https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-advance-towards-baghdad-n8f55fkl2?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1779894
The advance towards Baghdad
The meaning of the later Turkish invasions of Persia was not at first clearly understood by the public, but there can be no doubt that all these movements formed part of the German scheme for gaining control of the Middle East in order ultimately to menace the British Empire of India
March 10, 1917
Sir Stanley Maude’s pursuing cavalry is almost within sight of the city of Baghdad, and it seems quite possible that the River Dialah may not long be permitted to bar the path of the victorious British forces. The overwhelming rout of the Turkish Army in Mesopotamia conveys a very clear example of the successful conduct of methodical operations under the direct control of a competent General Staff. While complete confidence has rightly been maintained in the judgment of General Maude, every step that he has taken has been carefully scrutinized in London. Whatever its outcome may be, the present British advance towards Baghdad is no wild and casual adventure, undertaken with insufficient forces and supplies and dependent on slender communications. It bears no resemblance to the “gamble” in the Dardanelles with which all the world is ringing today, nor, for the matter of that, to the rash enterprise which ended in the siege of Kut and in the unavailing attempts to relieve General Townshend. The whole difference is that the blow which has now fallen on the Turks was struck under the supervision of a competent General Staff. There have been no hasty improvisations about this latest campaign. Every movement has been solid and prudent. Men impatiently wondered why General Maude persisted so long in clearing the right bank of the great bends of the Tigris above Kut before attempting the passage of the river; but when the Turkish Army broke they saw that he had calculated well and could be swift in pursuit.
More than six months were spent in preparing the movements which have now encompassed the overthrow of the Turks below Baghdad. Light railways were built, the waterways were improved, wharves were constructed, roads were made, wells were dug, and great stores of supplies were accumulated. Two months or more were devoted to the actual operations which slowly wrought the Turkish downfall, anal it was only when the Turks broke and fled that General Maude finally fell upon them like a thunderbolt and chased them nearly a hundred miles to the very confines of Baghdad. The Dialah River, a tributary of the Tigris, eight miles from the suburbs of the city of the Khalifs, was confronting his eager horsemen on Wednesday. What the British purpose now may be can only be surmised, but we may be certain that General Maude will act with wise forethought. He has already amply earned the special promotion granted him by the King.
The very first results of General Maude’s victory on the Tigris were quickly revealed far away in Western Persia. Within a week of the fall of Kut the Turkish forces in Persia had evacuated the considerable city of Hamadan and were turning their faces homeward. Their retreat was automatic and inevitable. After the siege of Kut last year, substantial Turkish columns moved eastward into Persia, and they were joined by portions of the Turkish garrison of Erzinjan when that city was taken by. the Russians.
The meaning of the later Turkish invasions of Persia was not at first clearly understood by the public, but there can be no doubt that all these movements formed part of the German scheme for gaining control of the Middle East in order ultimately to menace the British Empire of India. The Persian operations were always sketchily conducted, and they are now on the verge of collapse. Three Russian columns appear to be driving back the Turks in Western Persia, and we may hope soon to bear that the invasion is at an end. The disaster which has overtaken the Turkish Army at Kut threatens the enemy’s line of communications with Persia, and compels their retirement. At the same time, care must be taken not to exaggerate the prospects of a series of operations which are still hundreds of miles apart. The campaigns in Armenia, In Persia, and on the Lower Tigris are all inter-related, but there can be no early prospect of bringing them into closer touch. As for Baghdad itself, it will be time enough to discuss its future if and when we get there. We are witnessing the chase of a routed army by cavalry, which was an exploit familiar enough in former wars, but nothing has been disclosed of the precise whereabouts of General Maude’s main army. If the pursuit is to develop Into larger movements, time will probably be required. It must not be forgotten that the season of inundations is at hand, although it should also be noted that the desert route on the left bank between Kut and Baghdad is believed to remain fairly free from extensive floods. Another point to be remembered is that any attempt to occupy Baghdad would almost certainly necessitate the seizure of advanced positions north of the city. The great difficulty of campaigning in such an open country as Mesopotamia is that there is no natural line which may be marked out as the limit of advance. But however perplexing these problems may be, we are already justified in rejoicing over the main fact that a powerful Turkish army has been shattered, and that British prestige in the Middle East has been brilliantly restored.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/baghdad-in-british-hands-069xthwm8?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1779894
More than six months were spent in preparing the movements which have now encompassed the overthrow of the Turks below Baghdad. Light railways were built, the waterways were improved, wharves were constructed, roads were made, wells were dug, and great stores of supplies were accumulated. Two months or more were devoted to the actual operations which slowly wrought the Turkish downfall, anal it was only when the Turks broke and fled that General Maude finally fell upon them like a thunderbolt and chased them nearly a hundred miles to the very confines of Baghdad. The Dialah River, a tributary of the Tigris, eight miles from the suburbs of the city of the Khalifs, was confronting his eager horsemen on Wednesday. What the British purpose now may be can only be surmised, but we may be certain that General Maude will act with wise forethought. He has already amply earned the special promotion granted him by the King.
