IN MESOPOTAMIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16664, 8 April 1916, Page 7

IN MESOPOTAMIA.

IMPORTANT BRITS3H SUCCESS.

ADVANCBNQ TOWARDS KUT. LONDON, April 6. General Sir Percy Lake reports: The Tigris Corps, under General Uorringe (General Aylmer's successor), attacked Um-el-Hanah at 5 o'clock on the morning of April 5. Our trenches had been pushed forward by means of saps to within 100 yards of the enemy's position. From these saps the leading battalions of the Thirteenth Division rushed the enemy's first and second lines in quick succcssion, and their third line was captured by 6 o'clock. Supported by our concentrated artillery and machine gun fire, the Thirteenth Division continued its victorious advance, and an hour later it drove the enemy out of its fourth and fifth lines. Aeroplane reconnaissances reported that the enemy were strongly reinforcing their Falmhiyah and Sannayat positions, which are respectively 6COO and 12,000 yards from their front trenches at Um-el-Hanah. As these positions are only approachable over open ground, General Gorringe deferred a further attack till the evening. Meanwhile on the right bank of the Tigris the Third Division, under General Cary, captured the enemy's trenches opposite Falmhiyah. The enemy that afternoon on this bank strongly counterattacked with infantry and cavalry supported by guns. We successfully repulsed them, and consolidated the positions we had won. General Gorringe, at 8 o'clock in the evening, resumed his advance, and carried the Falmhiyah positions. Reports state that the Um-el-Hanah position was strongly entrenched. Its left flank was resting on the Suwaichi marsh, and its right flank on the river front. The trenches were 9ft deep, and the system extended in successive lines to a depth of 2SOO yards.

IMPORTANCE OF OPERATIONS. EXPERTS' APPREHENSIONS ALLAYED. LONDON, April 6. The newspapers are giving prominence to the news from Kut-el-Amara, the report of Sir Percy Lake's success at Um-el-Hanah coinciding with the publication of General Nixon's despatch concerning the early operations. The absence of recent news from' General Townshend in Kut caused increasing public anxiety, and Sir Percy Lake's success gives both the long-suffering force in Kut and the longsuffering public at Home a ray of hope, though the main Turkish position remains to be attacked. Sir Percy Lake has apparently been lucky in that inundations from the Armenian highlands have not made operations on the Tigris impossible, as many military experts had feared. Um-el-Hana'h, on the left bank of the Tigris, constitutes the first line of the enemy's formidable position. There is no room for manoeuvring our forces, having a front of a mile and a-half only. We tried to force this bottle-neck on January 21, but General Aylmer was unable to hold the ground he had won.

THE' IRON DIVISION. A REPUTATION FROM GALLIPOLI. LONDON, April 7. (Received April 1, at 11.10 p.m.) The newspapers Tecall the fact that the Thirteenth Division, mentioned in General Lake's report, belongs to the new army and earned the title of " The Iron Division" on Gallipoli. It went through the fiercest fighting in August, and Sir lan Hamilton mentioned in his despatches that the division lost 6000 out of 10,000 men.

MORNING POST'S CRITICISM. MR CHURCHILL BLAMED. LONDON, April 6. The Morning Post \attacks the Government, alleging that, acting on General Nixon's advice, it overruled the India Office, and directed General Tovvnshend to make a dash for Bagdad, although General Townshend protested that he had an inadequate force. Major Churchill's restless brain was responsible, his probable motive being to divert the Turks from Gallipoli, and thus retrieve his ghastly blunder at the Dardanelles.

SELLING GRAIN TO BRITAIN. PROMINENT POLITICIAN ARRESTED. (Times and Sydnev Srin Services.) LONDON, -April 6. (Received April 7, at 5.5 p.m.) A Bucharest telegram states that M. Ghenadieff, leader of the Stambolovists, has been arrested on a charge of selling grain to Great Britain. [This message is decidedly obscure. Apparently the arrest has bacn effected in Bulgaria, for there is no party in Rumania (from which country the cable comes) so named. Stefan Stambolov was an outstanding figure in Bulgarian affairs at the close of the last century. The son of the keeper of a small inn, by sheer force of character, groat ability, and ardent patriotism, he rose to despotic power in very troubleons times, but ultimately Veil before a cabal, and in July, 1595, was fo injured by rssassins in broad daylight in one of the principal streets of Sofia, that ho died a fow days after. Stambolov exerted his power against Russia and in favour of AustriaGermanv, but was always friendly to Great Britain.]