Mesopotamia

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 3, 6 April 1916, Page 5

Mesopotamia

ENEMY'S ENTRENCHED POSITION. j pr-* The High Commissioner reports:— London, April 5 (11.45 p.m.) General Lake reports that at five o’clock this morning, the Tigris corps attacked and carried-the enemy s entrenched position at I m el Hanah. Operations are proceeding satisfactorily.

THE BRITISH ADVANCE. LAST YEAR’S PREPARATIONS. CALANTRY OF THE TROOPS. (United Pkesh Association.) London, April 5. General Nixon’s despatch from Mesopotamia narrates that General Corringe, for seven weeks in April and May of last year was engaged in clearing Persian Arabistas, thus enabling the oil fields to resume opera l ions. Meanwhile General Townshend t was collecting many long, narrow boats, called “heliums,” that were covered with iron plates. The troops were trained in punting, and guns were mounted on rafts and barges. These preparations were completed by the end of May, when the Turks entrenched north of Gurnah, on islands that were standing out from the inundation. The flotilla of “heliums” advanced to the attack on May 31, the infantry carrying the position at the point of the bayonet, after poling the “heliums” for over a mile through thick reeds, and landing waist deep in water. I Describing General Townshend’s first advance, General Nixon says that at the Turkish position seven miles north-cast of Kut-el-Amara a formidable boom blocked the Tigris. The

entrenchments were linked up by gaps between the river and the marshes. The defences were well designed, and behind were miles of communicafion trenches, providing covered outlets to the Tigris, where landing stages facilitated the transfer of the Turks to and from the ships. General Townshend’s victory on September 28th was due to a feint attack south of the river. This has followed by the construction of a bridge, whereby the troops were conveyed over to the northern sfffe under cover of night, and they concluded with a most gallant bayonet attack. The enemy were only saved from complete destruction by night coming on.