American troopships sailed in safety
to Europe, and at no time did the
menace seriously interfere with sup-
plies and food for them, or for the
Entente nations. The American people
had recognized that the war was their
own, and acted accordingly.

751




A NATIONAL GUARD REGIMENT LEAVING FOR CAMP

The Twelfth Regiment, National Guard, of New York is shown parading on Fifth Avenue on its way to Camp
Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it became a part of the Twenty-Seventh Division. Later this
division won glory over its service along with the Thirtieth, as a part of the British Army.




ANOTHER NATIONAL GUARD REGIMENT ON FIFTH AVENUE

The Seventh Regiment has a long and distinguished record in New York. For a long time it wore a special uniform
very much like that still worn by the West Point cadets, but later adopted the blue and then the khaki. This regi-
ment also became a part of the Twenty-Seventh Division, commanded by Major-General John F. O'Ryan, who
was in command of the New York National Guard before the war. Pictures, Times Photo Service

752




A Ghurka Draft in Mesopotamia



CHAPTER XLVI

The Capture of Bagdad

KUT IS AVENGED AND THE GREAT CITY OF THE CALIPHS

IS TAKEN



TN another chapter we left the
Mesopotamian Army, at the end of
1916, fully equipped for whatever ad-
vance its commander-in-chief might
determine upon. "Briefly put," wrote
General Maude in his official narrative
of the fighting, "the enemy's plan
appeared to be to contain our main
forces on the Tigris, while a vigorous
campaign, which would directly threat-
en India, was being developed in Persia.
There were indications, too, of an im-
pending move down the Euphrates
towards Nasiriyeh. It seemed clear
from the outset that the true solution
of the problem was a resolute offensive,
with concentrated forces, on the Tigris,
thus effectively threatening Bagdad,
the centre from which the enemy's
columns were operating."

THE TURKISH DEFENSES ALONG THE
TIGRIS STRENGTHENED.

During the autumn the enemy had
not been idle but had strengthened
his defenses, particularly the Sanna-i-
yat position, where he judged attack
would come. In addition to his six
lines there he had drawn a regular net-
work of defenses stretching back fifteen
miles to Kut. On the right or south
bank of the river he deemed himself
impregnable by reason of a bridgehead
on the Shatt-el-Hai. Nevertheless,
the British Army had the advantage,
for if an attack were delivered on



Sanna-i-yat its right flank would be
protected by the Suwaicha Marsh, and
if the attack were made on the line of
the Shatt-el-Hai the enemy would be
fighting with his "communications
parallel," which would imperil his re-
treat. Maude decided on this latter
course, and to mislead the Turk opened
with an assault on the position at
Sanna-i-yat. Then, when the Turkish
troops massed here, the weight of
the offensive swung against the de-
fenses covering the Shatt-el-Hai.

f* ENERAL MAUDE'S PLAN OF ATTACK IN
\JT TWO COLUMNS.

The attacking troops were in two
columns: those on the left bank under
Lieutenant-General Sir A. S. Cobbe,
V.C.; those chosen to make the sur-
prise march on the right under Lieuten-
ant-General Sir W. R. Marshall. Cobbe
opened a bombardment of the Sanna-i-
yat positions December 13, and the
following night Marshall's column con-
centrated before Es-Sinn. The next
morning the Hai River was crossed
in two places and the column moved
north on both sides of the river to
within three miles of Kut. Heavy rain
fell during the latter part of December,
but activities were not suspended; the
light railway was extended to the Hai,
more pontoon bridges thrown across,
and successful raids made upon Turk-
ish communications. Though the bom-

753



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



bardment of the Sanna-i-yat positions
continued, the foe was alive to the
threat against his right rear and made
dispositions to guard against it.

Maude's first objective had been
attained; his next step was to clear
the remaining Turkish trench systems
on the right of the Tigris. Kut lies in a




THE CONQUEROR OF BAGDAD

Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude, was greatly be-

loved of the staff and men of the Mesopotamian Force, whose gal- . . . ,

lantry and endurance ensured success in the campaign so thor- tlmg as One resisting the



qnHE REMAINING TURKISH DEFENSES ON
1 THE RIGHT BANK ARE TAKEN.