The very first results of General Maude’s victory on the Tigris were quickly revealed far away in Western Persia. Within a week of the fall of Kut the Turkish forces in Persia had evacuated the considerable city of Hamadan and were turning their faces homeward. Their retreat was automatic and inevitable. After the siege of Kut last year, substantial Turkish columns moved eastward into Persia, and they were joined by portions of the Turkish garrison of Erzinjan when that city was taken by. the Russians.
The meaning of the later Turkish invasions of Persia was not at first clearly understood by the public, but there can be no doubt that all these movements formed part of the German scheme for gaining control of the Middle East in order ultimately to menace the British Empire of India. The Persian operations were always sketchily conducted, and they are now on the verge of collapse. Three Russian columns appear to be driving back the Turks in Western Persia, and we may hope soon to bear that the invasion is at an end. The disaster which has overtaken the Turkish Army at Kut threatens the enemy’s line of communications with Persia, and compels their retirement. At the same time, care must be taken not to exaggerate the prospects of a series of operations which are still hundreds of miles apart. The campaigns in Armenia, In Persia, and on the Lower Tigris are all inter-related, but there can be no early prospect of bringing them into closer touch. As for Baghdad itself, it will be time enough to discuss its future if and when we get there. We are witnessing the chase of a routed army by cavalry, which was an exploit familiar enough in former wars, but nothing has been disclosed of the precise whereabouts of General Maude’s main army. If the pursuit is to develop Into larger movements, time will probably be required. It must not be forgotten that the season of inundations is at hand, although it should also be noted that the desert route on the left bank between Kut and Baghdad is believed to remain fairly free from extensive floods. Another point to be remembered is that any attempt to occupy Baghdad would almost certainly necessitate the seizure of advanced positions north of the city. The great difficulty of campaigning in such an open country as Mesopotamia is that there is no natural line which may be marked out as the limit of advance. But however perplexing these problems may be, we are already justified in rejoicing over the main fact that a powerful Turkish army has been shattered, and that British prestige in the Middle East has been brilliantly restored.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/baghdad-in-british-hands-069xthwm8?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1779894
Baghdad in British hands
To the watching East it will seem to sound the knell of German aspirations. To the Germans themselves it will mean the ignominious collapse of a scheme to which they devoted infinite subtle and secret labour
March 12, 1917
The British Army of Mesopotamia captured Baghdad yesterday, and shattered the dream which the Pan-Germans have been dreaming for more than twenty years. The German route to the East is blocked, and the existing terminus of the Baghdad Railway has passed into our hands. Great though this achievement may well be reckoned from the military point of view, the moral effect will be even greater. To the watching East it will seem to sound the knell of German aspirations. To the Germans themselves it will mean the ignominious collapse of a scheme to which they devoted infinite subtle and secret labour, and the frustration of one of the principal objects for which they wantonly set the world ablaze.
The culminating operations of our forces appear to have been conducted with remarkable skill, and they closed with actions on both sides of the River Tigris. There is no harm in saying now that Sir Stanley Maude smashed the Turkish Army centring on Kut even more thoroughly than the public are quite aware. In the laborious series of movements on the right bank of the Tigris opposite and above Kut, which were protracted through many days, he inflicted terrible losses on the Turks. Thousands of prisoners were taken, and time after time the Turkish dead were found in heaps.
When the Turkish Army broke and bolted for Baghdad, it was not much more than a remnant. The fugitives passed across General Townshend’s battlefield at Ctesiphon without making an attempt to bold the strong positions still existing there. Our cavalry found them last Wednesday at bay on the farther side of the River Diala, at its confluence with the Tigris, about eight miles below the first of the suburbs of Baghdad. On Thursday morning the Tigris was bridged some distance below its junction with the Diala, and strong British detachments crossed once more to the right bank.
The Turks appear at this period to have been holding both banks. On Friday night the advanced bodies of the main British Army on the left bank of the Tigris crossed the Diala in bright moonlight. On Saturday the Turkish troops on both banks were driven back upon Baghdad, and yesterday our victorious Army entered the coveted city.
