KUT-EL-AMARA

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1916, Page 5

KUT-EL-AMARA

BRITISH FORCE SURRENDERS

SUPPLIES EXHAUSTED

FIVE MONTHS' HEROIC RESISTANCE

GENERAL TOWNSHEND'S TASK

J3y Cable~J?i'esg Association—Copyright,

(Press Association.—Extraordinary.)

it was tried—now that its first effort lias failed. While it aeemed like winning we all declared it a masterstroke. We all wonder about.the Dardanelles. But moat of us can remember the glad confidence that Constantinople wduld ba reached. We all wonder about the two costly offensives in France; but we would have voted for "breaking through," But then we are all amateurs, and part of our confidence is in our military- leaders, who have impresesd us in peace days with capacity, and whom we have trained for such events as these. They have the knowledge brought in by spies and secret agents,, the reports prepared during days when all these epemy countries were open to our observers, find the plan worked out according to general war schemes.

Received April 30, 5.S p.n

London, April 29,

Official.—After a resistaace of 143 days, the exhaustion of supplies has compelled General Townshead, with 2970 British and 6000 Indian troops, te surrender, after destroying all guns and munitions.

SUPPLY SHIP RUNS ASHORE,

ONLY FOUR MILES AWAY Received April 30, 5.5 p.m. London, April 28. The War Office announces that an attempt was made on the night of the 24th to send a ship with supplies to Kut, but although it was carried out with the utmost gallantry it unfortunately failed. Our aeroplanes discovered the ship aground near Magasis, four miles eastward of Kut. TURKISH REPORT. UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER. Received May 1, 1.15 a.m. Amsterdam, April ,30. A Turkish communique says: General Townshend's garrison of 13,300 men surrendered unconditionally. A GALLANT RESISTANCE, Received April 30, 5.5 p.m. ' London, April 29.

TOO MUCH FOR INDIA. When we became committed to the expedition we found that it was more than the Indian Army could do. Wo were called upon for reinforcements. Kitchener had to find drafts from Egypt, from England, even from France. And once more we were engulfed in one of those enterprises which General Joffre has called, with some bitterness, the "sponges"—expeditidhs which suck and suck at our strength, get us nowhere, and weaken our efforts in the main theatres of the war. We found once again that floating artillery was of little avail against an army on land, that we had under-estimated ;the fighting capacity of the Turks, that the aged general in command was, like Bome other generals who have failed us, wellmeaning, but not fit for the campaign, and that the Germans were more successful in buying Arab fighters tlian we. For nearly , eight : jnonths General Townshend fought forward along the Tigris banks, meeting Turkish, forces here and there, never decisively defeating them, always driving them before him to new defences.- We passed over ground where men fought many centuries ago, when the Garden of Eden has been located by some archaeologists. 'lf this was the Garden of Eden " wrote one officer to the Times, "then Adam was, lucky in getting out of it." Our troops pushed vacantly on in the sweat and trouble of summer across these barren and bare plains, where there was neither cover from Turkish bullets nor shelter from the thick waves of dust. Along the river went our river boats, monitors with guns, motor vessels with guns. Brigades from the new army went, as reinforcements, more troops were drawn from .India, an endless procession of supply steamers went to and fro in the Persian Gulf. I have met several of the men wounded in those eight months. One unfortunate young naval officer has been stricken by tlie sun, as deadly and as sudden as any bullet, while leading patrol parties on the beaches in search of ■the gun-runners. For these months the expedition was not costly in lives, as expediti<msgo—and it must be remembered in that respect that all expeditionary forces are costlier in lives, in money, in wastage, and in lines of communication than armies in possession. We protected India that way. Doubtless, also, we drew forces from the Dardanelles and from use elsewhere.

Official: After a resistance of 143 days, conducted with a gallantry and fortitude that will "be for ever memorable, the exhaustion of supplies compelled General Townshend to surrender, after destroying all guns and munitions. The force consists of 2970 British and 0000 Indians.

