Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-04-06
Once the Glorious City
Bagdad Links Present
With Semi Fabulous Past

Thirty thousand India troops and w
Anelo-Indian divisions which had been
fighting in France formed the relief
corps that joined the remnants OF the
Townshend~ expedition, and made a des-
perate effort to rescue the beleagured
garrison at kut-El-Amara.
For three months Gen. Sir Percy
Lake, the relief commander, fought his
way up the Tigris. and was within
eight miles of his besieged comrades
when on April 13, 1916. General Town
shend. his food supply exhausted. was
compelled to surrender. In he mean
time additional reinforcements had
been sent from Egypt. including h
Thirteenth colonial division. which had
taken part in the i'll fated Gallipoli CAM
paign. But after the disaster at kut-
lIl-Amara the British abandoned the
offensive for several months.
General Townshend's operations
against Bagdad had been seconded by
the Russians, who had advanced from
Persia and the Mush region, and had
reached within 40 miles of the Tigris
when the Townshend surrender occur
red Shortly afterward the Russians
abandoned their campaign and after
some desultory fighting withdrew to
the Persian mountains. !,
The resumption Of British operations
on a major scale did net occur until De-
cember, 1916. when an advance on Kut-
= AI was lIldluG lKOL4 ILG
lonian plains, while a second force
again moved up h Tigris. General
Frederick Stanley Maude was in COM
mand and was officially reported to
have 12O, 900 men at his disposal. The
exact composition and numbers OF the
British forces. however, never has been
officially made public.
From the time Of the beginning of tho
new campaign the British progress
was steady n uninterrupted and in
its last phases of remarkable rapidity.
On February &c kut-El-Amara was
eral thousand Turkish prisoners taken.
Within two weeks the British cavalry
patrols We're within a few miles of
Bagdad.
The fall of Kut- Ell Amara and the
rapid progress of the British toward
Bagdad was the signal for the renewal
of the Russian campaign to the north.
A Russian army advancing from Per
STA captured Hamadan and pushed
swiftly forward in the direction of the
Tigris.
On March 9 the Russian troops were
reported within 20 miles of the Tigris.
while another diversion was caused by
the unheralded advance of q second
British expedition into Palestine from
Egypt. At last reports this force .
pushed within striking distance OF
Jerusalem, but the meager official de-
tails nave shed little light on its ulti-
mate purpose and composition.
General Stanley Maude, the conquer
or OF Bagdad, is 81 years old and has
had a distinguished military career.
He took part in the Sudan campaign
in 1856 and received a media with q
clasp and the khedive's star. He served
with distinction in the South African
war, where he won the distinguished
service order and the queens medal
with six clasps.
Before taking command in Mesopot-
anna he saw service in France, where
he was wounded. was mentioned in
dispatches five times and created q
commander of the bath. From 1901
to 1904 he was military secretary to
the governor general OF Canada and
llater private secretary of state for war.