"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎١‎٩‎٤] (٨٦٢/٣٩٢)

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE 277
demolished before the advance could proceed. The supply vessels
had to be dragged through the cut by hawsers manned by the troops,
and heliums and rafts had again to be employed by the infantry and
field guns for the attack. Opposition was considerable, for the Turks
were actively supported by large numbers of Muntafiq Arabs, and
supply difficulties increased as the flood-levels fell. It was not until
25 July that Nasiriya was at last occupied, and this brought the first
campaign to a successful end.
The Campaign of 1915-1916
The operations just described were carried out with comparatively
few battle casualties, but had been costly through sickness, particu
larly among British troops. Effectives were much reduced in the two
divisions now in Mesopotamia, the hospitals were full, and drafts
were with difficulty spared from Territorial units in India. There
were shortages of both land and river transport, and the needs of
France and difficulties in Gallipoli loomed large in the eyes of the
home authorities; Mesopotamia suffered in consequence, and re
mained the land of improvisation.
Advance to Tut. After their defeat at Nasiriya the Turks concen
trated their main force at Kut, whence they could threaten the divided
British forces at Nasiriya by the Shatt al Gharraf and at Amara by
the Tigris. Trouble was brewing in southern Persia where German
agents were at work, and the defence of this area became a responsi
bility of the army in Iraq. General Nixon, the G.O.C., and the
governments and military authorities in both India and England
debated whether to continue the advance to Kut. This was eventually
ordered : (1) to protect both Nasiriya and Amara, and so the whole
of the Basra vilayet; (2) to prevent Turkish intervention in Persian
Arabistan, and so to protect the oil installations; (3) to counter by
a successful advance the deterioration of the political situation in
south Persia; and (4) to seize a forward base for a possible advance to
Baghdad, a project which already had many supporters, and which
was becoming politically desirable because of reverses in other theatres
of war.
Early in September the British under General Townshend began
to concentrate at Ali Gharbi, and by the 16th the advanced troops
reached Sannaiyat, 8 miles below the Turkish position on both banks
of the Tigris at Sinn, covering Kut. Day temperatures were still high
(1 io°—120° F.), but the nights were some 50° cooler. The river was
nearly at its lowest level, and navigation was already difficult.