CAPTURE OF BAGDAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 March 1917, Page 6

CAPTURE OF BAGDAD.

. -Ca. GRAVE CONCERN IN GERMANY. London, March 13. Router's eorrosponde'iit at Amsterdam writes: There is an undercurrent of real concern in the German comment on tire fall of Bagdad. The Cologne Gazette says it was a great success, and adds: "All the bazaars ill the East will resound with the news that the Feringliis have beaten the soldiers of the Padishah, and have conquered the romantic city. It would be a mistake to depreciate the importance of the success, nevertheless it' is firstly political." The newspaper consoles its readers by reminding them that while the British are getting further from their main base, the Turks are approaching theirs at Mosul. The Rhenish-Westfalen Gazette, published in Essen, says: "Trie English have won a momentary undeniable success, but when the Turks have applied I heir heavy artillery Bagdad will not long tolerate the Anglo-Indian garrison." The Cologne Gazette writes: "The British have won an indubitable success. The surrender of Kut-el-Amara was rightly described as a heavy blow. It naturally follows that tilt fall of Bagdad wipes out the stain, and is a striking success, all the more so after the British, forward move in Sinai. Although the success is transitory, and does not affect the decision of the war, it is a heavy blow against Turkey, and is painful for the Quadruple Alliance." Comments by the French and Italian press on the fall of Bagdad are even more enthusiastic than the British, while neutrals are most impressed with the significance of the British victory.