The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-09-22
HOW GERMAN NAVY AT BAGDAD AIDED
 IN HALTING ALLIES

the advance of the English rom the Persian Gulf toward the interior. In this connection, landing cannon from His Majesty's ship Goben was able to make the best of several faVor- able chances Nevertheless, as is known the superior strength or the English end their river flot1lla, com posed of up-to-date monitors, enabled1 them to advance almost to Baguao. But the battle of Ctesiphon forced the English army under General Townsend to beat a nasty retreat to- ward the south. On this occasion a river gunboat built in 1915 and several armed patrol boats fell into the hands of the Turks. The Commanding Gen eral of the Turkish Army, Enver Pa sha, who recognized the success or the work of Admiral Souchon in reform ing the Turkish Navy, asked him to furnish men able to put into condition and to operate the newly captured en- zines of war on the 1rak front.
 Experts Sent From Germany
 "So, early in December, 1915, a small naval detachment, made up Of specialists picked for their apinty to handle machine guns and artillery, set
  for Bagdad, where it arrived the first week of January. All sorts or tasks awaited the little band. Naturally, the English had done their best to destroy the ships they had been compelled to abandon to their Turkish enemies. Furthermore, the Turkish and Arab sailors did not have the experience necessary for the operation of these strictly modern vessels
 within a short time the German sailors had succeeded in repairing and developing the river f1otilla, which had been placed under German con- trol, SD that it was able to take an effective part in the battles around Kut-el-Amara and to act against the English relief expedition coming up from the south. The fact that the English during these battles, which ended with the fall of Kut-el-Amara, never once made an attempt to re- lieve the beleaguered town through the use of all their forces on the river may be mainly attributed to their respect for the mines and guns of the river flotilla-
 "The work of tho German naval men in this country. that is the hot test in the world, entails hardships and efforts that are, hardly less than those of the worst of trench fighting. With tropical rains in Sthe Winter, heat in Summer, an almost indescri- bable pest Of vermin and great dif1- culty, in obtaining supplies. they are constantly surrounded by unfriendly Arabs, who are inclined to treason and who are systematically influenced by British gold from Busra. To this must be added the lack of technical SUD- plies and the fact that the postal ser vice is frequently uncertain and it re- Quires several weeks to hear from home. In spite of all these difficult ties, an enthusiastic feeling prevails among the sailors in Irak, who are proud of being the representatives of the German Navy on the remotest bat tlefield.
 Navigated the Euphrates.
 Soon after the dispatch of the per sonnel intended for the Irak fotilla another important task developed in the interior for the Mediterranean Di- vision. AS is known, the Bagdad Railway Is not yet finished, so there is stretch of about TOO kilometers across the desert that must be trayers. ed with horses and wagons in order to transport persons and goods to Bag dad. This desert road was not able tc supply the things needed on the bat tleflelds of Mesopotamia and Persia which were constantly becoming more important. So there came the thought of using the Euphrates water route to Improve the transportation of that district. As far back as recorded his- tory goes. this stream has resisted at- | tempts to use it as regular water way. Before the German naval men | began work the only means of tram sportation available on the Euphrate. and on the Tgris above Bagdad were primitive boats and floats of inflated goatskins of the same type as those 1 in use in the days of Abraham. It is | true that in the nineteenth century several attempts were made by Eng. lishmen and Frenchmen to navigate | the Euphrates with steamers or motor boats. But the entirely uncharted | channel, the strong and shifting cur. | rent, and the inhabitants of the riv. CT shores. who were hostile to ev. erything new, made permanent sue. | cess impossible, so these attempts were limited to individual efforts yer,
 praiseworthy from a sporting point o1 view.
 German thoroughness and the em.
 ployment of the most modern techni.
 cal tools soon wrought such an i'm. | provement in the conditions of nayi. gation on the Euphrates that not onl,
 could all the heavy loads of materia
 needed by the army in Mesopotamis
 be transported safe and sound to Bag dad, but the time required for the | journey was cut in half. For in.
 stance. a. battery with all it's equip
 ment and munitions was transported
 from Djerab1us to Retwanije, the DOT
 of Bagdad on the Euphrates, in only
 eleven days. The Kokker monoplant | that did such good work before Kut
 and that is admitted to have contrib.
 uted toward inducing the English te
 give up Kut was brought down the
 river in short time, and not havinf
 been taken to pieces for it's river voy
 age, was able to get into action a once.
 "Of course there are still man,
 weighty obstacles in the way of main | taining the navigation of the rivel
 along the lines of a railroad, but | German naval dockyard that was es | tablished where the Bagdad Railwa,
 crosses the Euphrates near Dejera | blus has built a number of very ligh draft motor boats and has so improv | ed the type of the old power boat |, that they now can carry eight time,