Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-06-13
To Defend India and Egypt.

To Defend India and Egypt.
And when Allenby moves north from
Jerusalem Marshall is certain to move
northweStward from Bagdad. Both will
be aiming for AleDpo; if they can ar
rive together at this town then there
will he AN end of Turkish rule. Ger
man dreams of using these provinces
as the Jumping Off places for attacks
upon Egypt and India will also dis;fp-
pear. cAtually, and it is we'll to re
member this in the midst of all the bit
ter debates oven eastern and western
strategy, the campaigns IN Palestine
and i'm MeSopotamia are campaigns for
the defense of Egypt and of India. both
OF which have been gravelN menaced
by German intrigue and Turkish oper-
ations in the near east.
SO far the resistance of the Turks
has be~ensurprisinglN weak after the
first successes against the Mesopo-
tami:,n attack in 1916 and against the
Palestine thrust in 1917. All winter
ton that there would be a serious
thrust from Aleppo. either against
Rasdad. through Mosul or against
Jerusalem through Damascus. But. IN
the contrary. ii has been the British
who have done the thIustig and the
Turkish troops have fought, on the
whole. very badly indeed. AT the out
set of winter, thai, is, of the season
when campaigning is possible in this
egion there was no little apprehension
in British quarters over the POSSIBLE
ties in Mesopotamia.
but apparently the push toward and
to Jerusalem drew off troops intended
for operations in MeSopotamia. while
the subsequent activities TOWARD MoSul
led the Turk to abandon all thought of
striving to retal<e Jerusalem. Now. be
fore Il new campaign opens. ii seems
safe To conclude hat the British will
be firmly established both i'm Bagdad
and in Jerusalem. while their com
munications will far surpass those of
the Turk. In a word. it would seem as
If The English had come TO stay both
in Palestine and i'm Mesopotamia. IN
this he true. then the Bagdad railroad
of the future will be British, not Ger
man. and will start at the Mediter-
ranean, not the Rosporns at AleNan-
dretta. not at Constantinople or its
Scntari suburb.
Such. briefly, is the story of the
greatest of the side shows with it's
two fields of operation. one in MeSopo-
talnia anh the other in Palestine. and
its COMMON objective of Aleppo. Has
ii paid: This is the question which
is heard on all sides AT the present
hour. obviously we know far too lit
Tie to answer the question without
reservations. In truth the real answer
turns upon things about which we real
~ know nothing. Mainly it turns upon
the number of divisions used in the
campaigns which might otherwise be
in Flanders and Picardy today. meeting
the supreme thrust of the German.
IL the German wins his campaign i'm
France decisively-if he wins the war.
in other words-then the British sue
cesSes in the near east Will not per
manently endure to block the German
pathway to Egypt and TO India. All
European history is the sure evidence
of the fact that the fate of the smaller
campaign follows that of the larger:
no minor success could save Ma
poIeon when his empire was at last
crnmhling. If Germany destroys the
British armies in France. as she has
undertaken to do. then her supremacy
ON the continent will temporarily in
sure her supremacy in the Balkans
and in the Asiatic provinces of Tur-
key.
All Hinges on Big Show
But, on the other hand. if Germany
fails TO win the war decisively, if she
does not achieve Il German peace. if
she is compelled to accept u draw. al
though escaping II real defeat, then
the British troops holding Mcsopo-
ta,nia and Palestine Will be guarantees
against a speedy resumption by Ger
many of the effort to penetrate Asia
minor and Egypt; The troops now in
the near east will continue to mount
guard against a new German foray
and will hold the Asiatic gates of the
British empire. If the German threat
10 the British empire is not to be
abolished by the defeat of Germany in
this war then it is of the utmost I'M
portance for Britain to hold the
gates to her vital territories as strong
ly as possible, and t,agdad and Jeru-
salem are certainly nntnnSf. nf India
and Egypt.
There remains The third possibility,
the one We expect and hope for-thc
complete military defeat of Germany.
In tina case the campaigns in Syria
II ~MeSopotamia will give Britain the
possession of the keys of the near east
and enable her. i'm accordance with her
agreements with France. to bring To an
end the hideous nightmare of Turkish
rule III Syria and ~Mesopotamia. II may
even open the WAY 10 the liberation of
Armenia to the north, for from Mosul
the road runs clear to Erzeruln.
Syria from Acre north viii fail to
France; Aleppo, Damascus and Beirut
will come under French protection if
the allies are able to carry out their
agreements. Palestine will be inter-
nationalized. it's independence guaran-
teed by many nations. but ii will, in
any event. fall naturally under British
Influence. Mesopotamia will remain in
British hands. while Persia. now that
the Russians have abandoned their
claims. will certainly drift under
British Influence. And for all these
changes the British armies in the east
have prepared the way. In the main
these armies are made up of native
troops. although Il few British divi-
sions are still ounte in the two
armies.