cleared of enemy non-diving craft in the meantime.

The Mesopotamian operations during the first year and a half were
conducted entirely by the India Office and India, and, up till after
Sir W. Robertson had become C.I.G.S., we had no direct responsibility
in connection with them in the War Office. I had a subsection that
dealt entirely with Indian matters; this kept watch, noted the
telegrams, reports, and so forth, dealing with what was going on on
the Shatt-el-Arab and beyond, and it could at any moment supply me
with general information as to the situation. From time to time I used
to ask how the operations were progressing, and, without ever going
carefully into the matter, was disposed to look somewhat askance at
the procedure that was being adopted of continually pressing forward
from place to place--like the hill-climber who on reaching one crest
ever feels himself drawn on to gain the next--far beyond the zone
which had in the first instance been regarded as the objective of the
Expeditionary Force. The meteor of conquest appeared to be alluring
"D" Force too far. Without examining the position of affairs closely,
it was obvious that the farther our troops proceeded up the Tigris the
longer became their line of communications, the shorter became that of
the Turks, and the greater must inevitably become the contingents put
in the field by our side. What had started as a limited-liability and
warrantable side-show was somehow imperceptibly developing into a
really serious campaign in a remote region.

Looking back upon those months in the light of later experience, the
attitude which one felt disposed to assume, the attitude that as this
was an India Office business with which the War Office had nothing to
do it was their funeral, was a mistaken one. The War Office could not,
of course, butt in unceremoniously. But Lord Kitchener was a member of
the Government in an exceptionally powerful position in all things
connected with the war, and had one represented one's doubts to him,
he would certainly have gone into the question and might have taken up
a strong line. I, however, have no recollection of ever speaking to
him on the subject of Mesopotamia during the period when "D" Force was
working right up into Irak, moving first to Amarah, then to El Gharbi,
and then on to Kut, thus involving the Empire in a regular offensive
campaign on an ambitious scale in the cradle of the world.

Then came that farther advanc