PERSIA.
A SUCCESSFUL RETREAT. ADMITTED BY TURKS. Amsterdam, Dec. 6. 'A Turkish communique states that the British have successfully retired to Kutelamara. . GENERAL TOWNSHEND SAFE. Wellington, Dec. 7. The High Commissioner reports under date London, December 6, 7.46 p.m.:— General Townshend reached Kutelamara without further fighting. IMPORTANT WARNING. .GUARD THE SUE2 CANAL. limes and Sydney Sun Services. 'Received Dec. 7, 5.5 p.m. London, Dec. 6. Mr. Lovat fraser, in the Daily Mail, Spites: "There is no question of rout Wd disaster about the Bagdad retreat. General Townshend not only removed the wounded by steamer, 'but was able to march With sixteen hundred prisoners. The Turkish pursuit was most persistent for eight days after the battle of Ctesiphon. The enemy guns disabled two armed river steamers, which had to he abandoned. The fighting was severe, and the casualties indicate that two thousand of our dead were left on the field.
One jnust assume that the intelligence officers on the Tigris were not aware of the opposing strength, and this is not Surprising, since they are compelled to rely on the reports of Orientals, who have most vague ideas of numbers. i The molt anxious factor in the situation is that the news will soon reach Hamadan, which is the centre of freebooters, Austro-German agents, and corrupt members of the Persian Parliament, who have itching palms. Tribal desperadoes are lured, with rifles and gold, and a German Minister is apparently at the head of this motley crew. j "Hamadan," continues Mr. Fraser, "it, the, place worth watching for the solution of the Near East problem. Our anxieties may be summed up in these wordß! 'Guard Egypt first. Our prestige throughout the East will stand or fE, Met by failure or success at the Daftlanelles, the adventure in the Balkans] or the minor thrust at Bagdad, but more •than anything by the ability to hold the otter Canal. It is the jugular vein, and we, must hold it or we are undone. Failure to make it impregnable against attack will mean instant trouble in India, cause dismay in Australasia and a collapse in the Far East.'"
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19151208.2.23.2
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1915, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
353PERSIA. Taranaki Daily News, 8 December 1915, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.