The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1916-02-05
CRALLE OF THE WORLD IS
SCENE OF WARS WRATH

on the day of battle they haunt the
outskirts of the fight, plumber the
wounded and stragglers impartialy,
harass the retreat of the defeated side.
hoist white flags over their tents and
make professions of answering tidel-
ity to whoever seems to be in the
ascendant
Before the occupation of Kut mat
tiers were thus: astride the river stood
the Turks; on the left bank three
swamps were linked by chains of en-
trenchments traced with every device
known to the science OF the Teutonic
engineer: on the right bank the posi-
ton was continued with equal care
and preparation, and so conforming it.
self In relation to the bends In the
river as to oblige an enemy endeavor-
ing to turn 1t from the landward side.
to make detour which could not be
comprised unobserved in the space
OF one dark night. In this position
was firmly established force Of Turks
numerically superior, well armed,
plentifully supplied and supported by
greater number OF field guns than
those against them.
Seven miles in rear of this prepared
position lay the town of Kut; midway
between Kut and the entertainments
the river was spanned by a pontoon
bridge On the night OF Septem-
hn vi %
ish army in Nesopotomia lay six
miles from the Turkish entrench-
ments. On the night of the goth the
British were in occupation of Kut with
above thousand prisoners. half the
enemy's artillery. and a considerable
quantity of ammunition in their hands,
while the Turkish army was putting
as large an available space between
itself and it's enemy as the river, the
Arabs. the swamps and canals would
allow
Amid the din and thunder of the
great war this achievement may pass
almost unnOticed, and yet such bat
tie fought across a level plain in the
ern artillery and machine guns. in an
unmapped country, with rumors of
large forces of hostile tribesmen
menacing communications. will. when
things come to be reasoned out and
proportioned. rank well enough in our
annals.
Kut the day after its occupation was
as Kut of the day before. yet with
difference, the Turks had gone ard
the British had come.
The British soldier and his brother,
the Sepoy. were in possession. Now
neither Briton nor Indian owe any
| debt of gratitude to the Arab tribes
men who have plundered. wounded.
mutilated the dead, sniped, pilfered
spied and betrayed; there is no reason
why our fighting men should distin
guish between the inhabitants OF the
| towns and the encampments; roughly
dress, language, habits and appear
ance are one, and in war the soldier
has no time for nice chronological diff.
ferences and the historical Influences.
No Justice or Right Doing.
The British o. Indian soldier does
not know that since Jaafer the Bar
needle was executed by the DESPAIR.
ing Harun al Rashid no man south of
Bagdad has stood for justice and right
doing; that all has been wrong doing
from the age when Maamun fought
Amin for Bagdad. to the day when
Hulagu the monster pierced the
canals and annihilated by famine a
population of 100000. and thence to
the committee OF union and progress
and the concessionaires who have
thrived on intrigue and wicke1ness in
these later days
All the English and the Indian sol.
der knows Is that his dead comrades
bodies are stripped and sometimes
mutilated, that If trooper lose his
way alone he is little likely to return,
that perhaps bullet has sung past
his own topi or puggaree from a mud
wall above which tiutters q white