Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1918-08-29
SAVED BY MIRAGE
How British Army Escaped De-
feat in Mesopotamia.
Turkish Commander Saw What He Be-
Iieved Were Re-enforcements Com
ing to Aid Enemy and Or
dered Retreat

We went on toward nowhere, intend.
ing to make a wide detour and come
into old Basra city by the Zobeir gate
in the south wall, Eleanor f. Egan
writes in the Saturday Evening Post.
There was no dust out there; only
hard-packed sand, out of which the
fierce hammering sun struck myriad
glinting, eye-searing sparks. But it
was beautiful beyond words to de-
scribe. We spun along at fifty miles
an hour with cool, clean breeze in
Our faces Then just over slight rise
in the sparkling plain / saw my first
mirage. 1t was impossible to believe
it was mirage and not really the
beautiful lake that it seemed-a lake
dotted with wooded islands and
fringed in places with deep green for
ests.
/ have seen mirages in other deserts
in other lands, but l have never seen
anything like the Mesopotamian mi
rage. We drove straight on and it
came so close that l was sure I could
see ripple on its surface. Then sud
denly it went away off, and where it
had been our skidproof tires were hum
ming on the hard-packed sand and
saw that the wooded islands had been
created out Of nothing but patches of
camel thorn and that the trees of the
forests We're tufts of dry grass not
more than six iI.shes high.
Off on the far horizon camel car
AVIAN was swinging slowly along and
the camels looked like some mammoth
prehistoric beasts, while in another
direction what we took to be camels
turned out to be string of diminutiye
donkeys under pack saddles laden with
bales Of the desert grass roots that the
Arabs use for fuel.
The mirage has played an interest
ing part in the Mesopotamian cam
paigns. In some places it is practi-
cally continuous the year round, and it
adds greatly to the difficulties of an
army in action. 1t is seldom mistaken
for anything but what it is, Of course,
but it does curious things to distance
and to objects both animate and inani-
mate. incidentally it renders the ac-
curate adjustment of gun ranges al
most altogether impossible.
One of the most curious incidents of
the Whole war happened in connection
with a mirage and on the very spot
over which l drove that first day out
in the desert.
The battle az Shaiba was one of the
hardest-fought battles in the whole
Mespot campaign and victory for a
while was anybody's. 1t was going
very badly for the British, their losses
being heavier than they could stand
for long. And though the Turks were
in overwhelmingly superior numbers
it was going very badly for them as
well. This the British officer COM
manding did not realize and he was
just on the point of giving an order for
retirement-whieh would have been
fatal to the British in Mesopotamia-
when to his establishment he discov-
cred that the Turks were in full re-
treat! What moment!
The desert was full of mirage and
the Turkish COMMUNICATIVE really
ought to have been more familiar with
local phenomena - saw approaching
from the southeast what looked to him
like heavy re-enfercements. 1t was
nothing but supply and ambulance
train magnified sind multiplied by the
deceptive desert atmosphere! When
he ordered an immediate retreat his
already unnerved troops stampeded
and his demorallzed rear guard was
bounded and harassed by great bands
of nomad Arabs all the way to Kha-
misseyeh, nearly ninety miles away.
He learned the truth a few days later
and committed suicidei