A HARD-HIT EXPEDITION. HEROIC ADVENTURES. DOOMED TO FAILURE FROM THE START. A TRAGIC STORY. (Sydney Sun Special Representative.) London, Jan. 28. Another misfortune to our arms, calling us to greater ruthlessness in the destruction of our enemies, has overtaken us in Mesopotamia. A few-week ago all these seemed plain sailing—or should we say steaming, in view of the reliance being placed upon our monitors and motor-boats on the Tigris? We'were within ii few days' mar.ch of Bagdad. The ancient capital was about to fall into our hands, in his great defence of his administration in the House of Co.inmons, the Prime Minister had held this zone up a s one theatre indeed where wo had been uniformly successful. But now Bagdad has fallen from our grasp, our forces are scattered, and the army which we depended on for final victory is itself closely besieged. The expedition to the Tigris was intended to be a swift blow at the vitals of the Turk, drawing some of his strength from the Dardanelles and the Caucasus, teaching him the length of the Empire's arm, and giving us an advanced base in our Indian defences. The scheme was designed, recommended, and launched by the Indian Army, Kitchener spproving. His reorganising work in India left its deep impress upon liiin, and there is no part of the Empire which he more thoroughly understands. All Anglo-Indians retain a kind of keen expert interest in the great dependency, and take its problems very seriously. Kitchener has this characteristic fully developed. He had in India a fine army and an experienced staff, containing, indeed, many of his own chosen men and others whom he regarded as brilliant generals. They could not be taken far away. Only a' percentage was required for the troubles on the north-western frontier, and for garrison purposes they were as good in the Persian Gulf as in Jndia itself. Thus the Indian General Staff received permission for its greatest adventure. Like many other of our military efforts, the Tigris expedition seems to .itasd condemned. We all wonder whx

THE DASH FOR BAGDAD. By the time General Townshend reached, Kut-cl-Amara, within striking distance of Bagdad, he was reduoed to little more than a division in strength. General Nixon, Commander-in-Chief of the expedition, was down the river at the main oase, with which telegraphic wires had been laid. The order went that General Townshend was to advance to Bagdad. Who decided upon that command, or why the decision to challenge the Turkish Kmpire with a force brought up to only little more than a full division was made are not known. Certainly the War Council was consulted and approved. Certairtly, also, it was desir. able to have. Bagdad in our hands when we retired from the 'Dardanelles for moral effect. It has been stated here that the Government was specially anxious to hold Bagdad, fearing public anger when the announcement of the heavy losses expected in the Dardanelles evacuation was made. Ido not pretend to know why the order was given, or by whom, nor have excellent sources of Information I have consulted had any knowledge. The order was disastrous, and its heavy responsibility must 8om« day be brought home. Townshend protested against the advance. A gallant officer, one of the most talented, expert, and studious of our generals, he knew the task to b# impossible. Officers writing home—most arc now dead or wounded—told of the astonishment among the troops \Vhcn the order came, and of their feeling that they were being sent out to unknown perils from which they could not hope to escape. But they went gaily. Friends of "Charlie" Townshend say that his troops would always do that. He is a cheerful and indomitable leader, a man who never knows what it is to be beaten, a general who can do wonders with a siuall force. He met the Turks in full strength at Ctesiphon. lie won the battle, storming strong defences over pitiless, open plains. Four times, so the letters toll us, he himself went into the desperate fray, leading 'his men in eliaTges. He fought as fiercely as any of tlie splendid soldiers which that day put to flight six times their number of good fighting men. The men rallied round him at times when the ebb went against them and all seemed lost. By "wliWal'. Tudai had been drlvtjj