The Turks have now lost the two great outlying provinces of Armenia and Mesopotamia. They have been deprived of the cities of Baghdad and Erzrum and Erzinjan, and of the important seaports of Basra and Trebizond. The British forces now in Mesopotamia are likely to be a match for any fresh Army which the Turks can concentrate against them. Another strong British force is pushing into the borders of Palestine. The Russians are again moving forward in Armenia. The Turkish invaders of Persia are in full retreat. On all their main campaigning fronts the Turks are falling back, while their power in Arabia is now broken.
The various Asiatic theatres of the war are admittedly subsidiary, but the collective effect of this series of Turkish reverses must ultimately be felt in Europe, because the value of Turkey as an ally of Germany has now been irremediably weakened. One very great and immediate consequence of the British occupation of Baghdad is that it will have a steadying influence upon the whole situation in the Middle East. There can be no doubt that our repeated misfortunes a year or more ago in Mesopotamia very seriously diminished British prestige in Asia, but the fall of Baghdad restores the balance. In Oriental eyes the capture of Baghdad will count for much more than the rout of a Turkish Army, for, though the city has been shorn of much of its former greatness, it is venerated because of its “dead past, which cannot die.” The article which we publish this morning upon the City of the Caliphate explains vividly the reasons why Baghdad still enjoys its old fame throughout Asia, and why its glamour has never entirely faded. Its fall will bring more renown to British arms in the East than many battles.
At a time when a controversy concerning the internal administration of India is unpleasantly clouding the political horizon at home, let us not forget that India has played a great and worthy part in the triumph of Baghdad. We are too apt to think and to speak as though the troops under General Maude’s command are exclusively British. It should always be remembered that a very large proportion of the forces he has guided to victory are Indian regiments. The cavalry which hung on the flanks of the demoralized Turkish Army, and chased it to the confines of Baghdad, must have been almost exclusively Indian cavalry. The infantry which bore many months of privation and proved in the end the masters of the Turks included Indian units, which had already fought heroically in France, in Gallipoli, and in Egypt. Whatever mistakes the Indian military administration may have made in the earlier stages of the Mesopotamian campaign, the valour of the Indian troops who have contributed so largely to our successes on the Tigris has never been in question. In the last few days there have been discussions which seemed to imply that India’s help in the war has chiefly consisted of a belated offer of financial aid. She has done far more, for, in common with ourselves, she has given the blood of some of her best and bravest, and nowhere more than in the deserts of Mesopotamia.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-entry-into-baghdad-3bccq6cvl?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1779894
The culminating operations of our forces appear to have been conducted with remarkable skill, and they closed with actions on both sides of the River Tigris. There is no harm in saying now that Sir Stanley Maude smashed the Turkish Army centring on Kut even more thoroughly than the public are quite aware. In the laborious series of movements on the right bank of the Tigris opposite and above Kut, which were protracted through many days, he inflicted terrible losses on the Turks. Thousands of prisoners were taken, and time after time the Turkish dead were found in heaps.
When the Turkish Army broke and bolted for Baghdad, it was not much more than a remnant. The fugitives passed across General Townshend’s battlefield at Ctesiphon without making an attempt to bold the strong positions still existing there. Our cavalry found them last Wednesday at bay on the farther side of the River Diala, at its confluence with the Tigris, about eight miles below the first of the suburbs of Baghdad. On Thursday morning the Tigris was bridged some distance below its junction with the Diala, and strong British detachments crossed once more to the right bank.
The Turks appear at this period to have been holding both banks. On Friday night the advanced bodies of the main British Army on the left bank of the Tigris crossed the Diala in bright moonlight. On Saturday the Turkish troops on both banks were driven back upon Baghdad, and yesterday our victorious Army entered the coveted city.
The Turks have now lost the two great outlying provinces of Armenia and Mesopotamia. They have been deprived of the cities of Baghdad and Erzrum and Erzinjan, and of the important seaports of Basra and Trebizond. The British forces now in Mesopotamia are likely to be a match for any fresh Army which the Turks can concentrate against them. Another strong British force is pushing into the borders of Palestine. The Russians are again moving forward in Armenia. The Turkish invaders of Persia are in full retreat. On all their main campaigning fronts the Turks are falling back, while their power in Arabia is now broken.
The various Asiatic theatres of the war are admittedly subsidiary, but the collective effect of this series of Turkish reverses must ultimately be felt in Europe, because the value of Turkey as an ally of Germany has now been irremediably weakened. One very great and immediate consequence of the British occupation of Baghdad is that it will have a steadying influence upon the whole situation in the Middle East. There can be no doubt that our repeated misfortunes a year or more ago in Mesopotamia very seriously diminished British prestige in Asia, but the fall of Baghdad restores the balance. In Oriental eyes the capture of Baghdad will count for much more than the rout of a Turkish Army, for, though the city has been shorn of much of its former greatness, it is venerated because of its “dead past, which cannot die.” The article which we publish this morning upon the City of the Caliphate explains vividly the reasons why Baghdad still enjoys its old fame throughout Asia, and why its glamour has never entirely faded. Its fall will bring more renown to British arms in the East than many battles.
