on the enemy. The Turks, however,
were not to be caught napping. Their outposts, far flung into the
desert, soon gave warning of the attempted British enveloping
movement, and they were in full retreat with most of their stores and
guns before the British force could reach their main position. The
Turkish retreat in the face of superior numbers was the logical thing
to do under the circumstances, and from the manner in which the
movement was conducted it was evident that it had been prepared for in
advance. The brigades of British and Indian troops that had been sent
forward to make a frontal attack on the Turkish position now embarked
on the miscellaneous flotilla of boats on the river to pursue the
retreating foe. The attempt was not successful, for, owing to the
condition of the river which abounded in mud banks not down on the
chart, the British boats were constantly sticking fast in the mud or
grounding on shoals. Such slow progress was made that the pursuit, if
such it could be called, was abandoned.

British seaplanes and aeroplanes meanwhile had been scouting around
Bagdad and keeping a watchful eye on the Turkish lines of
communication that extended up the river toward the Caucasus heights,
and across the desert in the direction of Syria. The difficult task
set before the small British force was to break its way through to
Bagdad, where it was hoped it would be joined by the advanced columns
of the Russian army in the Caucasus. Early in November, 1915, General
Townshend knew that a Russian advanced column was rapidly forcing its
way down the border of Persia by Lake Urumiah. In a more southerly
direction a second column was on the march to the city of Hamadan, 250
miles from Bagdad. It was hoped that the small British force would
smash the Turks at Bagdad and the Germano-Persian Gendarmes Corps be
vanquished at Hamadan, after which it would be no difficult task for
the troops of Sir John Nixon to link up with the army of the Grand
Duke Nicholas. These far too sanguine hopes were not destined to be
fulfilled.

CHAPTER LIII

BATTLE OF CTESIPHON

General Townshend having captured the village of Jeur on November 19,
1915, marched against Nuredin Pasha's main defenses which had been
constructed near the ruins of Ctesiphon, eighteen miles from Bagdad.
Ctesiphon at the present time is a large village on the Tigris, once a
suburb of ancient Seleucia, and the winter capital of the Parthian
kings. The vicin