MESOPOTAMIAN FIGHTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1916, Page 2

MESOPOTAMIAN FIGHTS.

TART OF NAVAL MEN. HOW A V.C. WAS WON, The posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to the late f,.ieu,tena)lt-Comrnander Cookson, in recognition of the. 'gallant action in which he'lo'this life,"directs attention to Hie effective, support which the Navy has a (lorded" to, the military expedition which has been operating on the rivers at the head of the 'Persian Gulf. ,' ' ■ The incident in which Co.mmander Cookson won the V.C. is described in the Gazette. He had already received the D..5.0. for his services in conducting a reconnaissance up a efeek of the Euphrates in the armed launch Shushan, when ha fell into an ambush, from which, although wounded, he extricated his vessel. Of the other officers who are now recognised, two wcTe serving iu the Comet at the same time as Gommander Cookson met his death;'one, an airman, was carrying despatches between the Comet mid General- -Townshcnd; while. Sub-Lieutenant Tndway, who with others receives the Distinguished Service Cross, commanded the Sumana, an armed launch, on the same occasion. FATE OF THE COMET. Tn. all the-operations in Mesopotamia, from the time that a force was landed at Fao in November, IJII4, continuous assistance has been afforded by gunboat flotillas, and, although no naval despatches have been published, tiie military officers have spoken in the highest terms of the courage, endurance and ekecrr'uino" of the seamen in affording effective help under circumstances of great difficulty. The Comet appears to have been enpaged against the enemy on two or three great rivers in this neighborhood. Her gunner was treacherously shot at Na-;rn, on the Kamn, and she was then Ileai'd of in the advance to Bagdad, on the Tigris: while, oddly enough', in the retreat after the battle of Ctesiphon, the Turks claim to have captured a gunboat which had been disabled and abandoned, which they called the Kerned, but which may possibly be identified as the Comet.

A XAVAL BRIGADE • The landing at the mouth of the Sliatt-el-Aral) was covered by the guns of the Espiegie and Odin, and a naval brigade participated in the capture of Basra. A naval flotilla also assisted at the capture of Qurnah, and was, on that occasion commanded by Captain Wilfrid Nunn, who received the D.S.O. for his services. This officer is reported to have accompanied General Townsend in the further operations up the Tigris, and may still be with him. In the expedition' up the. Euphrates, another naval force was employed, and assisted at the occupation of Xasariyeh on July 27. The report of the operations sta'ted that a gunboat flotilla pushed on; ahead of the troops, and shelled the place, which was occupied on the following morning without opposition. The conduct of several officers who participated in the affair has'already received, recognition in miscellaneous Gazettes, such as that now published.. Among these was Lieutenant-Commander Seymour, who appears to have succeeded Lieutenant-Commander Cookson in command of the Shushan, and who distinguished himself by chasing a Thornycroft patrol boat and sinking her. In recognition of the services of the naval officers who have thus rendered 11 D.S.C.'s have been awarded, iti addiefl'ertive help to their military brethren, the Gazette* have already shown, including the present one, that besides Coin-