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.