The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-05-03
british SURRENDER TO Turks
GARRISON AT KUT.EI.AMARA
GIVES IN WHEN FOOD SUP.
.;s PLY Is EXHAUSTED.

Held out Against Besiegers for 14S
Days- Nearly 10000 Troops or Mes.
opMamian Force Become Prison1
ers Of War.
London, April 2s.--Maj. Gen.
Charles Townshend, commander of
the British forces besieged ct Kut-el-
Amara. Mesopotamia, by Turkish
forces since last December, has sur
rendered. This information was con-
tained in . British oficial statement
tssued this afternoon. The British
forces numbered about 10000 men.
g The following Official announcement
was made:
After q resistance protracted for
l4s days and conducted with q gal
lantry and fortitude that will be for
ever memorable. Gen. rpwnshend has
been compelled BY the nnal exhaustion
Of his supplies to surrender.
Before doing 20 he destroyed his
guns ana munitions.
The force under him consists Of
2.s7o British troops OF all ranks and
services and some 5000 Indian troops
and their followers" 4
The eventual surrender Of (, Gen.
Townshend had been expected since
the failure OF the forces under Lieut..
Gen. Gorringe and Gen. KeAry to
break through the Turkish position
at Sannayat, Just below Kut-el-Amara
On the Tigris river. and the unsuccess-
sul attempt to send the blockaded
force provisions by steamers. It had
been touch and 60 with the small
British forcc for many days.
The position Of Kut-el-Amara,
which 10 on q peninsula extending- into
the Tigr.s river. made IL Impossible
10 send supplies by air a. there was
Ino landing place for aeropiAnes.
y The forces which attempted to re-
iasye Gen: Townshsnd met with almost
! |cohtinual' misfortunes. On several oc-
Inasions just when It was believed they
were on tho point Of success rising
Iwsters made further progress impos-
tplhlss /. ,.iF, ,3as
"a ia .VpwnShsnd # !, probably was
tdt4vesi M "a = I1ee4tv A,6vuf6, ssus3svvs
ton of MS fores. AN recent ofiiciai
Turkiah Communication said that the
position Of the British at Kut-el-
Amara was critical. and that they
were expecting to receive small sup
plies Of food by aeroplane. An OIL
cial statement received Friday from
London showed that last effort to
send supplies to the garrison had
failed. It was announced that a ship
laden with supplies had been sent up
the Tigris. but that It had grounded
about four miles east Of the city.
Less than q score Of miles away, on
the banks Of the Tigris below the city.
Is a relief army which for months had
been attempting to reach the besieged
forces. A few weeks ago several VIC
tories 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 been able
to, hold the British back.
1t was early last December that Gen.
Townshend's army. after two battles
at Ctesiphon, 1S miles below Bagdad.
retreated to Kut-el-Amara. Since that
tine 1t has been besieged by a large
army Of Turks, cut off from all COM
munication with the outside world,
except by wireless. During the long
siege the British beat of many attacks
by the Turks. They defended them
selves so successfully in encounters
about the city that the Turks at length
desisted from their efforts to storm
the place and decided - starve out
the British. From time to time Gen.
Townshend sent reports that all was
we'll. but it had been known of late
that the situation was becoming des-
perate.
For some time after the Townshend
expedition started out it was steadily
successful. It pushed up the Tigris
and Euphrates. until in September,
1915, 1t defeated the Turks decisively
In an encounter at Kut-el-Amara
Then the invaders pushed on to within
a few miles Of Bagdad. their goal.
They defeated the Turks at Ctesiphon
but later the Turks, reinforced, COM
PEELED them to retire hastily to Kut-
et-Amara.
The battle at Ctesiphon was one of