Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, KCB, DSO (21 February 1861 – 18 May 1924) was a British Imperial soldier who during the First World War led an overreaching military campaign in Mesopotamia, which led to the defeat and destruction of his command. Known as the Siege of Kut, it lasted from December 1915 to April 1916 and was possibly the worst suffered by the Allies during the war.