The Mena weekly star., 1916-05-04
BRITISH ARMY AT
 KUT SURRENDERS
After Being Long Besieged by the Turks. With No Hope of Relief, 10000 CapituIated to Avoid
 Starvation.

}. Charles Townshend, commander of & tbe British forces besieged at Kut- Fl-Amara, Mesopotamia, by Turkish # forces. since last December, has q surrendered. This information was & contained in British official state ment issued yesterday afternoon
 The official statement added that & Gen. Townshend destroyed all the guns and munitions before surren- dering
 ! The British force which surren- dered at Kut-El-Amara amounts to about 10000 men.
 The following announcement was made:
 After a resistance protracted for # t43 days and conducted with a gall lantry and fortitude that will for ever be memorable, Gen Townshend has been compelled, by the final ex- < haustion of his supplies, to sur # render.
 Before doing so he destroyed his # guns and munitions.
 The force under him consists of q 2970 British troops of all ranks and # service, and some 5000 Indian # Indian troops and their followers
 General Townshend probably was driven to surrender to avoid starv- ation of his force. A recent official Turkish communication said that the position of the British at Kut- # El-Amara was critical and that they were expecting to receive # small supplies of food by aeroplane. An official statement received yes terday from London showed that last effort to send supplies to the garrison had failed. It was an nounced that ship laden with sup plies had been sent up the Tigris, that it had been grounded about four miles east of the city.
 Less than score of miles away, on the banks of the Tigris below the city, is relief army which for months and been attempting to reach the besieged forces. A few # weeks ago several victories were announced and hope ran high in England that the mission would ~ succeed Of late, however, the # Turks resistance has increased and. aided by floods, they have have been able to hold the British in s check.
 No official figures have been giv- en out as to the number of troops # which set forth from the Persian # Gulf in November of 1914 on the ex- .f petition which now has ended in # surrender. Unofllcially the number has been estimated as high as 50,- # WO, but it was probably consider ably smaller than this This force < has suffered heavy losses in severe battles with the Turks.
 It was early last December that # General Townshend's army. beaten M in battle at Stesiphon. IS miles be- low Bagdad, retreated to Kut-El- ; Amara Since that time it has been Desieged by a large arwy of Turks. ~ cut of from all communication from the outside world, except by wireless.
 beaJ uH Many AtJackS. N During the long siege the British Deat of many attacks by the Turks. # They defended themselves so suc- cessfully in encounters about the X city that the Turks at length de- sisted from their efforts to storm the place and decided to starve out lhe British. From time to time uen Iownshend sent reports that all was well but it had been known ol late that the situation was be- coming desperate.
 For some time after Townshends # expedition started out from the < ferslan Gulf it was steadily suc- gessiul' It pushed up the Tigris and % Euphrates until, in September < lsio It defeated the Turks decisive M Y III an encounter at Kut-El-Amara, # whlch later was to be the scene of .he British surrender Then the invaders pushed on to within a few # lliles of Bagdad, their goal They ueieated Turks at Stesiphon, but later, the Turks. re-enforeed, com Peiled them to retire hastily to Kut- El-Amara.
 The battle at Stesiphon was one ol the fiercest of the many hard struggles in which the expedition sry force was engaged. The Brit n lsh were said to have been outnum- pered six times by the Ottoman troops. Four times General Town anen1 rallied his men and led them n thelr charges. Hardly less des- : perate venture was the retreat to ,m,nuss-El-Amara, which. accomplished unuer extraordinary disadvantages, %as nailed in England as a remark cple achievement Not only did s, ueh Iownshend ward off the pur sulhg Turks with comparatively ta, snlan losses. but he succeeded in 'aAins with him all his wounded.
 Whooping Cou0h.