The virtual conquest of Mesopotamia in a four and a half months' campaign had been brought about by the resolute execution of a plan of operations that was based on correct calculation of requirements—by a triumph of forethought on the part of a chief who always relent lessly followed up his successes in the field. Neither the stout resistance offered by the Ottoman troops nor the formidable defence works which they had elaborated around Kut had in reality proved the greatest stumbling block in Maude's path.
railway was constructed from Kut to Baghdad, sanitation and policing were established in the capital, comforts and recrea tion were provided for the troops, and effective steps were taken to tap the supply resources of the fertile tracts that were in occupation of the army. In the late summer it appeared that the Turks under German instigation were contemplating an effort to recover Baghdad. This made Maude the keener to resume the offensive, and on Sept. 28 he struck his first blow by the capture of Ramadi on the Euphrates. This victory was followed up by 'In justice to earlier efforts and to the Turkish resistance, it should perhaps be pointed out that the British had now a four to one superiority of force over the enemy ; further, that owing to the failure of the cavalry pursuit the Turkish forces escaped disaster and retreated in relatively good order.
successful operations in clearing the Jabal Hamrin, and by the occupation of Tikrit on the Tigris at the beginning of November. A few days later, however, the army commander was struck down by cholera, and he died on the loth, He was succeeded by Sir W. Marshall.
The country traversed by the Tigris above Tikrit and extending north for a long distance is a sterile tract, hilly and broken at some points; the ordinary route from Baghdad to Mosul does not therefore follow the river but takes a direction to the east through Kifri and Kirkuk.
Maude had intended to conduct his main advance by this line, but his death just at the moment when the project was to be put in execution created some delay; his suc cessor, however, set troops in motion through the Jabal Hamrin in December, and by these Kifri was occupied in Jan. 1918. Having secured that point, Marshall suddenly set his extreme left wing on the Euphrates in motion in the middle of February, with the result that Hit was captured and the Turkish division which had retired up the river was surrounded, 5,00o prisoners and all its guns being taken. Transport difficulties were hamper ing the advance beyond Kifri on the other flank, but on April 29 the Ottoman forces were heavily defeated on the road to Kirkuk, losing 3,00o prisoners, and a week later Kirkuk was taken. Marshall, however, decided to withdraw his advanced troops in this quarter to Kifri, and active operations then prac tically ceased for five months.
An endeavour to preserve Baku from the Turks failed ; but it at least prevented the despatch of some of the Ottoman troops in Transcaucasia to confront the Anglo-Indian army in northern Mesopotamia.
The fall of Baku oc curred just when the season had again become suitable for active operations on and about the Tigris, and Marshall was now direc ted to occupy Mosul, an undertaking for which he had been preparing all the summer. The best of the Turkish divisions were at this time assembled astride of the Tigris at Al Fatha, the point where the river breaks through the Jabal Hamrin range of hills. Here a naturally formidable position had been strongly
fortified, and another position a few miles higher up the river had also been prepared for defence. Marshall decided to throw an adequate force across the Ottoman communications between Al Fatha and Mosul. He entrusted the conduct of the operations as a whole to Gen. Cobbe, and arranged for a column to advance simultaneously from Kifri by Kirkuk towards Mosul.
The final campaign in Mesopo tamia began on Oct. 23 and it lasted only one week. Two cavalry columns, that with the shorter distance to cover being accom panied by some infantry, crossed the Jabal Hamrin many miles to the east of Al Fatha, passed the Little Zab a long way above its junction with the Tigris, and hit off that river several miles to the rear of the Turkish positions at and above Al Fatha. In the meantime
17th Div. operating on the right bank and the i8th Div. operating on the left bank of the Tigris moved forward from above Tikrit. Finding himself threatened by the cavalry forces which were approaching the river between him and Mosul, Ismail Hakki Pasha, who commanded the Turks, now withdrew from the Al Fatha position to the one higher up at the confluence of the Little Zab, followed up by the two Anglo-Indian divisions. But the i8th Div., advancing on the left bank of the Tigris, forced a passage across the Little Zab on the 25th, thus turning Ismail Hakki's left flank, and the Pasha thereupon transferred his troops across the river and broke up his bridge.
On the 27th the 17th Div. was pressing the Turks, who were now all collected on the left bank of the river, and on the same day one of the cavalry columns forded the stream and began moving down that side of the channel against the enemy's rear. The 17th Div. was heavily engaged on the 28th before it finally made itself master of Ismail Hakki's position at the confluence of the Little Zab. That commander thereupon retreated to Shar qat, but on the morrow the last hope of the trapped Turkish force was destroyed when a relieving column that was approach ing from Mosul was defeated by Cobbe's cavalry. All that day Ismail Hakki resisted the advance of the Anglo-Indian forces on Sharqat. On the morning of Oct. 3o, however, just as the I7th Div. was about to launch a final attack, the white flag was displayed within the Turkish lines, and the whole of one Ottoman division, together with the bulk of another one, surrendered, I,000 prisoners, 51 guns, and imposing stores of war material falling into the victor's hands.
The Kirkuk column had in the meantime been steadily work ing its way forward towards Mosul, almost unopposed, and Cobbe's forces were about to advance on the city from about Sharqat, when tidings came to hand of the signing of the Armis tice. Mosul was occupied a week later, but the Ottoman power of resistance in this theatre of war was in any case shattered as a result of Marshall's final blow. Thus the long drawn-out strug gle in Mesopotamia, which had proved so consistently favourable to the Anglo-Indian arms since Maude had launched his offen sive at the close of 1916, ended in a blaze of triumph two years later, concurrently with what constituted the most sweeping tactical success that had been gained by either side during the course of the campaign.