The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-02-26
KUT, SCENE Of
BRITISH DEFEAT,
BEING REBUILT
tBy Associated Press)

reverse after lying for many months
a city OF the dead, abandoned by even
its native population, has gradually
been rebuilt in the past six months
and is now a thriving town of nearly
as great population as in DAYS of
peace
IL was TOO important a center to be
neglected. 1t was a link between the
Euphrates and Persia. and accord.
ingly' after it had been deserted for
more than two months. British Of
fcer arrived here to take charge of
the work of reconstructing it.
The first thing to do was to clean
! the place. The debris was dumped
cut Of the houses into the streets; the
accumulated filth was buried or
burned, the barricades we're pulled
down. the dugouts and trenches were
filled up
An imposing colonnade bazaar was
built along the river bank. \ begin
ming was made with coffee room and
some retail shops for the builders.
who for long time we're the sole pop
| ulation. Skilled masons, natives who
/ had been employed by the Germans
in connection with the Bagdad rail
way, were collected and set to work.
They rebuilt and reroofed the old ba-
zaars, widened the old streets and
built new ones, repaired the mosques,
the baths and the ice factory, put new
I engines into the -four mill and con-
verified the flats and shoals in the mid
die of the Tigris into vegetable gar
dens
Though still partly in ruins. Kut
today is a cleaner and better town
than ever before in it's history Most
of the people are back again behind
| their old doors. The bazaars are
thronged. And the people are more
prosperous than ever, for there is
| abundant labor for everybody in the
| neighborhood. Some of the prominent
| people of the town will never come
| back. Eight of them, including the
sheikh and his sons, were hanged by
the Turks, and forty others were shot
The house which General Towns
bend occupied during the siege has
been repaired, but the roof and bal
cony are still pitted with shrapnel
Seven shell holes have been filled with
plaster. The memory of the general
and of his principal officers survives
in the names of the new streets. There
is Townshend road, Delamain road
Melise road, and the names of the
brave regiments are recorded in Dor.
set road, Norfolk street and Mahratta
row. Every association in the nomen
clature of the Kut is reminiscent of the
memory of its former defenders.
Especially the cemetery. The long
drawn agony of the garrison which
fought and endured here so staunchly
to the edge of starvation makes one
of the most tragic stories of British
military history. Nearly 1900 sol
diers of the British army died OF
wounds and disease during the siege
and are buried together in bare mud
field inclosed by mud wall, with g
few starved palms in it, and hueless
desolation all around-but that Is Mes
opotamia. The Turks dug trenches
all around the cemetery, but they re
spected the graves.
volunteer parties of bluejackets
from passing gunboats have landed
and trimmed these mounds of earth
which are as clean-cut and neat now
as In an English churchyard A brick
wall Is being built around the inclo
sure. The place is grassless, 1t is
true, but the somber aspect will dis
appear when water Is brought to the
land and the scrub palms are fortified
and cared for.
Three miles below Kut is the only
enemy relic in the neighborhood. II
is an obelisk put up by the Turks in
commemoration of the fall of Kut. II
is kind of Cleopatra's Needle on a
square plinth, all of Kindred brick
plastered over. An old converted
British "cow-gun" stands as a trophy
on each side. One of the guns has
tumbled forward, and the plaster and
brick are already crumbling. The
monument was never unveiled, and is
still half covered with canvas sheet
ing, most of which, however, has been
carried away by the wind