stance of fifty
miles.

On April 17 the Anglo-Indian cavalry occupied Nakaila. The rout of the
Turks was complete, and it was said that in their retreat they were
attacked by their former allies the Arabs, who turned on them as soon
as the tide of battle went against them.

During the greater part of the month of May the British were occupied
in clearing the territory of the Turks that remained. At Kurna and
Ahwaz and their neighborhood the enemy had gathered in sufficient
numbers to give some trouble. A British contingent was dispatched to
drive them out of the Ahwaz locality, but the Kharked River was in
flood, and severe sand storms hindered progress, so that before the
Turkish camp could be reached the enemy had vacated Persian soil and
fallen back to Amara.

General Gorringe, who commanded the British troops, now set about
punishing those tribes which had been assisting the enemy. Some
surrendered and gave up a number of rifles and arms. Others were
disposed to show resistance, but the British easily defeated them,
cleared out their strongholds, and destroyed some of their property.

On May 31, 1915, the Turks had become threatening in the vicinity of
Kurna, and a British expedition consisting of soldiers and sailors set
out at 1.30 a. m. to attack them. By wading and in boats the British
surprised the enemy's position, two miles from the town, and soon
silenced his guns by superior artillery work. The heights were won by
midday, and the Turks took to flight, leaving three guns and about 250
prisoners behind them. They retreated to Amara as the force from Ahwaz
had done. Their flight was so precipitate, that tents were left
standing, as they took to mahalas and steamers on the river to escape.
The British naval flotilla carrying General Townshend and Sir Percy
Cox, Chief British Resident of the Gulf, was in pursuit of the fleeing
Turks. Their gunboat _Marmaris_ was sunk, and the transport _Masul_
captured. Two lighters containing field guns, mines, and military
stores were also taken, and about 300 prisoners.

Amara, the important business town on the Tigris about sixty miles
from Kurna to which the Turks had fled, surrendered to the British
June 3, 1915, its garrison of 1,000 becoming prisoners of war. In the
town and vicinity 80 officers and some 2,000 men were also captured,
and large quantities of ammunition, 13 guns, 12 steel barges, and 4
river steamers.

The whole of the country between Amara and the