Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-11-14
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 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 a myriad
! glinting, eye-searing sparks. But it
YVES beautiful beyond words to de-
! scribe. We spun along at fifty miles
an hoHr with cool, clean breeze in |
cur faces Then just over a slight rise |
in the sparkling plain l saw my first
mirage. 1t was impossible to believe
ii 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 have never seen
anything like the MesOpotamian mi
rage. We drove straight on and it
came so close that l was sure / could
see ripple on its surface Then sud-
denly it went away off, and where it r
had been our skidproof tires were hum
ming on the hard-packed sand and 1
saw that the wooded islands had been ;
'reated out of nothing but patches of
amel thorn and that the trees of the
Orests were tufts of dry grass not
1ore than six inches high.
OFF on the far horizon a camel car :,
van was swinging slowly along and
ne camels looked like some mammoth 10
rehistoric beasts, while in another n,
ERECTION what we took to be camels
lrned out to be string of diminutive -,
onkeys under pack saddles laden with
lies OF the desert grass roots that the -,
rabs use for fuel.
The mirage has played an interest ="
part in the MesopOtamian cam
igns. In some places IL is practi-
lily continuous the year round, and it th,
DIS greatly to the difficulties of an L.
my in action. 1t is seldom mistaken ~
anything but what ii is, of course. s
1t does curious things to distance
to objects both animate and mani Al.
tie. Incidentally 1t renders the ac- sle
ate adjustment of gun ranges al pa,
st altogether impossible.
inc of the most curious incidents of ~
whole war happened in connection "u ~
n mirage and on the very spot
which / drove that first 6av ont .na'
he desert. 'iln'
ne battle of Shaiba was one of the
dest-fought battles in the whole :.
not PamOafop op1 x,;o+o- ~ w
10 u,os -Ss, ri0'ory Ior line
Ie was anyhody's. 1t was going and
badly for the British, their losses
6 heavier than they could stand
long. And though the Turks were G.
overwhelmingly superior numbers tho
as going very badly for them as g.
This the British officer COM c.
ding did not realize and he was S CT,
on the point Of giving an order for FOWL
would have been at,on
10 the British in Mesopotamia- co,,,,,
10 ms astonishment he discov- for ~
that the Turks were in full re- m,
What a moment w
desert was full of mirage and -, n,
Turkish cOmmander-who rea1Iv ~
obono,,,o.,s ny i"ini'iar with ton IL
tho corthos. "pproacning Battle
beavv o,,eo, ,.l''' looAeu 10 MN er Su
,o hu. IL was Whits
magnified and multiplied by the Amor;
i've desert atmosphere! When sud-
:, -, '' ..' le'reat MS ington
e dan,onoI,- Ups s'''iH oeccd udad
,d ond h ,",,~eu 'sar guard was sault {
nod 49, " 80, ny great bands A 81
oh - a., 'ne way 10 hha- pire W
rned tba tn,, 10y n'i,es away. Wellini
49,, ie" uays later terloo