'Military Report on Iraq. Area 2 (Upper Euphrates)' [‎5v] (15/140)

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at its disposal, that any serious effort was made to exercise real
control in the country. Omar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , then governor of Aleppo,
at the head of a considerable body of troops, marched down the
Euphrates and took possession of Dair-al-Zor, which was
then held by Fallahin Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. Arabs who had enjoyed semi-independence
under Anizah protection. It was about this time that the
caravan route down the Euphrates from Aleppo to Baghdad
was opened to traffic and travelling by this route, although a
somewhat speculative venture, became comparatively speaking
safe.
This policy of enforcing the Turkish authority was carried
on by Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who built forts to protect the Euphrates
navigation and the caravan route to Aleppo.
The fort at Rawah on the left bank of the Euphrates opposite
Anah is a case in point. The people of Rawah have always
enjoyed a reputation for lawlessness, and they were never
brought to heel until after the construction of this fort which
dominates their villages and cultivation.
Despite periods of insecurity the Turkish power gradually
grew, and cultivation has considerably increased in recent years
along the Euphrates valley. The riverain cultivators have
usually found it advisable to pay a form of tribute to the larger
Badawin tribes in return for protection, or at least non
molestation. Travelling along the caravan route has been
more or less secure, although the area between Anah andRaqqa
has always been, and still is, a happy hunting ground for inter
tribal raids between the Badawin themselves.
On the outbreak of the Great War the Euphrates was
gradually developed as a line of communication by the Turks,
who brought both troops and stores by river from Jarablus to
Fallujah and even to Samawah and Nasiriyah. Although
necessitating frequent posts, this line of communication was
not interfered with to any extent by the tribes. It was the
selected line of advance for the Turkish “ Yilderim ” or
“ Lightning ” Army, which was to advance down the Euphrates
in 1918 for the recajiture of Baghdad. This scheme (and it is
somewhat doubtful if it were ever intended to push it seriously)
was frustrated by our advance in Palestine, and the troops
intended for Baghdad had to be diverted to meet it.
When it became apparent towards the end of February,
1917, that the fall of Baghdad could not long be delayed the
Turkish forces on the Lower Euphrates at Samawah retreated
upstream, first to Fallujah and later to Ramadi. Fallujah was
occupied by our force on 18th March, 1917, and on 28th
September of the same year we occupied Ramadi, capturing
the entire Turkish force there, numbering about 3,300 of all
ranks and 11 guns.