The British attack began January 5
on a narrow front of some 600 yards
and lasted for a fortnight. The Turk
fought stubbornly and with great
courage, his sole communications, the
flooded Tigris in the rear, bridged only
by a few pontoons. No at-
tempt was made to rush his
positions, for it would have
wasted men, but slowly the
British artillery pounded out
his trenches and threw forward
their own, until at last the
restricted area became unten-
able under fierce gunfire and
what was left of the defenders
slipped across the river on the
night of January 8-9. Found
upon a prisoner were the pic-
turesque words of the Turkish
commander congratulating his
troops upon their steadfast
valor in the face of bloody
losses sustained under bom-
bardment: "The Corps Com-
mander kisses the eyes of all
ranks and thanks them."

There still remained upon the
right bank of the Tigris the
Turkish trenches astride the
Hai River and those across the
Dahra Bend, strongly made and
protected on three sides from
over the river by artillery and
nests of machine guns. It took
twenty days of obstinately con-
tested fighting to force these

fnr thf Tnrlr wa<; hat-

l



oughly organized by their commander.

loop of the river which, immediately
above and below the city, makes two
deep curves known respectively as the
Dahra and Khadairi Bends. Across
both of these, and especially at the
point where the Hai enters the Tigris
the Turks were strongly intrenched.
General Maude described the Dahra
Bend as "bristling with trenches."
At Khadairi the enemy had three lines
across a 2,4OO-yard loop so that both
flanks rested on the river, and the
guns on the north bank could sweep
the assault with enfilading fire.

754



vasion of his soil. The Brit-
ish and Indian troops were possess-
ed however with the grim determina-
tion to wipe out there on that site,
beneath the walls of Kut, the memory
of their tragic failure to succor the
garrison, ten months before. Febru-
ary 15 there was an almost general
surrender of two enemy brigades,
2,200 men, a large amount of artillery,
war material and medical equipment.

THE MAIN EFFORTS ARE NEXT TO BE
MADE.

In two months' strenuous fighting
the preliminaries had been successfully



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



carried through: now the Turks held
only Kut and the left bank of the river.
The Sanna-i-yat lines were the key to
the city, and the Mesopotamian Army
had experienced the cost of frontal
attacks against these even before they
had been reinforced in the autumn.
Rather than pay this price again the
British commander determined, if pos-
sible, to cut the Turkish communica-



To take the latter first. The Turks
were, of course, keenly alive to any
attempted crossing of the Tigris. Their
guards patrolled the low banks, their
artillery swept every yard of the
opposite shore, and the current was
running strongly downstream. The
odds against traversing a wide stretch
of water in open pontoons were serious,
and General Maude made elaborate




WHERE THE POPULATION IS AMPHIBIOUS



Tigris and Euphrates unite their waters to form the Shatt-el-Arab and it is at the mouth of this waterway that the
troops are seen disembarking. In Mesopotamia as in Egypt football "shorts" were regulation wear, and the soubri-
quet of "red knees" applied to the new arrival recalls the "red-necks" of the Boer War.



tions above Kut, and so to imperil the
enemy's retreat that he would be
forced to evacuate the town. For the
success of this action it was necessary
to divert some of the Turkish strength
and activity to Sanna i-yat. To make
this diversion effective, a feint was not
sufficient. No mere knocking at the
front door would cause the wide-awake
owner of the house to leave his back
door open. Accordingly, dispositions
for concerted and simultaneous action
were made against Sanna-i-yat and
upon the Shumran Bend immediately
above the Dahra loop, and curving in
the opposite direction.



feints at crossing the river at Kut and
Magasis, and allowed his preparations
to be covertly observed by the enemy
who duly noted the creaking of carts
and splashing of pontoons in the wrong
places. By day and night, too, the
guns thundered against Sanna-i-yat,
then paused significantly as though to
allow of infantry advance, while time
after time the Turk braced himself to
repulse the bayonet charge which
never came. Uncertainty then as to
direction, a diverting of troops, and a
certain lowering of morale were ob-
tained before the actual onslaught was
made.

755



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



THE ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE TIGRIS AT
SHUMRAN BEND.

The crossing at the south end of the
Shumran Bend was to be made at three
points. At No. I Ferry the Norfolks
made the attempt. All night the
pioneers labored to prepare the ground,
and at early dawn, before the mists dis-
appeared under the hot sun, the pon-
toons were lifted over the embankment
and took the water silently. Not until
they were within fifty yards of the



the story afterwards in the mud,"
wrote Mr. Edmund Candler, Offidal
Eye Witness. "Wherever a keel had
scored the Turkish shore there were
Ghurka dead and dead Hants rowers
who had been lifted from the boats.
Many of the pontoons still lay stranded
in the mud. One had a hole in its side,
a direct hit by a shell, and nine dead
in it. And dead Ghurkas lay tumbled
about the parapet; some had pitched
forward and lay sprawling over it with




