MESOPOTAMIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 April 1916, Page 5

MESOPOTAMIA.

BRITISH SUCCESSES. WORK ON THE TIGRIS. ... SATISFACTORY NEWS. , London, April 6. Official: The British have captured Felahie, in Mesopotamia. The newspapers give prominence to the news from Kut-el-Amara. The report of General Lake's success c6inciding with the publication of General Nixon's dispatch and the absence of recent news from General Townshend had caused increasing public anxiety. General Lake's success gives both the long-suffering force at Kut and the longsuffering public at Home a ray of hope, though the main Turkish position remains to be attacked by General Lake. Apparently the inundations from thn Armenian highlands have not made operations impossible, as many military experts feared. Umm-el-Hannah is on the left bank of the Tigris, and constitutes the first ftne of the enemy's formidable position. There is no rosm for manoeuvring, it having a front of only a mile and a half. We tried to force this bottle neck on January 21, but General Aylmer was unable to hold the ground won. The Morning Post attacks the Government, alleging that, acting on General Nixon's advice, it overruled the India office and -directed General Townshend to make a dash 0 n Bagdad, though General Townshend protested that he had not an adequate force. Mr. Churchill's restless brain was responsible, and the probable motive was to divert the Turks from Gallipoli and thus retrieve the ghastly blunder of the Dardanelles. ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. WON BY BRITISH DASH. London, April 8. General Lake reports that the Tigris Corps, under General Gorringe, General Aylmer's successor, attacked at Umm-el-Hannah at 5 o'clock dn the morning of April 5. Our trenches had been pushed forward by means of saps to within a hundred yards of the enemy's position, and thence the leading battalions of the 13th Division rushed the first and second lines in quick succession. The third line was captured at six o'clock. Supported by concentrated artillery and machine-gun fire, the 13th Division continued its victorious advance, and an hour later drove out the enemy from the fourth and fifth lines. Aeroplane recoijnaisances reported that the enemy was strongly reinforcing the Falahiyah and Sannayyat positions re-spectively,-GOOO to 12,000 yards from the front trenches at Umm-el-Hannah. As these positions were only approachable over open ground, General Gorringe deferred a further attack till evening. Meanwhile, on the right bank, the 3rd division, under General Carey, captured the enemy's trenches opposite Falahiyah. The enemy in the afternoon on this bank strongly counter-attacked with infantry and cavalry, supported by guns. We successfully repulsed them and consolidated the position won. General Gorringe, at 8 o'clock in the evening, resumed the advance and carried the Falahiyah positions. The report states that the Hannah position was strongly entrenched, its left flank in the Suwaichi nxtrsh and its right on the river. The front trenches were nine feet deep, and the system extended with successive lines to a depth of 2500 yards. MAKING HISTORY. THE "IRON DIVISION." Received April 7, 11.10 p.m. London, April 7. Newspapers recall the fact that the Thirteenth Division, which is mentioned in General Lake's report, belongs to the new army, and earned the title of the "Iron Division"- at Gallipoli, where they went through the fiercest fighting in August. General Hamilton then mentioned that the division had lost 6000 men out of 10,500.