all. Towards the end of September it was decided to raise four battalions from among the Armenians on the lines of an Indian infantry battalion. The 2nd Battalion was established by Van Armenians. The 3rd Battalion was established by Armenians from other regions. The G.O.C. North Persian Force decided to locate the 2nd Battalion around Senna, while the 3rd Battalion moved to Bijar. On 30 October 1918, the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros and military operations ended. Results Reports on self-defense The consulates of the United States, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, as well as a number of Ottoman officials, recorded and documented reasons for the Van uprising: On 15 April 1915, the German ambassador in Constantinople, reported: The Divisional General and Vice Marshal and Austrian Military Attaché and Military Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire said: The governor-general of the Ottoman Empire in Erzurum, Tahsin Bey wrote that: Elizabeth Barrows Ussher, Christian missionary and wife of Clarence Ussher wrote: Grace Knapp, Christian missionary: An official of the Turkish Government stated: Ibrahim Avras, a Van deputy in the Ottoman parliament, was in the city at the time, and reported that the CUP was secretly provoking people to attack Armenians. Casualties On 15 May 1915, the Russian consul at the city of Van reported that 6,000 Armenians had been massacred at Van, which has been the scene of so many similar outrages during the last