At a time when a controversy concerning the internal administration of India is unpleasantly clouding the political horizon at home, let us not forget that India has played a great and worthy part in the triumph of Baghdad. We are too apt to think and to speak as though the troops under General Maude’s command are exclusively British. It should always be remembered that a very large proportion of the forces he has guided to victory are Indian regiments. The cavalry which hung on the flanks of the demoralized Turkish Army, and chased it to the confines of Baghdad, must have been almost exclusively Indian cavalry. The infantry which bore many months of privation and proved in the end the masters of the Turks included Indian units, which had already fought heroically in France, in Gallipoli, and in Egypt. Whatever mistakes the Indian military administration may have made in the earlier stages of the Mesopotamian campaign, the valour of the Indian troops who have contributed so largely to our successes on the Tigris has never been in question. In the last few days there have been discussions which seemed to imply that India’s help in the war has chiefly consisted of a belated offer of financial aid. She has done far more, for, in common with ourselves, she has given the blood of some of her best and bravest, and nowhere more than in the deserts of Mesopotamia.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-entry-into-baghdad-3bccq6cvl?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1779894
The entry into Baghdad
March 14, 1917
The Secretary of the War Office makes the following announcement: Telegraphing late at night on the 11th inst, GOC Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force gives the following details leading up to and subsequent to the capture of Baghdad early on the 11th.
On the evening of the 10th we maintained a close touch with the enemy on both banks of the Tigris, south of Baghdad. During the night the enemy evacuated his entire trench line, whilst we pushed forward in close contact.
Before dawn on the 11th a general advance on both banks was ordered, and at 5.50am we secured the railway station, the city being entered shortly afterwards.
Our cavalry pushed forward in pursuit, and after slight resistance occupied Kazimain [on the west bank, about four miles north of Baghdad], capturing over 100 prisoners and four damaged aeroplanes. Our gunboats now took up the pursuit.
During this recent fighting the fierce gales, the blinding dust storms, lack of water away from the river, and the vigour of the pursuit have made operations arduous.
Since the 23rd ult [the date of the crossing of the Tigris at Shumran, near Kut] the Turks had been busy destroying and removing everything of value in Baghdad. A considerable amount of booty has nevertheless fallen into our hands, including large quantities of equipment, arms, and ammunition; 600 Turkish wounded were also abandoned by the enemy.
On the left [east] bank of the Tigris between 200 and 300 Turkish dead were counted on the 10th inst, and 300 prisoners were taken.
On entering the city of Baghdad the local inhabitants gave us a warm welcome. Slight disturbances occurred in the city consequent on the Turkish evacuation, but complete order was restored when our troops entered the city.
March 13. The following communique was issued in Constantinople yesterday: There is no recent news from the Tigris or Persian fronts. It is understood, however, that the operations are proceeding in accordance with a plan previously decided upon.
On the evening of the 10th we maintained a close touch with the enemy on both banks of the Tigris, south of Baghdad. During the night the enemy evacuated his entire trench line, whilst we pushed forward in close contact.
Before dawn on the 11th a general advance on both banks was ordered, and at 5.50am we secured the railway station, the city being entered shortly afterwards.
Our cavalry pushed forward in pursuit, and after slight resistance occupied Kazimain [on the west bank, about four miles north of Baghdad], capturing over 100 prisoners and four damaged aeroplanes. Our gunboats now took up the pursuit.
During this recent fighting the fierce gales, the blinding dust storms, lack of water away from the river, and the vigour of the pursuit have made operations arduous.
Since the 23rd ult [the date of the crossing of the Tigris at Shumran, near Kut] the Turks had been busy destroying and removing everything of value in Baghdad. A considerable amount of booty has nevertheless fallen into our hands, including large quantities of equipment, arms, and ammunition; 600 Turkish wounded were also abandoned by the enemy.
On the left [east] bank of the Tigris between 200 and 300 Turkish dead were counted on the 10th inst, and 300 prisoners were taken.
On entering the city of Baghdad the local inhabitants gave us a warm welcome. Slight disturbances occurred in the city consequent on the Turkish evacuation, but complete order was restored when our troops entered the city.
March 13. The following communique was issued in Constantinople yesterday: There is no recent news from the Tigris or Persian fronts. It is understood, however, that the operations are proceeding in accordance with a plan previously decided upon.
No comments:
Post a Comment