o the British, Bagdad was of importance. It was needed as a base at
the head of navigation. It would enable them to prevent Turkish troops
from traveling over Persian highways, and, most important of all, it
would afford the British opportunities to check Mohammedan
organization and subdue attempted risings.

General Townshend, who commanded the division that was sent forward to
attempt the capture of Bagdad, had all the odds against him. His small
force, consisting of two-thirds Indian and one-third British troops,
was hopelessly inadequate for the projected campaign. It was known
that the Turks were well equipped with guns of superior power, and
that they were directed by German officers, assisted by German
engineers; that the very able German officer Marshal von der Goltz was
in charge of operations. When it is considered that the Turkish force
was three times as strong in numbers as General Townshend's, the
British general's advance on Bagdad seemed foredoomed to failure. His
only hope lay in delivering a swift defeat to the Turks before their
reenforcements could arrive from the Caucasian front, a movement which
began about the middle of September, 1915.

Before an advance could be made on Bagdad it was necessary for the
British to defeat a large Turkish force at Nasiriyeh and at
Kut-el-Amara, where the British captured fourteen guns and about 1,000
prisoners, losing in killed and wounded 500 officers and men. The
Turkish trenches were destroyed and within a small area about 900
Turkish dead were counted.

The British troops, having fought in an atmosphere of 130 degrees,
were thoroughly exhausted when they encamped in Nasiriyeh. Like most
Arab towns, the place was in such a filthy condition that it required
weeks to clean it up and make it habitable for Europeans. Meanwhile
the British troops lived in tents and enjoyed a much needed rest. It
was stated that fully 95 per cent of the men were in such a state of
exhaustion as to be quite unfit for active service. If the Turkish
commander in chief had known of this, the reenforcements he had
dispatched from his base at Kut-el-Amara might easily have compelled
the British force to retire. Fortunately for the British, the Turkish
reenforcements encountered on the way the routed Turkish army of the
Euphrates and evidently heard such tales of the fighting powers of the
British and Indian soldiers that they joined the fugitives in their
retreat.

At the close of Augus