NOTES ON THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11507, 1 October 1915, Page 5

NOTES ON THE WAR.

ON LAND AND SEA. Tho advance into Mesopotamia is pi oceeding with remarkable rapidity, considering all the conditions. The latest announcement, that General Detain am has occupied Kut-el-Amarah, suggests that a direct move is being nuulo on Bagdad itself. This is an extraordinary enterprise. Kut-el-Am-arah is 150 mdes above Kurna, and it was believed that the advance had reached its normal limit when Kurna was cleared. Since then, however, an advance has been made on both tho gieat rivers, the intention being, presumably, to ma.ke sure of the ground between them and to utdko both the Tigris and Euphrates for tho sxipport of the columns. Tho original intention of tho expedition, as far as can be gathered, was to secure the Admiralty s valuable oil propert ©s against destruction, and immediately on the. outbreak of hostilities with Turkey a military force was ordered to rnovo up tho Shatt-el-Arab to Basra with that object in view.

But the campaign has proceeded far bsyond Basra. Tho fact that the Turks were found to be concentrating at Kurna. at the junction of the old channel of the Euphrates with tho Tigris, and at Mez-era, in the same neighbourhood, necessitated energetic action, and the> attack on the enemy's positions was made last- December. During the cool season, if there ever is a cool season in the region, all energies were directed towards consolidating positions already gained, and advanced parties were sent north, either to watch the Turks or to establish defensive posts. Official references to tho operations were consistent with the idea that tho plan was mainly defensive. However, it is probable that the period was one only of comparative quiescence. Tho hot season was against active operations, but some advance was made in th© Euphrates Valley, and attacks by the Turks on British advanced posts were .repulsed with severe loss.

The advance towards Bagdad, however, must have been planned during the summer, for otherwise it would scarcely have been possible t-o carry a considerable force so far north of the base. The expedition must be a large one, because Bagdad is the headquarters of the sixth Turkish military district, and is therefor ' kely to be well supplied and defend..i. It is approachable across the desert, but the British route is the river, which is regularly navigable up to and beyond the city, and so long as tho Tigris remains open there will be l.tt-lo difficulty in keeping the army supplied and reinforced. There is a month of the- dry season yet t-o run, so that if a move is contemplated from Kut-01-Amarali it will be made immediately or delayed until the end of the year. The rainy season lasts until March, but the chief difficulty to be anticipated during that season is from floods and the consequent extension of the big marshes. Brigadier-General Delamain, who is in command of the column advancing up the Tigris, has been in the forefront of the operations since tho campaign opened. He commanded the Poona Brigad'e, whinh was sent to the Gulf as soon as hostilities appeared likely. He entered the Shatt-el-Arab on November i\ occupied J?a-o, the cable station, and hurried up the river to Abadau, where the AngloPersian Company's oil refinery is situated. He put- his brigade ashore about ten miles above Ahadan. where lie had ie. ie.eet a not Turk.sli attack. His brigade then became part ot me force under General Barrett, which tiered Basra before the end ot November. The Italian battleship Benedetto Brin, blown up at Brmdisi, was launched in 1901 but was not completed until 1905, and as she was laid down early in 3.899 she. 'was an unconscionable time in the builders' hands. AU Italian ships constructed at the period were similarly delayed, however, and it rnav be recalled that a- considerable scandal agitated the country in consequence. The Benedetto Br'.n was a tdiip of 13,215 tons, mounting four 12in., four Bin.' and twelve 6in. guns. Officially her speed was given as nineteen knots, and although she attained over twenty knots ou liev trials the conditions were exceptionally favourable. Except for her Bin. guns she might be placed in the .same category as, say, ihc Ocean, which, was sunk at tho Dardanelles. Hecomplement exceeded 809, so that more than 400 lives seem to have been lost in the disaster. The Benedetto Brin was engaged in the Turkish war off the coast cf Tripoli and had the honour of firing the first shot against the Tripoli forte. Subsequently she was a member of the fleet that blockaded the Turkish coast, and later still she was one of the ships covering the expedition to Rhodes.

New i::suos cf familiar naval handbooks arc not likely to be in the old shape, because an Admiralty order lias .riinrij the sale in the Mother Country of books containing profile outlines, drawings or photographs of his Majesty's shnis. 1 lit? following warning 07i the subject has been issued: — The Admiralty find it necessary to issue a v. ii rn I* 1 that books containing profile outlines, drawing, photographs, or silhouettes of H.M. ships, as, for instance, Jane's ' lighting Ships, Jane's ' The "World's Warships,' Jane's 'Warships at a Glance, 1 ' Jane's "British Naval Recognition Book.' 'The Fleets of the World,' ' The Naval Pocket Book,'' Brassey's '' Naval Annual,' etc., must m future be regarded as coming under regulation 13 of the Defence of the Jtealm Regulat ions. " This regulation forbids tho collecting. recording, publishing; or communiciilihg; of any information with respect to the description or condition of any df H.iU. ships oi' such a nature as is calculated to be or might bo directly nr indirectly useful to the enemy, and likewise forbids any person to have in his possession v/ithon t lawful authority or excuse auy document, containing any such "'nformation. " It is important, therefore, that all persons having copies of such books in their possession for purposes of sale should withhold them from sale, and that no dealings in copic-s of such books, whether by way of sale or otherwise, should take plr.ee during the continuance of ill 9 war. "New editions of suc'i books shou'd omit all drawings, _ etc., m-pecung POl. ships, and, subject to thii condition. may be sold as usual.''