FROM KUT TO TEKRIT

This map shows the bends of the river east and west of Kut where the struggle for the position was finally decided.
The British pursued the Turks upstream but halted at Aziziyeh for reorganization. After crossing the Diala, Bag-
dad was entered from two sides. Endeavoring to cut off the Turkish XIII Corps the Russians advanced from
Persia and met the British at Kizil Robat but the enemy escaped and fell back on Tekrit.



opposite shore were they discovered
by a sentinel whose rifle shot across
the desert silence gave signal for a
fusillade. Soon the watchers on the
right bank were drawing in the first
returning pontoon with its freight of
wounded, while others took their places
in the boat and shot out across the
current under a hail of bullets which
raised spray upon the water. Mean-
while, at No. 2 Ferry, a thousand
yards downstream, the 2nd and 9th
Ghurkas were having a still hotter
crossing. If enough of the crew sur-
vived to bring the boat to land they
had then to face the Turks who lined
the banks and threw grenades as the
landing was made. "One could read

756



the impetus of the fall. Beyond were
dead Turks who had counter-attacked
from inland."

So fierce was the artillery fire
against the lower ferries that they had
to be abandoned. But at the upper
ferry by 7:30 A. M. three companies
of the Norfolks and some 150 Ghurkas
were intrenched. At 8 o'clock gallop-
ing mules brought up the first load of
bridging and a long stream of pontoons
on carts came up at a swinging canter.
By 10 A. M. one could stand out in the
stream on the fifteenth pontoon, and in
six hours the bridge was open for
traffic. Troops and transport poured
across, and the infantry advancing to
a ridge astride the bend swept the




EN ROUTE TO BAGDAD BY CAMEL TRAIN

Vehicular transport being impossible in this country, the British forces organized carrel convoys modeled upon
the caravans which from time immemorial have assured communication in the east. Water transport of course is
much easier in Mesopotamia than land, and was chiefly relied upon to supply the armies.




AT RAMADIYA DUMP

British soldiers inspecting material left behind by the Turk when he hastily evacuated in September, 1917. When
the enemy retreated from Bagdad part of his force had established itself at Ramadiya upon the Euphrates, whence
in the general clearing operations undertaken around the city he was dislodged after the hot months were over.

British Official

757



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



enemy before them. The dead in the
rudderless pontoons swept on down
the Tigris towards the great waters,
but their sleep was peaceful, for their
sacrifice had not been made in vain.

THE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK UPON SANNA-
I-YAT.

Meanwhile, in concerted action thir-
teen miles downstream, the assault
against Sanna-i-yat had begun. To



dug themselves in an old water-course
awaiting the counter-attack, which
swept forward three times and left
dreadful harvest of death on the burn-
ing alkaline soil.

On the 23rd, the British pushed on
to the fourth line, already a veritable
shambles the dead and dying half-
buried in choking sand and gun-evoked
litter. It was evident that the foe was




A STORY-TELLER IN THE BAZAAR AT KUT



Shows an Arab boy telling local Arabs of the anniversary of the British recapturing Kut town. In all probability
the tale lost nothing in the relating for the Arab is gifted with vivid imagination and indulges in flowery diction.
It is evident from the faces of his listeners that he is possessed of some histrionic power.

in retreat; the fifth and sixth lines fell
with barely a casualty on the 25th, and
the brigade swept unresisted on to Kut,
which they found empty. When the
Shumran Bend was captured and his
left wing in danger of being cut off,
Khalil Pasha ordered a withdrawal to-
wards Bagdad, and to ensure the re-
tirement from Sanna-i-yat formed a
strong flank guard to hold the northern
end of the peninsula in the Dahra Bend
until his men had passed upstream.



the " Chinese bombardment" of several
weeks succeeded, on the morning of
February 22, the real attack delivered
by the iQth Brigade. The first and
second line of Turkish trenches were
only forty yards apart. The third,
some two hundred yards behind, was
lightly held on the day of attack, but
behind this again there ran a succession
of lines with a clear field of fire. To
ensure surprise the barbed wire was
all standing in front of the Seaforths'
and 92nds' trenches, ready to be
swung back as they advanced. They
found the first trench deserted, and
the second filled in. They hastily

758



*T^HE TURKS IN RETREAT TOWARD BAG-
1 DAD ARE PURSUED.

