Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-22
FACTS AND COMMENT

there HllHoFz allack Tn greater or less force, steady bombardment of ammunition dumps and transportation lines in the back areas, and persist ent aerial observation tell the story of the past few weeks on the western front. American troops are now be- hlnd the British lines in the north area of the great battlefield as well as manfully doing their part in their own sector southeast of Amiens. The Americans with British army are doubtless the first of those rushed across the ocean when the great Ger man drive assumed such threatening proportions. From the nature of things these troops can not be as seasoned as Pershing's veterans. Furthermore the situation in Flanders is so criti- cal that such inexperienced troops would not be given sector to defend unassisted. Some will perhaps be used to fill the gaps in British units, while all will be gaining knowledge and experience in the place where these are most quickly to be acquired Lloyd Georges statement before the commons that only one division of white troops was operating in Meso- potamla shows what a reliable force and what splendid fighters Britain en- joys in her East Indian forces. From the taking of Bagdad in March of last year the advance up the Tigris and Euphrates has been steady. Six weeks after the capture of Bagdad, Gen. Maude had occupied Samara, the Turkish base seventy miles up the river. Then ensued the hot season during which no military operations are possible in this region, but Sep tember was not over when Ramadie on the Euphrates was taken by a bril- liant cavalry operation. Here the en- tire Turkish army was captured to- gether with the commanding general and his Entire staff. The occupation of Tekrit, the Turkish military base TOO miles up the Tigris from Bagdad, was the next step, and the British cavalry were still pressing on toward the north when without warning came the announcement of Gen Maude's brief illness and death There have been hints that he was poisoned. but the truth will not be known till after the war.
 Gen. Marshall, one of Maude's able | lieutenants, succeeded to the command of the expedition, and by an opera tion similar to that at Ramadie he captured or destroyed the entire Turk ish force centering at Hit on the Flu l pirates 100 miles west of Bagdad | In April the British expedition was half way to Mosul and an advance 1 of 50 miles in two weeks shows the utter demora.ization of the Turkish | forces.
 Mcsul Of Arabian Nights fame is the 1 greatest military base held by Turkey east of Aleppo. It lies on the Tigris near the point where the river leaves the Armenian mountains One hundred | and ten miles to the west lies Misi-
 bin, the present terminus of the Bag dad railway and two hundred miles | farther west is Aleppo. Here there is one division of German troops an6
 here they must apparently remain as Aieppo must be held at all costs un-
 less the Germans give up all hope O.
 succoring the Turkish troops and re. gaining any part of Mesopotamia ol Palestine. South from Aelppo run.
 the railway through Damascus and thu Holy Land and thence down int Arabia. General Ailenby with hi
 Palestine force has already cut thi
 road near the Dead Sea. With tn
 British fleet at@his left and Egypt a
 his back, his presence in Palestine i a direct menace to Aelppo and one
 this place is taken and the Bagda, line cut, the Turkish army at Mosu
 loses touch with Asia Minor and Con
 stantinople. Thus what German there are in Asia must hold fast t,
 Aleppo, and the Fatherland can hard
 ly spare more troops at this junction
 to aid her. hard pressed ally. Unas sisted, Turkey can hardly maintain
 her armies much longer. So ever
 while fighting for liberty in Franc
 and Flanders, the forces of civiliza
 ton are rescuing the Garden of Edel
 and the Holy Land from Turkish bar
 barism and German Kultur.
 Following the execution of BoI
 Pasha, the second treason trial ii
 France has just resulted in the deatl
 sentence for M. Duval the manage of the suppressed newspaper Bonne
 Rouge, and prison sentences for si
 others. In searching for the underly
 ing causes for the spirit of 'defeatism : that was prevalent in France in 1917 the Army Intelligence Service discov cred that the Bonnet Rouge was re ceiving money through Switzerlan from German sources. In fact Duva himself on one occasion was, caugh returning with a check for $30, 900 bu
 was not at, the time brought to tris
 by reason of the connivance of N
 Leymarie, irecter of the secret pol ice. This Leymarie was one of tn , defendants in the treason trial, an though escaping the fate of Duva
 he has been punished with fine an
 imprisonment. But the real signific : ance of the Bonnet Rouge case is tn . light it may shed on the machination 7 of Joseph CaillauX, former premie
 of France, now under indictment fc
 reasonable intercourse with his coun : try's. foes and soon himself to fac f a court martial For the BonnE Rouge was employed by Caillaux dul ing his political career as his semi
 official organ; Leymarie's chief in tk
 Cabinet was Malvy, Minister of tt Interior, to which post he had bee l nominated by Caillaux himself; an 3 Malvy's chief was Premier Ribot, als
 a nominee of Caillaux. Thus the pow
 erful ex-premier, though himself forC ed to resign, had been able to kee f his hand on the government ar
 nominate more than one of the Cal
 inet. When the Bonnet Rouge evie a enee came out, not only did Leymar , permit Duval to go free but Maly e tried to sidetrack the entire ca; n against the Bonnet Rouge staff Pull
 lie indignation however had bee
 aroused by the sudden death in pr e son of the editor in- chief of the SUI : pected paper, just as he had hinte f of possible interesting disclosures, ar U the Ribot ministry was forced fro office on this very issue. The ne. ministry showed itself quite as aver
 to taking measures against the crea e ures of the powerful Caillaux and e too had to resign, giving place to u It present government of Clemencea .s the Tiger" who came into office wi
 the avowed purpose to get Caillau
 The Bolo and Duval trials are appa
 ently but curtain -raisers for the gre