from their stronghold, and the day. fcj;! longed to these intrepid Britisher^' GREAT, MAX WASTED. . ,j Such fights, with generals in the ruK4 >' and general hand-to-hand encounters, •< read like the battles of a bygonfc aga 4 but they have occurred during the fWf "I jiot only ou the* Tigris, but in Galjipoli, a# our own men will tell; in South \d Africa, and in the western parts at i stimulation from the picture. Tojnui , hend is an aristocrat, the heir to i n»r« quisate, a tali, lithe figure, with sjtrong, .'•! soldierly face. If pictures and account* '■« of him are true, lie is typical <jf tho best type of British aristocrats, the tjrp# - j that has produced in this war sojhe ot cur finest figures, but which lias pro* duced them during these generational the cost of nearly the whole of th/s rut ' pf the population. As lieutenant bp w&a - t in command at the siege of Chitral, j, where the dauntlessnesE of liis small yt and invincible force delighted the world. An 'he has matured he has spent all hit * spare time in the study of Napoleon. Every Napoleonic battlefield ha ; ■ J visited, every writing by Napoleon fctt has studied, every maxim of Napoleoa hj« 'has learnt by heart. He is regarded f a« the greatest of Napoleonic aqtWu, ties, and the fact that he eariiestlyi ' warned his country against Genua# ag<t gression has emphasised the question why such a renowned Si dent • of the master should havo been kept ij from European battlefields, ' • CLEVER ENEMY TRICK. '

The. cost of Ctesiplion was more shan fA Townshend's little army could (<u h More than one-third of its on the ground when night fell, lit had ■ -,s conquered, but further advance wsa un> i thinkable. Moreover, the enemy jffM being veinforced. It had lured us on to ' Bagdad just as we had lured von Bpee 3 on to the Falklands. The German Win- ' ifi less station had been spreading the naws J that Bagdad was poorly defended/ that '"1 the German public was being reconciled to its loss, and that Turkey feared that ■f, nothing could ,save it. We had aw*V< -j lowed these stories, wo had expected toi ,1® get there with our small forces, and W* ; J hadv not even provided for reinforce' 'sj ments on any large scale to Jtold It, ' j Townshend estimated that in round • # numbers 280,000 Turks and-' Arabian . i fighting men were concentrated for thfe defence of Bagdad, and. - that wa a -h|d! -. f | v/alked gamely, but with disastrottif re- ','3 suits, into a trap. He evacuate? hla ~1 wounded, fought off the Turks white hi 3 got 'his prisoners away down the Hv«, vJ and began his historic retreat. The long *9 march back to Kut is one of the great • | achievements of the war. Turks pra»jed <3 on north, west and ./tilth, and atf OMT/f] time they seemed to (<e squatting aO , t i round our men. When Kut s-as lighted' ' the infantry was too tired to step in- j other yard. A halt had to be called W J au action fought. Only the remMurtt ' of the force got back to their old d<f . fences on the Kut peninsula on thi ' Tigris, and it is estimated -that they had: t been further reduced now by ticlcneM '* ind the perpetual fighting in defensive positions to little more han 3000 nMj ■ MORE TRAGIC LAUREL& | It is eight weeks since Townsbsnd* ] was hemmed in in Kut, and three weika sincd General Aylmcr began the march. 31 for his relief. General Nixon it earning home; General Lake, a renowned lndUfck) l 3 officer, is taking We tan ™ sent out several hundreds of motor gun* • j boats of a handy character. We «n .doing everything possible. Bat when -j* General Aylmer met the Ttlrks this week -".J in great force 23 miles east of Rut, and. j lost so heavily that he 'had io'Mk for ' ■ an armistice to bury his dead, .'hope of .1 saving Townshend seemed to «fc>. Th* f Turks are now in many thodajnds en« 'f] trenched strongly in this position. At-' i'i tacks upon it must be made owr ground j jv.-ept by bullets, commanded Iby the - -i Turkish artillery. After that ha* been 1 stormed we must take the etlll stronger ■ Essin defences seven miles east of Kus— walls extending several on ■' each aide of the river, and preyed tot' 4 defence by German officers. We hare not sufficient strength fur this,, units! t every man, British and :Indian, becomes ■' on this great day of attack a supfanan. -i Gales are against us, our monitors are 1 * being hit by Turkish artillery, Ihe '# river's currents and sandbanks are he- " coming more than ever uncertain in the torrents, and the Turks command the '•• h bunks of the Tigris, not only between 'J Kut and their present position,' but even '" below Aylmer's force. Soon there will '' j be. anxiety for General Aylmer. This is J not a dismal picture, but the story o( I one of our small expeditions which ha* had glory written on every page of ita % oistory, which cannot affect the result of the war, but which has so far been ' i indeed a tragedy. ,