MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGN.

Mataura Ensign, 12 January 1916, Page 4

MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGN.

TURKS’ SUPERIOR NUMBERS. xo dkkixitk :i;t> srcerossES Received -1 aunary IR. 1."» a.m. I.OXD’OLX, Jau. 11. , The I'cwspapi'rs point out " that •Atajmdie I T-ownslioml at Kiit-el-Aniara (a river, port, til miles S.F.. of 'lla-yjJail) is -iimmikiihl and' lias only helioe-raplde and wireless- eonnminieation with ’.lio main foree. Apparently the 'lurk.- are >s til I in superior .nnnvheivs and there have been no definite British sileces.ses. ; 1 , ' ■

TO RELIEVE CEN. TOWNSHEND. ('2OOO PROGRESS MADE. Received .lanuarv 12, S.lo a.m. | LONDON, Jan. 11. iXfajor-Conoral Aylmcr and RrigadiorOonernl Koiv.ball left miles south-oast of Kut, on J.annarv 6 10 endeavor to relieve Major-Oeneral Towiishend. Major-iCJoneral Aylnier ivado gootl progress and reached Shoikldiaad, h'.ill'-way to Kut. • AUSTRALIAN WIRELESS CORPS. Jan. 12. Tn reply to the. Indian GovenTiiPnt's. request (ho Commonwealth is despatching a wireless corp-. to Mesopotamia,consisting of 53 officers.and men*., -v

SPIKED PIT-TRAPS. An officer with the British Expeditionary Force in .Mesopotamia in a, letter Horae. describes the difficulties, that had to he overcome in the capture ot the Turks’ position at Kut and Es Sin. „ on the Tigris, in the closing clays of September. He says : We have,done the trick, turned the Turks out of the position they have been preparing since dune, and done it at a. wonderfully small cost. J was out yesterday and today on two different tuts of the position, and one would never believe that any troops could possibly have been driven 1 Irom them. There wore successive linos of trenches, some 12 miles of them in all, narrow, clean cut. .with' - .traverses -every few yards, head cover, a perfec.tlyi marvellous system of communication trendies, and numerous redoubts with wells dug in them. In front were barbed-wire entanglements, and in many places a series o! Irons de lonp (pits with, spikes at the bottom). These looked just like a honeycomb, only tbe tops of the holes were circular. They were four to live feet across, from seven to eight feet deep, with sharpened stakes in the Imttom, and were shaped like an inverted cone. At the top the edges wore ahom nine inches apart. Wo were warned" to-day that they were supposed to Inmined too. Over one lot 1 saw then was a low barbed-wire entanglement. In one'particularly strong part of Online. winch had Imth Hanks resting 01 impassable marshes, there was a regnla: water channel cut leading from a 10 h.p oil engine and Bin centrifugal pump oi the river bank, some two milt's away Almost every 20 yards along the Iren dies there were n-idies cut, and in then big Persian lilters for water. For tin reserve there was a regular (.'reek key pattern of trench, ami. in case of emei gency I suppose, two big wells. Our guns apparently slid particular! well. That night, however, was ahso imply hell: we did reach watei One'splendid doctor-man- managed u ✓ get some Army Transport cans. 11l In; *Srhem with water hags, and so th wounded did get some, poor fellows We were very lucky. We got a nnaibe of .shrapnel into ns at various timeand onlv a few men and houses wer. hit.

One fellow with some ammunitio. waggons was moving them to .- hank. He was in front with a .sergeant and had only about six men with hi., in the waggons. They. too. had the; rifles on front of tlie limber in the : clips; and it would have taken som few .seconds to get fliem ready. Siu deply he saw a narrow, trench some o yard's i'roio him. and men moving in it tie shouted to the gunners, and he an ihe sergeant, drawing their revolver charged' the trench. There were nin. Turlcs in it. and they put up tlie.' hands at once. The cream of the situ:, tion was that the sergeant's horse too charge and carried him clean over th trench, clearing it likei n bird. For three and a-half days 1 neve saw-water near enough to be of an. practical-use to.me. except in a wate.i bottle, and even that not nearly ofto enough. I had not had my clothes ofi of coun>e, or even- my boots, and as this bv no means a cool climate durm. the <lav. and there is in addition plent of dust', I was pretty grimy at the en of it. To square things up a bit th nights are bitterly cold. A -great-con leaves one shivering at alwut J a.m.