Pursuit followed. The enemy's forces
were on the whole well-handled, and he




BRITISH TROOPS ENTER BAGDAD



The entry of the British forces into the "City of the Caliphs" was undrarratic. The populace lined the streets and
acclaimed their coming, but the British soldier had experienced the treachery of the native of the East and bis
vociferous clamor rang hollow to the paraders through the dim and blue city. Central News Service




WHILE SOME WORKED OTHERS FOUND TIME TO PLAY

Some of General Marshall's men bathing near Narin Kupri Bridge while sappers repaired it. The enemy as he
retreated had blown up the central span in an effort to hold up pursuit. One of the alleviations of the trials of
the men in this hot and dusty land was the bathing in the Tigris and tributary streams which was encouraged
by official provision.

759



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



escaped destruction (though he lost
severely in prisoners and abandoned
material) by fighting strong rear-guard
actions in fortified nullahs. In that
flat country he had the advantage for
his gun-pits were hidden, while those
of his pursuers were in the open. When
Sanna-i-yat fell, the British naval flotilla
was able to come upstream and formed
the left wing of the advance column,



in towards the river, and the machine
guns played havoc with the transport
and gun-teams. More guns were
abandoned. Our horse artillery got
on to them at the same time. The
next morning we found Turkish dead
on the road. There was every sign of
panic and rout bullocks still alive
and unyoked, entangled in the traces
of a trench motor carriage, broken




IN ANCIENT BABYLONIA HOME OF A VANISHED CIVILIZATION



The ruins of Ctesiphon, scene of General Townshend's victory in the first advance upon Bagdad, but from which
he had to retire because the Turks were strongly reinforced. In the second advance the British found Ctesiphon
strongly fortified, but it had been evacuated by the enemy who had fallen back behind the Diala River.

wheels, cast equipment, overturned
limbers, hundreds of live shells of
various calibres scattered over the
country for miles. Either the gunners
had cast off freight to lighten the
limbers or they had been too rushed
to close up the limber boxes. Every
bend of the road told its tale of confu-
sion and flight."



while the cavalry spread out to the
north. The gunboats lengthened the
striking arm of the offensive consider-
ably, firing first at the Turkish Army
on the bank and then reserving its
ammunition to destroy the Turkish
shipping. On the morning of February
26, H. M. S. Tarantula, Mantis and
Moth passed the infantry at full steam
and came under sharp fire at the Nahr
Kellak bend, so that the casualties
amounted to one-fifth of the forces
engaged.

"Swinging round the bend at sixteen
knots," writes Eye Witness, "the fleet
reached a point where the road comes

760



I^HE BRITISH OUTRUN THEIR GUNS AND
SUPPLIES.

About the middle of the afternoon
the fleet broke off its firing at the re-
tiring army to save its ammunition for
the enemy's shipping. Of these several
surrendered when they came under



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



range, including the armed tug Sumana,
captured at Kut, and the Firefly, taken
in the retreat from Ctesiphon. Thus
the intervention of the naval arm
changed the Turkish retreat into a
rout and soon his troops were spread
out rabble-wise on a wide front instead
of in column of four.

At Aziziyeh, half-way to Bagdad and
fifty miles from Kut, pursuit was bro-
ken off, for the three days' advance had



Ctesiphon, strongly intrenched, was
left unoccupied as the Turk fell back
on the Diala river, destroying the
bridge which crosses it at its junction
with the Tigris. At this stage the pur-
suit divided, the cavalry and 7th Divi-
sion and 35th Brigade crossing to the
right or west bank to work around
Shawa Khan, where the enemy had a
force covering the approach to Bagdad
from south and south-west.




INDIAN TROOPS IN BAGDAD

As was perhaps inevitable when the Turks evacuated the city there was much looting in the bazaars. For a long
time the municipal affairs and finances of Bagdad had been in parlous state. With the advent of the conquerors
looting was stopped, firm local administration under military supervision set up, reconstruction of streets and
reorganizing of sanitary affairs begun.

GENERAL MARSHALL FORCES THE CROSS-
ING OF THE DIALA.

