hat the Turks had thoroughly mined all
the southern bank of the river, which caused the British commander to
alter his plans of attack.

On the night of September 27, 1915, the two brigades, leaving their
tents standing to deceive the Turks, crossed the Tigris by a flying
bridge. It is said that this dummy camp which a Turkish division was
facing was the direct cause that enabled the British to win a victory.
If the Turks had concentrated all their forces on the north bank of
the river the British attack would undoubtedly have failed. It was the
absence of the division facing the empty tents from the real battle
field that caused them to lose the day.

In order to understand the magnitude of the British victory it is
necessary to describe the seemingly impregnable character of the
Turkish defenses. There were twelve miles of defenses across the river
at right angles to its general direction at this point--six miles to
the right and six miles to the left. The works on the right bank had
been strengthened by the existence of an old water cut. The banks at
this point were from ten to twenty feet high and afforded excellent
facilities for viewing the deployment of troops advancing to attack. A
strong redoubt on the extreme right opposed any flank movement that
might be attempted in that direction. On the left bank the line of
defenses was separated by a heavy marsh about two miles wide, so that
from the left bank of the river there were, first, two miles of
trenches, then two miles of marsh, and then two miles of defenses. It
was evident that much labor had been expended in preparing these
defenses, showing the skilled hand of German engineers. Each section
of the successive lines of trenches was connected by an intricate
network of communication trenches. Along these complete lines of water
pipes had been laid.

It was known that the Turkish army holding this strong position had
been largely reenforced by the arrival of fresh troops from Nasiriyeh,
and the Turkish commander in chief, Nuredin Pasha, may well have
believed that victory would crown his arms that day and that the
British expeditionary force would be annihilated. There was no lack of
confidence in the British camp either, though it was known that the
Turks were vastly superior in numbers to their own army. For, despite
some hard lessons learned from the enemy, the British soldier
considers himself a superior fighter to the Turk, and is always eager
for an o