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Page 43
Kut-el-Amara still remained, and early in August an expedition was
directed against that point. The Turks were found in great force, well
intrenched, and directed by German officers. The battle lasted for four
days. The English suffered great hardship on account of the scarcity of
water and the blinding heat, but on September 29th they drove the enemy
from the city and took possession. More than two thousand prisoners were
taken. The town was found thoroughly fortified, with an elaborate
system of trenches extending for miles, built in the true German
fashion. Its capture was the end of the summer campaign.
[Illustration: THE MESOPOTAMIAN SECTOR, WHERE THE BRITISH ROUTED THE
TURKISH ARMY]
The British now had at last made up their minds to push on to Bagdad.
General Townshend, whose work so far had been admirable, protested, but
Sir John Nixon, and the Indian military authorities, were strongly in
favor of the expedition. By October, Turkey was able to gather a large
army. She was fighting in Transcaucasia, Egypt, Gallipoli and
Mesopotamia. Little was going on in the first three of these fronts,
and she was able therefore to send to Mesopotamia almost a quarter of a
million men.
To meet these, General Townshend had barely fifteen thousand men, of
whom only one-third were white soldiers. He was backed by a flotilla of
boats of almost every kind,--river boats, motor launches, paddle
steamers, native punts. The British army was almost worn out by the
fighting during the intense heat of the previous summer. But their
success had given them confidence.
In the early days of October the advance began. For some days it
proceeded with no serious fighting. On the 23d of October it reached
Azizie, and was halted by a Turkish force numbering about four thousand.
These were soon routed, and the advance continued until General
Townshend arrived at Lajj, about seven miles from Ctesiphon, where the
Turks were found heavily intrenched and in great numbers. Ctesiphon was
a famous old city which had been the battle ground of Romans and
Parthians, but was now mainly ruins. In these ruins, however, the Turks
found admirable shelter for nests of machine guns. On the 21st of
November General Townshend made his attack.
The Turks occupied two lines of intrenchments, and had about twenty
thousand men, the English about twelve thousand. General Townshend's
plan was to divide his army into three columns. The first was to attack
the center of the first Turkish position. A second was directed at the
left of that position, and a third was to swing widely around and come
in on the rear of the Turkish force. This plan was entirely successful,
but the Turkish army was not routed, and retreated fighting desperately
to its second line. There it was reinforced and counter-attacked with
such vigor that it drove the British back to its old first trenches. The
next day the Turks were further reinforced and attacked again. The
British drove them back over and over, but found themselves unable to
advance. The Turks had lost enormously but the English had lost about
one-third of their strength, and were compelled to fall back. They
therefore returned on the 26th to Lajj, and ultimately, after continual
rear guard actions, to Kut. There they found themselves surrounded, and
there was nothing to do but to wait for help. By this time the eyes of
the world were upon the beleaguered British army. Help was being hurried
to them from India, but Germany also was awake and Marshal von Der
Goltz, who had been military instructor in the Turkish army, was sent
down to take command of the Turkish forces. The town of Kut lies in the
loop of the Tigris, making it almost an island. There was an intrenched
line across the neck of land on the north, and the place could resist
any ordinary assault. The great difficulty was one of supplies. However,
as the relieving force was on the way, no great anxiety was felt. For
some days there was constant bombardment, which did no great damage. On
the 23d an attempt was made to carry the place by assault, but this too
failed. The relieving force, however, was having its troubles. These
were the days of floods, and progress was slow and at times almost
impossible. Moreover, the Turks were constantly resisting.
The relief expedition was composed of thirty thousand Indian troops, two
Anglo-Indian divisions, and the remnants of Townshend's expedition, a
total of about ninety thousand men. General Sir Percy Lake was in
command of the entire force. The march began on January 6th. By January
8th the British had reached Sheikh Saad, where the Turks were defeated
in two pitched battles. On January 22d he had arrived at Umm-el-Hanna,
where the Turks had intrenched themselves.
After artillery bombardment the Turkish positions were attacked, but
heavy rains had converted the ground into a sea of mud, rendering rapid
movement impossible. The enemy's fire was heavy and effective,
inflicting severe losses, and though every effort was made, the assault
failed.
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