Experience had demonstrated the
value of surprise in storming a river
position and Marshall hastened, on the
night of the 7th and 8th of March, to
make an attempt to cross the Diala.
The Turks had posted machine guns
very cleverly in the houses on the far
bank and sharp moonlight rendered
concealment impossible. The first five
pontoons were riddled with bullets and
drifted downstream. On the following
night the houses on the shore were
first pounded into dust and then under
this blinding pall an attempt was made
to ferry troops across at four separate

761



completely disorganized the transport
and left all light railways behind. For
a week the army paused until March
5, when General Marshall advanced to
Zeur, some 18 miles, and the cavalry
rode on to Laj, where in a blinding
dust-storm they attacked the enemy
rearguard which had intrenched. When
the pursuit began it had been hoped
that in open fighting at last the cavalry
would come into its own. These hopes
were disappointed because of the hidden
guns and fortified nullahs. In their
place, however, the light armored
motor-cars, or "Lambs" as they were
christened, achieved some success.
That night the enemy withdrew.



HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR



points. Only one crossing succeeded
a detachment of the North Loyal
Lancashires establishing themselves in
a bund on the far shore, where for
twenty-four hours they lay under con-
stant fire. The third attempt was
successful on the morning of the loth,
and by noon the bridge was completed,
and troops moving on faced the enemy's
last position at the Tel Muhammad
Ridge.

Although the force which was assault-
ing the left bank defenses was delayed
by numerous nullahs which had to be
ramped, it was almost continually in
touch with the Turkish rearguard,
which on the loth was considerably
aided in its withdrawal by a choking
dust-storm. Nevertheless, early on the
morning of the following day, advance
guards of the Black Watch occupied
Bagdad railway station and the suburbs
on the west of the river, and the enemy
was in full retreat upstream. On the
I2th, Marshall's column from the right
entered Bagdad and was greeted with
acclamation by Christian and Jew alike.

WHAT THE CAPTURE OF BAGDAD MEANT
IN THE EAST.

To the man in the West the talk of
"prestige" has little meaning. Yet it
is no exaggeration to say that the
most valuable result of the capture of
the "city of the Caliphs" was the
restoration of British prestige in the
bazaars and through the length of the
caravan routes in the East. Bagdad
was the greatest and most historic
city that had yet been taken by the
Allies: it had fallen to an army that
had suffered and retrieved a great dis-
aster to an army that from being
the most ill-equipped had become
perhaps the best. In addition, the
material loss to both German and Turk
was great: to the former it sounded
the knell of a far-reaching ambition,
to the latter the loss of a valuable base
and of wide territories.

General Maude issued a proclamation
to the inhabitants emphasizing the fact
that the British entered the city as
liberators, not as conquerors. Under
their Turkish rulers they had seen the
wasting of many of their resources,
which it was the hope of the new rulers

762



to conserve. The commercial tie be-
tween the merchants of Bagdad and
of Great Britain was old-established,
peaceful. The Germans and Turks,
on the contrary, had used the city as
a centre of intrigue and as a base for
political penetration. In other places
notably in Hedjaz and Koweit the
Arab had cast off the Turkish and Ger-
man yoke, and ceased to be their dupes.
Instead of the setting-up of one house
against another for selfish aims, the
newcomers hoped that in new-gained
unity the Arabs might attain self-
expression and the fulfillment of their
national aspirations.



MAUDE PROCEEDS TO MAKE
\J HIS POSITION SECURE.

There had been looting in bazaars
and houses as the Turks hastily retired
but order was quickly established under
the new occupation. With the capture
of the city Maude's task was by no
means ended. His position had to be
secured. To achieve this, four things
were necessary: the capture of the
railhead of Samarra, the rout of the
1 8th Corps retreating north of Bagdad,
the control of the irrigation of the
Tigris and Euphrates north of the city,
and the cutting off of the I3th Corps,
which was retreating before the Rus-
sians from Ramadan. Leaving only
sufficient forces in the city to garrison
it, the commander-in-chief sent a
column up both banks of the Tigris,
dispatched a third westward to the
Euphrates, and a fourth up the Diala
towards Khanikin. The fortunes of
the third column may be very briefly
told. As the British entered Bagdad the
Turks cut the dam above the city, so
that the water burst through Akkar
Kuf Lake and overflowed to the bund
which protected the suburbs and rail-
way station on the west of the Tigris.
Fortunately, the river was low for the
time of year and the bund held; the
pursuing column entered Feluja, March
19, just too late to cut off the Turkish
garrison, which fell back on Ramadiya,
twenty-five miles upstream.

Meanwhile, after a seventeen-mile
march, the 2 1st and 28th Brigades of
the yth Division on the right of the
Tigris attacked the Turks at Mushadiya.




A PICTURESQUE BRIDGE OF BOATS

This boat bridge, 250 metres long, connects both banks of the Tigris at Bagdad. In the foreground, the gufars
circular boats whose usage dates back to pre-historic days are nothing but enormous baskets of reeds coated